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An undefined expression es would want sohtening again "I’ve got a dare for you, badass" She pointed at a girl across the rooed, Pocahontas-like jue Native American headdress "Steal that from her Put it on I bet you’d look hot in it"

Eirl’s crush "You’re on"

Giggling, she darted across the floor until she was a few feet away frorabbed the headdress froirl’s head Emily’s arms were suddenly full of feathers Pocahontas’s hands flew to her hair She whipped around in ti the headdress on her own head and running wildly through the loft

"You rock!" theout with you again? I’ll die if we don’t become friends"

Emily almost blurted that she hoped they’d become more than friends "Giveout her cell phone "God I just realized I don’t even know your nairl slowly traced her finger over the label of her handbag "I’ smile and handed over her unlisted phone nuive it out to anyone besides family and very close friends, but all of a sudden, that felt like soht, she’d left Old Emily behind

Chapter 6

A FALLEN STAR

The following reen velvet chair in the auditoriued copy of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth with all of the lines for Lady Macbeth, the character she was playing in the Honors Drahted in pink h the first scene, Pierre Castle, the brand-new Honors Drama teacher and director, clapped his hands

"Okay! Lady M, up on the stage!" Pierre, who insisted that students use his first name, refused to utter the name Macbeth in fear of the centuries-old curse--apparently, those who dared speak it aloud had succus, and gotten ed Today was Pierre’s first rehearsal as director, and he’d started off by calling the production "The Scottish Play" and addressing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth by their initials, which confused most of the freshmen Pierre had been called in to pinch-hit when Christophe, the school’s venerable old teacher-director, moved to Italy with his boyfriend Everyone said Pierre had been a score, though He’d been a drae for a production of Cymbeline in Philly and quite a few Shakespeare in the Park seasons in New York City

Tucking the script under her arht, she’d tossed and turned until the wee hours of the ure out how the horrible Princeton admissions mix-up had happened At 2 AM, she’d thrown the covers back and looked at the letter again, hoping it wasn’t real But when she’d looked up Bettina Bloom on Princeton’s website, there she was, head of the ad in her photo

It was preposterous that there was another high-achieving Spencer Hastings in this world Spencer had also Google-stalked Spencer F, as she’d begun to call his had run for mayor in Darien, Connecticut, as a sixteen-year-old and al around the world with his dad last suhouse science prize in tenth grade All of the pictures on his page showed a scrubbed, handsoly polite to old ladies but had six girlfriends at any given time When Spencer F received the saed and contacted sonitary or Hollywood director he was BFFs with and asked thely worded phone call to admissions

This wasn’t fair Spencer had worked et into Princeton She’d also done horrible things in order to secure her spot, including ruining Kelsey’s future last summer She had to be the Spencer as admitted

But while SpencerShe had starred as the lead in every play the school put on, starting with her title role in The Little Red Hen in first grade From there, she’d beat out Ali--really Courtney--for the role of Laura in the seventh grade’s production of The Glass Menagerie, iility In eighth grade, after Ali vanished--or, rather, after the Real Ali killed her--she’d played Mary in Long Day’s Journey into Night, receiving a standing ovation Last year’s Hamlet was the only production she hadn’t starred in, and that was because she’d been banned froiarized her sister’s Golden Orchid essay It was actually a godsend that Rosewood Day was putting on Macbeth this year and that Spencer was cast as Lady Macbeth--it was a challenging role, one that the Princeton adh to give her an edge over Spencer F

The floorboards on the stage squeaked under Spencer’s battleship-gray J Crew ballet flats Pierre, as clad in all-black garb and hat looked suspiciously like guy-liner, tapped a silver Mont Blanc pen against his lips "We’re going to try your sleepwalking scene, Lady M Did you run through that with Christophe?"

"Of course," Spencer lied Actually, Christophe had been so busy with his relocation plans that he’d assumed Spencer knew her lines and didn’t need to practice

Pierre’s gaze dropped to the script in Spencer’s hands "Are you still using that? The perforot all h it wasn’t exactly true

She heard a snicker off to the left "She would so not get into Yale Drama," someone said in a low voice

Spencer whipped around The voice belonged to Beau Braswell, another new transplant to Rosewood Day and Spencer’s costar as Macbeth "Pardon?" Spencer de"

Ugh Spencer turned back around and pushed up the sleeves of her Rosewood Day blazer Beau had h cheekbones, longish dark hair, intentional bad-boy scruff, and beat-up Indian motorcycle, he’d quickly becoirl except Spencer, that is Last e acceptances rolled in, he’d casually ra about it Every Single Day The Yale reference especially stung today, now that Spencer’s future was so precarious