Second Thoughts Read Online Free

also told her little cousin that
she’d
kissed my boyfriend on the night of the Winter Ball too, and that I’d slapped her for it. Probably not. And obviously,
I
still had the guy, despite that Alexis was the hands-down most beautiful and popular girl on campus and had been making her play for Carter for years. Now I knew I’d have to keep my eye on Amanda just as much as her cousin.
    â€œWell, Alexis would know about those things,” I said, and I applauded myself for being polite. “I’m sure she’s told you all about Northbrook.” Amanda just smiled sweetly and leaned over to whisper to the girl next to her. I resisted the urge to sigh. I didn’t want a girl rival in my own grade, let alone her Mini-Me to contend with in mygroup of advisees. But I didn’t have any choice about it either, so I just continued our get-to-know-each-other session with a smile of my own and an enthusiastic, “So, any more questions?”
    We made it through the rest of the evening without any more awkwardness, but truth be told, I was a little distracted. Once Amanda had mentioned her, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jillian Christensen. Jill.
    Yes, it was true, she’d kissed Carter at the Winter Ball. She wasn’t his ex-girlfriend though, actually more like his cousin. She was Daniel Astor’s daughter and had been in love with Carter for years. Also, little -known fact about her: she’d tried, and nearly succeeded, to kill me. The only reason
she’d
died and I saved her was because I used my Hangman gift—the one that let me stop a person’s heart with just a touch and a Thought—for the first and only time. It was that or die myself, and I really didn’t want to die.
    I thought about Jill a lot. That tended to happen when you killed someone. Or she tried to kill you. Despite knowing I’d do it again if I had to, I felt incredibly guilty about the whole thing. It was difficult carrying so many secrets around all the time, and this was the biggest one. My exterior bruises had healed in a few weeks, but the ones inside were the most difficult to deal with. Amanda’s comment had picked the scab and made it bleed all over again.
    I WAS STILL thinking about her in the morning as I made an early trip to meet with Headmaster Stewart. To get there, I followed the same route I’d once watched Jill take as she scurried away from my dorm, where she’d been spying on me. And Carter, having our first kiss. Sometimes I forgot that moment wasn’t as private as it should have been.
    Administration was one of my favorite buildings on campus, with its improbable lavender siding and mix of a modernly functional officewith a quirky collection of antiques. It was early, so the building was as quiet as a centuries-old Victorian ever is. I climbed lightly up the stairs to the headmaster’s office, where I found her in the anteroom, sipping her customary tea and waiting for me. She looked the same as always—tall, imposing, unflinchingly alert and in command.
    â€œGood morning, Lainey. Prompt as always.”
    â€œI heard you have croissants if you get here early enough and I didn’t want to miss them.”
    She actually smiled before gesturing to the breakfast spread laid out on her sideboard. “Help yourself.” There was
always
the best food in Dr. Stewart’s office, no matter the time of day.
    My relationship with the headmaster was…different from other students. Not that we were friends or anything, but I liked her. I was pretty sure she liked me. We’d come to understand each other a lot better after what I called the
Jillian Incident.
Usually I wouldn’t be so casual with her, but this was a casual meeting. A formality, really. Every student met privately with the headmaster at least once at the beginning of the year, for introduction or reacquaintance, but I’d seen her all the time over the summer.
    Though just