Immediately, I sense three things: one, Aria couldn’t give a flying fuck what people think of her; two, she doesn’t care one bit about her title, no matter what she leads everyone else to believe; and three, somehow—weirdly, really—I sense a kindred spirit.
“Come on, girl. Let’s get you dressed and go downstairs. I’ll give you the dirt on everyone. That way you’ll be going into battle armed.” Before I realize what she’s doing, she’s tearing into my closet.
I cringe. I know what’s in there. A whole lot of nothing. Just like me. I’m nobody.
She backs out, glances over her shoulder at me. “Okay. Not a lot to work with here.”
“I know, I—” I fully expect to see pity in her eyes but when I look, it’s not there.
She holds out a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Don’t say a word.” She pokes her head back into the closet and pulls out a black tank top. “You have jeans?”
I nod and go grab them from the dresser.
“Okay, good. Put those on, and this,” she commands, handing me the tank.
I stare at her for a second.
“Don’t tell me you’re shy.” She snorts. “Go in the bathroom if you need to. But what are you going to do when you have PE 12 and need to change in the locker room? Or gymnastics practice, for that matter.”
I look up at her, flabbergasted as I yank my leggings down and kick them off. “You know my schedule?” I slip into my skinny jeans and button them up, then peel my T-shirt off, replacing it with the tank.
Aria grabs the side of the shirt, pulling it into a knot so that it leaves a sliver of my stomach bare before she ducks back into the closet and grabs a lacy cropped top—one of my few nice-looking pieces of clothing. Truth be told, it’s Mom’s, and I didn’t tell her I was taking it with me.
“Of course I know your schedule. On even days, like Tuesday, we have all but one class together. Then on odd days, we have two of four together.”
“But how the hell did you manage that?”
“I have my ways. Stick with me, chick. I’ll help you out.” Hands on her hips, she squints for a second. “You have any makeup?”
“Sure. I was going to go to bed until I realized I wouldn’t be able to sleep through this.” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder toward the chaos in the backyard. She follows me into the bathroom, where I pull open a drawer, wrinkling my nose at what little I have. “It’s pretty basic stuff.”
“No worries. I just wanted an eyeliner and a mascara to play up your eyes. Do you mind?” At the shake of my head, she sets to work. When she spins me back around to face the mirror two minutes later, it’s me, only better.
“Wow. You’re good at that.”
Aria winks. “I’ll teach you sometime. But first, I wanna go down there and fill you in on all things Rosehaven. Come on.”