The Ivies - Alexa Donne Page 0,49

who sabotaged Autumn’s placement on the team, shouldn’t I have noticed? They’re my friends. And I’m the one who stole her spot.

There’s no time to apologize, though. Autumn is already forging ahead.

“And if that’s not enough for you, how about poisoning Jason before the ACT? Not to speak ill of the dead, but that’s what your friend Emma did. She slipped him laxatives. Last year, February sitting, he loses it right after Emma buys him a coffee. Confirmed.”

“That’s…insane,” I settle on, hardly adequate for the mental images Autumn’s story conjures up. I don’t realize I’m shaking until Ethan’s hand covers mine under the table. A moment and my heart begins to slow. I think. “But why would Emma mess with Jason’s ACT score? He applied to WashU, not an Ivy.” There’s no point in even pretending that my friends and I weren’t aggressively protecting our Ivy status. Clubs and class ranking transcended all school choices, but there was no reason to sabotage a test score unless someone was a direct competitor. We’re not villains.

Autumn snorts. “Yeah, he switched to WashU because he knew if you guys thought he was still gunning for Princeton, there’d be a target on his back. After the laxatives, none of us wanted to even think of what you might do.”

It takes my hand going cold for me to notice that Ethan’s removed his. It’s as if all the oxygen has been sucked from the room. Then Ethan hops up, wiggles his empty glass, and says, “I’m empty. Anyone else need a refill?”

Autumn and I wave him off, and my lungs slowly fill back up with air. I realize this is an ideal opportunity—the only one, really—to ask her my burning question.

“What about Avery? Rebecca mentioned blackmail.”

Her triumphant smirk falls into a scowl.

“God, that bitch.” Autumn’s nostrils flare as she releases a huff. “Look, I’ll tell you only because Stina’s long gone, but if I hear shit about it, I will hunt you down and I will kill you.”

As soon as the threat is out of her mouth, Autumn’s eyes go wide and she smacks a hand over her lips as if to take it back. “Shit, you know I don’t mean that. Given everything that’s happened, with Emma. But…” She groans. “Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

I give her my word, now desperate to get this information any which way I can.

“Avery…hooked up with Stina. Led her on. And then Avery said that unless Stina endorsed you for editor in chief, she would tell Stina’s very Christian, very conservative parents that she was queer. It’s cliché as shit, and trust me, Stina is living her truth at Emory, but still. Her parents haven’t caught up with the times, and they one hundred percent would have withdrawn tuition support and probably kicked her out, too. Serious shit. Avery is garbage.”

“Shit.” It slips out as I lean back in my chair. I suck down an Arnold Palmer, my mind a jumble. Avery gay-baited someone to get me the editor job? And then I didn’t even get it! Well, not exactly. I preferred the version where she told me it had been bribery. Avery has money in spades. But integrity? You only get so much. Avery’s is shot.

“How do you know all this?” I ask in a whisper. I look to the drinks station to track Ethan’s position, but I don’t see him.

“I caught them together. And then you got her endorsement, which I thought was weird, given she didn’t even like you that much. Oh, no offense. I confronted her and she told me.”

“I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, good, you’re making up!” Ethan appears with a full glass of orange soda and a wide grin. Thank god he only caught my apology and not the reason for it.

Autumn snorts, finishing her turkey burger, then her water. “Making up, sure.” She softens the slightest bit. “But thank you for apologizing. I’m still not exactly a fan of yours, Olivia, but it’s good to know you were kind of in the dark about all of this. One less totally heinous bitch at this school. The Ivies, though. It was a matter of time before one of them ended up dead.” With that, Autumn picks up her tray, leaving Ethan and me still sitting behind her.

Humiliation burns my cheeks. Even without the Avery bombshell, Ethan’s heard enough.

“We were all ambitious,” I say, as though that justifies anything. “I never thought they’d take it that far.”

I’m all too aware