All the Lies - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,23

out there among the indie authors.

“You did not!” Brooke squeals. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I pitched it when I had no other ideas and Corrin thought it was a great one and, of course, took it on. This is all your fault!”

“No, no, no. This is going to be so fun.” She laughs. “You know that you're going to solve one of the biggest literary mysteries out there.”

“Are there a lot of literary mysteries?” I ask, tilting my head. “I mean, come on.”

“Okay, maybe not, but don’t be so negative.”

“How could I not be? I have to do all of this research on a person who does not want to be found and I have to turn it in by Monday. What do I even do if I find out who he is? It's not like he's going to let me interview him.”

“Okay, it's probably not a he so you have to stop saying that,” she says, emphasizing the word he dramatically.

I shrug.

“Come on,” Brooke says. “I'm serious. Most people who write in that genre are women so there's a strong probability that this writer is a woman.”

“Why does that matter?”

“She may be more open to talking to you after you find her.”

“I kinda doubt that.” I let out a deep sigh and roll my eyes. “Most indie authors promote themselves online and on social media. Why not? They want to sell their books. So, if I thought this person is obfuscating and hiding their identity on purpose, that means something. That means even if I go through all the trouble of finding out the truth, then it's all going to be for nothing. They're not going to give me an interview. They won’t want to talk to me.”

I’m exhausted and spent. The more I think about this, the less certain I am that I’m going to write this story at all.

“Okay,” Brooke says, sitting on her bed and leaning toward me. “I'm going to help you.”

“How?” I ask, throwing my hands up.

“I’ll help you with everything, whatever you need. I’ll help you do research. Besides, it's not like you're going to Laguna Beach to celebrate your engagement. You have three solid days to find something and I'm sure that's more than enough. You should come over and we can work on it together.”

A light knock on the door startles me at first, but it's just Lindsey.

“Mom said to find you because they're going to be cutting the cake,” Lindsey says.

I shake my head. I thought that this horrible night would be over but I had completely forgotten about the cake.

“Listen, it's not going to be a big deal. You just stand there with Alex. He can say a few words and then you cut the cake. That's it.”

She’s saying this to be nice, but in reality, we both know there's a lot more to this.

On my way downstairs, Brooke squeezes my hand in solidarity. I glance over at Lindsey who gives me a sympathetic shrug.

Everyone feels bad for me but everyone also understands why I have to go through with this.

Everyone except for me.

Why am I going through with this?

When we get to the kitchen, I see Alex standing right next to the cake waiting for me like a real groom.

He walks over and gives me a small hug. Somehow, it’s almost as if nothing that happened today has registered with him at all. As long as we're going through the motions of the engagement party, he seems to think that we are still engaged.

He takes my hand and walks me through the double doors into the living room where everyone is waiting. We approach the DJ who has just introduced us as the future Mr. and Mrs. Wetterling and Alex confidently takes the mic.

This is the part that I hate; speeches.

I hate giving speeches and I equally hate receiving them. I don't like when people say nice things in my honor. I've always felt like that ever since I was a little kid. It's hard to explain exactly what makes this practice so terrible except that there seems to be some sort of inauthenticity to it.

I mean, why make speeches about people when you both already know each other and everything about each other?

When my dad takes the microphone, he starts to tell the crowd all about the kind of girl that I used to be when I was little. He tells about how proud he is of me, but throughout this whole presentation, I feel like it’s a lie.

If these