Page 121 of Distortion
‘Okay. I’ll see you after your creepy ceremony,’ I say, unable to help teasing him a little.
He laughs. ‘Later, Daisy.’
I take a long shower, using it to let the tension melt out of my shoulders. The past couple of weeks has been constant and full-on. There hasn’t been much time to just sit in the quiet and I’m beginning to feel it. I know I’ll need to make some time for self-care, or I’m going to burn out. I promise myself I’ll put aside an hour every morning for a run and some quiet sitting time in the evenings before bed after tonight.
When I’m done, I use the hair dryer I find in the cupboard under the sink and blow out my hair so that it’s straight and dry. I go back to my room and put on my costume while Lu does her cat makeup in the mirror.
The black bodycon minidress she’s brought is so short that I know I’ll be tugging it down all night. The heels are black and sparkly platform wedges, and I turn one this way and that under the light for a good few seconds, watching it sparkle before I put them on.
I mince around the room a bit to get used to them, taking pointers from Lu on how to walk in them effectively because I feel like a giant and I’m a bit wobbly. Then, I sit in my desk chair and try to be patient as Lu smokes my eyes, rouges my cheeks and does whatever else she’s doing that counts as ‘magic’ in her book.
It takes ages, but when she’s done my jaw drops. I stare at myself in the mirror. My eyes are large and dark, my lashes long, my eyebrows perfect. My lips are dark red and full.
‘It really is magic,’ I breathe, and she laughs.
I turn and try a wiggle to see if the dress rides up. It’s not too bad, though, and I think it’ll be fine as long as I’m careful and don’t bend over.
I try it with my normal underwear and Lu shakes her head.
‘That’s not going to work with that dress, honeybunny. Go commando.’
I frown at her but I take them off, telling myself I need to be extraextracareful.
I glance at the clock and see that it’s already nine-fifteen. I go over my rules while Lu wrangles her feet into some camel-colored stiletto boots that come up to her thighs.
Don’t have any alcohol. Don’t trust anyone if they say it’s just juice. No drinking games. Talk to people. Converse and find things out about the Novelles.
‘You can do this,’ Lu says, sensing my nervousness. ‘I’ll be there, too.’
I nod and take a steadying breath.
We leave my room, closing the door behind us and descending the stairs. I could feel the thumping of the music from my room, but as we get closer, I can hear laughter and cheering, and I begin to see people milling around talking. A couple of the pledges are coming up the stairs and they cheer when they see us.
I decided to at least pretend that I’m letting bygones be bygones, despite how they treated me when they started being nicer to me, in case they know anything. I congratulate them both on becoming members of KIP with a smile.
One of them looks genuinely perplexed and stops in the hall in front of me.
Lu keeps going down to the party, giving me a thumbs up.
‘Why are you not mad?’ he asks. ‘We’ve been dicks to you, Daisy.’
I shrug. ‘Holding grudges takes too much energy. Besides, it was just part of the hazing.’
‘You knew about it? You were in on it?’
I laugh and lie. ‘Of course I was in on it!’
I leave him looking a little shocked and go down to the kitchen. Just like before, there’s a drinking game going on at the table that I don’t understand. This time, I avoid it completely and go into the games room looking for Shade, Blake, and Mav. I notice Lu mingling in the hall with a couple of the sophomores, and she winks at me.
I wink back as I go past, following our plan which is to canvas the party separately to cover more ground.
I find the guys playing pool. Shade is dressed as a pirate complete with a fake bird on his shoulder and eyepatch. Blake is a vampire with tiny vampire teeth that seem to fitover his k-9s. I grin as I notice Mav in a plaid shirt and suspenders.
A lumberjack?
A few of the other boys are around the table in various costumes along with three girls who are also dressed as cats. I think I recognize them as some of the Laurie clones and I roll my eyes. That explains Lu’s idea of having us dress this way. We’ll blend in with the others as the night wears on and senses are dulled by alcohol.
Shade takes his shot, shooting a ball into the corner pocket. He looks up and his eyes snare me, moving up and down, not blinking. His nostrils flare as he straightens. Blake turns at his expression and he swallows visibly, nudging Mav.
