I gaze at the photo. Greek life promises brothers and sisters to replace the family you left behind or to fill the gap that’s always been there. And maybe it could have done that for me. Maybe if I had struck out on my own instead of clinging to Craig, I could have found sisters like Cindy. But I didn’t, and a fraternity stole him—my best friend, the closest thing I had to a brother—from me.

She grabs a tube of mascara and opens her mouth wide as she applies it to her lashes. “Now tell me about this party.”

“Oh, it’s just…” I stall, blinking away thoughts of Craig as I run the fake hair through my fingertips. “… a get-together with a few friends.”

“And you’re going like this?” She points at the sparkly fabric on my chest. “I don’t think so.” She leans close to the mirror and looks at me in the reflection as she starts on the other eye. “I want in.”

“What?”

“Wherever you’re going. I want to go, too.”

I open my mouth, but she cuts me off.

“Look. It’s my first night off in ages, and Teddy already called to say he’s working late”—that twist again, he’s working my lead without me—“and I want to have some fun.”

“It’s not for fun,” I say. “It’s for work.”

“So you’re what? Going undercover or something? To a party?”

I try to backpedal, come up with excuses, but my mind’s blank. I’m too distracted by the uncanny alternate vision of myself in the mirror, the thought of Teddy and Oliver interviewing the fraternity brothers, and Cindy’s eager glances.

“I’m going.”

“No—”

“In case you need backup.”

I laugh, and Cindy folds her arms over her chest.

“Teddy would want me to go.”

“Teddy would definitely not want you to go. He wouldn’t want either of us to go.”

She clenches her jaw. “Well, that settles it, then.” She smiles. “We’re going.”

I try for another thirty minutes to talk her out of it, but even as I’m coming up with more and more elaborate reasons why she shouldn’t go, I start to see the advantage of having her there. She’s young, stunning, and has enough bubbly energy for both of us. Like a sexy magician’s assistant, she’ll divert the attention away from me.

“Fine,” I say. “But we’re only staying half an hour. I just want to look around.”

“This is going to be so much fun,” she says, and then spends the next hour hunting through her closet for the right dress to wear.

Based on the handful of girls shivering in bikinis, guys in board shorts, and surfboards propped up in front of the house, the theme of the party must be something like summer in December or spring break in winter.