Free Vengeance by Kate Brian Page B

the ready. Several reporters, some with microphones and cameras, others with tape recorders or notepads, were focusedon me. Behind me on the stage, all the members of the Billings Board of Directors were seated in their chairs, waiting to hear my speech. I glanced down at Headmaster Hathaway as I passed him by and was almost surprised he didn’t shoot out a leg to trip me.
    “Thank you, everyone, for that amazing welcome, and thanks for simply being here. Before I get started I’d like to thank Headmaster Hathaway and the Board of Directors for granting me the distinct honor of rebuilding Billings House.” I looked over at the board, each member more distinguished-looking and proud than the last. “I wouldn’t be here without your support.”
    Taking a deep breath, I faced the crowd. I had prepared a short speech, which I had practiced for anyone who would listen, and I had thought I was ready for this, but at that moment my head felt somehow heavy and light all at once. A slight breeze tickled the back of my neck and sent a foreboding skitter down my spine. I glanced over my shoulder quickly, feeling as if someone was watching me from behind. Across the yawning hole of the foundation, Larry Genovese stood with a dozen other workers, all clad in safety vests and hard hats, ready for their cue. As I scanned their faces, I saw a shock of blond hair as someone in a dark jacket ducked behind one of the trailers. My breath caught, but the creeper didn’t appear again, and I was left wondering if I’d imagined it.
    “Reed,” Carolina said through her teeth. “Are you okay?”
    I took another breath and nodded.
Don’t let whoever broke into your room get you all paranoid. Don’t let them ruin this moment,
I told myself as I faced forward again.
Don’t let them have the power.
    “As many of you know, my background is different from most of the student population of Easton,” I began. “I came here last year as a scholarship student, unsure of where I’d fit in, clueless as to what it meant to attend a private school. I remember staring out my window that first night, feeling so homesick it scared me. A huge part of me wanted to flee. I wanted to go back to Pennsylvania and the world I knew. And I might have done that, if it wasn’t for the friends I found at Billings.”
    I looked down at Noelle and she gave me a closed-lipped, encouraging smile.
    “That’s not to say we didn’t have our bumps at first, as we tried to get to know each other, as I began to understand their world, but before long I came to think of Billings as my true home, my housemates as my sisters. I began to realize what an honor it is to be a part of a grand tradition like Billings, and I was heartbroken when that tradition was taken away.”
    I paused for a moment as cameras clicked and a few people in the crowd murmured. Suddenly I recalled with perfect clarity how it felt that day when Noelle and I had come back to campus to find Billings flattened. The confusion, the devastation, the hopelessness. It was all I could do to keep from glancing over at Headmaster Hathaway accusatorily.
    “But now I have a second chance. We all have a second chance. To make Billings what it should be. To make it what we all know it can be. A place where young women can live and work together, share ideas, share their dreams and goals, and foster a sense of support as they make their way out into the world.”
    Someone shouted and there was another round of applause from the alumnae dotted throughout the crowd.
    “So now, it gives me great pleasure to invite Billings alum Carolina Grant and Headmaster Hathaway to help me cut the ribbon and officially get this project under way.”
    The various members of the press clamored for a better angle as Carolina, Mr. Hathaway, and I walked over to the shiny red ribbon tied between two orange cones at the top of the construction site. Mr. Hathaway’s assistant handed us a huge pair of scissors, which Carolina and I