I feel my face tighten with resolve as I look from the note to the hair to the basket. Mother Dearest, I’m coming to find you, whether you want me or not.
June 6
Mission AYMM Update
I found some more clues today, so I thought I’d add them to my growing list. Here are the clues I’ve gathered
so far—
Clue 1: She’s an actress.
Clue 2: She looks like me.
Clue 3: She’s away on a film shoot.
Clue 4: She lives in L.A.
Clue 5: She has dark hair.
Clue 6: She has elegant handwriting.
Clue 7: She likes ruffles.
Surely all of these clues combined will be enough to lead me to her without any testing or record searching. I mean, she’s a celebrity, for God’s sake. How hard can it be? I have a couple of suspicions already, but I’m not going to say anything yet, because I don’t want to jinx it.
Here’s hoping…the longer I have to wait, the more I’m torn apart on the inside.
Ttyl,
Mads
“Damn my stupid boobs!” I yell as I’m getting dressed for Gio’s party.
Ana comes to stand beside me in front of my full-length mirror. “What’s wrong?”
“I hate swimsuit tops, and I especially hate being between cup sizes,” I rant, scowling at my body in the mirror.
“Sorry, girl.” Ana moves behind me to see if there’s any way to tighten my purple bandeau top. “It doesn’t look like anything can be done to fix that. Why did you get it too big?”
“They didn’t have any A cups, but I really liked the style. Now I’m regretting it.”
“Can’t you just wear another one?”
“This one makes me look bigger. I don’t want to look flat-chested in front of Gio’s friends.”
“Well, all right.” Ana shrugs at me in the mirror. “Just be careful if you get in the pool. And you might want to stuff it a little to make it tighter.”
“Good idea.” I go in the bathroom and stuff some cotton balls down in the bottom of it just above the underwire. After I’m done, I actually look like I have a hint of cleavage. “You’re a veritable genius!”
Ana smiles and comes into the bathroom with me. “It’s a time-honored fashion tradition. If you want to be safe, just don’t jump in the pool at all…or if you do, don’t move too much.”
“Got it,” I say, feeling jealous of her perfectly symmetrical C cups for a moment.
We head straight over to Gio’s pool party, where a lot of people have already arrived. Gio’s best friend is the first one to recognize us, and he immediately climbs out of the pool to greet us, dripping wet and smiling.
“Hey, ladies!” Dalton says, and we say “Hey” back. “Can I show you to the bar? Gio’s busy inside right now, but he’ll be out in a minute.”
I look over at Ana. Aside from the glass of wine we drank here with Dad’s permission on the night of the dinner, we’re not supposed to be drinking at all. Ana just shrugs.
“Yeah, sure,” I say, not wanting to look lame.
Dalton leads us past some attractive people in bikinis and swim trunks to the outdoor wet bar, where they’re serving margaritas. I figure just one won’t hurt. Dad doesn’t want us getting drunk, and one margarita is not very likely to accomplish that. Dalton hands us each a margarita, and Ana and I smile at each other as we both take our first sip at once. Our faces scrunch up at the taste of it. That was almost as strong as I would imagine rubbing alcohol would taste.
“Mm…strong,” Ana says, trying to disguise our liquor virginity.
“Yeah, Gio came up with this particular margarita. He likes them loaded with tequila. You’ll get used to it.” Dalton notices more guests coming in. “I gotta go help some more people. Let me know if you need anything.” We nod, and he hurries in their direction.
“I guess he’s the stand-in host when Gio’s not around,” I observe as we walk away from the bar.
Ana and I find some chairs to sit in between the pool and the hot tub, and she takes another sip of her margarita.
“This is pretty good,” Ana says. “Strong, but good.”
I take another sip, and my tongue starts to get used to the zing of the alcohol and I taste the other flavors. There’s salt around the edge, and the flavor of the drink itself is fruity with a hint of coconut.
“I’ll have to agree with that.”
“What do you think Gio’s up to?”
“Probably screwing his backup date,” I joke.
Ana’s jaw drops in horror. “Mads!”
I giggle at her reaction. “I’m just kidding!” “You need to think better of yourself, though,” Ana says with a serious gaze. “Gio Abate likes you. Don’t screw this up because of your low selfesteem.”
I take off my glasses for a minute so she can see my eyes better. “I really am just kidding. Relax.”
An Asian girl in an orange string bikini approaches me, squinting at my face. “Raven?” she asks.
“Um…no, my name is Madison,” I tell her.
“Oh, okay.” She immediately smiles and relaxes. “Sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
“It’s okay,” I say. She starts to walk away, and then she takes another look at my face.
“You’re really not Raven?” She glances at Ana as if to gauge whether I’m telling the truth or not. “She is definitely not Raven,” Ana says.
“Okay. My bad. Enjoy the party.”
“Thanks, you too,” I say, and she walks away. Ana and I look at each other with wide eyes. “Well, I guess my mysterious doppelgänger now has a name.”
“Raven…” Ana repeats. “Where have I heard that name before?”
At that moment, a loud, piercing whistle comes from a balcony on the back of Gio’s house. The throng of guests looks up in the direction of the sound.
“What up, party animals?” Gio yells through his hands from the balcony, eliciting a cheer from all his friends. He started some pop music that is now blasting out of speakers all around the party area. “Who’s ready to get this thing started?” Another cheer. People are still pouring in. The party has grown to roughly seventy people. “Before you get too busy, I just wanna give a shout-out to my guest of honor tonight. Madison, can you stand up, please?” He looks right at me, and I slowly stand up from my chair, feeling hot and a little shaky. “Allow me to present Madison Daley, my date tonight, who also happens to be the daughter of the Grim Weeper of Weep With the Willows.” The guests gasp and murmur among themselves. My glasses are still off, so everyone can see my face. “This is her first party here in L.A., so everybody make her feel welcome, all right?” All of his friends clap for me, although some of them still sound confused. I must really look like this Raven person. “Enjoy your night!” Gio goes back inside, and immediately I’m swarmed by people…and questions.
“Are you really the Grim Weeper’s daughter?”
“The Grim Weeper is back in L.A.?”
“You look super familiar…have we met before?”
My answers become robotic and preformed.
“Yes, I’m the Grim Weeper’s daughter.”
“We’re back in L.A. for the summer.”
“No, we haven’t met before.”
“I don’t know if W3 is making another album.”
“No, my dad is not home right now.” Dad and Cass are out again tonight, doing God knows what. Ana stays right by my side until some girls start talking to her about fashion, and eventually she abandons me to go and talk to them. I put my glasses back on, hoping to deter some of the curiosity, but people know who I am now, and they’re on me like flies on honey.
By the time Gio finally comes down to talk to me, I’m about ready to kill him. “Ciao, bella!” There’s a drink in his hand and a massive, wicked grin on his face.
“How do you say ‘bastard’ in Italian?” I reply, making his abs clench with laughter. My scowl fades into a smile when he slips his arm around me.
/>
“Sorry about that. I just didn’t want you to have to deal with people mistaking your identity all night,” he explains.
“It’s okay. By the way, who the hell is Raven?”
“Oh, they already figured that out, huh? Don’t worry about it, she’s just a mean girl from Wilcox who is never invited to my parties. Or any parties, really, unless she throws them herself.”
’Kay, so my doppelgänger is definitely not my mother. I was way off.
“Anyway, there are some people I want you to meet, so let’s go this way,” Gio says. He leads me through the mass of near-naked bodies to a corner of the patio where about ten people are hanging out in a group. “Ciao, amici!”
“Hey!” Everyone greets us with wide smiles.
“Madison, this is my ‘beach gang.’ They put up with me every Friday at Santa Monica for surfing, and we all go to Wilcox. Everyone, meet Madison Daley, the newest addition to our group.” Wow…he’s already accepting me into his group.
“Hi, everyone,” I say, swallowing a surge of anxiety. I have never been this popular anywhere.
They all start talking to me, and there’s one girl in particular that catches my eye. She’s Hispanic, with gorgeous dark hair and eyes, and she’s fixated on me much like Gio was when we first met. Gio introduces her as Zuri. Over the next twenty minutes, his friends ask me the same type of questions everyone else did, and I end up telling them my whole life story. Zuri pulls me aside after I’m done, and we sit down together at a table with an umbrella.
“I’m Zurina Juarez,” she says, and we shake hands over the table. Her voice is low-pitched and her diction is smooth, like a reporter’s or a radio host’s. “I run a student news blog at Wilcox. I have to say, your story is truly fascinating. I can’t imagine being that isolated my entire life.”
“It was hard,” I admit. “I’m hoping that phase of my life is over now.”
“It definitely seems like it! You picked the right person to go out with if you don’t want to be isolated. Gio is one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. He’s pretty much the king of Wilcox.”
“Wow.” I giggle. “Should I be intimidated?”
“Oh, not at all!” Zuri says. “In fact, we’re all a little intimidated by you. Now that you’re back, I bet your family is going to take Los Angeles by storm. Anyway, I keep the blog going during the summer, keeping people up-to-date on Wilcox happenings and such. Do you mind if I write a story about you? I know you’re not a Wilcox student, but I think a lot of the teens in L.A. would still be interested to hear what happened to you.”
“Actually, could you wait to write that story? We have this big interview planned with Late at Night with Johnny McIntyre, and it’s supposed to be our first exposure to the media since the disappearance. After that, you can write whatever you want.” “Oh, of course!” Zuri nods with understanding. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll be sure to link that interview when I write my article.”
Gio interrupts us by sitting down next to me. “You ladies getting along?” he asks.
“Definitely, she’s great,” Zuri says with a smile. One of the surfer guys motions to her to join him, and Zuri holds up a finger like “One second.” “Gotta go, the boyfriend’s calling. Don’t hesitate to call on me if you need anything, all right?”
“Thanks,” I say. “See you later.”
Gio takes me around the pool to the hot tub, where a cluster of couples are already getting drunk and making out. When they see us coming, they clear a space for us, and I smile at Gio as we lower ourselves down into the warm, bubbling water.
“Must be intoxicating having that kind of power,” I comment, and Gio laughs as he sits down beside me and drapes his arm around my shoulders. I’m loving the thought of spending this whole evening attached to his hip.
“You get used to it,” he says. “Eventually, it gets kind of annoying. Sometimes I wish someone would stand up to me for once.”
“Well, at least you’ll never have to know what it feels like to be invisible.”
Gio’s eyebrows furrow as he studies my face. “Do you feel invisible?”
I glance up and around at the people on the patio who are still scrutinizing Gio and me. “Well…not anymore. But I used to.”
I turn back to look at him and see his lips pulled up in an adorable dimpled half smile. “I know why people didn’t notice you before. They couldn’t see you behind all that glass and plastic.” He tugs on my glasses again.
I roll my eyes, take my glasses off, and set them on the side of the hot tub. “Better?”
“Much,” Gio whispers, and his eyes light up with desire at the sight of my face. I bite my lower lip, but it doesn’t stop my smile. Our legs meet beneath the surface, and his closeness sends chemicals racing through every cell of my body. God, I want him…so bad. The desire intensifies with every inch he closes between us. By the time he’s three inches away from my lips, I’m begging for his kiss on the inside.
Come on…kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me.
Gio leans in and completely bypasses my lips. He brushes a light kiss to the crooked part of my jaw and makes his way down to my ear. When his lips are barely touching my ear, his breath feathers into it as he whispers, “I like to make a woman wait.”
“That was cruel,” I whisper. I feel his body shake against me with laughter.
“It will be worth it, trust me.” He leans back and chuckles again at my playful scowl.
“Have you thought of a nickname for me yet?”
Gio squints his eyes and looks around at the speakers. One of Muse’s new songs just started playing. “Hey, do you like Muse?”
“Yeah, they’re pretty good, why?”
“You know that song, ‘Madness?’” He turns to me with a grin.
Three beats pass. “Okay, that’s actually kind of brilliant.”
“Madness it is, then,” Gio declares as he wraps his other arm around my waist.
I lean against him, breathing in the scent of his expensive cologne and loving the feeling of his wet, strong chest against my ear. He buries his nose in my hair and breathes in deeply, content to hold me without any expectations. Oddly enough, I’m content too. Just being in his arms while he kisses the top of my head and whispers sweet Italian nothings is pure heaven. We sit like that together until the hot tub gets too crowded and we’re forced to vacate.
After leaving the hot tub, we decide to meet up with Ana next to the deep end. She’s chatting with a beautiful African American girl with a dark pixie cut and stunning, honey-brown eyes.
“Hey, Ana! Who’s this?” I ask as we approach them.
“This is Jerica Valrey,” Ana says.
Jerica smiles and extends a hand to me. Her voice is low, syrupy, and pleasant to listen to. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madison Daley.”
I shake her hand. “The pleasure is mine.”
“Jerica is a business prodigy,” Gio says. “She developed a computer program at age fourteen that a lot of businesses depend on today for their administrative tasks.”
“Wow, that’s impressive!”
“Thank you,” Jerica says humbly. “Being a geek has its perks sometimes.”
“She’s a billionaire. Her main house is bigger and more beautiful than the two of ours combined,” Gio says. “And she has five beach houses in different places around the globe. ‘Perks,’ indeed.”
“How old are you? If you don’t mind my asking,” I say.
“Eighteen,” Jerica says, and my mouth falls open.
“I bow at your feet,” I say, bending over at the waist and making her laugh. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how close I was standing to the pool.
Before I know what’s happening, my foot slips and I fall into the deep end. I’m so shocked at first that all I can do is gasp for air and flail around for the edge. I suck water down my throat in my panic and cough violently.
“This way, Mads!” I hear Ana say, and I swim toward her. When I pull up on the edge closest to
her, she gasps. “Oh my gosh…look down, look down!” She sounds absolutely beyond horrified.
I look down and suck in a strangled gasp. My bikini top flipped inside out in the water, completely exposing me. I quickly flip my top up, but then I realize something’s missing.
“Where are my…?” Ana points behind me, and I immediately feel like ducking my head underwater and keeping it there.
My cotton balls are floating out in the middle of the pool.
June 6
Never Leaving This House Again
So yeah, I just crashed and banged all the way through Humiliation Station.
My swimsuit top came down right in front of Jerica Valrey and Giovanni Abate. Not only was I exposed, but my cotton balls popped out, proving to everyone that I was so embarrassed about my cup size, I thought I had to lie about it. To say I’m mortified would be an understatement. I turned tail and ran as soon as it happened, and I didn’t even look back when Ana and Gio called out after me.
Leave it to me to misjudge where I was standing because I stupidly left my glasses by the hot tub. They’re still there, but I don’t give a shit. I don’t even want to see myself in the mirror right now. I’m squinting my eyes to type this so I’ll remember this feeling and never behave like such a dumbass again. My near vision is okay enough to type. Apparently it sucks when it comes to depth perception and knowing where my feet are.
What in the name of all that is holy is wrong with me? Why didn’t I wear a swimsuit I was absolutely certain would stay on my body? My vanity bit me in the ass, and it was the first time I even allowed myself to have some. I guess I’m not supposed to look good. The universe wants me to be a loveless dork from Kentucky forever.
My angry blog post is interrupted by a text alert. I set my laptop down and grab my phone off my nightstand.
Gio: Hey, please come back. No one even remembers it anymore, trust me. They’re all too drunk.
D.O.R.K. Series Box Set: Diary of a Rocker's Kid, The Sister Code, Twin Wars Page 11
