Page 100 of The Dollhouse

“We’ll be fine,” Roman muttered, still sounding like he wanted to kill something. Or someone. It’s how he typically sounded, frankly. That man did not ever sound kind. “Do you want me to drive you?”

“Nah,” she said. “I’ll walk, take in the sights. Campus is less than a mile away. Not too far. Besides, I need to keep in shape somehow, since I won’t be on my feet all night at the Dollhouse anymore.” Zoey grinned, far too happy about it all.

“Aren’t you not a morning person either?” I harrumphed, wondering how the fuck she was so… awake and happy about it. The Zoey I knew was a lot like me.

“I’ve been up for two hours already,” she said. “Couldn’t really sleep, so I figured I’d just get up and get ready.” Now that she mentioned it, I noticed Zoey did have makeup on her face. Her blue eyes were done up in blended shadow, her eyelashes longer than normal. Her pink hair was wavy, as if she’d curled it.

She was fucking hot, and I’d been too drowsy to realize it until just now. I opened my mouth, wanting to ask her why she needed to look so good for other people when she didn’t even put that much effort into us, jealousy a hot, ugly beast inside me, but she didn’t give me a chance to. Zoey walked out of the kitchen, hollered a goodbye to us both, and left without saying another word.

Well, fucking fine, then.

Chapter Four – Zoey

Ultimately, I decided to go to campus first, before seeing my family. I still wasn’t sure how I wanted to play it, if I wanted to act like the repentant daughter and see what my family would do, if they would try to invite me back into the fold once again as if nothing had happened or blow shit up immediately.

I vaguely remembered where certain buildings were on campus, but it took me a while to get reacquainted with the university. It was like riding a bike; you might forget exactly how to get started, but once you began, everything came back to you. As I walked through campus in the morning hours, it all came crashing back to me.

This place was hard to describe. Everything looked new, and yet… yet it had a not-so-shiny reputation, when you looked down under the outer shell. Hillcrest had only started accepting females ten years or so ago, about the same time when its dean of students was murdered. I remembered when news of that had filled my parents’ house; I’d only been a kid at the time, but it was an event I remembered well. The university held a vigil for him, and my family had gone, me and Willow in tow.

You know, had to keep appearances up, no matter what. Plus, I think my parents were always hoping to lend their voices in the whole Hillcrest-should-accept-girls thing. They had obviously chosen this particular university for me and Willow since we were children.

And now I was back, with a backpack full of books and a shiny new laptop. It was like I never left, and that was the strangest deja vu feeling I’d ever had. I wore new clothes, clothes Roman had bought for me during our shopping trip, so I fit right in. Minus the pink hair, of course. From the numerous side-glances I got as I walked around, unnatural hair color was obviously not the norm here.

No one talked to me, but they did spare a lot of looks my way. The boys, the girls, everyone walking the sidewalks on campus. I held my head high; no fucking way I’d let any of these rich fucks demean me or make me feel lesser just because I strutted around campus with neon pink hair. Everyone who judged me based on my looks could go fuck themselves. I didn’t care. I wasn’t here for them, anyway.

I was here for Willow. My dear, lovely, not-so-sweet baby sister. The girl who’d messed around with my ex behind my back. And not just once, either. It had been an ongoing thing, and maybe that’s why it still didn’t feel like I got closure. Bryan might be gone, but the anger his lies had left remained.

I made it to the building where my first class was early, and I found the room on the second floor. It was a giant lecture hall, and I figured I’d hang out a little bit further down the hall and wait to see her, let Willow go inside first. Then I’d get an idea of where she liked to sit in the room, if she preferred to sit up close to the board—something I highly doubted—or all the way in the back. Something I also doubted, because the kids who sat in the back were the ones who liked to goof off and watch porn on their computers while pretending to pay attention to the lectures.

Odds were, she’d be in the middle, and I wanted to sit behind her and watch, see if she noticed me, if she had any friends. If that guy I’d seen in pictures with her was in any of her classes. I wasn’t sure of his name yet, but if he was my sister’s new crush and fascination, I’d find him. I’d find him and steal him just like she’d done to Bryan.

I pulled out my phone and texted Lake, telling him I was waiting for my first class. It was earlier than I’d be up usually; working until four A.M. tended to do that, apparently. But I knew Lake would be up. He was a much better morning person than I was, always up and at ‘em.

He texted back right away, and I smiled to myself. He helped me pass the time at least, since he wasn’t working or currently in class himself. He’d tried to get me to enroll in the local college, but I never wanted to go back to school. College had reminded me of Hillcrest, which in turn reminded me of my family, which in turn picked at the wounds my sister and family had created. Funny how I wound up back up here anyway.

As the minutes passed, the halls in the building grew thicker with students, all chitchatting, all in good moods. It was the first day of the semester, so everyone had big goals and excitement they didn’t normally have later on, when laziness took over. I leaned my shoulder on the wall, letting my hair cover most of my face as I stared down at my phone. Every so often I flicked my eyes up to study the groups of students around me, but I didn’t see her.

I didn’t see her, until I did.

Willow had turned eighteen over the summer, just before the start of the semester here. She probably should’ve been in the grade below, but my parents had pushed her into the one just below mine, even though there were two years between us. She’d always had the blessing of being the youngest in her class.

Her blond hair had gotten longer. She’d drawn it into a messy braid, letting it hang over her right shoulder. She wore all name-brand clothes, shit which I’d long since stopped caring about. Her makeup was on point, her eyes much like mine, a light blue. She didn’t even notice me as she turned to head into the lecture hall, didn’t so much glance in my direction.

She never cared about strangers, so I didn’t know what I expected. She didn’t even give a shit about her own family, her own freaking sister, so strangers were definitely low on her list of things to care about.

I didn’t go in right away, but I did send Lake a text saying I’d spotted her. He wished me good luck, and I waited a few more minutes before stepping inside the giant classroom. Willow sat about halfway down, exactly where I’d guessed, literally in the middle of the lecture hall. She’d already pulled out her sleek laptop and had opened a fresh document where she could type notes. The professor was up front, getting the projector ready. It didn’t seem like Willow had any friends in this class—not yet, at least.

We’d gone to Midpark High before this, and most of the kids in Midpark ended up going to Hillcrest, so it wasn’t like she didn’t know anybody. It was possible she’d just taken classes none of her friends did.

Or maybe my sister had changed. Doubted it, though, because based on her social media and all the shit she’d posted lately about orientation and this and that, she certainly seemed like the same old Willow Marbella.

I sat in the second to last back row, staring at the back of her head. If looks could kill, she would’ve been a goner a long time ago. Alas, looks could not kill, and all I could do was glare at her for now. I’d debated on going up to her, on talking to her just to see how she’d react to the knowledge I was here, but I wanted to watch her a bit first. Bide my time for a day, at least.

The moment I went up to her, she’d probably tell our parents, and then that would kill the surprise for them. Couldn’t forget this wasn’t just about getting back at Willow; this was about my parents, too.

I’d glanced at the party and event list Markus had given Roman when we’d met, and I knew one of them was coming up this week. The Dolores family always held parties to show off new art they’d acquired by frequenting exhibits and boring shit like that, to the point where it had become a yearly thing. My parents always went, and I didn’t see why this year would be any different. We’d crash it, of course, but the question was whether I should approach my sister before the party or not. I doubted Willow would go.

I had a few days to decide, at least.

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