Page 35 of The Wrong Costar

Madi handed me a piece of thick card that looked like the party invitation. It was far more striking than any high school invite I’d seen before. The entire thing had been written in graffiti print, and it was bright and edgy. It had clearly been done professionally, rather than printed out in the school library. My eyes rested on the address and I frowned. Liam wasn’t hosting the party at his house. At least, he wasn’t hosting it at the house he’d taken me to the other day. This place was on the other side of town, and I had to wonder if it were some kind of decoy.

I gave Madi a smile and handed the invite back without saying a word about the address. I didn’t want to disappoint my friends who all thought they were going to Liam Black’s house. Who knew though. Perhaps, I’d been taken to a decoy house the other day? I didn’t really believe he’d go to so much effort to trick me though.

It didn’t take much longer for Hayley to finish with her makeup, and when she announced she was ready, she turned to the rest of us. “Do you guys want to head to the party now?”

“It doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes,” Evan said.

“Yeah, but it will take us that long to get there, and I really don’t care about being fashionably late. Not when we’re going to Liam Black’s house.”

“Fair enough,” Evan replied. “I’m happy to go if everyone else is.”

I knew I was the only person in the room who wasn’t eager to get to the party, so I kept my mouth shut while the others all agreed, and within minutes, we were piling into Evan’s car to head across town.

It should have taken us fifteen minutes to reach Liam’s party, but, in his excitement, Evan got us there in ten. We were slightly early, but that didn’t seem to matter. It appeared that everyone else from school had the same idea and was arriving at the party on time. Music blared from inside a large house, and students from school were streaming inside.

“This is insane,” Madi said, as we got out of the car.

I nodded in agreement. It was no surprise that Liam would throw a raging party. The police would probably rock up before too long, so I knew we’d have to make the most of it before it got broken up.

“You guys ready?” Hayley asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Ready as ever,” I replied. Though as I followed Hayley toward the thrumming house, I had a bad feeling it was going to turn into one messy night.

13

Liam

The party was my mother’s bright idea. Apparently, my time at Lincoln High hadn’t garnered enough media attention, so this was her solution. She’d hired a house and an event planner and invited the entire school. My only job was to act the part of party-boy host and make sure I was photographed in the middle of the out-of-control party she’d thrown. There were enough kids in the house with phones that I was sure pictures had already been spread all over social media, and it wouldn’t take much longer for those pictures to be picked up by the tabloids.

I really didn’t like the bad boy image my mother had created for me, and I wasn’t enthusiastic about her plan for the night. I’d already spent the past year attending more parties than I could count, and I was tired of it all. This one had only just started, and I already wanted to bail.

It was one thing when Mother had me traipsing all over L.A. and going to nightclubs with strange girls, but I was supposed to see these people every day at school. I didn’t want to play this part around them. I didn’t want the people at Lincoln High to only see me as some party obsessed film star. I’d only been there for two weeks, but a little of my glamour had started to wear off and I was hoping people would start to see the real me. The kids here were normal, and I wanted to find my place in that reality.

“Cool house, Liam,” Laurie said as she strode into the kitchen. I’d been hiding out in here because it was a little quieter, but apparently, my solitude had now ended. “And great party.” She waved toward the rest of the house. It had only been going for an hour, and already the place was packed with people. At least my mother had the sense to hire somewhere other than where I lived.

“Thanks,” I replied.

Laurie stepped toward me, trapping me against the kitchen bench. The thick scent of her perfume and hairspray filled the air, and I had to stop myself from scrunching up my nose in distaste. It smelt like she’d bathed in a bottle of whatever floral scent she was wearing and it wasn’t at all subtle.

“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t asked me out yet,” she said, slowly trailing a finger across my chest.

I captured her finger in one hand to stop her. The girl was hot, but Tanner had already warned me that she was also crazy. And my life was already crazy enough without adding an unhinged girlfriend to the mix.

“I don’t date high school students,” I said, trying to let her down as easily as possible.

“Well, we don’t have todate,” she immediately replied, not even slightly put off by my response. Her voice was filled with suggestions that I wanted nothing to do with.

“I don’tnot datethem either,” I said, my voice becoming slightly harder. I really hoped she’d get the hint because I didn’t want to be blatantly rude.

She pouted, but then shrugged and stepped back from me. “Well, if you change your mind…” She left the words hanging as she turned and walked from the room, taking her perfumed scent with her.

I sagged against the bench, and the sound of chuckling reached my ears.

“You have absolutely no game,” Zeke said, walking across the kitchen toward me. Apparently, he’d seen the whole thing.

“Well, she’s not my type.” I frowned.

“Why not?”

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