Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1) - Maureen Johnson Page 0,27

think we should be okay with that. No fires. Except for in this room when I’m present. Seriously, Ellie, no fires . . .”

Ellie groaned.

Janelle raised a hand. “Soldering?” she asked.

“Fine in the common room. No one has a microwave, okay . . . No unauthorized leaving of campus. We have shuttles to Burlington on the weekends leaving at ten in the morning and coming back at four. Alert me right away in case of a medical emergency in the house. There’s a nurse living on campus, the doctor comes in three times a week, and security can respond to any medical emergency if you need immediate help. If you need to speak to anyone, you can speak to me in confidence, and we have two counselors on staff and you can make appointments online or in person. I think that’s it. . . .”

She scanned the page again.

“Most of this you can read yourself. I said no fires already. Seriously, Ellie . . .”

“No fires,” Ellie mumbled into the floor.

“Okay! Then that’s it. Everybody take a folder.”

Nate immediately grabbed a folder and scurried back to his room. Pix headed back up to her apartment. Ellie peeled herself off the floor and went to the table to lean in over Stevie and Janelle.

“Tub room,” she said to Janelle and Stevie in a low voice. “Both of you. Fifteen minutes. Bring a mug.”

It seemed like a command that should be obeyed.

Fifteen minutes later, mugs in hand, Janelle and Stevie knocked on the tub room door. Ellie was in the tub, dressed in what appeared to be nineteenth-century pantaloons and a corset. This alone would have caught Stevie’s attention, but what held it was the fact that the water was bright pink.

“Shut the door,” she said. “We needed to have a little cocktail party to celebrate your arrival.”

She indicated a pile of wet, used towels on the floor next to her as if it was a comfortable divan.

Stevie wasn’t sure where to start, really. The fact that they’d just been lectured about drinking. The fact that Ellie was in the tub, dressed in pantaloons, and dyeing herself pink. Or the fact that there was a saxophone leaning against the tub. That too.

She decided to let the whole thing go and see where the conversation took them. That was a technique in criminal investigation when you wanted to get a sense of someone—let people talk, let them guide, and they’ll take you to who they are.

“I’m just dyeing my outfit for tonight,” Ellie said.

Both Janelle and Stevie decided to sidestep the fact that Ellie was also dyeing herself pink. No need to state the obvious.

“What’s tonight?” Janelle asked.

“Tonight is the party!” Ellie said. “Here. Mugs. Here.”

She reached around clumsily behind her and pulled out a champagne bottle.

“Mugs,” Ellie said again, reaching out.

“But Pix just said . . . ,” Janelle started.

“Mugs.”

Stevie passed over her mug, and after a moment, so did Janelle. Ellie poured some foamy champagne into each.

“It’s warm,” she said. “I only managed to bring a few bottles home from France, and it’s cheap, but even the cheap stuff in Paris is better than most stuff here. Okay. I’m going to talk you through all of that. First . . .”

She raised her mug, and Stevie and Janelle got the hint that they were to clink.

“Skål.”

Ellie sipped heavily. Janelle looked into her mug. Stevie hesitated for just a moment, and then decided to go for it. She had only drunk a few times in her life, but if there had ever been a time and a place, this was probably it. And they could probably ditch the mugs in time. Probably. The champagne was warm and had a hard, mineral taste and fizzed up her nose. It was not unpleasant.

“Drinking,” Ellie said, draining her mug. “They know it happens. We’re in the middle of nowhere so that kind of limits what goes on. This is a real no-one-can-hear-you-scream kind of place.”

Janelle was still staring into her mug. She raised it to her lips a few times and was clearly pretending to drink.

“They don’t really care as long as you don’t get too messed up,” Ellie went on, rolling to the side to adjust her wet clothing. “If Pix catches you, she just makes you dump everything out. My advice: buy cheap, buy often, put it in another container. Most people get stuff on the weekend coaches to Burlington. The only thing to watch for there is that Security Larry has a