She remembered falling into her bed right after school the day before, and between then and now, she did not remember ever having taken her clothes off. So she was definitely surprised at waking up naked under her thick blanket.

"Aaaah!" Ash suddenly shrieked.

"Well, look who's awake."

Celia had been standing over her friend for the last 15 minutes, just waiting for her to open her eyes. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring menacingly into the bottom bunk where Ash was sleeping.

"Are you gonna tell me where you were last night or do I have to torture it out of you? I'm in a very torturing mood this morning, so you better not encourage me," Celia threatened, leering at Ash for effect.

" . . . I don't feel so good." Ash managed to say.

"Oh, don't start with that, princess! You're gonna tell me where you were and what you were doing, or I will suffocate you with your own pillow."

"Dude, you can't kill me. That's murder," Ash responded lamely.

"Only if the cops find out. I could make it look like a suicide," Celia responded, a little too quickly.

"Ugh, you're making my head hurt, Celia! No one's going to believe that I choked myself to death under my own pillow!"

Celia wasn't always great at quick arguments, and her dumb wit, which Ash usually found endearing, was not helping with her headache that morning. She took her arms out from under her blanket and put her fingers to her temples, ma.s.saging them.

"Well, I was gonna do something else, not just the pillow. I was gonna . . . uh . . . push you out the window," Celia retorted, backpedaling unconvincingly. She squared her shoulders as if she were trying to prove a point.

[We're on the second floor, dummy. Unless you dangle me by my feet and drop me on my head, I won't really die. And even then the school will get me to the hospital so quick there's almost no chance of me dying. You're terrible at this, Celia] Ash thought to herself.

Celia noticed Ash's bare shoulders coming out of her blanket and immediately asked, "Hey, are you naked under there?!"

Ash's head started throbbing even harder.

"Yes, yes I am, Celia. I am wearing nothing under this blanket, and it's actually kind of cold," she answered sarcastically.

"Dude, obviously! Come on! You'll catch a cold sleeping naked, what's wrong with you?!"

"That's not how colds work---"

Celia quickly leaned over and placed her hand on Ash's forehead. Her skin was hot to the touch: she was burning with a fever.

"Ashy, you're burning up . . ." Celia's demeanor quickly s.h.i.+fted from annoyed to concerned. She sat next to Ash on her bed. Ash screwed her eyes shut and burrowed into the blanket.

"I'll get you some clothes, okay? Put them on while I go get Ms. Hennie." Celia went through Ash's closet and put some clothes on her bed. As she went to get the Dorm Supervisor, Ms. Hennie, she left a voice message for Isabelle.

"Hey, Izzy. Ash is sick. I'm going to get Ms. Hennie to look in on her right now. I'll see you later."

Ash had a fever, so the Dorm Supervisor told her to stay at the dorm and rest for the day. Since it wasn't too serious, Celia left to go to cla.s.s, leaving Ash alone in the room. She stayed in bed the entire morning, falling in and out of sleep. She was only vaguely aware of Ms. Hennie dropping off her lunch. For some reason, she hoped that Ms. Hennie would be the pizza delivery guy, even though she knew boys weren't allowed inside the Girls' Dorm.

When cla.s.s ended in the afternoon, Celia and Isabelle walked back to the dorm to check on Ash. While they were walking, Isabelle noticed that someone was following them.

"Celia," she began, "why is Hunter Guzman following us?"

Celia shrugged. "Maybe he's just going the same way?"

Isabelle glanced back at the boy who was walking not so far behind them.

"Darling, unless he's also headed to the Girls' Dorm, then he's definitely following us."

Celia raised her eyebrow at Izzy. "What would he want with us?"

"Hey!"

Hunter came running up to the girls just outside the Girls' Dorm. At least a few female students turned toward his voice and several girls inside the building practically pressed their faces to the window.

"h.e.l.lo, Hunter," Isabelle answered, coolly.

"Can I talk to you guys for a second?" he asked with a friendly smile.

"We can talk here," Isabelle said, staring icicles into Hunter's face. Celia quietly crossed her arms across her chest and flashed him a thin-lipped smile that was more obstinate than friendly.

"People are staring at us. I'd like to speak to you privately," Hunter answered, his smile unwavering. His amiable tone parried Isabelle's coldness. The boy was used to winning people over. He gestured to a nearby tree.

When they were at a safe distance away from eavesdroppers, Celia spoke first.

"So, did the girls stop coming to you that you had to come here?"

Hunter ignored the question.

It was no secret that a number of girls would go to the Boys' Dorm to ask for Hunter and his friends. With its elite credentials, many families considered Saint Blaise's Academy as a meat market for their children: many were encouraged to make connections with the sons and daughters of other powerful families. Hunter and his best friend Luka not only belonged to megrich families, but they were also among the more attractive heirs at SBA. Heiresses were falling over themselves for the chance to go out with either of them.

"I just wanted to ask you about Boots. Is she okay?"

Isabelle and Celia's eyes locked together in a heartbeat. Isabelle tilted her head sharply and Celia shrugged back and quickly nodded. Their perfect wordless communication was a s.h.i.+ning display of best friends.h.i.+p.

"Yeah," Celia replied. "She's a little sick today, but she's fine."

"Sick how?" Hunter pressed.

"Oh, just a little fever. Did you need something from her?" Celia asked as casually as she could muster.

"No, just asking."

"You came all the way here just to ask about her?" Isabelle interposed.

"Yeah," Hunter replied, sounding nonchalant. "I didn't see her today, I just thought I'd ask."

Hunter slicked his hair back from his forehead. He bit the corner of his lip and then added, "Could you tell Ash I asked about her?"

"Sure man," Celia answered. "I'll let her know you were here."

"Yeah . . . uh, thanks," Hunter nodded, s.h.i.+fting his weight from one foot to the other. For a moment, he seemed to hesitate. Then he looked up and smiled at the 2 girls, his usual confident demeanor belying the split second of indecision.

"I'll see you guys around. Bye!" He gave them a little wave and walked away, head high and shoulders back, exuding the confidence and swagger of a young royal.

Hunter's posturing didn't fool Isabelle. She had caught all the little signs of Hunter's vacillation. She noted the genuine concern in his voice when he pressed Celia about Ash's condition.

Celia didn't catch his hesitation; she was stuck on his words. Why was he asking about Ash when they weren't even friends?

"What do you think that was about?" Celia asked Izzy.

"I'm not sure. But he looked worried about her. You caught that, right?"

"Huh? No way. He probably just needed an excuse to go to the Girls' Dorm. He doesn't even know Ash like that."

"Hmm," Isabelle murmured, tapping her finger on her chin.

"When you go see Ash, tell her Hunter asked about her. See how she reacts to it."

Celia scratched at her neck. "I dunno, Izzy. I think Hunter just wants to mess with her. I actually wasn't going to bring that up."

Isabelle put her hand on Celia's shoulder. "Maybe he knew where she went last night, did you think about that?"

Celia furrowed her brows.

"Look. Ash disappears. She misses cla.s.s for one day and suddenly Hunter---who's only spoken to us a handful of times---wants to know if she's okay? You do the math."

"Ash and Hunter, really?!" Celia asked, skeptical.

Isabelle just shrugged in response.

Upstairs in her room, Ash sneezed out of nowhere.

Hunter, who was on his way to the pool, tripped on the pavement and lost his footing for a second.