Read The Ivy: Scandal for Free Online Page B

Callie from the center of her bedroom’s bulletin board.
    Alexis Thorndike had finally won. The evidence was sitting right next to her, wearing one of his signature cashmere sweater vests: Clint Weber, Trophy Boyfriend of the Year, who looked perfectly thrilled as the salad course arrived to offer Lexi the first bite off his fork.
    Seriously? Spoon-feeding already crossed a million PDA lines but fork-feeding? Since when were vegetables supposed to be sexy?
    Callie’s stomach rolled over and not just because she was hungry. Clint seemed content to act as if Callie had never existed, as if he had never scrawled Callie + Clint in the snow after they’d constructed an award-winning snowman, or built Callie a private ice skating rink, or brought her favorite Starbucks coffee drink to the Crimson offices nearly every evening she had to work late for COMP.
    “Ahem-hem- hem .” Vanessa cleared her throat. “Stare much?” she added, poking Callie under the table.
    “Oops,” Callie muttered, averting her eyes. “Still, I don’t know why I agreed to let you two drag me to this thing, anyway.”
    Appearing scandalized, Vanessa brandished her knife. “Haven’t you ever heard the phrase ‘Guilty until she shows up at the next charity event dressed to the nines’?”
    “Uh…no?” said Callie.
    “ Oui, oui ,” Mimi offered between bites. “In cases like these you have simply got to keep calm and carry on.”

    Callie wrinkled her nose. “Wasn’t that the British government’s slogan created in case the Nazis successfully invaded?”
    “ Exactement .” Mimi nodded.
    Before Callie could respond, the main course arrived. As she took a bite of her lasagna, OK’s voice carried from where he was seated on the other side of the table.
    “Now, what exactly are you trying to imply?” he demanded of the boy seated to his left.
    The boy, a sophomore Callie barely knew, shrugged. “Hey, man, it’s not like I’m the first to suggest it! And all I’m saying is that it looks suspicious: not showing up at the emergency meeting about the Punch Book and then leaving school in the middle of the night….”
    Callie ducked her head, struggling to tune out OK’s reply. Unfortunately everyone else in the vicinity appeared riveted, nodding and murmuring their agreement that there was something “very suspicious indeed” about how Gregory had vanished only hours before the final Insider article went live. Even over OK’s protests, rumors began to sweep down the table like wildfire in a sudden wind.
    Callie watched, horrified, Vanessa’s viselike grip on her arm urging her to act innocent and say nothing —
    Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding .
    On the opposite end of the room Alessandra stood, summoning their attention by tinkling a knife against her water glass. “Fellow members…friends,” she began, clearing her throat. “I can assureyou, with absolute certainty, that Gregory is not the Ivy Insider.”
    The lingering whispers and murmurs ceased; silence fell across the room.
    “He left before the Punch Book was published, so he had no idea that any of this was going on here at the club until yesterday”—her eyes roamed, pausing briefly on Callie—“when we finally had the opportunity to speak over the phone.”
    Callie stared at her, but Alessandra’s gaze had shifted and she addressed the entire room.
    “In fact, as it turns out, he’s never even read a single Insider article!” She cleared her throat. “And so, with his… blessing …I’d like to take this opportunity to put any rumors to rest. Not only is Gregory not the Insider, but his father’s company will not be declaring bankruptcy, thanks in part to an investment from my father’s firm that I am now authorized and happy to confirm. I— we —are also thrilled to announce our plans to stay together through this despite any external…turmoil.”
    Callie could feel Mimi’s and Vanessa’s eyes on her, but she kept hers trained straight ahead, an odd