Page 41 of Good Girls Lie
The arboretum is dark and cool. Quiet. The rain has stopped. I find a mostly dry patch of grass and moss under the spreading branches of my favorite hemlock. Whip the strap of my bag over my head and sink to the damp ground, wiping away the tears from my cheeks.
I have been so exposed the past few weeks, like a raw nerve ending on a sore tooth, being prodded and looked at and whispered about. Whatever was I thinking coming here? I want to go home. Back to the rolling hills of Oxfordshire.
Sadly, this isn’t possible. I have no home, not anymore. No parents. No life back in England. I’m stuck here. I am officially under the dean’s wing, her responsibility.
I pause my crying jag.
I could go to Westhaven. But what will the dean say? What will she do? “The girls found out the truth, so sorry, Ash, we’ve done our best to keep your past hidden, chin up, we’ll get you through this.”
Like that will help.
I have an overwhelming urge for a cigarette. There are three left in the pack I smuggled in, hidden inside the toe of my flats. It would mean going back to the dorm, though, and I’m not ready to face them, not until I get myself back together. Figure out how to handle this mess.
“Fuck!”
“Language,” comes a quiet voice, and Becca Curtis steps around the trunk of the tree.
27
THE SENIOR
Ash looks so fragile, so alone. To have your private world laid bare in front of your friends—Becca knows how hard this is. Ash is clearly a rookie when it comes to having her dirty laundry aired; Becca lives with it every day. Not only under the scrutiny of her mother, last summer, Becca became a Twitter meme for one of her stupid antics. A crazy night in Georgetown that got totally out of hand was turned into a great, arty, black-and-white short film calledVomitous Key Bridgius. It was posted on Snapchat and TikTok, where it was amusing for the short amount of time it existed, but instead of disappearing into the ether like everyone else’s snaps, someone captured it, posted it to Twitter, and suddenly, it was everywhere. Even theWashington Postdid a story, the perils of teen drinking, blah, blah. She was mortified, and her mother... Well, suffice it to say the senator wasn’t well pleased. Becca had been grounded for weeks.
Becca wants to give Ash a hug but knows she’ll be rebuffed. Instead, she sits, digs two cigarettes out of a pack, and offers one to Ash.
After a moment, Ash accepts, and the small spark of light in her eyes emboldens Becca. She’s dealing with a rebel after all. She knew it. Could sense it in her bones. Ash has been swanning about for weeks now, head high, looking neither right nor left, ignoring the whispers and the innuendos, but at heart, she wants to run free. Becca feels the same way.
She lights both their cigarettes, then takes a long drag off hers and blows the smoke in a smooth stream toward the branch above. The nicotine is calming.
“Bad day?”
“The worst,” Ash replies.
“I’m very sorry about your father. And your mother. It’s horrible, what happened.”
Ash stares at the ground, takes a puff. “How long have you known?”
“Since the first week of term.”
“God,” Ash says, voice breathy, accent stark on the one-syllable word, staring up at the tree branches to blink back sudden tears. “And everyone else?”
“It’s been trickling through the ranks the past week or so. Your buddy Vanessa has been waiting to spring it on you.”
“Brilliant. She’s never liked me. We don’t get on.”
“They actually brought it to me last week as an Honor Code violation and I shut them down. Told them it wasn’t their business, and it certainly wasn’t a violation. I explained you have a right to privacy, especially in a situation such as this.”
“Bollocks.” But there’s no heat in the exclamation, just resignation. A girl beaten, her gorgeous shell cracked open to reveal the soft, vulnerable innards. Becca resists the urge to run her hand down Ash’s golden ponytail.
They smoke in silence for a few minutes, until the cigarettes are down to the filters. Becca scrapes hers in the moss to kill the cherry, does the same with Ash’s, then carves out a small hole and buries the butts in the dirt.
“Whyareyou trying to hide it?” Becca finally asks. “I mean, it’s not like it’s your fault. No one is going to blame you for their bad choices.”
“Why are you being nice to me?” Ash replies instead of answering. Her voice is a little wild, like she’s about to become hysterical.
“You intrigue me,” Becca says, then kicks herself. “That sounded weird. You’re not like everyone else here. You’re different. You try to hide your intelligence by being meek in your classes. You just listen and absorb everything around you. You don’t want people to know who you are. You don’t want to show off who you are. There’s a humility to you, and considering the wealth and station you come from, it’s surprising.”
“I’m just a stupid sophomore with dead parents.”
