text
stringlengths 6
45.4k
| book
stringlengths 3
133
| pos
float64 0
1
| smog_index
float64 6.6
7.1
|
|---|---|---|---|
"Duh," she replied, the telltale sound of her filing her nails coming through over the buzzing. I was not a freak. I was not a freak. I belonged here. I was one of them. Mulberry was weak. I had to show that I belonged. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.079202 | 6.6 |
Sarah popped up over the cubicle wall when I arrived the next morning. "Oh my God, did you hear?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.079816 | 6.6 |
"No, what? Did someone wear last season's Alexander King?" She didn't laugh at my joke. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.080123 | 6.6 |
"God, no, this is serious. They found Mulberry." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.08043 | 6.6 |
"About time. Where was she?" Celia's assistant had vanished the afternoon before. From embarrassment, probably. I popped a piece of bagel in my mouth, a move that Sarah's eyes followed. I stopped chewing and casually spit the offending carbs into a napkin. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.080737 | 6.6 |
"How can you put that in your body? Don't you know what gluten does to you? It attacks your system. It's like poison." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.081044 | 6.6 |
"That's not how it works—" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.081351 | 6.6 |
"That's exactly how it works. Dr. Shinasky told us, and she never lies." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.081658 | 6.6 |
"Dr. Shinasky isn't even a real doctor." She wasn't. She worked at Sarah's gym. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.081965 | 6.6 |
"Wow, I'm just trying to save you. Besides, do you really need carbs?" She eyed my waist. Shit. She was right. I had the new diet to start. There was a diet meeting on my calendar today. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.082272 | 6.6 |
"Right, you're right. Anyways, Mulberry?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.082579 | 6.6 |
"She was in some computer closet. Can you believe it?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.082886 | 6.6 |
"Doing what? She doesn't know anything about computers." My heart was pounding in my ears. _Act normal, Anya_. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.083193 | 6.6 |
"No, she's, like, dead! They found her with those stupid shoes bashed into her head. The police are coming, and the dead-body people are here!" She meant the medical examiners. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.0835 | 6.6 |
I paused. _One. Two. Three_. "Shit, is this actually happening?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.083807 | 6.6 |
"Yes! The police want to talk to us, Anya." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.084114 | 6.6 |
"Oh." I hated talking to the police. They asked too many questions. And if you didn't answer correctly (or even if you did), they took you away. And then you had to live with crazies and criminals until you aged out. They never believed that shit just happened. Friends caught on fire. People died all the time. It's not a big deal. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.084421 | 6.6 |
"Are you worried?" Sarah asked. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.084728 | 6.6 |
"I'm just upset about Mulberry," I replied breezily. "I mean, how brutal. Also, like, did someone do that to her? Or did she fall and hit her head? No, that wouldn't be possible, even for her. Someone . . . here maybe? So . . . what does that mean?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.085035 | 6.6 |
"Oh, shit. O-M-G." Nothing could get her to actually say "Oh my God," not even the thought of a killer on the loose. "You're right. Holy shit. We should do something. You don't think the police will, like, search our bags, right? I mean, not without a warrant?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.085342 | 6.6 |
"Uh, I don't think so. Why, got some extracurricular items in there?" I grinned to show I was cool, just like her. Drugs didn't bother me. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.085649 | 6.6 |
"No! I mean, maybe. Whatever." Sarah paced around our cubicles. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.085955 | 6.6 |
"I doubt they'll search anything. Just relax." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.086262 | 6.6 |
"Wow, W-T-F Thursday, man." And then she took a selfie, captioning it just that. She didn't offer to take a photo with me. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.086569 | 6.6 |
"I'm going to see if I can take a selfie with the body. Maybe the shoe's still in her head!" Sarah bounded off. I shrugged, getting up to follow. After all, if Sarah did it, then it was fine. No, it was _chic_. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.086876 | 6.6 |
The computer closet was a narrow cupboard in a small hallway next to the supply room. It was filled with old keyboards and monitors, along with some outdated and ugly _La Vie_ merch. The only people who went near it were the IT guys. Today, the tiny hallway was packed with people. Uniformed police officers; some guy with a camera and a bright flash snapping photos; _La Vie_ girls forming a semicircle, fake tears rolling down their faces. I saw Sarah and pushed my way next to her at the front of the gawking line. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.08749 | 6.6 |
"Holy shit," I managed to say. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.087797 | 6.6 |
There she was, sitting in yesterday's YSL leather mini and Balmain tee with one shoe on, one bare foot hanging out, crammed into a space barely wide enough to hold her. The other shoe was in her head. Not on it, but actually in her face. Smashed in so hard, her nose was gone. I suppose the weird heel mechanism helped it stay lodged where it was, but still—wow. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.088104 | 6.6 |
I had tried to make it look accidental. With a girl as clumsy as Mulberry, you could get away with a lot, but it still didn't look right. No, it was pretty obvious someone had done this to her. _Stupid Anya_. _Always rushing to get things done_. _Take time, slow down_ , I chastised myself. But I hadn't been able to get the look she'd given me out of my head. _She_ felt bad for _me_. For me! Ha, that was a riot. The more I thought about it, the more enraged I became. It was like one of those crimes of passion deals. I had to very _passionately_ show her that her pity wasn't welcome. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.088411 | 6.6 |
So while everyone was at lunch yesterday, I went to Mulberry with some computer closet questions. She cheerfully led me to the small space. Dr. M always says to seize opportunities. And hello? She hadn't even screamed. But she did ruin my dress. Blood was such a bitch to get out of silk. Still, she'd gone without a fight. Typical Mulberry. She was weak, just like Sarah said. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.088718 | 6.6 |
I'd done it, I killed her, but it didn't feel like I had. You know that feeling? Like when you unplug your flatiron but then aren't sure you did? I remembered killing Mulberry and changing my clothes. But it all felt so far away from this moment with Sarah so close to my side. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.089025 | 6.6 |
Sometimes it felt like I was sleepwalking through life, and what I did (or didn't do) was a vague blur I couldn't put my finger on. But that's normal, right? Maybe my meds were messing with me. Anyway, Mulberry was dead. She'd never pity me again. That's all that mattered. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.089332 | 6.6 |
"Death by accessories," Sarah muttered. Was she going to tweet that? | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.089639 | 6.6 |
"Killer shoes," I whispered back. She giggled. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.089946 | 6.6 |
"Fashion victim," she practically cackled, snapping a photo before the officers shooed us away. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.090253 | 6.6 |
"Ladies, we need to speak to anyone who worked with Mulberry and saw her yesterday," one police guy said. He was wearing a suit, so he must have been a detective. Detectives always wear suits. At least, that's how it worked on _Law & Order SVU_. This guy was no Elliot Stabler, but damn if he wasn't hot. He looked like a Calvin Klein model. No, beefier. Like one of the Chanel models. (Karl totally liked some muscle on his guys.) I could stare at him all day. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.09056 | 6.6 |
"Sarah and Anya probably saw her," I heard someone pipe up. It was a girl in credits. You know in magazines when there are those impossible-to-read captions listing the clothing pictured and where to buy them? Those are credits. It was some unlucky girl's job to do them for each issue. This girl was dressed in the identical outfit Sarah wore the day before. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.090867 | 6.6 |
"Fuck," Sarah said under her breath. "Yep, we're here!" Bright, perfect teeth flashing. You could practically see the sparkle bouncing off her pearly whites. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.091174 | 6.6 |
"Great, let's go somewhere to talk," Hot Detective said. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.091481 | 6.6 |
"The small conference room is available," I offered. He looked me in the eyes. This was one of those detective tricks, those moments where they test your mettle. Younger Anya may have fallen for some of them, but I was smarter now. I was not taking the fall for Mulberry. God he was really hot. It was shallow and lame, but a pretty face can do almost anything. Look at Sarah. She practically got away with murder all the time. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.091788 | 6.6 |
I blushed and stammered. He had really intense green eyes. "I-I mean, we can go there." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.092095 | 6.6 |
"Easy, Anya, don't melt into a puddle." Sarah laughed. I could kill her. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.092402 | 6.6 |
I smiled and led them both to the room. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.092709 | 6.6 |
"Can I get you a drink or something, Detective . . . ?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.093016 | 6.6 |
"Hopper. And no, I'm fine. So you're—" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.093323 | 6.6 |
"Sarah Taft," Sarah interjected. She was easy in these situations. So calm. I needed to be more like her. Bounce the hair, smile, beam. She never got rattled. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.09363 | 6.6 |
"That would make you Anya." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.093937 | 6.6 |
"Anya St. Clair." I practically mumbled it. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.094244 | 6.6 |
"Anya's our social reject." Sarah laughed again. "So, Detective, what can we tell you?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.094551 | 6.6 |
"When did you last see Mulberry von Gratz?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.094858 | 6.6 |
"Well, yesterday when she tripped and fell and Anya dragged her away." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.095165 | 6.6 |
Was she trying to make me look guilty? WTF, Sarah? This was not how BFFs behave. I wanted to smash her face into the glass conference table to shut her up. Teach her a lesson. Now I had to tell everyone what really happened. Detective Hopper's green eyes turned to me. Did you know that only 2 percent of the world has green eyes? This man was a fucking rarity staring at me. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.095472 | 6.6 |
"You dragged her away?" he asked. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.095779 | 6.6 |
I sighed. "No. Mulberry was wearing those vintage Marc Jacobs shoes and couldn't walk in them. She tripped and went flying in the hall near our desks—and just lay there. For, like, ever. And you just can't do that here. If you trip, get up. If Celia saw her like that, she'd be fired." My explanation had to make sense, right? | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.096086 | 6.6 |
"Oh, _so_ fired," Sarah chimed in. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.096393 | 6.6 |
"So I made her get up. I told her to stop crying and get back to her desk." Later I bashed those ugly shoes into her face. Nobody pities me. "I think she went to the bathroom or something to pull herself together." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.0967 | 6.6 |
"Did you see her after that?" I shook my head. "And where did you go after?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.097007 | 6.6 |
"I came back to bring Lauren White, the publicist, into Celia's office. That's what Mulberry was supposed to do before she fell." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.097314 | 6.6 |
"And can anyone verify that?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.097621 | 6.6 |
"Oh, I can. I was there," Sarah said, smiling. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.097928 | 6.6 |
Okay, I wouldn't smash her face in. Maybe I'd just give her a bad haircut. And then keep her hair for a wig. I imagined myself with Sarah's perfectly highlighted locks. I looked amazing—in my head. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.098235 | 6.6 |
"So did anyone see Mulberry after she went to the bathroom?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.098542 | 6.6 |
"I wasn't really paying attention, to be honest. I don't think I saw her later, at least I don't remember seeing her. Maybe she was too embarrassed by how she acted and knew she was going to be fired so she hid in the ladies' room? Celia hates it when assistants act out." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.098849 | 6.6 |
"God, she so does." Sarah couldn't resist. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.099156 | 6.6 |
"Did Celia find out about the scene in the hall?" A lock of his dark-brown hair—it was nearly black, but, really, no way could it be black-black. Was he that perfect?—fell in his face. I wanted to touch it. Smell it. Make tiny dolls with it. Shit, what if he and Sarah had perfectly cheekboned babies together? The hair on their kids alone would be world changing. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.099463 | 6.6 |
"Maybe?" I shrugged. "Lauren could have told her about it in their meeting." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.09977 | 6.6 |
"Did anyone have it in for Mulberry?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.100077 | 6.6 |
"That idiot?" Sarah snorted. I elbowed her in her ribs. "Sorry, it's just that she wasn't very bright, and it's not like she was going to work here for long. None of Celia's assistants do. They all leave. No one's ever lasted a full year." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.100384 | 6.6 |
"Well, Celia's kind of tough to work for. She usually just fires you, and if she doesn't, you quit," I said. "But Mulberry was hanging in there, sort of." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.100998 | 6.6 |
"Has anyone ever told you that you look like a model?" Sarah said suddenly, pouring on the charm. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.101305 | 6.6 |
"Uh, no, but thanks, Ms. Taft." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.101612 | 6.6 |
The talk around the proverbial water cooler (a.k.a. the green juice delivery bag) was that no one could believe what had happened. Surely there had to be security camera footage of it. ("Wait, no, they only film the hallway with the fashion closet," Dalia reminded us.) And was Sarah going to post that photo she snapped? | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.102226 | 6.6 |
"Oh, God no! I was just curious. That'd be so gauche." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.102533 | 6.6 |
"But how hot was that cop? What did he want with you guys?" Evie asked. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.10284 | 6.6 |
"So many questions, right, Anya?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.103147 | 6.6 |
I nodded. "Ugh, that was so annoying. I can't believe you asked him if he was a model!" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.103454 | 6.6 |
"No, I said he looked like one. Whatevs, he did." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.103761 | 6.6 |
Dalia laughed, Evie filed her nails. An uncomfortable silence grew. We all scrolled through our phones. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.104068 | 6.6 |
"Hey, Sarah, I thought you weren't posting that photo?" I asked. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.104375 | 6.6 |
"I'm not, why?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.104682 | 6.6 |
"Because it's up. And come on, the hashtag?" #FashionVictim. It was funny when she said it, but on Instagram? Tacky. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.104988 | 6.6 |
"I didn't post it! Take it down! Someone help me!" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.105295 | 6.6 |
"W-T-F?" I gasped. "It's been reposted and faved like a thousand times. You're in such deep shit." This was better than smashing her head into a table. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.105602 | 6.6 |
"Seriously, that is messed up, Sarah," Evie clucked. "What if her family sees that?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.105909 | 6.6 |
"God, for real," Dalia added. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.106216 | 6.6 |
"I didn't post it!" Sarah yelled. "Fuck this, I'm getting a mani." | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.106523 | 6.6 |
The day passed in eerie silence after she left, which was more than welcome. Everyone spoke in hushed tones, avoiding the Murder Hallway and police tape. That's what we were calling it now. Celia spoke with the police from her home on East Sixty-Second Street. Apparently it was all "too much" for her, and she was taking the rest of the week off. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.10683 | 6.6 |
Everyone assumed the murderer was someone from the messenger service. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.107137 | 6.6 |
"They, like, hate us!" Evie moaned to us when Sarah came back. (Her nails were pink and silver.) The only reason people thought that was because most of the guys weren't white. The unspoken—and spoken—racism of magazine land, where the masthead was all pretty white girls and the support staff was everyone else. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.107444 | 6.6 |
"Jesus, you're so white, it hurts," I said. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.107751 | 6.6 |
"Thanks!" She was _that_ white. Her skin was the color of curdled cottage cheese. But Dr. M always said to pick your battles, and this one wasn't going to be won. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.108058 | 6.6 |
"Whatever, I just don't think anyone from the messenger center did it. It has to be someone who knew Mulberry." I watched Sarah's face. I wanted to impress her. She looked concerned. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.108365 | 6.6 |
"What do the police think?" Evie asked. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.108672 | 6.6 |
The police. They'd asked us all the questions, but they never offered us up any info. I needed to change that. I needed to know what they knew. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.108979 | 6.6 |
"Let's go get froyo from downstairs!" Dalia suggested cheerfully. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.109286 | 6.6 |
"Um, that's all sugar and chemicals. We're organic now," Sarah chastised. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.109593 | 6.6 |
I nodded. "Green juice?" | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.1099 | 6.6 |
If it bleeds while wearing designer shoes, it goddamned leads. The news of Mulberry von Gratz's demise didn't take long to spread. It wasn't that people were particularly devastated by her death; it was just such a juicy story. A beautiful, rich kid dead? Murdered while working at a fashion magazine? " _Fashion Victim!_ " was splashed all over the _New York Post_ the next day, along with a story about how awful the death was, how beloved Mulberry was, and all that bullshit—including a mention of the cold fashion bitch who Instagrammed the body. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.110821 | 6.6 |
Social media got in on the effort, and #PrayforMulberry was trending in New York, Ibiza, and Biarritz (where she'd gone to school). I almost choked on my coffee when I saw that one. _A bit too late to pray for her, guys_. #FashionVictim was also trending. Twitter was full of vicious bitches. No such thing as too soon in this business. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.111128 | 6.6 |
And all this because Mulberry wanted to pity me. She wanted to show she was better than me. Pity means people look down on you. Well, I showed her. That weakling. She was so damn useless. She couldn't fetch anything. And that's what assistants did. They fetched. Coffee. Shoes. Xanax. Whatever we needed. She could have gone on to be anything: a stylist, a consultant, a trophy wife. But she gave up in that hallway. | #FashionVictim - Amina Akhtar | 0.111435 | 6.6 |