Page 137 of My Roommate from Hell
It makes my outfit—a shirt and jeans—seem remarkably simple. I hadn’t realized people were planning on putting this much effort into their outfits.
“I have a costume,” I say, going to my desk to retrieve it. It’s a headband with a pair of red devil horns I bought at the grocery store. I put them on. Not a single person seems impressed.
“Oh sweetie, no,” says Avery. “Wait, where’s Zarmenus?”
I shrug. “I haven’t seen him all day, and he’s not responding to any messages.”
That registers on Tyrell’s face. He knows about my plan, so now he knows I haven’t gone through with it.
“Maybe he’s at the dance,” suggests Tyrell. “And his phone died or something.”
It seems unlikely, but it’s as good of a theory as anything else I can think of.
“Why aren’t you changing?” asks Avery. “I didn’t get into full glam just to hang out in here. No offense.”
Tyrell gives me the bag. It’s not just wings, there’s also a glittery white tank top and matching pants.
“Truth be told, it was my backup outfit,” says Tyrell. “But I think you’ll look good in it.”
“Hurry up, we don’t have all night.” Avery comes over and tries to pull my shirt off. I move away.
“Fine, give me a second.”
I take the bag of clothes into the bathroom.
I get changed. Once I’m done, I check myself out in the mirror. This is not a me outfit. At all. It’s skintight for one, and the top cuts off at the shoulders, leaving my arms exposed. The shorts aren’t particularly short, but they do cut off above my knees, and they’re a little tight.
I put the wings on, and turn to the side. It might not be anything like what I usually wear, but I look pretty good. It’s a lot better than my previous costume, anyway. I wonder what Zarmenus would think if he saw me like this. As far as I know, angels aren’t real so they aren’t demons’ mortal enemies, but the contrast is unmissable.
I leave the room. My friends are now sitting on the couch, and Tyrell is playing music through his phone. The conversation pauses like a record scratch.
“What do you think?” I ask.
“You’re so fucking hot,” says Avery. “If you didn’t have a boyfriend I’d totally want to hook up with you.”
“Agreed,” says Madison. “I’m so not into guys, but I can see it.”
“You look fine, I guess,” says Evie.
“Zarmenus is a lucky man,” says Tyrell.
“We need to do your makeup, though,” says Avery, pulling a makeup palette out of his handbag.
I’ve gone this far.
I may as well go all the way.
I have checked my phone countless times now, and still nothing from Zarmenus.
Seriously, where is he?
Tyrell, Avery, Madison, Evie, and I have just arrived at the function hall where the dance is being held. The exterior has been decorated for the dance, with a curved archway over the entrance. One side is fluffy white clouds, the other is bright orange and red flames. At the top of the arch are the wordsHEAVEN AND HELLwith each one stylized,HEAVENbeing white with a halo wrapped around theN,andHELLmade out of flames with two pitchforks replacing the last two letters.
It seems they’ve spared no expense. And if they’ve worked this hard on the outside, what is it going to be like inside?
I hope Tyrell is right and Zarmenus is in there. At this point, I just care about finding where he is and knowing he’s okay.
We show our student IDs to one of the security guards protecting the door, and they let us inside.
