tell myself to make it all feel better. Tonight was something different, after all: the promise of excitement and adventure. But I’ve done nothing but play chauffeur and drive patiently around while the other girls complete their various plans — and/or insult me. I’m as separate from things as I was lurking in the hallway back at the country club, as detached as the girl at the party. I’m still on the edge, still outside. It’s the same as it’s always been.
Unless I do something different.
I finally reach the corner, peering carefully around as if the guard will be patrolling, vigilant. But the security car is parked, empty, and the lot is silent, so I steel myself and set out: skirting the buildings, scraping my bare arms on the bricks in my effort to stay back in the shadows. Every step feels like a mistake, but I force myself on, checking each window in turn until I see the pale shape of Bliss’s dress, standing in the middle of one of the office lobbies.
I slip through the unlocked door and creep across the room behind her.
“So where is she?” I whisper.
Bliss lets out a yelp.
“Shhh!” I hiss furiously.
“Sorry!” Bliss switches to a quieter voice. “What are you doing here? You scared me half to death.”
“I’m part of the team, remember?” I look around, waiting for my heartbeat to return to something resembling normal. The room is shadowed, but I can make out a reception desk, filing cabinets, and couches in the main space, with a fish tank in the far corner, lit up in an eerie blue glow. I turn back to Bliss. “Did you find Jolene yet?”
She shakes her head. “I just got in.”
“Right.” I try to think like a wild child, hell-bent on vengeance. “She probably headed for the offices, or maybe storage. Do you even know what she’s after?”
Bliss nods, but doesn’t say anything more.
“Then we’d better —”
The sound of breaking glass suddenly shatters the silence, the loud noise echoing through the room for what feels like forever. We freeze.
“What was that?” Bliss whispers, clutching my arm.
“It was coming from back there.” My stomach lurches, just imagining what Jolene is doing. “Do you think anyone heard?”
“They heard that in Alaska!” Bliss’s eyes are wide with panic. She looks past me and gasps. “Look, he’s coming!”
The dark shadow of the security guard is heading toward the building. My heart stops.
“You cover here.” Bliss shoves me toward the door. “Stop him searching the place. I’ll get Jolene; we’ll try and make it out the back.”
“But —”
“Do it!” She trips away down the hallway, stumbling in her heels.
I turn back to the entrance, my mind blank. He’s close enough to see clearly now: in his fifties, maybe, wearing a crumpled blue uniform shirt and pants that bulge around the waistband. He’s trying to speak into a walkie-talkie device, shaking it in frustration, but it’s too late to be relieved that Jolene’s remote is still blocking transmissions — he looks up.
“Hey!” The guard pushes through the door, flashing his light in my face. I reel back, squinting. “Who are you? What are you doing in here?”
I gulp.
“Come on, kid. Did you break something?” he demands, swooping the flashlight around the room. “I heard the noise.”
I’m frozen in fear for a terrible second until it registers that his voice has softened. He sounds more confused than angry now, like he was expecting to find a gang of delinquents trashing the place. Instead, there’s only me: five foot three, in strappy heels and a floor-length gown.
Thank you, prom dress.
“I . . . I’m sorry. ” My voice comes out strangled, so I clear my throat and try again. “I knocked some things off the desk. Nothing’s damaged, see?” I quickly flip the lights on, flooding the room in a warm glow. Suddenly, it doesn’t look suspicious and deserted anymore, just tidy.
The guard pauses, looking around. “But what are you doing in here? These buildings are supposed to be locked tight.”
“I . . . work here. After school.” I swallow, my stomach flipping over in a terrible lurch. “Just . . . filing, and answering phones and stuff.”
He narrows his eyes suspiciously. “It’s kind of late to be sneaking around.”
I bob my head eagerly. “I know, I’m sorry, but I wasn’t sneaking. I have keys and the alarm code! I let myself in.”
“Hmmm . . .” The guard doesn’t seem convinced. “I swear I heard something. . . .”
I watch with horror as he