our third year carrying on the tradition,” Church says, smiling prettily. He even crinkles up his eyes, but I see right through him. I bet he could go ninja and snap someone's neck before anyone would even notice. “Sitting out here on the lake, smoking a little pot …”
“And every year, we invite one new person to join us,” Ranger says, smirking as he looks over at me. “Our new favorite person, Chuck Carson.”
“Maybe we should skip that tradition this time?” Tobias inserts, shrugging his shoulders loosely, but Ranger is razor focused on me right now.
“Oh come on, Chuck's a tough guy. He can handle it.”
“Handle what?” I ask, but then Ranger and Spencer are both grinning and diving for me.
“Hey, fuck you guys,” Micah growls, but Church grabs him and holds him back.
Before I know it, I'm getting pushed off the dock and into the icy water.
The scream that tries to break out of me is swallowed up as I bob under for a brief second, hit the bottom with my feet and kick up to the surface, gasping and cursing.
“You fuckers!” I scream, paddling over to the shore and climbing out in my soggy clothes. Spencer, Ranger, and both the blue-haired and black-haired girl are all howling with wild laughter while Tobias sneers at them, and Micah watches me with a tight expression. Church is impossible to read, as usual, but Selena looks like she feels sorry for me.
“You guys are jerks,” she snaps, standing up and grabbing one of the blankets from the dock. She throws it over my shoulders as my teeth chatter like crazy. “Come on. We'll find you some dry clothes.”
“We've got some in the bag!” Spencer calls out, pointing to the duffel bag he was leaning on that I hadn't noticed before. “Get back here, Chuck. We've all gone through the dunk. It's no big deal.”
But Selena is herding me away, and leading me up a small incline to the brightly glowing windows of a cabin. She lets me in, and I flush when I see a few girls in bras and panties, doing their makeup and shimmying into dresses.
“I shouldn't be in here,” I say, but then Selena gives me a look.
“I know who you are. Took one look at you and I knew you weren't a boy.” She reaches out to cup the side of my face, brown eyes sparkling. “You're way too pretty. And besides, my mother's on the board for Adamson. My brother goes there, and she told me they’re trying to integrate the campus. She said Headmaster Carson's daughter, Charlotte, was going to be the first.”
“Except for Jenica,” I say, and Selena's face pales. She turns away abruptly and moves over to a suitcase, digging around inside and coming up with a stack of clothes. She passes them over to me and forces a smile. Based on her reaction, I guess she's not going to talk to me about Jenica either.
“Do you want to rinse off? I can show you to the showers.”
“No, thank you,” I tell her, peeling apart the clothes. There's a pair of panties with the tags still on them, a beautiful dress, and a bra that looks to be about my size. Apparently, Selena and I have the same sized-boobs. “I can't wear any of this though.” I try to hand the clothing back, and she gives me a look.
“Why not?”
“Because I'm incognito. I don't want to be the token girl at an all-boys school. Sounds like a hell of its own making.” I don't even mention the fact that someone might possibly be trying to, you know, murder me or whatever.
“Put those on, we'll throw on some makeup, and a wig, and nobody will even notice. They'll be drunk and stoned by the time we get back to the party anyway.” She raises her brows at me, but I'm skeptical. For good reason, too. If I walk into that room and more than one guy recognizes me, word could get around school … “Oh, come on!” Selena yanks me forward, dragging me over to the one of the mirrored dressers that line the wall, and making me sit in the chair.
“Where are we supposed to get a wig from?” I ask, but she’s already reaching into a box on the floor and pulling out a pair of Styrofoam heads with wigs on them. One has long, flowing red curls, and the other’s a short, dark look with straight cut bangs.
“The drama department has