“Hey,” Adrianna says, the only one to acknowledge my presence. I say hi back, but there are a few people in between us, and so I can’t really say much more. She looks nervous, sitting next to Lancaster, who’s leaning over and talking to Cam and Raine.
He’s clutching a sports bottle, probably filled with some kind of alcohol. He better be nice to her.
Cam’s friend Aiden is next to Brody, followed by Becca, then Teri and some guy (Rob or whatever?) that I recognize from their lunch table.
Brody puts his arm around me and pulls me close. “You okay?” he whispers into my ear.
“Yes,” I say, “I’m fine.” My hands are clutching my purse, and I force myself to relax my grip.
“Natalia,” Raine says, “I like your dress, I think Nicole Zorillo wore it last year.”
“That’s impossible,” I lie, “It’s Marc Jacobs, this year.”
She doesn’t quite believe it, but she’s not completely sure either, so she just turns back to Cam. He hasn’t looked at me once, his attention completely focused on Raine.
I’m not sure if it’s because she has him under some kind of spell, or if he’s just doing it to hurt me.
The limo is dark and the windows are fogged up. The partition between us and the driver is up, which means I can’t really see out onto the street. It’s a weird feeling, not being able to see where the car is going or who’s driving it, and I feel the beginning of a panic attack starting.
“Bec Bec,” Cam’s friend Aiden says, “Are you excited to dance with me tonight?”
“I can’t wait.” She’s sitting on his lap now, and she giggles and buries her face into his neck. He tries to kiss her, but she turns her head at the last second.
“Unh-uh,” she slurs, like she’s been sipping whatever Lancaster has in that bottle.
“That’s for later, baby.”
He pulls her close, his hand sliding up her leg. The smell of alcohol in the car is making my head swim a little, and I turn to Brody. “Do you have any water?” I ask.
He reaches into a little cooler that’s behind our seats and pulls out a bottle. He takes the cap off and hands it to me.
“Thanks.” I take a sip, but it doesn’t make me feel better. I try to concentrate on my breathing, in and out, in and out, holding each inhale and exhale for the same amount of time.
“You’re okay,” Brody says, rubbing my back. “You’re fine. Nothing bad is happening. I’m going to take care of you, okay?”
I nod and bury my face into his shoulder, closing my eyes. His hand is still rubbing my back. I keep my head buried the whole ride to school, trying to block out everyone’s voices. At one point I hear Adrianna ask Brody if I’m okay, and he tells her I’m fine, just a little carsick. I send him a silent thank you.
Once we pull into the parking lot of the lodge where the dance is being held, I get out, gulping in the fresh air, immediately starting to feel better.
Cam pushes past me on his way out of the limo, still ignoring me as he follows Raine into the building. Aiden goes by next, holding Becca’s hand, and then Adrianna’s next to me.
“You all right?” she asks, concern on her face.
“Yeah,” I say, rolling my eyes because I don’t want her to worry. “I was just getting a little carsick.”
“No fun,” she says, “And you didn’t even have anything to drink.” She leans in close to me. “I think Lancaster’s a little tipsy.”
“Yo, Adrienne,” he yells from up ahead. “Come on. I want to dance.” He swivels his hips in an exaggerated dance move.
“See you in there?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I say, giving her a smile. “See you in there.”
“You all right?” Brody asks when she’s gone. He hands me my purse. “You left this in the limo.”
“Thanks.” I take it gratefully. “And I’m fine.”
“You want to stay out here for a couple minutes?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I’m ready.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Listen,” he says, turning to stand in front of me. “Whatever happens tonight, I need you to trust me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m saying that if some shit starts to go down, you have to listen to me. Trust me. Understand that I know more about this stuff than you do. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” I nod.
He leans down then, and kisses my cheek softly. Then he takes my hand and leads me into the lodge.
Chapter Six
Campbell
When I was getting ready for the dance tonight, I told myself to keep my wits about me. The most important thing, I decided, was to try to keep Raine from putting me under her spell or whatever the hell it is that she does to me.
I treated it just like I would a football game. Sitting on my bed in my shirt and tie, I closed my eyes and visualized myself being calm and cool and in control, even as I pretended to have fun and get drunk at the dance.
But the moment I stepped into that limo with Raine and she got close to me, I could feel the logic and self-control slipping from my grasp. Felt my thoughts getting jumbled and weird.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get back to my normal self.
The feeling was kind of like swimming in rough surf. That happened to me once on a trip to Plum Island, where I tried to show off in front of Brody and Lancaster, seeing who could swim the furthest, and I got tired.
I still remember how no matter how hard I kicked and paddled my arms, the beach got further and further away as the tide swept me out.
Finally there was this burst of adrenaline and fear when I thought I might actually die out there. Luckily a huge wave came along and I was able to just barely drag myself back to the beach.
I smile now, remembering how thankful I was to be alive that day. I think I might have even kneeled down and kissed the sand.
“Something funny?” Raine asks, and I snap out of it, sort of.
We’re just walking into the lodge where the dance is being held. There’s a huge Homecoming banner hanging from the ceiling.
“Just thinking about how I almost drowned once,” I tell her.
“When you looked into my eyes?” she asks, dramatically flipping her hair like some stupid shampoo commercial.
I laugh. “Exactly.”
She stops and kisses me softly on the lips. It feels good. Better than it did before.
I’m not sure why, though.
Aiden yells out, “Get a room, you two!” and everyone laughs.
We stop kissing and keep walking. I almost stumble on the red carpeting at one point and Raine grabs my arm, steadying me. “You’re already drunk and it’s barely even started.”
“This place is huge!” Aiden says, and Becca shushes him.
I can hear the dance music echoing from somewhere in the distance, but we’re walking down this long, cavernous corridor with a bunch of other kids and the actual ball room isn’t in sight yet.
“Why the hell did they decide to have the dance in a lodge?” I ask. “This place is fucking creepy.”
Raine grabs my hand. “This is Wolden Estates, Cam. It’s been in my mother’s family for hundreds of years.”
“Your family owns this place?”
“We own a lot of places around here,” she says. “But Wolden Estates is probably the best known. It’s totally a historical landmark.”
I stare at the large oil paintings that adorn the walls of the corridor. They’re those creepy old kinds of paintings that are portraits of unsmiling women and men and children. They all look somehow rich and aristocratic and…doomed. Like they’re all depressed and just waiting to die.
“It’s cold in here,” I say, shivering a little.
“These old buildings tend to have drafts,” Raine says, grabbing my arm. “But don’t worry, Cam, I’ll keep you warm.”
After what feels like forever we finally get to the ball room. It’s enormous – the space i
s so big that the music bounces off the walls and ceilings. And still somehow it feels like the music isn’t quite loud enough even though I can barely hear anyone talking when they scream in my ear.
The group that was together in the limo kind of breaks apart as Brody and Natalia head for a table, while Lancaster and Adrianna make a beeline for the punch bowl.
Teri and Rob and Becca and Aiden are all waiting for Raine to decide what she wants to do next.
She looks around and seems displeased. “Ugh, this is already totally boring.
Want to go upstairs and smoke pot?”
Everyone cheers.
I try to smile but my lips are numb and slow to react. Raine pulls me back out the main entrance as we all head for the stairs.
***
Raine takes us up to some kind of study, which is even weirder than the rest of the lodge. I can’t remember how many twists and turns and doors we went through—not to mention stairs that we climbed—before getting there.
The room’s musty and stale, yet somehow still freezing.
“Teri, open the window,” Raine commands.
The study has row upon row of bookcases stuffed with books that look to be hundreds of years old. I walk over and examine a few of the cracked, weathered spines.
Esquisse d'un Tableau Historique des Progres de L'Esprit Humain
The Christian Virtuoso
Letter to a Friend
I start to pull the Christian Virtuoso off the shelf when Raine slaps my hand.
“You can’t touch those!”
“Why not?”
“They’re like museum pieces,” she says. “Some of those books are worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.”
“Oh.”
“Can we sit in these comfy leather seats?” Aiden says, pulling Becca down onto one of the brown leather couches before anyone bothers to answer him.
“Of course we can sit,” Raine says. She pulls out a little bejeweled flask from her purse and gives everyone a wicked grin. “How about a little drink before we get to the good stuff?”
Applause.
I look around at everyone, feeling drunker than I’ve ever been without even having had a sniff of booze tonight. I smile, and then a little voice shouts at me from deep inside.
You’re under her spell.
I laugh. I know it’s true, but somehow the whole thing is just funny now. I mean, it’s not so bad, being numb and drunk and horny, is it?
Wake up, you’re in trouble…
But the flask is shoved into my hands and I’m drinking from it while the others shout my name and clap. “Cam! Cam! Cam!” I drink for a few seconds and the liquid scours my throat with a burning pain.
“Ugh, what was that shit?” I ask, handing off the flask to Teri.
“That’s what we call my special Jamba Juice,” Raine tells me. She’s got a joint out and is rolling it back and forth with a dollar bill. She’s holding it over her lap and her dress has fallen back to reveal tanned skin all the way up her thigh.
She looks up and catches my gaze.
I grin. “Hey.”
“You like what you see, cowboy?”
I do my best Western drawl. “It ain’t too bad, ain’t too bad atall.”
“Good.” She sticks the end of the joint between my lips and lights it with a bejeweled lighter that matches her flask.
I take a big hit and the acrid smoke pours into my lungs. I abruptly cough it out and everyone hoots and laughs.
A few more tokes and then I pass the joint to my left.
Pretty soon the entire room is cloaked in a haze of pot smoke and the flask is being passed around counterclockwise.
Not too long after that I see Teri leading her guy out of the study and leaving just Raine and me and Aiden and Becca. Aiden and Becca are making out hardcore on the opposite couch while Raine and I pass the joint back and forth, watching them.
“This is your friend’s lucky night,” Raine says, taking a long hit.
I laugh, watching Aiden try to grope Becca’s breasts as she removes his hand and places it back on her hip.
When Raine passes the weed back to me, I notice her butterfly necklace. For a moment I get this really strange thrill of fear that shoots up my spine.
“Hey, your necklace.”
She looks at me and her expression darkens. “The one you stole?”
“How did you…I mean…didn’t you lose it?”
“No. You stole it.”
I laugh and nod. “You’re right.”
“But I got it back from you the other night. You don’t remember?”
I shake my head. “Bullshit.”
She laughs. “You opened the door for me and everything, Cam.”
“I did not.”
“How do you think I got it then?” She grasps it and runs her fingers along its smooth, shiny surface.
“Maybe that’s a copy.”
“No. There’s only one, Cam. And it wasn’t very nice of you to steal it, either.”
“Sorry.” I can’t think of anything else to say to that.
Aiden’s gone limp on the other couch.
There’s a knock on the study door.
“Who is it?” Raine says.
“Teri. And Brody’s here too.”
Raine stands up. “Tell him to leave.”
“Let me in, Raine,” Brody says from outside. His voice is muffled.
For some reason, I laugh again.
“Fine.” Raine walks and opens the door. Brody peers inside and sees what’s going on. Aiden passed out with Becca still kissing his cheeks and lips.
Me sitting on the other couch, stoned and drunk with a huge grin.
He doesn’t look altogether pleased. “What are you going to do with them?” he asks.
Raine sighs. “None of your business. You know that. The less you know the better.”
“I just need to be sure—“
“You don’t need anything. You got her. You got what you wanted, and we get what we wanted. What’s left to discuss?”
Brody glances at me again and frowns. “There are rules about this kind of thing, Raine. Laws and—”
“Please, save that shit for the girl scouts. You’re in no position to lecture me on professional ethics. Now go back to your little angel and leave us adults alone. We’ve got important work to do.”
“I’m warning you Raine. Don’t overstep. I’m serious about this.”
“Whatever. Toodles!” She motions for Teri to shut the door, which she does.
The room starts to spin a little as Raine sits back down again. She caresses my hair.
“What was all that about?” I say.
“Forget about him,” she says, waving her hand. “He’s nothing. Time for fun.”
“What kind of fun?”
Aiden begins twitching. His legs and arms. His eyes have rolled back in his head and then his entire body slumps to the side and slides off the couch.
I try to stand but my legs won’t really accommodate.
Becca gets up from the couch and steps over Aiden’s convulsing body. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is open.
“Mmmm….Camerade,” she says.
“Oh, this is going to be tasty,” Raine laughs.
I try to talk. Actually, I want to scream. But this time I’m drowning and there’s no wave to come along and wash me ashore.
Chapter Seven
Natalia
“Lancaster’s drunk,” Adrianna tells me, plunking herself down next to me. “Like, really drunk. Like, I think he’s in the bathroom puking kind of drunk.”
“I’m so sorry, Adrianna,” I tell her. We’re sitting at a table in the ballroom, pieces of cake in front of us. For some reason it’s a big thing at Santa Anna to have cake at every dance. This one was a huge three-tiered cake from some fancy bakery, wishing the football team good luck tomorrow in their game against Bridgewater. “It’s okay,”
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