Page 56 of The Facade

Cambrielle

I purposely arrived lateto the dance. So when I stepped into the school’s great hall where we usually ate lunch, it was already alive with music and fellow students dancing to the beat in their Halloween costumes.

Our school was over a hundred years old and it had always felt a little like going to school in a castle, but tonight with all the candles hanging from the ceiling, the cauldrons with bubbling potions, and the gnarled trees with lanterns hanging from their branches—it almost felt like I had stepped into a scene fromHarry Potter. It was spectacular to look at and made my heart thrill inside because of how magical it all was.

I walked around the edge of the large room, hoping to scope things out and find out where everyone was. I didn’t know what Ben had decided to dress up as, because I’d botched up our kiss before I had the chance to ask him. But when I walked down the right side of the room, I did spot a few familiar faces dancing to the slow song playing through the speakers.

Carter and Ava were dancing about fifteen feet away, the top of his fireman helmet giving away their location in the crowd since he was one of the taller guys at the school. Their costumes were actually way cuter than I’d thought they’d be when Carter first told us about them. Ava had a headband with floppy, white polka-dotted Dalmatian ears and a fitted white mini-dress with black dots painted all over it. And I was glad to see that Carter was actually wearing a plain white T-shirt under his firefighter suspenders and that the shirt wasn’t even that tight.

Maybe Ava didn’t want everyone seeing her boyfriend’s eight-pack abs—she’d bragged about them to me once, before remembering that I was his sister and not just her friend after all.

Hunter and Scarlett danced a few feet from them, wearing the astronaut and alien costumes Scarlett had talked about. And close to them was Nash in hisPhantom of the Operacostume—made up of a black suit with a long cape and a white mask that covered most of his face. Dancing with my youngest brother was Elyse who was the perfect Elizabeth Swan in a pale-gold corseted dress that her mom must have spent hours designing.

I scanned the crowd to see if Mack was close by as well but didn’t see his tall frame near the group.

Had he decided not to come tonight?

I hadn’t thought to ask him earlier, but he was spending more time with his mom these days. Maybe she was feeling better this evening and he’d decided to stay home and take advantage of it.

I continued walking around the room, to see if I could spot Ben. And even though I didn’t see anyone who immediately stood out as him in costume, I did have a few people gaze in my direction.

I smiled at my curious classmates, wondering if they could tell who I was beneath the mask, but no one seemed to recognize me.

Which was good.

I was just about to finish my circle around the room when I noticed a tall guy with broad shoulders wearing a cowboy hat, a plaid button-up shirt, and tight wrangler jeans leaving the great hall.

It was Ben.

My heart stuttered as I watched him walk into the hallway.

Was he leaving already?

Or just going to the bathroom?

I quickened my step and made my way through the crowd, hoping I wouldn’t lose him. And just as I made it to the exit, I saw him slip around a corner down the hall.

I walked even faster, trying to keep my pink ballet flats as quiet as I could as I headed down the shadowy corridor. I turned the corner just in time to see him go through one of the doors that led outside.

Why was he leaving already? I wasn’t that late to the dance, was I?

I made it to the back door where he’d exited from and was about to burst through when I saw a group of guys standing in a circle.

And since convincing Ben for a re-do kiss in front of his buddies wasn’t exactly part of my plan, I scooted away from the door and leaned against the wall with hopes I could catch him alone soon.

“So did you complete the dare?” one of the guys asked, the sound of his voice slipping through a crack in the door.

“I sure did,” another voice answered. “I did it last night.”

It took me a moment to recognize the tenor voice, but then I realized it was Ben who had just spoken.

He’d completed a dare last night?

He’d been with me at the haunted house. Was he completing some sort of dare while we were together?

“And how did it go?” the first guy asked.

“She bought it hook, line, and sinker.” Ben laughed. “It was so easy.”

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