Georgetown Academy, Book One

Chapter Seven

Tuesday, 11:08pm.

Ellie was lost somewhere in the basement of the Saratov house. She had been searching for Brinley for the past twenty minutes, ever since Brooks informed her that Brinley had dumped Graham. Maybe that’s why she had been acting so strange today. Ellie was so relieved that she and Brinley had made up as soon as she got to the party, but now felt guilty for being so caught up with her own drama that she hadn’t realized Brinley was having problems with Graham.

Ellie’s phone chirped with a text. It was from Brooks. Found B. In car otw home. She sent Brinley a quick text telling her to call if she wanted her to come over, then started her search for a staircase out of the basement. Hunter was probably wondering where she had disappeared to again.

She turned the corner and found herself at the entrance of an indoor sports court where a few drunk guys were playing basketball and a poor intern was throwing up in the corner. She grimaced, then turned around and headed back the way she came.

She finally found the staircase, which was partially obscured by a gigantic ice luge. A crowd had erupted around it, cheering Narc on as he drank the Kamikaze shot someone poured down from the top.

That’s when she saw Gabe making his way down the stairs.

She could run the other way again and hide in the sport/vomit court or she could talk to Gabe like she had been telling herself earlier she needed to do. They could just hash it all out and then she could move on.

He was still a few steps from the bottom of the staircase when he spotted her over the crowd. They locked eyes, and for a split second, the music drowned out and it was like she and Gabe were the only two people in the house. As he walked toward her, the room slowly came back into focus and Ellie reminded herself to breathe.

“Who’s following who now?” Gabe asked, having to yell over the music. His black T-shirt made his eyes appear the same color. She tried not to lose herself in them.

“I think we should talk,” she shouted back. She wanted to keep all the emotion out of her voice, but it was difficult considering she was practically screaming at him.

“Whatever you want. Can we go somewhere else, though?”

Ellie didn’t exactly want to have this conversation while competing with Carly Rae Jepsen, but she didn’t trust herself to be in a room alone with Gabe either. After a mini-internal debate, she decided it was more important that this conversation wasn’t held in public. She nodded.

They made their way in silence through an entirely different wing of the basement until they came across a closed door. When Gabe opened it, Ellie was expecting to find another gym or maybe an indoor pool, but instead, it was an ornate room filled with bottle after bottle of top-shelf vodka from around the world. She shivered as they entered and Gabe shut the door behind them. The room was freezing; clearly, the temperature had been set for the vodka and not for the thin piece of fabric Helmut Lang had woven into a tank top.

“Here,” Gabe said as he handed her his jacket. She didn’t want to take it. Putting it on was like proving she needed him. And she didn’t want to need him.