“Do you even remember how you got outside? Look, I know it doesn't mean much to you, but something happened to us that night, and we're just trying to get to the bottom of it.” Ranger softens his voice up just a bit, and I see Kesha's cheeks fill with color. This time, it's my turn to narrow my eyes.
“All I remember is going outside to get some air …” she starts, trailing off, like maybe this isn't the first time she's tried to recall what happened that night. “Actually, Selena had slipped out the door just before that, and I figured if she was going to sneak a cigarette, then I might as well, too.” Kesha looks up and shrugs. “But that's it. I remember stepping outside and then nothing.”
“And Selena?” Ranger pushes, but then the girl in question is sashaying her way over to us with a smile.
“Hey Charlotte,” she says, giving the boys a more skeptical expression. “Does Church want to throw me into a wall again? Or am I okay to be here for the competition?”
“I have your dress,” I offer up, trying to break the tension. “I didn't mean to hijack it from you for so long.”
Selena returns her attention to me, plastering a smile onto her lips that makes me realize that while Church struggles with his emotions, his smiles aren't fake like that. This is most definitely not a pleasant sort of smile.
“No worries. I can get it afterward. Do you want to meet me in the dorm lounge or something? Mark's taking me out later, so I'll definitely be around.”
“Actually, I can’t,” I say on impulse, just before she moves off. Selena pauses and blinks back at me like she can’t believe I’d have the audacity to refuse. “I’m staying with all five of these idiots tonight, and we’re sort of doing a movie thing.”
“Maybe just before or just after?” she suggests, but I’m not liking the vibe I’m getting. We obviously don’t have a ton of evidence to implicate her, but what we do have is strong. Plus, she’s sort of giving me the creeps right now. She’s being far too pushy.
“I’ll be stuck with them from now until Monday, at least.” I give her a dramatic wink, hoping to clear the suspicion from her eyes by acting like a pervy dork. Doesn’t work. She tosses her hair over shoulder.
“Fine. I’ll send a courier at some point next week, and you can leave it with them.”
“Thanks for understanding,” I say, forcing a smile before Selena heads back over to her side of the kitchen.
“What was that about?” Church asks, as I shiver slightly
“She's guilty,” the twins say in unison. I glance back at them and find them nodding in unison. “We knew it.”
“If she’s here, then they’re all here, all four of them. That’s when something bad is going to happen. Imagine if she caught me alone in the dorm lounge. At least if she thinks I’m going to be with you guys all weekend, they’re less likely to try something.”
“Good call,” Church says, as the announcer blows his whistle and instructs us to line up at our stations. We’re given our first category, and the kitchen explodes into chaos. Fortunately, we do this so often that it’s practically mechanical at this point, leaving me with enough energy and focus to watch Selena instead.
She, of course, doesn’t do a damn thing wrong, but I have that feeling on the back of my neck the same way I did when I was at Highgate Cemetery. I’m not getting caught off guard this time.
Ranger nails all three rounds in the competition, just like we knew he would, and we choose a local animal rescue as our charity. On our way back to the dorm later, we run into something interesting.
Mark and Selena, arguing in the woods.
“There’s no point, Mark,” she snaps, yanking her wrist from him. “It’s not going to happen tonight.”
“Okay, damn, that’s literal,” I whisper and Spencer slaps a hand over my mouth, just before Selena continues on, pacing away from Mark and then back again. We’re all standing at the edge of the path, along the line of trees, looking in at them.
“You want me to sleep with you, when I know for a fact you’re sniffing around Aster’s tail?”
“Nothing’s happened between us,” Mark pleads, but his voice is like oil—far too slick for his own good. “We’ve just gotten close is all. We spend a lot of time together, and she’s here, you’re there …”
“I’m being punished for staying at Everly then?” Selena demands to know, scooting away when Mark reaches out for her.
“You’re not being punished, Selena, but you know it would be easier if you were here. Everything would be easier. Like tonight, or even this weekend. It wouldn’t matter what she was going.” I glance over at Church, and he returns the look. What Mark’s saying could mean a whole lot of different things, like maybe he’s talking about Aster? Somehow, though, I feel like that last part is about little old me.
