Page 53 of Wallflower

"Sooo?" She moved her hand in and go-ahead gesture. "Out with it. What's all this fake stuff about?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," she said.

Crossing my arms, I arched a brow. "I need Dare to pretend to be my boyfriend to get revenge on my dad, who hired him to be my friend without my knowledge."

Paris blinked.

And blinked again.

After the third blink, I said, "Paris? You okay there?"

"Yeah," she said then shook herself, "I just…wow. Your dad really did that? What the what, Viola?"

"I know," I said. "And I'm glad to have you and the shelter since I can't talk to my mom."

"Why not?" Paris asked.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to relieve the stress there. "Well, I thought about it. My mom and I, we're soul sisters. She gets me on another level, unlike my dad. He did this truly thinking he would be helping. But if Mom were involved…I think it would hurt. Because we're so similar, and she would've known how against it I would be. You know?"

"Yeah, I can see that," she said. "So, Dare agreed to help you. That was cool of him."

"Yep—though I may have used a tiny bit of blackmail."

"Whoa," Paris said, sounding impressed. "You really are a Slytherin, huh?"

"You know it," I said, throwing Professor Snape a wink which he ignored. Moving my eyes to Hermione, I blew her a kiss, and she barked. "Though I'm just as much a Gryffindor. I don't want to hurt my dad. Just have the courage to stand up for myself."

"So, what's your next step?"

I told Paris my plan, and by the end, we were both grinning. Before I left, I took a few of the dogs out one last time and made sure all of the bowls had fresh water. I said goodbye to Hermione and Professor Snape. Paris told me good luck. And then I drove home, ready to shower, eat and go to bed.

And more than ready to set my plan in motion.

CHAPTER 10

"Alright," Dare said, coming out of the locker room in his practice clothes. He stopped in front of me. "You said to meet you here after school, though you wouldn't say why. No matter how many times I asked," he tacked on.

He was right.

I'd kept everything up until this point very close to the chest, for fear that I'd jinx it. On the drive to school and then throughout the day, Dare kept pelting me with questions, but I wouldn't crack. After study hall, I told him where and when to meet me. He'd scoffed, and I wasn't sure he'd come. But here we were, back at the scene of the crime, so to speak. This was where I'd delivered my confession to Ty. And this was where I would start fresh.

"Well, I showed," he said. "Half the team's already warming up. Practice is about to start, flower, so will you finally tell me what we're doing?"

I tried to sound nonchalant. "Time for phase two," I said.

His smile was bright. "Ah, so there is a phase two. I was starting to wonder."

"Yes," I said with a sniff. "There is. Dad's about to come out, and I thought this would be the perfect place for us to 'get caught'."

Dare's smile faltered. "This isn't going to get me benched, right?"

I sliced my hand across my chest. "No way."

"Good." He seemed to let out a breath. "We have a big game coming up against Mount Tabor, and I can't be out of commission. Don't want to let the team down."

I nodded. "No worries, it'll all be good. The first step is just to make Dad suspicious that there may be something going on. I'll deny it—as any girl with a secret would—but hopefully it will be enough to plant the seed in his mind."

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