Page 58 of The Debutantes
Aiden is quiet for a second. When I finally glance up at him, he’s frowning slightly.
“What?” I ask.
It’s hard to tell, but I think his cheeks get a little pink. He reaches for the pencil in front of him, twisting it between his long fingers. “Do you know if they’ve heard anything? About Lily?”
I shrug. “Nothing new, I think. Why?”
He becomes very interested in the pencil eraser. “I think maybe you were right that there’s something more going on. It’s been four days now, right? It feels… I don’t know.”
I tense, focusing on my Google Doc, even when I feel his eyes on me again. “They’ll find her.”
“I thought—”
“You were right,” I cut him off. “She probably just ran away.”
Aiden nods, shoulders slumping a little. He grabs his water bottle, a new item to fidget with, and after a few seconds, he stands.
“I’m going to go fill this up,” he says. “Take five?”
“Fine with me.”
Aiden bounds out of the study room, leaving me alone. I stare at the blinking cursor on my screen, a weird hollow feeling in my stomach, then shake myself out of it. I need to focus, do something to keep my mind busy. On cue, my computer flashes with a low-battery notification. Shit. Did I forget to plug it in last night? And how did I not even notice? I reach into my bag for my charger, but it’s not there. Shit again. I really need to get it together.
Aiden’s bag is open. I’m surehewasn’t too distracted to double-check this morning. I don’t think he’ll mind, either, so I go ahead and grab his charger. That’s when I see something else tucked into the laptop pocket.
A folded piece of thick paper.
With a quick glance at the door, I reach inside and pull it out. The paper is heavy, familiar. My pulse thrums under my skin as I unfold it, revealing the sad-clown logo stamped at the top. The message underneath.
His Majesty, King Deus, commands your attendance at His Royal Feast, where we shall welcome our newest brothers to the Krewe. January 2nd, ten of the clock. The Pierrot.
I don’t register the door opening again until it’s too late. Aiden stands in the doorway, water bottle gripped, eyes locking on the invitation in my hands.
21APRIL
JANUARY 2, 3:45P.M.
I shouldn’t be here. Taking in the Tulane University campus, I already feel like a shrimp in a sea of collegiate green. Not to mention this plan is totally doomed, because I don’t even know her name. If I want to find the girl from the Pierrot bathroom, I don’t have anything to go on besides her face and the certainty deep in my gut: now that Piper and Vivian are out, she’s my only shot at finding the truth.
Hiking up my camera strap, I scan the courtyard. It’s still technically Tulane’s winter break, so it’s not too crowded. A few students are milling around, jogging by, or snapping pictures of a tree covered with Mardi Gras beads that hang from the branches like rainbow moss.
Margot was supposed to be here with them. Right now, she should be burrowed in the most oversized Tulane sweatshirt imaginable, getting ready for sorority rush or buying her books for the new semester with a massive coffee in hand. Maybe I’d even be with her, learning all the new names and stories from her freshman year.
Now, when I picture her, there’s only one image I can conjureup: her face that night. The anger in her eyes, aimed at me like a weapon.
“Excuse me.”
A student steps past me, and with a rush of embarrassment, I realize I’m stopped dead in the middle of the path.
“Sorry,” I mumble, but they’re already long gone.
And suddenly, it’s too much, being here in what should have been Margot’s future. I’m about to give up and go scurrying back to my car when I see her.
She’s ditched the ball gown for platform boots, space buns, and a vintage Bowie shirt that would look try-hard on anyone else, but it’s unmistakably her. The girl from the bathroom. She’s standing at a bike rack, locking hers up, her hair an even more otherworldly reddish-purple in the sun.
And then she sees me. Her brow furrows before her eyes widen in recognition.
This was a bad idea. One of my worst, actually, and all the nerve is leaving me as quickly as the heat rushing to my face. I scramble in the opposite direction, but I barely make it a few steps before I hear her.
