Page 88 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

But when Betty looked up, she was smiling as bright as the sun.

“Sadie, do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that very question?” she said, voice quivering with elation.

“Geez,” I said, “don’t scare us like that.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Cora said and took another quick sip of her tea. “I’ve just been waiting for the old hag to croak so I could finally get a crack at her dress collection.”

Betty sniffed. “As if they would fit your tiny frame.”

“Oh, I’d make them fit.”

“Oh Sadie.” Betty’s eyes were on me once more. “I’ll start drawing up a color palette tonight. Do you know what you’re going to wear yet?”

I shook my head.

“Well, let me know when you do. Though with your coloring I’d definitely go with something in the red family. It would look so divine. I’ll have to get out all my brushes and eyeshadows, lipsticks, foundations and concealers for sure—”

“Betty, you really don’t have to do all that,” I said. “I think some blush and a little darker gloss would be just fine.”

Betty cut me a swift glance. Her smile was sweet as sugar, but her eyes were steel.

“Sadie, now don’t you worry about a thing,” she said and gave my hand a pat. “You just leave all the makeup concerns to me, and everything will go right with your production. It will be my finest hour.”

Betty’s eyes took on a far-off look, and Cora shook her head at me as if to say, “Hey, you asked for it.”

Oh my God, I’d created a monster.

Five hours later, I was the one who felt like the monster. I knew he’d be mad. Colton wouldn’t have gotten caught—Mrs. Wiggins wouldn’t have walked out of her Econ class to find him and Billy duking it out and dashed off to get the principal—if it wasn’t for me pulling that alarm.

But I didn’t expect him to just skip practice.

Our days were numbered. The deadline forDancer’s Edgewas coming, and he had to know there wasn’t much Kyle and I could do without him.

Okay, so we actually did get a lot done. I’d focused purely on Kyle’s part, perfecting what he’d already learned, moving on as much as possible without the entire trio, and Kyle did awesome. But it would’ve gone better if Colton had been there.

And okay yes, I desperately wanted to apologize.

I felt all kinds of guilty. Although Billy instigated the fight, it was my fault the two got in trouble. The need to speak to Colton, tell him I was sorry, was eating me up inside.

Which was why, after practice, I followed Kyle to their house.

“I’m not sure about this,” Kyle said, locking his car as we walked up the driveway.

I rolled my eyes. “Like I said, I’ll just apologize to Colton and leave.”

“When I got home and knocked on his door, he wouldn’t even speak to me.”

That wasn’t a good sign.

“I’m just trying to prepare you, Sadie. My brother isn’t good company when he’s in a mood. Case in point: He chucked a Nike at my head once in the eighth grade when I tried to come into his room uninvited.”

Rolling my shoulders back, I followed him into the house, ready for anything Colton might throw at me (hopefully not a shoe). Kyle wished me luck then headed back out again to meet up with Zayne (they had a lot to discuss after today) while I made my way up to Colton’s bedroom, a place I’d never been. I used to come here back when the boys shared a room, but since they’d grown up and out of their bunk beds, I usually spent all my time in Kyle’s. So yeah, this would be a new experience. Taking one last deep breath, I knocked on Colton’s door.

“Go ‘way.”

The voice was muffled, but it definitely belonged to Colton.

“Hey,” I said. “It’s me, Sadie.”

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