Lolly said she’d go as soon as she changed clothes. She had packed a big suitcase full of cute new Coachella outfits, and if they were leaving tomorrow she at least wanted to get in a few looks before they left. She wondered if Steven would get mad at her if she posted a Coachella selfie right now. She decided to take a few pics in her room but would hold off posting them until the smoke had cleared.

Twenty minutes later Lolly entered the arid backyard of the mansion Beatrice had rented, after no one answered the front doorbell. She found Beatrice and Claudine skinny-dipping in the enormous lap pool. Beatrice gave her a friendly wave, as if it was any other day, cheerfully informing Lolly they were killing time until the Ecstasy they took kicked in. “Join us!” Beatrice called out. “The water is supes warm. It’s like a big saltwater bathtub.”

Neither naked girl brought up the whole Anna and Vronsky situation, which forced Lolly to awkwardly ask Bea where she might find her cousin.

“Use your nose, Lolly,” Beatrice singsonged from the deep end. “Follow the trail of smoke. V and Murf are around here somewhere, trying take the sting out of his throbbing face. Your hunky bf sure can throw a punch, though I’m surprised Steven didn’t just karate chop him.”

Lolly wrinkled her nose at Bea’s vaguely racist comment but let it go. Maybe Bea was pissed about Anna’s sex tape, because if ever there was a high school girl who was ripe to get famous off one, it was Beatrice. “Steven shouldn’t have hit him,” Lolly replied quietly. “I know he didn’t send the email. I mean, he couldn’t have, right?”

“Don’t know, don’t care Lollygirl, sex tapes are so ten years ago,” Beatrice said with an edge of stolen thunder in her voice. “Can’t you see I’m busy with my new BBFF Claudine? The first B is for Buxom, the second B is for Beautiful and the first F is for what we’re about to do to each other after the X kicks in.”

Lolly nodded and went into the house. Could Bea have sent the sex tape? She did brag about having her own IT guy on retainer. Maybe she timed its release for when they were flying to make sure no one suspected it was her. But why would she do that to her cousin? It just didn’t make sense. Vronsky seemed like the one person on the planet that Beatrice genuinely cared about, and he’d never forgive her if he lost Anna over it.

Lolly wandered through the enormous house, checking all the rooms, and finally found Vronsky and Murf sitting on a small upstairs balcony. As Beatrice had predicted, the two boys were sharing a fat blunt, and Vronsky held a box of frozen mixed vegetables against his face.