Page 108 of Wish You Were Her
“She can talk, Skye.”
“Did you get all of the attention you wanted?” Skye ignored her friend and berated Allegra with a gleeful gleam in her eye. “Do you know how few decent boys there are in this town? You had to have both of them.”
“I haven’t ‘had’ anyone,” Allegra said coolly. “Kerrie. I’m sorry. Everything with Jonah happened unexpectedly and stupidly fast. We both should have considered your feelings more.”
Kerrie waved away her words, looking embarrassed. “It’s not… it’s okay, Allegra. I’ve been a bitch. But, it’s not what you think.”
“Is it about the university?”
Kerrie looked surprised. “How did you—? Never mind, small town. Yeah. My whole family have gone to Mapesbury. It’s a sort of Lake Pristine tradition. Kids go, they graduate, they come back here. Except I didn’t get in.”
Allegra felt a brush of sympathy for her. She knew, as anactor, what it felt like to be ghosted by people who could change your life.
“Come with us tonight, like we planned,” she said softly, ignoring Skye and her evident disapproval. “We’ll get you a great outfit, we’ll have fun.”
“Not ready to face Jonah yet,” Kerrie said, but it was with an appreciative smile. “But thanks, Allegra.”
Allegra ached for the girl. She looked so forlorn and Allegra found it impossible to forget how sweet and kind she had been to Allegra on her arrival in Lake Pristine.
“Can I do something else for you then?” she asked.
“You’ve done enough,” snapped Skye, which caused Kerrie to round on her friend.
“Skye. Shut up. You don’t even like me that much, you just want to take the famous actress down a peg. It’s gross. Stop.”
Allegra smothered a smirk, while Skye’s mouth made a perfect “O” of shock. Kerrie turned back to Allegra with an exhale of relief.
“What did you have in mind?”
“Just a picture,” Allegra said gently. “Taken by me, this time.”
Kerrie looked bewildered, but Allegra took a smiling selfie of them, side by side. Allegra wrote a quick caption, which she showed to Kerrie, who nodded in consent. Allegra posted it.
“Give it a few days to percolate,” Allegra told her. “And if you change your mind about tomorrow, just call Grace and I can get you in.”
Kerrie watched the actress get back into the car, smiling in a way she never had before. Her hands trembled as she checked her own social media feed. There the two of them were, she a small-town girl with a handful of followers and the moviestar who was sent death threats. They smiled defiantly at the camera lens.
This is my very good friend @KerrieR2008. Mapesbury University have, quite stupidly, waitlisted her. If anyone else knows a good thing when they see it, she’ll make a great addition to your campus come fall. Love, Allegra Brooks.
She watched the car leave Lake Pristine, grateful to her new friend and ashamed of how she had behaved.
Inspired, too. By someone who had taken pain and refused to turn it into poison.
“May she never come back,” Skye said scornfully, as they watched the car become a speck in the distance.
“Skye,” Kerrie said, her voice matter-of-fact. “I have so utterly outgrown you.”
Allegra felt her spirits soar as Grace took in the Parfumerie Suite at the Garland Hotel. It was on the top floor, with stunning skyline views. The reflection of the sun on the river was dazzling and the warmth filled the dustless rooms, where makeup stations were set up and racks of clothes waited to be chosen.
“I’ve died and gone to unattainable heaven,” Jasper said, as she walked toward one particular clothing rack that had her name attached to it. “Is this Temperley?”
The stylist, a fun woman in her forties named February, glanced over at Jasper with an appraising look. “Oh, work. Yes, it is.”
Allegra soaked in the secondhand delight of watchingJasper browse the sensual gowns February had pulled out for her. Grace was marveling at sparkling tuxedos and some two-pieces that the stylist had sourced. She selected a Ralph Lauren suit and started to change at once, seemingly unbothered by the strangers in the room.
“I have a silk shirt for it here,” February said, getting to work and joining Grace by her clothing rack.
Allegra’s dress was couture and would be the last thing to try. She didn’t have a rack, she had a beautiful golden gown of dreamy fabrics and her trusty Manolos, the ones she had worn to her first ever premiere. She threw a look to the quiet rack of men’s clothing in the corner. She felt only too aware of his absence and wondered what he would make of all the dressing up.
