The Hidden (sample)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Monday, August 24th

Potomac Ridge, VA

 

EMILY

What the hell?

My nose scrunched up as I stared at myself in the mirror, my hazel eyes glaring back at me. I ran my fingers over my hair–big and wavy from the humidity–as I tried to smooth it down. It didn’t work, though. It still looked like a long, dark mess. 

Maybe I should shave it off and be done with it.

Laughter broke through my train of thought. I turned to find my new roommate, Beth, standing in the doorway of the bathroom, laughing at me. 

She stepped in, rummaged through her makeup bag on the counter, and pulled out a tube of pink lip gloss. “Jesus, Em, what crawled up your ass?” She smacked her lips together as she tried to spread the pink gunk evenly.

I glared at Beth’s shoulder-length brown hair, pin-straight and not at all affected by the humidity. “I don’t know how you get your hair to stay so straight in this kind of weather,” I mumbled, grabbing my brush off the bathroom counter and wincing as it got caught in the tangles of my hair. I sighed and set the brush back down. It was only making my hair look worse. “This is ridiculous. I look like a fucking poodle.” 

Beth laughed again. “Is it wrong that I’m kind of enjoying this?” Looking back and forth between her reflection and mine, she smirked. “So this is what it feels like to finally be the hot one. I gotta say, it feels pretty good.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Are you done?”

“All right, all right, I’ll help you.” She patted the countertop. “Sit.” She reached into her toiletry bag and pulled out a small red bottle.

I hopped up onto the countertop, watching as she squeezed a small amount of clear liquid into her palm. She rubbed it between her hands and worked it into my hair. “You nervous?”

Yes.

I shrugged, aiming for indifference. “Not really. You?”

“Not so much nervous. More like dread.”

My brows pulled together as I watched her work. She didn’t meet my eyes. “Why are you dreading today? You were so excited last night, and all, ‘First day of college, woo-hoo!’ ” I did a fist-pump into the air, completing my impression of Beth from last night.

She fought the smile tugging on her lips and stepped back a little, her green eyes looking over her work. She made another couple adjustments, fluffing my hair as she said, “I was also mildly intoxicated last night, so excuse me if I got a little too happy. I would’ve been equally as excited about a bug or the moon.”

“Is this about Josh?”

Her eyes grew wide. “What? No.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Look, I know we’ve only known each other for a couple days, but…it’s really obvious you’re into him.”

She winced. “It is?”

I nodded. “Sorry.”

“Ugh, this is exactly why I didn’t want to go to an in-state school!”

I frowned, thinking back to what she’d said last night. “I thought you liked having some friends here.”

“Yeah, some friends,” she mumbled as she left the bathroom. “Not Josh,” she called from the living room. “You’re so lucky you get to go to school halfway across the country. And I’m stuck here, an hour away from where I grew up, because my parents couldn’t afford out-of-state tuition.”