Page 17 of The Facade

And once he left, I collapsed on the bed, thinking about how close of a call that was.

I needed to find a way to make sure I stayed in this room tonight.

5

Cambrielle

“I heardMrs. Johnson is assigning us new lab partners today,” Elyse said as she slid into the seat beside me in our Culinary Arts class. “Think she’ll let us stay partners?”

“I wish,” I said, looking around the room at the rest of our classmates filing into the tables. Everyone wore their number two uniforms—the girls with their cream-colored blazers over their white shirts, pink and burgundy skirts and neckties, and maroon socks. And the boys with their navy blazers and slacks, and pink and burgundy ties.

I hated that I had to wear the same school uniforms every day since I much preferred the clothes in my own closet, but at least they’d gone with cuter uniforms this year. Last year’s were just atrocious and the boxy fit had done no favors for my somewhat fragile body image.

Mack walked into the room a moment later, his tie already loose around his neck as if it had been a long, rough morning even though it was only second period. He stopped at the first table and said something to Porter Cunningham about basketball tryouts being next Monday. After Porter confirmed that he still planned to try out for the team, Mack gave him a fist bump and then started chatting about what they’d done to improve since last season.

I was about to turn back to Elyse and ask her who she wanted to pair with for the lab when my attention was drawn to the door as the tall, dark, and handsome soccer player I’d had a crush on since last spring walked into the room.

Yes, I was staring at Ben Barnett.

“Looks like Ben cut his hair,” Elyse whispered, seeming to notice how my attention had been immediately captured by the senior god walking toward the back corner where his buddies sat.

“He did. And it looks so good,” I whispered back with a sigh.

Just yesterday, Ben had been sporting an afro. But now his hair was shorter on the sides, making him look almost exactly like Regé-Jean Page who played the Duke of Hastings in the first season ofBridgerton—the show that I was so obsessed with that I’d had my mom help me throw aBridgerton-inspired soirée just a week and a half ago.

“Don’t you think he looks just like Regé-Jean Page now?” I whispered to Elyse who was a fellowBridgertonfan.

Elyse furrowed her brow and studied the six-foot-four athlete. With a shrug, she said, “Kind of.” She turned back to me and spoke in a lowered voice. “I mean, I always thought Mack looked more like him, but I guess I can see it now.”

“You think Mack looks like Regé-Jean Page?” I raised my eyebrows, surprised at the comparison.

“Yeah.” Elyse nodded. “I mean, can’t you see the resemblance? It was kind of the first thing I thought of when I met him.”

I turned to look at Mack who was still talking to Porter, trying to see what Elyse was talking about.

“They have similar jawlines and eyebrows, don’t you think?” Elyse leaned closer to whisper about the boy whom she’d had a crush on before she found out he was her half-brother. “And when I first saw him, his hair was almost identical to Regé-Jean Page’s. Plus, don’t you think that if Mack didn’t shave for a few days that his scruff would look exactly like the Duke of Hastings’?”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to picture the boy I’d known since we were kids as the Duke of Hastings—as the guy wearing an old-fashioned suit and cravat that I sometimes daydreamed about riding horses with when I wasn’t daydreaming of Ben.

And sure, now that Elyse mentioned it, they did look a lot alike. I guess Mack might even resemble my celebrity crush slightly more than my real-life crush did.

But that didn’t mean Ben didn’t look amazing with his new haircut.

Because he did. He looked downright gorgeous.

I shrugged dismissively and said to my friend, “I still like Ben more.”

“Well, I never said you needed to like Mack just because I think he looks more like Regé-Jean Page than your beloved Ben,” Elyse said with a chuckle, amusement in her amber eyes.

“I would hope not,” I said with a smirk.

I considered teasing her about how I wouldn’t dare move in on the guy she’d just been crushing on but stopped myself just in time—making her even more embarrassed over what had been a completely innocent crush at the time wouldn’t do our friendship any good. Even though Elyse hadn’t even been at our school for two full months yet, I didn’t want to do anything that would hurt our friendship.

I’d always wanted a sister, and even though her identical twin was the one who would probably end up marrying my brother Carter someday, I’d gotten close enough to Elyse over the past few weeks that she really did feel like a sister to me.

The bell rang a minute later. Our teacher, Mrs. Johnson, who taught all of the family and consumer-science classes at our school told us about how we’d be switching up our cooking lab partnerships and that all the people on the first two rows would be coming up to draw their new lab partner’s names from a bowl she had prepared with names of the students on the last two rows.

“Looks like being partnered up together is out of the cards for us,” I said to Elyse with a sigh.

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