Page 22 of Born in Sin
She glanced at him, met his shuttered gaze, and glanced away. What she was going to say was going to detonate their tentative peace. And still, she plowed on.
“I think we should have someone infiltrate their little brotherhood.” Cara wet her lips, nerves skittering as she tried to lay this out for them.
Ishaan raised a hand, a self-deprecating smirk on his lips. “Been there, done that. Didn’t work.”
“Not one of you,” she scoffed. “That idiotic idea was destined to fail. Why would any of the DD’s allow any of you into their inner circle? Ever?”
Ishaan shot her the middle finger and she stuck her tongue out at him. Appalled at herself, she tucked her tongue back into her mouth. Shit, old habits were hard to break. She tipped hernose up in the air and tried to pretend that break in poise hadn’t occurred.
“It can’t be one of you,” she repeated. “We need someone ridiculously handsome, wildly successful, horrifically rich and with enough pull to make them desperate to include him in their shenanigans.”
“Wow, way to stab us in the gut, Celi,” Ishaan muttered.
“Cara,” Virat and she corrected him together.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. “You can call me that in private if you want. But I need to stay Cara, in public, for any of this to work,” she said quietly. “And anyway, I’m not Celina anymore. I haven’t been for years. I’d appreciate it if you guys could keep my identity from Dhrithi and Mayukhi as well. For now.”
Amay looked uncomfortable. “I won’t lie to Dhriths.”
“The Kraken would have my balls if I tried,” Ishaan added.
The Kraken she assumed was Mayukhi. That was weirdly appropriate if her memories of the feisty, popular girl were accurate.
“Then please, tell them and ask them to keep it to themselves. And just so we don’t slip up, maybe just call me Cara at all times.”
“So,” Ishaan prompted. “This wildly successful, handsome, rich unicorn you were talking about? The one who is going to have the DD’s salivating at the thought of being his new bestie. Who is he?”
“Kabir Raizada,” she said, her chest tightening as her heart pounded against her rib cage. She could feel Virat’s gaze lasering into the side of her face, her cheeks warming under his burning stare.
“The movie star?” Amay asked, his eyebrows shooting up. “Can we afford to trust him?”
“Yes.” Cara’s hand tightened around the glass of water she still held.
“Why would he help us out?” Ishaan frowned.
“Because he’s her co-star,” Virat said, his quiet voice entering the conversation.
Cara took a deep breath. “And because he’s my boyfriend.”
Crestwood
Sunaina was in the ninth grade and had been in the middle of her chemistry lab class this morning when she threw up all over her beakers. The solution hadn’t turned blue as it was meant to.
Virat lay in his bed in the corner of the infirmary watching as her parents rushed in to fuss over her. They’d flown in as soon the school had informed them about her supposed stomach bug.
It had been five days since he’d collapsed from the infection caused by the burn on his shoulder. His father hadn’t come. He’d heard the nurse telling his father that Virat had been admitted in the hospital for a day for an intravenous antibiotic. And then he’d watched her face tighten with whatever response she’d received.
There had been no call to his mother. Which wasn’t surprising since no one knew who she was. Not even Virat. And his father’s wife would rather see him rot in a shallow grave than turn up at his bedside.
His fever had broken but he still felt like he’d been run over by a truck or something. His shoulder ached, his body felt weak, and he had no energy for anything other than to lie there and watch Sunaina moan and groan while her parents fussed over her.
What would they do if they found out that their precious daughter didn’t have the stomach bug, he wondered? All she was doing was recovering from her first hangover. He’d known about the plan for the party the tenth graders were having to celebrate the end of term exams. Just like he’d known that the smuggled in alcohol and smokes, regular and pot, had been supplied by the Dusty Devils.
He'd traded that information for something far more valuable. Their silence on Ishaan’s assignment for a fee scheme. Out of the three of them, Ishaan was the one who couldn’t afford to lose his place at Crestwood.
The door to the infirmary opened and Celina walked in, a bunch of raggedy flowers in her hand. She seemed to have tied them together with her hair scrunchy, because her braid appeared to be coming loose at the ends. She whispered something to Nurse who nodded with a dark look in Virat’s direction. The minute Celina turned towards him, Nurse reached for her phone.
“You should go,” he told her, the minute she reached his bed. “Nurse is calling your mother.”
