Emma looked around at the laughing, smiling faces of Sutton’s friends. No matter how safe she finally felt with them, there was an entire world outside—a world where someone watched her every move and waited for her to slip up.

I couldn’t agree more. Trust no one, sister.

Chapter 15 - An A for Effort

Chapter 15
An Opening . . . and a Closing

CAN YOU SNEAK OUT?

Emma rolled onto her back to read the text Ethan had just sent. Pulling one of Sutton’s soft blue throw blankets over her bare legs, she texted back: MERCERS ARE OUT TO DINNER. I’D HAVE TO BE BACK BEFORE TEN.

I’LL PICK YOU UP IN FIFTEEN, Ethan responded. WEAR A DRESS.

A dress? Emma frowned. UM . . . OKAY, she wrote. CAN I ASK WHAT WE’RE DOING?

NOPE. IT’S A SURPRISE.

Emma sprang from Sutton’s bed and padded to her closet. She pushed aside a row of soft cotton tops and skinny jeans and examined Sutton’s dress selection, which was plentiful and expensive. She touched a long black dress with gold straps. Too fancy, it seemed, for a Tuesday. Her fingers traced the feathered collar of a short silver cocktail dress. Maybe it was too short. She ran her hands along the hem of a fire engine-red minidress. Too sex goddess.

I couldn’t help but groan. Was there even such a thing as being too much of a sex goddess? As far as I was concerned, Emma needed to get down with her sexy self. This had to be the night they were finally going to kiss, right?

Then Emma’s palms rested on a light gray one-shouldered dress. The gauzy silk felt soft beneath her fingertips. She slid it over her head and glanced at herself in the gold-framed full-length mirror on the back of the door. It was perfect.

After mascara, lip gloss, black patent heels, and chandelier earrings that matched Sutton’s silver locket, she was ready. The phone beeped once more, and Emma ran to the bed, thinking it was Ethan. But it was from her friend Alex instead. YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY CHECK THIS PLACE OUT! Attached was a website for a vintage store near the University of Arizona. I KNOW HOW YOU LOVE YOUR THRIFT SHOPS, Alex added, with an emoticon smiley. Emma wrote back a quick thank-you followed by a series of Xs and Os. Then she glanced at herself in the mirror, dolled up in Sutton’s designer dress, jewelry, and expensive shoes. Would Alex even know her right now?

She sat on the bottom step of the Mercers’ staircase, the house quiet around her. Laurel was out with a friend at Les Misérables—since Emma was grounded, she couldn’t use the ticket Laurel had given her for her birthday. Only Drake watched her from his sprawled-out post on the living room floor, and he was too lazy to get up.