Arianna was really starting to feel the pressure of the concert baring down on her. Making it perfect was her number one priority right now. More important than grades or RATS or even finding a husband.
Possibly because she wasn't worried about any of those things going well. She was brilliant and very much sought after by different pureblood young men. Plus, good RATS scores were more a point of pride for someone like Arianna than something she needed for a career. She had no intention of having one, she was just going to be a socialite.
As far as an engagement or betrothal went, well, once the Crotalus was through with this concert, she'd choose the suitor she liked most and then plan the wedding that would be the event of the season. Arianna knew Mother was looking forward to planning the seventh year's wedding as well since she had never had a proper one of her own. Her parents had eloped the night that Father was supposed to marry Mother's cousin.
Right now though, Arianna was enjoying having men compete for her hand and try to impress her and her family. There were lots of perks in that.
Besides, she had the concert to deal with. And in this respect, the Crotalus had something to prove. It still very much bothered that she hadn't been on the Head Student ballot when she so had deserved to be.
Certainly, it wasn't through any fault of her own that she'd been left off. Due to the fact that her cousin had been beaten for prefect by a half-veela and the fact that the other person left off the ballot was a Brockert, Arianna figured it all boiled down to political correctness. True, Lily Spencer, who had the least right to be included, was a pureblood but she wasn't traditional. Mother had mentioned something similar had happened to her back in school.
Which wasn't fair in the least. If people got on the ballot or got prefect because they were purebloods, people would be throwing a fit so why was the other way around considered okay?
Anyway, now Arianna had to make her act the best one in the concert. Especially better than Pecari's. She wasn't that worried about it being superior to theirs but she was afraid it wouldn't go perfectly. That was, after all, what happened when she depended on others to do things. Therefore, she had taken a lot of it on herself but others could still mess it up.
Once everyone was assembled, the seventh year cleared her throat. "Those of you who don't play instruments will be in the dance room rehearsing the choreography with me, and those who do will be in the music room with Connor." Grudgingly, Arianna had to admit having her cousin around for this event worked in her favor and if the other prefects thought he was usurping their authority, she would be quick to point out that he was the one who now led the school orchestra (with assistance from Ivy Brockert) and had experience with conducting.
Never in her life had Peyton been happier that she'd taken up the clarinet when her cousins had. This way she got to work with Connor, who was her friend, instead of Arianna Tate, who quite frankly scared her a little. She knew Jasmine was friends with the seventh year so she couldn't be all bad, but still, Arianna seemed bossy and intimidating and likely to get really mad if they made mistakes.
It all rather made Peyton question her decision to participate in the concert to begin with. Even though she played an instrument, she didn't really consider herself the performing sort. She had mostly chosen to join in because Jasmine and Connor were involved.
Not only that but the fourth year thought it might look good in the eyes of the staff and help her get prefect. Peyton felt guilty about this desire, since it would mean beating one of her best friends and she wouldn't get too upset if Jasmine did win but if she didn't get it, it meant Eden was better than her.
She wished that she didn't feel that way. The Crotalus knew that it wasn't good to be jealous. And she knew that Eden had been through something traumatic and wasn't without sympathy, even though Peyton genuinely felt that the world was better off without Ross Manger in it. She would feel terribly if her own father died, but then her dad was a good person. Her dad loved Sally, Arnold and Jake as if they were his own children. Her dad treated her mom with love and respect. He even loved Carrie despite the fact that she was now the second worst person on the planet, and had treated his first wife-the actual worst person on the planet-with much more decency than she deserved and not because he was scared of the Brockerts either but because it was the right way to treat people. Even crummy ones.
And what made Eden so bloody special that Mr. Manger had loved her and not his other children anyway? There wasn't anything wrong with the Teppenpaw per se, but she was certainly not better than Sally,Arnold or Jake.
Or Ivy either.
Peyton set the brownies she'd brought down on a nearby table. She'd gotten into a habit of bringing baked goods to any school function she attended though something in Arianna's condescending sneer when she saw the treats made the fourth year sort of regret it.
The seventh year told them where to go, and Peyton followed her instructions.