Page 90 of The Pretender

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“Areyou sure you want to do this again?” Uncle Pe’s lipstick shimmers in his vanity lights as he pulls my hair back with a tie from his wrist. “Didn’t you tell me this was the worst mistake you had ever made and that I was to stop you from ever doing something so insane ever again?”

He makes a point. I did say that.

“Things are different now.” Doing this may not make things right, but what choice do I have? If I don't, Sebastian won’t win the money. Malcolm knows our secret, thanks to shit-tastic Brick. Malcolm played my game, and he played it well. But what he doesn’t know is I’ve been the master of spying for longer than his butt hairs.

I have one more card to play.

Sebastian and I can still win this.

We have a secret no one knows. One that I’ve kept under lock and key. It could ruin me for the next three years of my college career, long after Sebastian graduates, but I think at this point, it’ll be worth it. I’ll be five hundred thousand dollars richer, and Sebastian will fulfill his dream and move to California.

My stomach clenches with the thought.

Am I seriously thinking I am going to miss the demon next door?

I nod in the mirror. I really am. I am going to miss his ass. How did this happen?

I sigh. I lost him once; I can lose him again. “Do, it, bro.”

CHAPTERTWENTY

Valentina

University CamFlix Competition Submission

Entry Number: 75

Sebastian and Valentina

Final Interview Continued, otherwise known as the day this shit finally ends

“What?” Tom, the producer, doubles over in laughter. “Really?”

Sebastian, having finally shown up an hour late, narrows his eyes at me as if to say, “Now look at what you’ve done.”

All I can do is shrug. He should have been here earlier instead of brooding over potentially losing the competition.

Tom’s laughter only amplifies as the video of our final submission plays in the background. “You mean to tell me—” His pig snort interrupts his ramblings. “—that you were—” Another snort. “—this whole time?”

I nod, feeling my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “This is what you both never spoke about?”

Clearly, we were correct in keeping it a secret, since Tom is struggling to breathe through his laughter.

“Yes.” My answer is almost a sigh. “You don’t have to air the submission videos, right?”

Tom leans back in his chair, funneling his laughter into something more manageable. “Oh, no. This is better than the original show we had planned. This,” he taps the screen, just as I remove the wig on camera, “is gold.”

* * *

“What are you guys doing here?”

My hands go to my face on instinct, and Aspen slaps them down. “Your dad called me,” she says with a grin. “He wasn’t sure what was going down, but he thought you might need your crew.”

My daddy, my hero.

I can already feel my eyes stinging with gratitude as Aspen wraps me in her arms. “We always have your back, Vee. Forever.”

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