Page 18 of No Place Left to Hide

He looks so much like his sister.

Brandon lunges at me again and the boys grapple to push him away. I take two quick steps back and Brandon clocks the movement.

“Youshouldbe afraid of me, you bitch! You don’t get to go to college and watch your dreams come true.”

“Let’s go!” Dylan shouts at him. He and Felix start dragging him toward the house.

Brandon fights back, but he’s no match for the boys, and soon a couple guys from the football team jump in to help—probably for the novelty of saying they were part of the drama later. When they get him all the way back to the side gate, Brandon catches my eye one final time over Dylan’s shoulder and yells, “You’re a fucking monster for what you did to my sister!”

Every eye in the party turns to stare at me.

Five

Before

September 2nd

I can’t bring myself to look away from Claire. All I can think isContain thisas she stares me down from the doorway. Disastrous scenarios play out in my mind: Claire provoking a fight, trashing the house, turning partygoers—or worse, Dylan—against me, using her well of gossip and secrets to cause rifts in friend groups, trash-talking my family with nonsense lies that would one hundred percent get back to my mom come Monday morning… There are countless ways she could throw this night into chaos, and she smiles at me like she knows it.

She steps forward and I feel the weight of fifty pairs of eyes on us as she…wordlessly breezes past me into the throng of dancing bodies, looking like a goddess in leather. Behind me, I hear voices welcome her back with genuine warmth.

Claire was always well-liked at Waldorf. Almost effortlessly so.

The original queen bee. I wonder which of those backstabbers spilled the beans about the party. Everyone should know by now thatif there’s one person unwelcome at a Brooke Goodwin party, it’s Claire Heck.

Dylan clears his throat like there’s a golf ball stuck in there. “I’m, ah…going to get a drink.”

And thenhe’sgone too.

What. The. Fuck. She’s already driving people to drink and she’s only been here two minutes.

Jena appears by my side. “She can’t stay,” she whispers, leaning close to my ear. “We have to get her out of here.”

The weight of the scrutiny isn’t any better. Claire may be mingling, but everyone’s watching to see what I’m going to do about it. “And how exactly are we supposed to do that?”

“Easy, we pull her aside and tell her to go. United front. What is she going to do?”

“Cause a scene.”

“Oh. The. Horror.”

I jab at her side with my elbow, but she dodges it. “Don’t make fun. This is serious.”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

I chew on the inside of my lip for a second, trying to think of the best way to handle this. “Maybe she’ll be on her best behavior and it doesn’t have to be a thing?”

Jena blinks at me three or four times, like she’s waiting for a punch line. When it doesn’t happen, she throws up her hands. “Cool, so we’re going the delusional route tonight. I’m sure she’ll be a complete delight. If we’re lucky, maybe it’ll be like the time she jumped into the driver’s seat of the dance team bus and took us all for a joyride around the Western Oregon University campus? And then blamed it on the girl vying for her team position.”

Shit, I forgot about that.

“Or how about the time your dad gave you his debit card to buy a dress for homecoming and she stole it out of your gym bag. Charged up a thousand dollars worth of clothes, and thendonatedthem to the school clothing drive and got special accommodationfrom your motherfor her exemplary volunteer work?”

I look down at the floor. I had to withdraw a chunk from my college fund to put the money back in his account before he noticed.

“Or,orwhat about the first party you threw out here at the lake? You were so excited to host, and Claire helped you plan the entire thing for Halloween…andthensecretly invited everyone to a creepy graveyard party out in the middle of nowhere, over an hour away, knowing full well that nobody would have the time to drive to both. She announced her party before yours, and when you showed up with your adorable little cobweb-themed invitations, she confronted you in front of the whole cafeteria and accused you of trying to steal her idea.”

My hands wring together at the memory of fidgeting in my witch costume, watching the driveway through the front windows. Only Jena and a couple girls from my English class came, and it was clearly out of pity. Claire convinced everyone that her party would be better, and that they should go to hers to show solidarity.

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