Inner Circle

by Kate Brian

  "OMG," Portia said dramatically. "How did you get it?" Tiffany asked. "Now that is what I was looking for," Cheyenne said proudly. Astrid's eyes were trained on the floor. "There's no way," London said, crouching down to see it better. "This can't be the one. It has to be a knockoff." "A knockoff of a school bell?" Tiffany blurted. "Uh, you guys?" I said. "What is it?" "It's the Old Bell," Cheyenne said with a smile. "It hung in the tower in Gwendolyn Hall from 1838 until 1965 when they realized how badly its supports had rotted and they removed it. Ever since, it's sat in the center of the table in the board of directors' chamber." Trust traditionalist Cheyenne to know every word of the official Easton Academy history.

  I looked at Astrid in amazement. I didn't even know where the board of directors' chamber was. How did she know about the bell? How had she gotten in and sneaked out of there with something so huge? "Damn, girl," London said with a smile. "You have got guts." "How did you do it?" Tiffany asked. "Your arms must be dying." The room was suddenly all chatter as everyone gathered around to congratulate Astrid and admire the bell. "How did you even know about this thing?" I asked. After all, I had never heard of it before. "I... well, I... read about it," Astrid said, her face coloring as she glanced at Cheyenne.

  Instantly, the truth hit me like an anvil to the head. Cheyenne had helped her. That was what the whispered conference at the chapel had been about. That was why Cheyenne had made sure Astrid was presenting last. Because she knew the bell would make an impressive finale. Here she was getting on Constance's case for seeking help, and she'd guided Astrid right through this thing. I looked at Cheyenne, and she glanced back, snagged. As I opened my mouth to say something, she clapped her hands for attention. "Well, well, well. I have to say I'm impressed with some of you," Cheyenne announced as the noise died down. I wanted to say something right then. I did. But I didn't want to embarrass Astrid, whom I actually liked, and whose head was hanging so low right now, she could probably smell her own feet. So I bit my tongue. "Astrid, Missy, Kiki, good job. You really went above and beyond to impress us. Thank you for that. The rest of you . . ." Cheyenne looked around at Lorna, Constance, and Sabine. "I don't even know what to say. Except nice try."

  Constance shrank back toward the wall. Sabine's jaw set. Lorna hugged herself tightly with both arms. I knew it right then. Knew that Cheyenne had decided long before she ever even devised this test, that three people were going to pass and three people were going to fail. Astrid was her friend whose family had taken tea with Prince William on more than one occasion. Missy was a legacy. Kiki was one of the smartest girls in the junior class and the ridiculously wealthy daughter of a computer magnate. They were all perfectly acceptable Billings material. But Lorna was unattractive and a doormat, Constance was sweet and unassuming, and Sabine was, well, my friend. I couldn't think of any other reason why she would be deemed unacceptable. Unless it was just that she was unmaterialistic and kind.

  "Cheyenne, come on," I said. She completely ignored me. " Everyone has their place in the world, girls. I think you three should really start thinking about whether or not you want to keep trying to fit in somewhere you obviously don't belong." Constance looked at me with shining eyes. I wanted to tear Cheyenne's heart out just to show her how she was making these girls feel. "Tonight you all need to go out and return these things to where they came from," Cheyenne said. "What?" Astrid blurted. "I thought you wanted them to spruce up the house," Sabine added. "Like we can really spruce the house with stolen objects. What kind of idiot do you think I am?" Cheyenne scoffed. "They're going to come looking for these things, and they cannot be found here. I expect each and every one of them to be back where they belong before dawn. Of course for some people, that just means calling the FedEx man," she said, giving Constance a scathing look. "Good luck!" she trilled. London, Vienna, Portia, and some of the others laughed at the newbies' dumbfounded expressions as they trailed Cheyenne out of the room. Constance turned toward the wall to hide her tears while Lorna ran out the front door. I had never liked that girl, but in that moment I felt for her. For all of them. Even the ones who had won Cheyenne's approval. Now they were faced with sneaking out again. With breaking and entering again. And in Lorna and Kiki's cases, with replacing things that may have already been damaged beyond repair. I had never wanted to strangle anyone more than I wanted to strangle Cheyenne at that moment. And with my history, that's really saying something.

  * * *

  I awoke in the dead of the night when a hand covered my mouth. My heart left my body and I tried to scream, but all that came out was a backof-the-throat groan. A flashlight flicked on, illuminating Tiffany's face. I stopped struggling. Looked at her, confused. She was wearing an oversized T-shirt and silky pajama pants. She lifted a finger to her lips and pointed at Sabine's bed. I glanced over. Sabine was dead asleep. "Let's go," Tiffany whispered, releasing me. "Where?" I rasped. She tilted her head. Rose and Portia stood at the door. Portia in a floor-length green silk robe, Rose in a pair of DKNY baby doll pajamas. Each held a flickering candle. Color me intrigued. I got up, shoved my feet into my slippers, and walked into the hallway. Tiffany closed the door silently behind us. Portia thrust a candle into my hand and lit it, then handed another to Tiffany. I could hear footsteps downstairs. Murmured voices.

  "What's going on?" I asked. "It's the vote," Rose told me. The vote? We were really going through with this charade? Really acting like we had any control over who lived here and who didn't? And why the hell didn't I know about it? You guys!" someone whispered up the stairs. "Are you waiting for an engraved invitation? Let's go!" We tiptoed in a line down the staircase and into the foyer. I expected to follow my friends into the parlor, but they turned left instead, away from the darkened gathering space. Toward the back door that had been locked and sealed up for as long as I'd lived there. "Where are we going?" I whispered.

  No one answered. Portia turned another corner, taking us behind the stairs, and I finally understood. The basement. For the first time since I'd lived in Billings, the basement door was open. "We're going to the boiler room?" I asked. That was, after all, the only thing that was down there. Or so I'd been told. Someone giggled. Portia shot me a You're a moron look over her shoulder and started down the creaky steps, holding her hand behind her candle flame. As I reached the top of the stairs, I could see a half dozen coiffed heads of hair descending before me, the ancient brick walls illuminated by the thin candlelight. There was no telling what lay at the bottom.

  Irrationally, my heart started to pound with fear. Or maybe not so irrationally, considering the things I'd been through at the hands of the Billings Girls in the past. "What's down there?" I whispered over my shoulder to Rose. "The dungeon," she whispered in my ear. Joking. But it didn't make me feel better. Portia was already five steps ahead of me, her robe billowing up behind her as she descended the stairs. Tiff and Rose were waiting behind. It was move now, or move never. I moved.

  My knees quaked as I navigated the unfamiliar and uneven stairs. Instantly, the air turned thirty degrees colder. I shivered in my nightshirt, and my candle flame went horizontal. I quickly shielded it as Portia had, and held my breath. At the bottom of the stairs was a huge slatted wooden door. Open. Beyond that, pitch black. My housemates had formed a circle in the center of what felt like a small frigid chamber. I stubbed my toe on something hard and cursed under my breath. Foot throbbing, I hobbled inside and took my place next to Portia. Directly across from me in the circle were Vienna, London, and Cheyenne. As soon as we were all inside, Tiffany closed the huge door with a creak.

  I had never thought until that moment that I was claustrophobic. Turned out maybe I was. I could feel my pulse in every inch of my body. There was an incessant dripping somewhere nearby. Behind me, some sort of box or chair pressed into the back of my calf. I couldn't tell what it was. The darkness was so thick, I couldn't see my feet. "Welcome, sisters of Billings, to the inner circle," Cheyenne said with pride. My heart skipped an excited beat. "Many years ago, our sister
s established this tradition, this ritual for the all-important selection of the members of Billings House. Tonight, we continue that tradition," Cheyenne said, her eyes agleam. "Ladies, take your seats."

  Everyone around me dropped down. I hesitated a moment--not knowing what was behind me--then did the same. My butt hit the arm of a chair before sliding into a hard seat. I bit my lip to keep from crying out in pain. Cheyenne stepped forward in a beautiful white nightgown, trimmed with intricate scalloping. Her candle illuminated an old-fashioned silver lantern on a table in the center of the circle. Once it was lit, I could see everything in the dim light. All ten faces. All ten chairs. Six easels set up along the wall, each with a black lacquer bowl in front of them. Each with a photo of one of the new girls sitting above. There were shallow bowls dug out of the arms of my chair. In the right bowl, six black marbles. In the left, six white. There was a silver candle holder just behind the bowl on the right side. I followed Portia's lead and placed my candle in it.

  "I will call each of your names in turn," Cheyenne said. "When I call your name, please rise from your seat, and place one marble before each of our prospective sisters. Place white if you wish to accept, black if you wish to deny. We'll begin with Portia Ahronian. Portia, please step forward." I watched her closely from the corner of my eye. She selected three white balls, three black. Shocker. I wonder where those were all headed. Slowly she walked along the line of photos, as if considering carefully. When she was done depositing her votes, she walked back to her chair and sat. "Thank you, Portia," Cheyenne said. "Reed Brennan?"

  Alphabetical, huh? For once, I didn't come in last. I grabbed all my white marbles with a scrape of fingernails against wood, just in case anyone doubted my intentions. It took two seconds to drop them in the bowls, even with my brief hesitation before Missy's picture. I was not going to discriminate, even against her. I was making a point here. Everyone deserved a chance. I looked Cheyenne in the eye as I walked by her, defiant. She rolled her eyes in return. The vote went quickly. Everyone, it seemed, had made their decisions before ever entering this room. When it was over, Cheyenne stepped forward and lifted Astrid's bowl. She dumped the marbles out onto the black cloth under the lantern. Ten white balls. "Astrid Chou has been voted in unanimously." There were pleased smiles all around. Cheyenne moved to Kiki's bowl. There was one black ball. The rest, white. "Kiki Rosen has been voted in," Cheyenne announced. Constance's bowl was next. I held my breath. It took me a moment to count, then count again. Cheyenne sucked in air through her teeth. "Ooh. Close. Six to four. But Constance Talbot has been denied," she said. I gripped the arms of my chair. I was not going to freak out. At least not until this archaic bull was over. Lorna's marbles were dumped.

  "Lorna Gross . .. denied." "Missy Thurber has been voted in unanimously." Shocker. And then, Sabine. The marbles were dumped. There were five white balls, five black. "Atie! How exciting," Cheyenne said. "What happens in a tie?" Rose asked. "In a tie the most senior member of Billings gets a second vote," Tiffany told her. "That would be me," Cheyenne said happily. I stood up. "Wait a minute. How are you the most senior member? I count nine seniors in this room." "Not senior in school, Reed. Senior in pri," Portia explained flatly. "Cheyenne has pri above everyone else because she's the long leg." "Long leg?" I asked. "Longest legacy. My mother, my grandmother, and my aunt were all in Billings," Cheyenne explained with a sniff. "No one else in this room can claim more than two family members."

  I don't believe this. I do not believe this. "And, although it's difficult for me to assume this burden," she continued, all martyr-like, "I'm going to have to say . . ." She turned around and selected a marble from her chair, her perfect blond hair shimmering in the candlelight. She looked right at me with a triumphant smirk as she dropped it among the others. "Deny." "You are nothing but a power-hungry bitch," I told her, crossing my arms over my chest. "Reed!" London gasped. "This is a sacred space, Reed. You'd better watch what you say," Cheyenne told me. "Sacred? Are you kidding me? All of you just voted on these girls based on one stupid task that Cheyenne pulled out of her ass! And which, by the way, she actually helped Astrid pass. Did you all know that?" "Excuse me?" Cheyenne asked, hand to chest. "Don't act all innocent. You were such a bitch to Constance about Whittaker, when we both know you told Astrid all about the bell. I wouldn't be surprised if you even used your connections to get her a key to the boardroom," I told her. "Admit it. You already chose who was getting in before any of us had the chance to vote." "Is that true, Cheyenne?" Rose asked. "Of course not," she snapped, eyes on me. "Which is why she has no proof."

  "I don't care if anyone else believes it. I know it's true," I said. "It was one totally fixed test." I looked around at the group. "Is that really how you want to choose who you're going to live with for the rest of the year?" "You just don't get it, Reed. This isn't just about who we're going to live with, it's about who is going to represent us to the world at large," Cheyenne explained condescendingly. "If we want to keep attracting the right people, we have to have the right people in the house at all times. Lorna, Sabine, Constance? They're just not the right people." "In your opinion," I told her. "In the opinion of the house, it seems," she pointed out. I clenched my teeth. "Fine. So you've voted out three people. What are you going to do now? The headmaster has placed them here, Cheyenne. This is nothing but a sham anyway."

  "I told you, Reed. There's always something you can do. In this case, no, we can't throw them out of here. But we can make them want to leave," she said. "What?" I blurted. "If the three of them decide to bail on their own, then who is the headmaster to stop them? Easton students can request dorm transfers at any time. It's just one of the many privileges our parents pay so dearly for. Well, our parents, anyway," she added with a condescending smile. Very mature. Picking on the scholarship girl. My pulse roared in my ears. No one was contradicting her. No one was telling her how insane this plan was. "So you're going to torture them until they beg to be placed elsewhere," I said, ignoring her personal insult.

  "I wouldn't put it in such cruel terms but, basically, yes," she said with a shrug. "I won't let you do this to them," I said, facing off with her. Cheyenne chuckled under her breath. "And you're going to stop me how?" "With my help," Tiffany said, standing up behind me. Thank God some people around here still had some heart. "And mine," Rose added, with a bit less gusto. My heart felt all warm inside my frigid body. "Thanks a lot, Rose," Cheyenne said. "I just want everyone to get along, Cheyenne," Rose pleaded. "I mean, do we really need to create drama? Personally, I've had enough." Cheyenne shot Rose a betrayed look, but recovered quickly. She glanced at the other six members of the house. "Anyone else feel like defecting? Anyone else feel like being responsible for the integrity of Billings going down in flames?" No one moved. "Well, then, it seems the sides have officially been drawn." Cheyenne smiled slowly at us, like we were just so amusing. It was all I could do not to smack her in the face. "This should be fun."

  PLAYING THE GAME

  "I just don't understand how you got the banner down in the first place," I said to Sabine at breakfast the next day, trying to keep the conversation light. Trying not to think about what had gone down in the middle of the night. "You have to tell me how you did it."

  "I had help." She toyed with her oatmeal and looked up at me guiltily. "From Gage." "Gage? Wait. He actually knows the meaning of the word help?" I blurted. "So that's why he missed study group," Josh said. "He's actually very nice. Once you get to know him," Sabine said earnestly. Both Josh and Trey cracked up. Sabine dropped her fork and shrank in on herself. "You guys," I scolded. "Sorry," Josh said. "It doesn't matter anyway," Sabine said, staring at her food glumly. "Those girls will never approve of me." "That's not true," I assured her. "Everyone likes you." Lie. "Cheyenne is just one person. She may seem all-powerful, but she's not." Not a lie. I've seen all-powerful, and it doesn't look like Cheyenne Martin.

  "It didn't feel that way last night," Constance said, leaning her elbows on the table and slump
ing. "Not at all," Sabine added. I sat back in my chair at the usual Billings table, which still felt and probably always would feel like Noelle's chair, and blew out a frustrated sigh. These girls were never going to be able to stand up to whatever was coming next if they already felt so defeated by one little test. Next to me, Josh shifted in his seat, avoiding eye contact, most likely because he knew I didn't want to see the I told you so in his eyes. Beside him, Trey had decided to ignore the conversation and now concentrated on his bio book. Both Constance and Sabine looked exhausted after spending half the night sneaking stolen objects back into their proper places. I offered to help, but Sabine, Astrid, and Kiki had promised to assist one another and keep me out of it. Constance had gone along as well, swallowing her fear in the name of solidarity. Apparently all had gone well, since none of them had been expelled or arrested or anything. But I knew that every one of them was wondering what Cheyenne was plotting next.