Games of Fire Read online

  It served her right, she concluded twenty minutes later as she dried off and stepped into sweats and an oversized t-shirt. Had she really expected him to just go along with her stupid plan? What on earth had possessed her to even turn to him for help? Of course he would turn her down. She was the idiot for hoping he would do this one decent thing for her, when he’d been nothing but a jerk from the start. It wasn’t as if he’d ever given her the impression he was a good guy.

  Okay maybe that held no truth. The guy had saved her life, even if she had to admit it grudgingly and there was a moment the morning he’d given back her umbrella where she’d seen something in him, a softness that made him appear to be a sweet, normal, gorgeous guy with a funny side, who didn’t hate her. It had been so fleeting she wondered if it actually happened. A trick of the light, she decided bitterly. She was clearly losing her ability to read people.

  Pushing away thoughts of Spencer Rowth, she dug out her phone and texted Lauren, telling her there was a possibility she would be unable to go to the party.

  Lauren must have been waiting for her, because the response was almost instant. “Plan B!”

  Sophie tried to recall what plan A had been, but decided not to ask. “I’m game.”

  Again, fast-typer Lauren replied within seconds. “Talk 2morw @ lch.”

  They said goodnight and Sophie climbed into bed.

  That night, Sophie had a dream about walking into school naked. Everyone laughed and pointed. The teachers yelled at her for not being prepared, while she insisted she’d been dressed. Spencer was in the background, not joining in her humiliation, but doing nothing to stop it either. She called to him, asking him to give her his jacket, but he ignored her. She woke up with a jolt, clammy with cold sweat and breathing hard.

  In a single jerky motion, she swiped back the blankets and tumbled out of bed. Her joints ached as she shuffled to the bathroom for a shower.

  The dream, minus the nudity, followed her into reality when she got to school and walked into her first class late. Then she dozed in her second class and was caught snoring by the teacher. By her third class, she was ready to just go home sick and throw herself at the mercy of her mother. It was only because lunch was right after that she even bothered to stick it out. But then she got to Algebra II and remembered too late she’d forgotten her textbook in her locker and they had an open book quiz.

  “You look terrible!” Jessie kindly pointed out when Sophie joined her and Joe at their usual table. “What happened?”

  “Didn’t sleep well,” Sophie mumbled, staring at her ham sandwich, wondering if it could double as a pillow. “Where’s Lauren?”

  “Here!” The girl hurried around the table and flopped down in her seat next to Jessie. She threw down her bag beneath the table and slammed both hands on the table. “Okay, I have a plan!”

  Chapter Six

  Lauren’s plan was doomed to fail from the beginning. It was so ridiculous, Sophie wondered why she didn’t just admit defeat from the start and forgo the party. But she stuck to it, part of her hoping against all odds that it worked.

  “This won’t work!” she told Lauren as they adjusted the pillows beneath her blankets. “My mom isn’t stupid!”

  Lauren ignored her as she pulled out a makeup doll head from her backpack and laid it down on the pillow, facing the wall. Next she withdrew a wig a few shades too blonde to match Sophie’s hair and positioned it over the doll head and fanned several strands across the pillow in a natural sort of way. She drew the blanket up to cover the flat base where the doll’s neck should have been, pulled some strands of hair over the blanket and stepped back to survey her handiwork.

  “What do you think?”

  Sophie sighed. “I think you’ve finally lost your mind.”

  Lauren ignored the flat statement. “And finally …” She snatched a small, black device from her bag, flicked a switch and stashed the recorder next to their makeshift person. The room was filled with soft breathing, occasionally broken by a grunt, or a groan, or the rustle of fabric and jingling springs. It was so authentic Sophie almost believed someone was sleeping in her bed.

  “Where did you get that?”

  Lauren turned off the recorder and grinned smugly. “After we texted last night, I snuck into Freddy’s room and recorded him sleeping. He may be my brother, but I swear he’s part pig or something.”

  Sophie stared at her friend, awed. “You’re a genius.”

  “I know.”

  “But this won’t help me get out of here tonight.”

  Lauren flicked her hand as if swatting away a pesky fly. “I’ve got that covered, too. Just go get ready!”

  Stomach in queasy knots of anticipation and dread, Sophie ran to where she’d thrown her shopping bags the night before and hurriedly removed the items inside. She stripped and pulled on the dress. The ensemble had only one sleeve and stopped several inches short of her knees. A thin, gold belt clipped around her waist, the only splash of color against the solid black. It was body hugging, and very sexy in a classy way.

  “Okay, sit and let me do your hair.” Lauren was already guiding and shoving her onto her vanity seat before she had the chance to admire the way the skirt flared around her thighs, flirty and fun, when she moved.

  Carefully and with expert hands, the hairs at her temples were swept away from her face and clipped at the back of her head. The rest was twisted and curled until it fell in ringlets down her back and around her shoulders. Lauren turned her around and, with the same deft fingers, applied color to her face. When Sophie glanced in the mirror again, the girl staring back was a stranger.

  Her eyes were bigger, bolder and smoky the way she always loved to see on TV. Her lashes were thick fans of black that seemed to go on forever, and despite the misty allure of her eyes, her lips were a simple glittery gloss that plumped. Her freckles were gone and her skin looked flawless, with a soft kiss of roses to her cheeks.

  “You’re amazing!” she said, touching a strand of hair resting delicately on her shoulder.

  “I am a woman of many talents,” Lauren said dramatically. “Now don’t touch anything until I’m ready. I don’t want to have to start over.”

  She had nothing to worry about, Sophie thought. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from her own reflection even if she wanted to. She was only vaguely aware of Lauren scurrying around her room, gathering things. After several minutes of hearing her friend muttering absently to herself, Sophie turned to watch.

  Lauren stood in the center of the room, tapping her chin and staring around as if making sure everything was in position. Sophie had no idea how much planning had gone into helping her break out, but it seemed very elaborate.

  “I think I’ve got everything,” Lauren said more to herself than to Sophie. She turned to Sophie. “I’m going to go down and tell your mom you’re still studying. I’m going to lure her into the kitchen. You are going to sneak down and out the front door!”

  “But how will I get back in later?”

  Lauren stared at her. “Don’t you have a key?”

  “Yes … Okay, sorry. Go on.”

  Shaking her head, Lauren continued. “You get in the car and wait for me!”

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Panic edged into her voice.

  “I didn’t do all this planning to fail! So pull yourself together and let’s go! We still have to set the other plan into motion.”

  “There’s another plan?” Sophie exclaimed, her voice high pitched and shrill. “Just how many plans are there?”

  Lauren rolled her eyes upwards and began ticking off on her fingers. “Break you out of the house. Go to Jessie’s, pick her up. Go to my house, pretend like I’m getting ready to go to Jessie’s and then getting to the party. All without getting caught.”

  It really was all very elaborate.

  Grinning at her, Lauren snatched up her now empty backpack, swung it onto her back and headed for the door. She paused with her hand on the knob and glanced back.r />
  “Ready?”

  No! Sophie swallowed hard. “Yup.”

  Then Lauren was gone and Sophie was fighting to keep it together. She hurried to the closet and busied her shaking hands finding her small, leather jacket. The thing stopped at her ribs, but it covered most of the bare parts. She tucked her phone and house keys into the tiny pockets. Next she snatched up her strappy sandals and crept to the door. Carefully, she pried it open. The quiet murmur of voices rose up from the stairway as she strained to listen for the signal.

  “My mom would love that!” She heard Lauren say. “Do you think I could take some home?”

  She couldn’t hear the rest of her mother’s response, but the voices began to fade as if they were moving away. Sophie took this as her cue and bolted for the stairs. She gripped the banister tight as she descended the steps, so careful not to trip. Her mom and Lauren were nowhere to be seen when she reached the landing, but their voices carried from the kitchen. Sophie took this as a good sign and moved quickly to the front door. She twisted the knob, feeling like a burglar in her own home, and threw herself into the soft, cool mist outside, bare-footed.

  She sprinted for the Coop parked at the bottom of the driveway. Her hands shook as she fumbled for the handle. She yanked the door open and threw herself into the backseat. She was breathing hard and plastered with sweat by the time the adrenaline wore off enough for her to realize she’d done it. She’d actually snuck out of the house. She was free!

  The giddy sensation wore off when she heard the front door open and raised voices split the night. She ducked into the seat, keeping herself as low as possible until she heard the driver’s side door open and Lauren slide into place behind the wheel. She tossed her bag into the passenger’s side seat and stuck the key into the ignition. Neither girl said anything until the car sputtered to life and they were rolling down the street.

  “Did we make it?” Sophie squeaked, raising her head just enough to see the side of Lauren’s profile.

  “Hold on. Just stay down.” Sophie did, staying that way until they rounded several corners. “Okay. I think we’re good.”

  Sophie uncurled herself and sat back in the seat, heart thumping wildly in her chest. She dared a glance back through the back window and exhaled when she didn’t see her mother sprinting after them, terminator style.

  “That was intense!” she breathed, strapping her feet into the sandals.

  Lauren chuckled, the sound strained and weak. “Tom Cruise couldn’t have pulled that shit off!”

  “What did you tell her?”

  She saw Lauren’s shoulder jerk in a shrug. “That you were studying. I mentioned you being tired and wanting to go to bed early. She seemed to buy it, said you were probably still upset about yesterday.” She caught Sophie’s eyes through the rearview mirror. “What happened yesterday?”

  Sophie shook her head, feeling her cheeks flush. “Nothing. It was stupid.”

  Lauren didn’t press her. “So she said she’d let you sleep and check on you in the morning.”

  And it had been that simple. It seemed a little hard to believe, yet at the same time, she was stuck with a shot of guilt at how easy it had been to trick her mother in the first place. Playing on her trust wasn’t something Sophie ever did.

  It’s just this one time! She would no doubt never get invited to another party and if she did, maybe she and Brian would be dating and her mother will have met him and it wouldn’t be as much of a problem. She liked that thought. Her, dating Brian. It was almost enough to push away the guilt eating at her.

  Jessie was waiting for them by the door when they pulled up in front of her house. Sophie crouched out of sight, on the off chance Mrs. Bishop was looking out the window. Jessie jumped into the passenger’s side seat and tossed her and Lauren’s bags into the back narrowly missing Sophie’s head.

  “Oh, Sophie!” Jessie gasped, twisting around in her front seat to glance back at her as the car started down the street. “You look so pretty!”

  Sophie smiled, straightening in her seat. “Thanks!”

  At Lauren’s house, Sophie did the same, ducking out of sight while the girls ran inside. Seconds passed, turning into minutes that shoved red hot needles into Sophie’s curved spine. The bones in her bent legs protested the position and she was sure her dress was getting rumpled, but she stayed that way until the night was split by the shriek of unoiled hinges being pried open. The car shuddered as weight shifted in the front seat.

  “Sophie, you all right?” Jessie hissed, keeping her voice low.

  “Uh, kinda cramped. What took so long?”

  The car doors banged shut. The light overhead flickered off and Lauren put the car into drive. She made a U-turn in the middle of the deserted street and headed back toward Jessie’s. Mrs. Woodrow must have been watching from the window.

  “Mom was asking a million questions,” Lauren mumbled.

  Sophie pushed back into her seat, grateful to unfurl her limbs. “Does she suspect—?”

  “Nah.” She made a sharp turn left. “She always does. We’re good.”

  But the tension in the car was palpable. No one spoke as they circled back in the direction they needed to be going.

  Roy’s house was with all the other expensive houses at the north end of town. It wasn’t the largest, but compared to Sophie’s house, it was almost twice the size. Ivory columns guarded giant oak doors. Light spilled from every window, a yellow beacon in the dark. The surrounding houses, each about a football field width apart, sat cloaked in the night, shadowed by the bright glow. Cars filled the road, parked anywhere a spot could be found. An Audi sat on the lawn and Sophie had a feeling Roy’s parents weren’t going to be pleased when they return home. Music, something loud and choked with base poured over the neatly manicured lawn, filling the air with its piercing hum. Lauren parked behind a Toyota, cut the engine and turned to grab her bag from the backseat.

  “Sophie, keep watch.” Then she and Jessie were forcing their way into the back, kicking Sophie out into the cool night. She huddled next to the car, arms folded in a pathetic attempt to keep warm. She shifted feet, standing on one then the other as the straps pinched her feet. She prayed they wouldn’t blister. Hobbling around wasn’t how she planned to spend her night.

  From the house, something crashed. Glass shattered. People cheered. Sophie tried to see into the bay windows, but someone had drawn the blinds. In the room upstairs, the lights flickered on, then off, then on again as if someone was playing with the switch. Something sparked like a light bulb popping. An anxious sort of dread twisted in her gut as she tried to imagine just how crazy things were inside and how bad it may get as the night progressed. If things got too out of control, would someone, one of the neighbors perhaps, call the police? She let her gaze wander over the other houses, enormous mountains of polished ivory, stone and expensive wood and tried to imagine one of them standing in the window, clad in their housecoat, phone pressed to their ear, ranting about the lunatics next door. She shuddered.

  The backdoor swung open and Lauren and Jessie emerged, both changed and fully dressed for a killer night out. Lauren looked dazzling in a silk dress in a pretty emerald green. Her hair was piled stylishly on the top of her head, tiny curled braids falling precisely around her face. A diamond-shaped pendant glinted at her slender throat, pinning the collar of her dress into place. The fabric hooked around her neck, leaving her back completely exposed. The hem fell several inches too short of being modest. Jessie wore a cute jean skirt that fell modestly to her knees and a frilly blouse with flowers all over it. On her feet, she wore white cowboy boots where Lauren had on a pair of kickass boots.

  “You ladies ready?” Lauren asked, placing a hand on her hip and striking a sultry pose.

  Jessie alternated between touching her riot of curls and brushing invisible pieces of lint from her top. “I don’t know! Maybe this isn’t such a great—”

  “Don’t be a chicken!” Lauren turned on her. “We did not just
go through all that trouble to back down now.

  Jessie looked at Sophie, silently pleading. A jitter of guilt flittered through her. But she didn’t agree. She wanted to go inside. She was cold, her feet hurt and she wanted to see Brian.

  “Okay,” Jessie murmured, shoulders hunching.

  Together, they started for the house, their strides slow and uneven. Sophie fought not to cave the closer they came to the point of no return. They came to a stop at the doors. Lauren knocked. Seconds melted into minutes and no one let them in.

  “Maybe they can’t hear us,” Jessie said, looking relieved. “The music is pretty loud.”

  “Well.” Lauren reached for the brass doorknob.

  “Lauren!” Jessie gasped. “You can’t just walk into someone else’s house!”

  “How do you expect to get in otherwise, Jessie? Exactly!” Lauren said when Jessie faltered.

  A solid wall of noise punched them with a fist made of pure heat the second the door gave way. The tangible force knocked them back a full step as wave after wave of bass pulsed through the opening. The stench of sweat boiled in a concoction of gym socks, sickly sweet perfume and vomit. It stung the air, souring it. There were bodies everywhere, moving, running, lounging, all infused into the moment. Laughter and chatter hummed just a notch over the crash of music. No one else seemed to mind.

  “Come on!” Lauren grabbed Jessie’s hand. In desperation, Jessie grabbed Sophie and together, they filed over the threshold and stepped into a world so far from theirs, it was in another galaxy.

  Chapter Seven

  The blur of faces and the jolts of color twisted into a hammer that steadily pounded into the goose egg still protruding from the base of Sophie’s skull, from its meet with the pavement after nearly being crushed by a car. The world pulsed with every heavy thud of music, raging, angry and cruel. Time seemed to swim, hazy and bright across her vision. She shook her wrist loose of Jessie’s grip, needing her fingers to push against the throbbing behind her eyelids. The floor tipped. The wall took the collision of her shoulder, sending fingers of agony ribboning through the cavity of her brain. Chaos swallowed her groan.