RILEY

I don’t like going back into Tori’s house. It’s cold and hard and full of the mayor’s negative energy.

“Riley.” Tori greets me at the door and looks me up and down. “The perfect princess.”

“I’m Holly Golightly.” I frown. I’m a total fraud—I could never be Audrey Hepburn. I’d be more realistic as Paul Varjak—the guy in love with Holly G.

“Hmm, I don’t remember that one.” Tori wrinkles her nose.

“From the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”

“Never heard of it.”

“It’s Audrey Hepburn’s most famous movie. There’s even a song about it.”

“You and your nerdy old movies, Riley. I’ll never understand it.”

“I know,” I say, rolling my eyes on the inside. “You look great too, by the way.”

Tori’s clad in a scarlet cape. She’s dressed as Red Riding Hood, but I can’t help thinking the Big Bad Wolf would be much more appropriate.

See, I’m not the only fraud here.

“Come on,” she says, taking my arm. “We’re just getting ready to start the games.”

Tori pulls me into the fold. The rest of the Rollers are also in fairytale get-up: Natalie is Little Bo Peep, Paige is Goldilocks, and Alexa is Alice in Wonderland.

I have to say, it’s unlike any other party I’ve been to. Mayor and Mrs. Devlin are out schmoozing with the kids. They’re dressed up like that weird farming couple in the American Gothic painting. The mayor is holding a pitchfork, which is very fitting.

Tori stops and grins at me. I think she wants something.

“What?” I ask.

“I need a favor,” she says, tugging me into the corner.

“Okay, what is it?”

“I hate to ask this here, but I’m running out of time.”

I flip my wrist, telling her to go on.

“I need your testimony. For church?” She looks up at me under her lashes.

I stare at her, pretending not to follow.

“It’s when people talk about their life, their path, how they found God. I was hoping you’d share your story. Pastor Al said you could do it next week.”

“Wait—you already asked him before talking to me? I don’t do well in crowds, Tori.”

Next week is too soon. I need more time.

“What are you talking about? You’re an actress.”

“But this is my real life, and I’m not ready for some public declaration.”

“Riley, I need this. I have to help someone with their testimony before I work in the church like my parents do. They’re counting on me. Can you do it for me? Please?”

“I don’t know,” I say.

“Like I said, act. Just look at it as another part.”

“In church? Isn’t that sacrilege or something?”

“You’d be surprised.” Tori smirks but her eyes are sad. “Just think about it, okay?”

I nod.

“Let’s go back,” she says. This time she practically skips when she brings me over to join her friends.

Over the next hour, we play games. We bob for apples—something I didn’t know people really did. Well, most of us bob for apples. Tori and Natalie drink punch and watch since they don’t want to ruin their makeup. Then it’s charades. When it’s time for the scavenger hunt, I sneak out.

Down the hall, two zombies—Marcus and John—are pouring what looks to be vodka into their punch. Now that is something I’m used to seeing at a party. They laugh and join the crowd.

Then Alexa storms past me into the bathroom with tears in her eyes, and though I need to get downstairs to do my detective work, I can’t help but follow. Alexa’s at the bottom of the Roller food chain and I know what that’s like.

I knock on the door. “Alexa? It’s me. Riley.”

The door clicks and opens an inch. I slide in.

Alexa is staring at herself in the mirror. A cosmetic bag sits inside the sink.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

She shakes her head and more tears stream down her face.

My insides tighten. Alexa is beautiful, and her tears make her blue eyes even more striking. They remind me of Emma’s.

“Tori,” she hiccups. “She said I look terrible and told me to do something with myself.”

I burn up.

Alexa dabs the rest of her tears with a tissue and powders her face. Then she takes a tube of bright pink lipstick and begins to slide it across her bottom lip.

“No,” I say, a little too loud.

I’ve startled her, and she drops the tube in the sink. I move closer and wipe her lip with another tissue. My stomach is doing full-on somersaults now. I force my hand away from her face and into her makeup bag.

I find what I’m looking for. A tube of gloss. It’s amazing that I’ve become a bit of an expert with this stuff.

“Here.” I hand her the tube. “This is better. More natural.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s what Tori had in mind.”

“Don’t listen to her. You’re so pretty, you don’t need all that stuff.”

Her face relaxes, and when she smiles, I know I have to get out of there.

I ignore my hormones and get my mind back in the game. I pass the zombies in the hallway, a creepy comic book villain lurking in the corner, and two sexy (or slutty, as Tori’s been calling them all night) pirates in the kitchen. Then I sneak downstairs to the rec room. Just past the bar is where I saw the statue, that night of the Dirty Deeds. The Degas was sitting on a shelf next to the flat screen.

My fingers tingle. I just know it’s Ms. Dunn’s.

It’s dark, so I flip on the light. The statue is still there. I take a quick glance behind me up the stairwell, to be sure nobody’s coming. Then I hurry over to the Little Dancer sculpture.

I pick it up and turn it over, but I don’t get a chance to look.

“What are you doing down here?” A man’s voice jolts me back two feet. He’s walking toward me from the other side of the room. Damn big house—there must be two stairways.

I slide the statue back onto the shelf.

The mayor approaches me. “It’s Riley, isn’t it?”

I clear my throat and slowly release a breath. “Yes, sir. I was just looking for the bathroom.”

“Well, you passed two of them to get down here.”

“Oh, I—“

He moves even closer. “If you’re down here looking for something to spike the punch with, Riley, you won’t find it. This is a dry house.”

“Mr. Devlin, I wasn’t looking for alcohol,” I say, having a strange desire to fit into this party, with these people.

“I’m sure.” He doesn’t buy it. “Why don’t you just go up and join the rest of the party.”

I do as I’m told. Something about him is more than off.

I text Dez to come pick me up ASAP.