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The anticipation in the air was so thick I could feel its warmth on my neck Or maybe that was just Constance Talbot's panicked

breathing Either way, my heart started to pound as Headainst Billings I had al-

ready lost Josh I couldn't lose Billings Not now Billings House was rievous,"

Headmaster Cromwell said His white hair was perfectly coiffed, his square jaw as imperious as ever, but under the harsh fluorescents

I could see every crag in his face, every wrinkle He lifted a page of stark white paper and read fro, initiation ceremonies,

fighting, ignoring curfew on several occasions--"

"But that wasn't us That was all Cheyenne," London Simmons complained under her breath, as if she and most of the rest of my

friends hadn't gone right along with all of it London sat a few seats to my left, next to Vienna Clark, to whom she was always at-

tached at the hip They worea funeral Although no decent person would ever show that

e at a funeral

"Ignoring ht of Sunday, October thirty-first," Crore-

gious, destruction of school property" He laid the paper down and laced his fingers together on top of it "Destruction of one of the

oldest buildings on this ca s Two days ago,

most people in this rooht- after dorm on campus, I was the most blessed of the