Private 11 - Scandal by Kate Brian

Author:Kate Brian [Brian, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781416984702
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2010-09-14T14:00:00+00:00

THE THIRD TEST

“Ew! Omigod! I just stepped on a dead thing!”

Shelby screeched and barreled into me at the center of the chapel, holding on to me for dear life. I’d requested all the potentials wear “manual labor attire.” For Shelby, this meant Paper Denim jeans, a cashmere “sweatshirt,” tan kitten heels, and pearls. There were dots of sweat across her otherwise perfect brow and her hair was coming loose from its bun. All very odd since I hadn’t seen her do a shred of work since we’d gotten there two hours earlier. Each potential—well, everyone except Constance, who, for some reason, had yet to arrive—had been given a chore. Shelby’s task had been to clear the cobwebs from the wall sconces and candelabras—all of which were still filthy.

“What is it? Omigod, what is it? Do I have rabies?”

Her fingernails dug into my skin through her work gloves and the thick fabric of my Penn State sweatshirt. Half the girls scurried away from the wall where Shelby had been “working,” which in her world amounted to waving a feather duster in the vicinity of a wooden sconce. Astrid, however, heaved a sigh and tromped right over, scanning her flashlight along the seam where the wall met the floor.

“It’s just a mouse,” she said.

“Ewwwwww!” everyone cried.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it.” Astrid dumped some old salt packets out of a brown paper bag and used it as a glove to pick the dead mouse up by its tail.

“Ewwwwwww!” The moans came as she lifted the thing toward the garbage pail. She dumped it in with a thud, then tossed the bag as well and smacked her hands together.

“Done. Let’s move on, shall we?” she said, flicking her black bangs off her forehead with a glittery purple fingernail. “We’re really making some progress here.”

Astrid had been working her tail off sweeping the floors. I’d always known the girl was cool, but it was nice to know she wasn’t afraid of a little dirt. Or a dead rodent.

“No. No way. That’s it. I’m outta here,” Shelby said, finally releasing me and raising her hands. She peeled off her yellow vinyl gloves and gingerly tossed them on the pew Lorna and Missy were dusting and polishing.

“Shelby, you can’t go,” Portia said. She had a streak of dirt across her cheek and a broom in her hand. For the first time since I’d known her, all the gold necklaces she wore were tucked inside her collar and her T-shirt was rumpled. Her makeup, however, was still perfectly intact. “If you leave …”

She looked at me, a question in her eyes. I turned to Shelby.

“If you don’t complete the three tasks, you can’t be considered for membership,” I said. Although, she’d already been at the bottom of the list anyway, what with her poor showing on loyalty night (she’d lost her five pins almost as fast as Missy had lost hers), and with tonight’s nonperformance. Not that she needed to know that.

My words hung thick and dark in the air.

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