garbage bag along with my bedding. Noelle glared at me for a long moment, then sighed, like I was
just so juvenile.
"Fine. But I will be taking back the disc," she said. "That cannot remain in the possession of a
nonresident."
My face prickled with heat. No one else in the room knew about the disc.
"Disc? What disc?" Sabine asked, her green eyes suddenly curious.
"Noelle," I said through my teeth. "I haven't told anyone about the--"
21
"It's this disc that was given to Reed by the alums," Noelle said loudly, addressing Sabine. "It's
chock-full of inside info on all of us--on anyone who has ever lived in Billings. She's had it all
semester, Sabine. I'm surprised she didn't share it with you, of all people."
Bitch. Total bitch. It wasn't enough she was throwing me out. Now she was trying to drive a wedge
between me and Sabine.
"Inside info?" Astrid asked tentatively. "What kind of inside info?"
"Like stuff about our families and stuff?" Constance said, wide-eyed.
"Like stuff about our past?" Sabine added.
The tension in the room was palpable. All three of them were completely freaked by the idea that I
might know their secrets. Noelle, meanwhile, smiled like the Cheshire cat.
"I haven't read any of your files," I said, looking around at Sabine, Constance, and Astrid. "I
wouldn't do that." Then I paused and glanced at Noelle. "To you guys, at least," I added in a
leading way.
I had never looked at Noelle's file, either, but why not let her think I had? She deserved a touch of
paranoia considering what she was putting me through. But of course her smile didn't falter.
"The disc, Reed," she said. "You know you have no right to it now."
There was no point in arguing this. I could tell she wasn't about to give up. And now more than
anything I just wanted to get her out of my room. I turned around and grabbed my portable CD
case, then flipped to the John Mayer CD in the back. From behind it, I extracted the Billings disc,
which I'd placed there after looking at my own file
22
last month. As I turned around, Sabine, Constance, and Astrid all stared at the disc as if it were a