Welcome to Bridgeport Academy, an elite boarding school in New York where glamorous rich kids don't let rules get in the way of a good time.
[ Based on the It Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar ]
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Aubrey spied Kae in the distance, coming over the dewy green hill from Hunter Hall, the English building. She'd carefully arranged her long hair into two perky braids and was wearing a white button-down shirt, her Bridgeport jacket, and a cute little khaki skirt. Aubrey could almost imagine her as a farm girl, on her way to milk a cow or something.
Teyana Taylor and Keke Palmer hugged their books to their chests and smiled at him as they passed. "Hey, Aubrey," Teyana cooed. Aubrey smiled distractedly. "Saw you eating dinner last night with that Kae girl. Did she really sleep with some guy from St. Lucius?"
"What?" Aubrey asked, scratching an artfully tweezed eyebrow.
"I heard she slept with a guy from St. Lucius and Chris, all in one week!"
"And don't forget, she was ponied!" shrieked Keke.
Aubrey was a little tired of the term pony. All the girls were throwing it around and acting completely ridiculous about it. Worse, Dave loved that they'd made up a sex term just for him. Last night, before heading to dinner, Dave had poked him in his stomach and boasted, "You wanna bet I can pony someone between first and second courses?"
"She didn't say anything happened between her and Chris," Aubrey replied evenly, trying to sound calm.
"She's worse than Jasmine!" Teyana and Keke giggled, then linked arms and walked off.
"No she—" Aubrey started. But they were already gone. Personally, Aubrey felt nauseated over all the rumors about Kae. He'd even heard she'd been caught having loud sex with Chris last night. The stories were all over school. Not that he believed Kae had done it, she was way too sweet to do something like that. Especially with a dog like Chris.
Kae was still walking toward him, looking even more innocent and wide-eyed than when he had first met her. He reached out and caught her arm as she passed. "Hey."
Kae stopped, deep in a daze. "Oh!" she exclaimed. Now that she was looking at him, he could see the dark circles under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in days. "Hey."
"You okay?"
"Um, sure."
"I got you this." He searched through his satchel and found a turkey-and-cheese sandwich wrapped in a dining hall napkin. "I didn't see you at lunch, and I thought you might be hungry."
"Yeah, I was e-mailing my dad." Kae pressed her lips together, not looking him in the eye. "It's just...I'm kind of ready to crack under the pressure," she admitted, her lips trembling. "I don't know what to do."
"What happened?"
"Never mind." Kae shook her head, her chin quivering. "I'm all right. I just have to think about things for a while, you know?"
Aubrey wondered what she meant. Did this mean she had been with Chris after all? Or that someone was just spreading vicious rumors about her? Chris, probably. God, he hated Chris.
