Page 54 of Rivals
“Get out of my way,” Gabriella snapped, but she sounded oddly placated. She threw open the door and flounced inside.
Daphne’s heart pounded.Please don’t look at the windows,she thought over and over. The toe of her high-heeled sandal peeped out from beneath the bottom of the curtain, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
Fate, or really Gabriella’s vanity, must have been on her side, because Gabriella didn’t even look in her direction. She headed with swift steps into the bathroom.
Daphne dared a reckless glance around the edge of the curtain. Gabriella stood before a makeup mirror, reapplying her eyeliner and lipstick. She unzipped her wristlet, one of those tiny quilted things on a chain that barely held a phone and ID, and withdrew a baggie of white powder.
She cut it into a line and leaned forward to snort it delicately into one nostril. Then, as she was heading back toward the hallway, Gabriella paused and frowned down at the floor.
Daphne’s stomach plummeted. That was her flash drive, its turquoise plastic painfully visible against the peach-colored carpet.
“Hmm.” Gabriella tossed it into her wristlet and swept out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.
Daphne waited, but when Gabriella didn’t return, she finally exhaled. She rushed back down the hallway, almost colliding with Nina.
“Daphne! Are you okay? Did you hear me cough?”
“Yes. Though I didn’t exactly get a ton of warning.”
“I did my best to delay Gabriella! I hoped it would give you time to hide.”
Daphne was grudgingly impressed. “I heard that. How did you keep her from kicking you out of the party?”
“I just thought about what makes Gabriella happiest: feeling like she’s superior to other people,” Nina explained. “So I groveled at her feet a little.”
“Thank you.” The words were clunky and awkward in her mouth.
Nina blinked, looking as surprised by the thank-you as Daphne was. “Did you manage to find anything?”
“I didn’t have enough time. And I dropped the flash drive, so we won’t be able to search her computer.” Daphne sighed. “Not to mention, I saw Gabriella doing cocaine! If only I could’ve gotten it on video.”
To think that they’d comethisclose—had been mere feet away while Gabriella did drugs—only to come up empty-handed. And now they no longer had the flash drive, so they couldn’t even sort through the contents of her laptop. At least the flash drive had none of their own files on it, nothing that Gabriella could trace back to them if she ever plugged it in.
“That’s too bad,” Nina said. Silence fell between them for a moment. Then Nina added, “Should we go get a drink, at least?”
Daphne wondered at her use of the wordwe,as if they might actually be allies now, or at the very least, no longer enemies. What was that saying—politics makes strange bedfellows?
“Then we can go our separate ways and go back to hating each other,” Nina added, in such a matter-of-fact tone that Daphne chuckled.
“Makes sense,” she agreed. “I think we deserve a drink after that debacle.”
The two of them headed toward the party as the opening lines of Kelli B’s song blasted into the night.
Nina hadn’t expected to stay at Gabriella’s party this late. When she finally handed her claim ticket to a valet, it was after midnight, and she had at least a dozen texts from Rachel. They were all variations ofHow is it?andSend pics!until the last text, which read simply,OMG ARE THESE POSTS FOR REAL? IS KELLI B PERFORMING?
Rachel didn’t know about Nina’s unholy alliance with Daphne; she didn’t even know that Nina’s financial aid had been withdrawn. Somehow Nina couldn’t bear the thought of telling her friends.That stubborn pride will be your downfall,her mamá always said. But Nina wasn’t ready to see the pitying looks on all their faces. As long as she didn’t tell them about it, her situation didn’t feel quitereal.
And she kept hoping, stupidly, that Daphne’s ridiculous plan might actually work, and she would find a way out of this whole mess.
After their failed attempt to snoop through Gabriella’s room, Nina had almost returned to campus. Except…she and Daphne had gotten that drink together before parting ways, and then Nina decided, why not stay awhile? She actually liked Kelli B. She was already here; she might as well enjoy herself at a concert on the Madisons’ dime.
By now it had gotten colder, the air heavy with a mist thatwasn’t quite rain. As her eyes adjusted, Nina realized that a thin figure stood at the bottom of the steps.
“Daphne? Are you waiting for someone?” She decided not to ask why Jeff wasn’t with his girlfriend.
“I’m calling a car,” Daphne said happily, clicking at a ride-share app. Nina wasn’t trying to be nosy, but she couldn’t help noticing that the screen saidNo drivers available in your area.
Nina’s car—actually Sam’s car, which Sam had insisted on lending her for the duration of the League of Kings conference—pulled up the driveway. A valet hopped out and held the driver’s side door open for her.
