Shadow Hills (19 page)

At 11:55 that night, I’d put on my black hoodie and was grabbing my GPS when a sharp rap at my window made me jump.

Toy was standing outside. She gave me a little wave.

“Hey,” I whispered after I unlatched the window. “I didn’t know you were here already—how long have you been outside?”

“Not long. Don’t worry about it.”

I swung my leg over the sill. As I dropped down to the soft earth below, I managed to catch the elbow of my hoodie on a branch. After I disentangled myself, I pulled my window closed and followed Toy out of the hedges and around the corner of the building.

“Okay, here are the coordinates.” She handed a little slip of paper to me, and I noticed that Toy, like me, was dressed all in black.

I punched the coordinates into my GPS, and it started whirring and making little beeping sounds. I hadn’t realized how loud the thing was until now. I pressed my palm against the small speaker, trying to muffle it, but it was too late. I froze, listening to the footsteps behind us, crunching in the fallen leaves. It was probably a teacher.
Being expelled the first week of school will look great on my transcripts
.

“Hey, kids,” Adriana said casually as she rounded the corner, carrying a large duffel bag. “Why so freaked out?”

“I thought you were a teacher,” I said as quietly as I could, holding my hand to my pounding heart.

“Not that I’d even be able to see you two in your stealthy
robber clothes.” Adriana nodded to the black hoodie that hid my blonde hair. “Are we cat burglars now? Or is this just your nighttime camo?”

Adriana had, of course, dressed with no regard for the event at hand. Her bright blue silk minidress was not exactly low profile. But then again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from her.

“There’s nothing wrong with wearing something practical,” I defended Toy and myself.

“Hey, my shoes are very practical,” Adriana insisted.

If you could call suede boots with a wedge heel practical
.

“At least they don’t have four-inch heels,” Toy commented.

“Precisely.” Adriana smiled triumphantly. “Now let’s get going.” As we headed where the GPS was pointing us, I couldn’t help but notice the loud clanging of bottles in Adriana’s bag.

“I’m guessing that’s the booze.” I pointed at the cacophonous bag.

“Yeah. I didn’t want to throw it out my window and break any of the bottles. So I left through the front.”

“You carried that bag right past Ms. Moore’s door?” I asked.

“You’re really not worried about getting caught, are you?” Toy added.

“I don’t get caught,” Adriana replied coolly.

But even she fell silent as we walked across the deserted campus toward the woods. The expansive open grounds surrounding Devenish didn’t make it a great place for sneaking out. It was at least ten yards to the nearest tree large enough to hide behind.

Suddenly, I felt a slimy crawling in the pit of my stomach—we weren’t alone. I glanced over in time to see a shadowy figure slip into the woods.

My blood turned to ice, and I stopped in my tracks.

“Did you guys see that?” Sharp needles of fear pricked my skin, and I broke out in a cold sweat.

“See what?” Adriana asked, turning in a large circle to look around us. Her mystified expression and the noisy rattle of bottles would have been comical if I hadn’t been so petrified.

“It was probably a shadow of a tree branch or something.” Toy shrugged.

“But it moved!” I whispered. I was totally freaked out, but I still didn’t want to wake up any of the on-campus teachers.

“It could have been the wind.” A gust of cool air blew back Adriana’s hair as if to illustrate her point.

“Okay,” I relented. “But let’s hurry up and get to the party spot.”

Once we were surrounded by the thick cover of the trees, Toy turned on a little flashlight. It should’ve been comforting to see where I was going, but it just made me more apprehensive. The tiny beam of light illuminated only the ground directly in front of us, which didn’t do much beyond keeping us from stepping in a hole and twisting an ankle. It didn’t stop the inky darkness from creeping in all around, and it didn’t warn me before an errant tree branch brushed against my neck like cold, sharp fingers.

The path we followed seemed scarcely traveled, though Toy assured us that students had been using it for decades. We
continued along, stepping over fallen logs wrapped in the emerald velvet of moss and crossing shallow creeks that were littered with boulders. The sound of the water normally would’ve been relaxing, but every unexpected noise sent my heart jittering around in my chest.

After almost twenty minutes, we finally arrived at the secluded clearing. I hadn’t realized how tense I had become, until I saw the other boarders milling around and I felt my muscles relax.

“You guys made it.” Graham got up from where he was sitting, talking to Brody and some other guys I didn’t know. He grabbed the duffel of booze from Adriana’s hand.

Setting it down, he opened a cooler full of ice next to him and handed us each a Devenish cafeteria cup. After Adriana mixed me a Grey Goose and Sprite, I walked around the small area, checking it out. Students had obviously been dragging rocks and tree trunks over here for years, and now there was a circle of seating around the perimeter of the clearing. There was more than enough room for the fifteen or so people who had shown up tonight, and it was so far from the school that I wasn’t worried about the noise reaching back to the dorms.

I looked around for someone to talk to. Adriana was griping to Toy about some problem with her computer, and Graham was chatting with some red-headed jock-type guy.

That was it. Three friends. All occupied. At least in L.A., I’d had acquaintances for when Ariel was busy. I felt a sharp tug of homesickness, mixed with another kind of longing.

I wish Zach was here
. I didn’t want to be obsessing over a guy I wasn’t even dating, but I couldn’t help it. I kept picturing the way he’d looked the other day, when it had felt almost like he was going to kiss me.

“Phe!” Graham was walking toward me, his friend a few paces behind him.

“This is George.” Graham nodded his head at the jock guy. “He said he wanted to meet the hot new girl from California.”

Heat rose from my cheeks all the way up to my hairline.

“Have you seen her around anywhere?” Graham made a show of searching the woods.

“Shut up, dude,” George said, punching him in the arm. Judging from the size of George’s biceps, I had to imagine it didn’t feel spectacular.

“Oh, I see how it is.” Graham rubbed his injured shoulder. “I do a good deed. Introduce you to some chicks. And what do I get in return?”

“I believe it was punched,” I chimed in. “I’m Phe, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Phe. Like this moron said, I’m George.” He ran a hand over his bright auburn hair. “My sister and I just moved here from Greenwich, Connecticut. Luckily, we met Graham in the quad, and he told us about this little soirée.”

“Hey, Howdy Doody! I see Sybil coming!” a random guy yelled at George.

“Howdy Doody, my favorite unimaginative nickname.” He grinned. “If you’ll excuse me, it seems my sister is here.”

“Yeah, sure.” I smiled back. “And for the record, I like red hair.”

“Thanks. I keep waiting for my parents to get divorced and remarried so I can be an honest-to-God red-headed stepchild.”

“I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”

He laughed, then made his way over to an attractive girl with strawberry-blonde hair.
So this was Sybil
. I had spotted her leaving orientation on Monday. Her porcelain doll features and striking height were memorable. Sybil was even taller than Corinne and willowy thin in her black Chanel dress. Obviously Sybil, like Adriana, thought beauty was more important than being warm.

A nasty little knot of envy burned inside me. I wondered if Zach had met this girl who could be a model. Curious to see her closer up, I walked over to where she and Adriana were having a staring contest.

“Looks like a catfight is brewing,” Graham whispered as he came up next to me.

George checked out Adriana, then whistled. “The girls never dressed like this in the woods back home.”

“Please, George.” Sybil rolled her eyes. “You make us sound as if we’re from
Virginia.”
She might as well have said “seventh circle of hell,” from her tone.

Wow, this girl was good
. I didn’t dare make eye contact with Adriana, but I could see her clenching her fist in my peripheral vision.

“It’s okay.” Sybil laughed. “We’re not.” She gave Adriana the once-over. “I just love your boots.”

“Thanks,” Adriana said through her teeth.

“Marc by Marc Jacobs, right? I think it’s great that they started that little secondary line.” Sybil shrugged one shoulder. “Not everyone can afford his real designs.”

I saw the flash of anger in Adriana’s eyes, and I grabbed her elbow before she could say anything.

“Okay, time to go.” Graham took her other arm, and we pulled her back over to where Brody stood. Toy trailed behind us, her brows knitted together, as if she didn’t know what had just happened.

“That new girl reminds me of someone.” Brody squinted at Sybil.

“Nicole Kidman?” I suggested.

“More like Satan.” Adriana refilled her drink almost entirely with vodka. “And I
do
own real Marc Jacobs.” She pointed her cup accusatorially at Brody. “These are my casual shoes.”

“Okaaay.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “Did I say something about her shoes that I don’t remember?” Brody asked me out of the side of his mouth.

“She practically called me poor white trash,” Adriana went on.

“No, she didn’t.” I shook my head. This was obviously a sore spot for Adriana. The way she’d talked about her aunt gave me the feeling that her mom’s embarrassment over their family background had been instilled in Adriana, too.

“Did you totally miss the whole
Virginia
comment?” She glared at the group of guys who had focused their attention on Sybil.

“I bet she doesn’t even know you’re from Virginia,” I soothed.

“You’d be surprised. My dad’s political ads center around the all-American family portraits.” Adriana snorted derisively. “’Cause nothing says I love my kids more than dumping them at boarding schools.” She threw back the rest of her drink, which was basically an enormous shot. If she were Ariel, this would be when I’d drag her home.

“I brought dominos.” Brody pulled a small travel pack out of the back pocket of his baggy jeans. “Anyone want to play?”

“I guess I could do that.” Adriana shrugged.

“Looks like Brody distracted the bull,” Graham whispered as we followed them over to the edge of the clearing. Two logs had been placed on either side of a large flat rock, forming a makeshift table. Graham had snagged one of the many camping lanterns that were illuminating the area, and he set it on a stump next to us so we could see more clearly. Once everyone had settled in and drawn their dominos, Adriana inspected our “table.”

“Here, give me that.” She motioned at Toy’s drink, which was now mostly ice. Adriana added a large helping of vodka. “No one should be walking around with an empty cup at one of my parties.”

“I guess it’s a good thing we’re at your party then.” Brody pulled out a pack of Camels and lit one. Smoke curled up into his brown eyes, making them crinkle. Gripping the cigarette between his teeth, he reached back into his hoodie’s pocket and extracted a flask.

“Jesus Christ. How much crap do you have on you right now?” Adriana held out her hand. “And don’t you know it’s impolite not to ask anyone else if they want a smoke?”

“Sorry, Emily Post. I’ll have to write that one down in my etiquette notebook.” He deposited a cigarette in Adriana’s waiting palm.

I raised an eyebrow as she crossed her legs toward Brody. Anyone who’d ever read a magazine knew this was body language for “I’m into you.” Brody must have felt my gaze because he tore his eyes away from Adriana’s thighs and trained his stare on his dominoes.

An hour later, we were still playing.

“Twenty-five!” Toy slapped down her last domino and beamed as Graham marked her points on our impromptu scoreboard by placing five sticks under one of the columns drawn in the dirt.

“See, I told you we shouldn’t have let her play. Computer people are way too good at math.” Graham bumped her with his shoulder and grinned.

Toy giggled. She was looking a bit bleary-eyed. Which wasn’t surprising, what with her tiny size and Adriana’s heavy-handed pours. Her giggles quickly turned into hiccups.

“Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom,” Toy said in between hiccups. “But there’s no bathroom here.”

“I’ll go with you.” I stood and offered her my hand. “We’ll just head into the woods a bit.” With my help, Toy got to her feet, albeit unsteadily. “I know going behind a tree isn’t glamorous, but it’s pretty much the only option right now.”

We found a secluded spot out of sight, and I stood lookout for Toy.

“Sorry.” She hiccupped again as she zipped her jeans back up, leaning against her chosen tree for support. “I don’t drink very much, and it always gives me the hiccups.”

“Here, hold your nose and bend over at the waist,” I instructed. “Now, breathe in through your mouth while I count to twenty. Breathe in the whole time, okay?”

“Okay.” Toy’s muffled voice floated back up to me. I started counting slowly, and by the time I reached twenty, her hiccups were gone.

“Thanks.” She stood, swaying a little.

“No problem.” I smiled. “You might want to slow down, though.” Toy’s cheeks were bright red, and her normally perfect pixie cut was disheveled.

“I didn’t mean to get so drunk. When I’m nervous I drink more and …” Toy looked to the right and the left, as if she was checking to make sure we were still alone. “I’ve had this huge crush on Graham since last year, and sometimes I get nervous when he’s around. I know I shouldn’t; we’re just friends. And he’s got this genius older girlfriend at MIT. I’m being totally stupid.” Toy hung her head.

I wasn’t sure if she was sad or just tired of holding up her head.