“Beth, is there a problem?”
This from Javier who’d finished putting away the glasses. Maybe he saw my lean-in as more threatening than it was. Quickly, I took a step back. I didn’t want any trouble. Not from him or to make any trouble for her.
Because it was a very real possibility that Beth needed this job.
“No problem,” I told him. “We were discussing a school assignment.”
“I’m good,” Beth assured Javier.
“Come over after your shift ends,” I said suddenly.
“Why?”
Because I need to talk to you some more.
“We need to rehearse for the fashion show. Our schedules have been all over the place. But we have to make time. You know we do. It’s in two weeks.”
I watched her struggle. “It’s been a long day.”
“Tomorrow then. After my football practice.”
She nodded tightly. “Fine. But just to rehearse.”
I smiled innocently. “What else would we do?”
Taking my father’s drink back to the table, I set it in front of him. Both he and Gigi were smirking at each other.
“What?” I asked as I took my seat.
“Nothing,” my dad said. “Nothing at all.”
8
Beth
“This is not a house,” I told Star, who had offered to drive me to Fitz’s.
While it was a walkable distance from my house, it was more convenient to drive. I did have my license but having only the one car, if Mom wasn’t driving, then Star was. The idea that I could have the car for myself for a few hours was too much of luxury.
“I think they call it an estate,” she said. “Chas’s home is the same way. They’ve bought up a bunch of property next to them and behind them, then knocked down all those homes so they could have more privacy.
Our home was a massive house, but it sat on less than one acre of land. Our neighbors’ massive homes on either side of us were no more than ten feet apart. Such was more common for the street layouts of Haddonfield.
Not so for the Darcys.
Looking up the long driveway toward the towering mansion, I wasn’t intimidated at all.
“You’re really going to host the fashion show?” Star asked.
I tore my eyes away from the estate and looked at her. “Yes. That’s why I’m here. Why are you asking me like that couldn’t be true?”
“It’s just, you know. The seniors especially take it pretty seriously. I mean, it’s like almost as big as prom.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, it’s not really your thing to do something for the popular kids. And let’s face it, that’s who this fashion show is for. It’s not about raising money for charity. It’s so pretty rich girls can wear expensive things and show them off. And other pretty rich girls can buy expensive things just to prove they can.”
Star sighed and it might have been the first time I realized she also felt the weight of our father’s treachery. Of our sudden inability to compete with other girls our age in that arena.
