She pulled her shoulders back and tossed her hair over them. Behind her, there was a backdrop of velvety black curtains borrowed from the auditorium. They were pulled shut across half of the stage. Silver, decorative balls hung from the hidden rafters along with a gold cutout of a crescent moon that, put together, were supposed to represent the Paris sky. “Not since I caught him naked in a room with you.”
My guts made a fist. The key was to stick to the script. The rest wasn’t important. “Not after that, though?” I asked evenly.
Tears sparkled in her eyes, and for a second I actually felt sorry for Cassidy Hyde. All she had wanted was her small-town, balloon-arch fairy tale, and it had been shattered by a boy who was shattered before she ever met him. “Oh, you mean when he attacked my best friend’s boyfriend?”
“He wouldn’t have had to if your best friend’s boyfriend wasn’t such a creep,” I muttered.
Paisley, who was half listening while crossing her arms and tapping her foot to the beat, snapped to attention. “What did you say? You know all of this is your fault. Knox probably won’t be able to play for the rest of the season, and now he’s got this hideous orange cast. It’s a disaster.” Her lips, which were painted a bright scarlet, tightened into the shape of a cherry.
“Tragic. I’m just looking for Adam, okay? I don’t even want to be here. Trust me,” I said, craning my neck to search the room. At the edges, round tables covered in white cloths speckled the floor and glowed with soft candlelight. Blue, red, and purple spotlights spanned the ceiling.
Cassidy trained her stare on me, and I could tell by the way the tendons on her neck kept constricting into guitar strings that she was fighting back tears. “You know, you really are no better than us, Tor.”
And I didn’t know what to believe when the first thought that popped into my mind was, That’s not true.
But just then the music shifted. The volume lowered, and two white spotlights circled the crowd. “What’s happening?” I asked.
Cassidy and Paisley both turned to each other, lips drawn into solemn lines. “I hope you win,” Cassidy said, taking Paisley’s hand.
“Thanks,” Paisley replied, nodding and turning back to face the stage without letting go of Cassidy’s hand.
“It’s that hour.” The DJ’s voice boomed through the microphone. “Time to crown this year’s Homecoming king and queen.” He hit a button and a drumroll track played.
The ring of light looped over the heads of the crowd.
Knox appeared next to Paisley, holding a plastic cup in his good hand. “My lady.” He gave a slight bow of the head. With his bad hand he fumbled with the cap on a flask and tipped a splash of a mysterious substance into the drink. He caught me watching. “Want some, doll face?” He winked.
The contents of my stomach roiled. I turned my chin away. “I’d rather take cyanide, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” He stashed the flask back into the inside pocket of his suit coat. Paisley grabbed him by the elbow and forced him to face the stage.
Everyone’s heads bobbed up and down as they leaned and stood on tippy-toes to see where the rings of light would land. I squinted and stepped back when the circle stopped moving and fell over not Paisley, but Cassidy. Her jaw dropped. “Please welcome to the stage, Hollow Pines’s finest, Miss Cassidy Hyde.” The DJ, who was wearing sunglasses, hit another button, and the sound of applause came from the speakers. Cassidy flashed a quick smile and played with the hem of her dress. Her fingers unlaced from Paisley’s, and I immediately noticed Paisley’s hand curl into a claw at her side.
A tune began to play, and Coach Carlson beckoned Cassidy. Slowly, she scaled the steps to the stage, where she stood in the center, shifting her weight between her feet like she wasn’t sure she was really supposed to be up there. The edges of my teeth dug into my lower lip. After last night, I could see that the balloons on Cassidy’s balloon-arch fairy tale had already been popped, and no amount of canned applause was going to fix it.
I didn’t know why I felt bad for Cassidy standing up there, only that I did. I wished I could tell her that there were things going on here that were bigger than her, that there were matters of life and death bubbling under the surface of this stupid Homecoming facade, and that she had just been one part of the experiment. But, of course, I could never tell her any of that. I could only do what I came here to do, which was to find Adam.
The second spotlight traced a figure eight until it stopped, dead middle, on Knox. I felt my face screw up like I’d just mixed orange juice and toothpaste.
“Please welcome our new Homecoming king, Knox Hoyle.” The DJ hit the cheesy prerecorded applause again. Knox stepped easily away from Paisley without a second look. He smiled broadly and waved to the crowd with his good hand. That weasel, I thought.