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Chapter 15: Betrayal

I took one glance in the mirror to ensure perfection. My silky black cat ear headband was positioned in the centre of my blonde hair, which was looking especially glossy thanks to the shine spray I had spritzed into it. My black crop top was, well, cropped, and my black leggings made my butt look awesome. Winged eyeliner completed the look. All in all, it might not have been perfect, but it was about as close as I was going to get.

My mom, however, would certainly have a different opinion than me.

But I wasn't just another pretty face. I had the perfect plan in mind, and all it required was an oversized sweater.

Once my body was completely covered in the sweater, I opened my bedroom door and walked out. At the last second, I scampered back inside and swiped on red lipstick. There was no way Ricky could overlook me now.

I glanced at the time on my phone: 7:13. I was already late.

"Hey Mom!" I called as I raced down the stairs towards the front door. "I'm heading out now, I'll see you later."

I was hoping I would be able to sneak out the door without my mom seeing me, but I had no such luck. Just as I was sliding on my flats my mom appeared in the entranceway.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the wall. "You look awfully done up for just hanging out with Ivory for a few hours."

I looked down, confused. Had my sweater ridden up and exposed my stomach and crop top? No. So what could have possibly tipped my mom off to the fact that I was 'done up'?

Mentally, I slapped myself in the face. The makeup. I never wore makeup to Ivory's.

"Oh, you know," I rambled as I struggled to think of an explanation. "I was just... playing around with some makeup and figured it's Halloween, so why not? Live a little, living on the edge, you know?"

"Ah yes, I do know." She laughed and pulled me into a hug. It was a bit of a weird hug because I was a fair bit taller than her now. Apparently I took after my dad in that aspect, but I wouldn't know. I'd never even seen a picture of him.

I pulled out of the hug first. I was anxious to get going. There was a knot in my stomach and I was nervous, although I couldn't fathom why. "I'll see ya later."

My mom nodded in that sad little way of hers. "Just be careful, okay love? Don't do anything you might regret."

Though I didn't think anything of my mom's words at the time, later on I would realize that she had a sneaking suspicion of what was going to happen before I even did.

Finally, free! I slammed the front door shut behind me and made my way down the street towards the convenience store. From the outside, I looked like any normal girl taking a normal walk down the street on Halloween night, or at least I hoped I did. On the inside, my heart was racing. Goosebumps trailed down my arms despite my sweater. A glimmer of sweat traced my brow.

I, Kennedy Brown, was officially a rebellious teenager.

I remembered suddenly that my phone was still on silent. Pulling it out of my sweater pocket, I noticed two things. One, I had a missed call from Ivory, and two, I had a text from Hailee.

Completely ignoring the missed call, I unlocked my phone to tell Hailee that I was almost there.

We had agreed to meet in the convenience store parking lot to avoid stirring up suspicion in my mom's mind about why I was getting into a sparkling BMW instead of Ivory's beaten up ride.

Yes, that's right, Hailee's parents had given her ungoverned use of their BMW as a celebration since she passed math. I know, it was nothing short of a miracle, but still, a BMW? Really?

I spotted it the second I entered the parking lot. It stood out from the beat up pick up trucks and rusted Chevys. Noticing Hailee's impatient expression behind the wheel, I picked up my pace and was in the passenger seat in no time.

"We in the clear?" She greeted.

I nodded in response, buckling up my seat belt.

"Good," she replied and gunned the engine. We zoomed out of the parking lot and down the street. The party was at Sacha's house, and to say her family lived in a different part of town than me would be an understatement.

I wouldn't say my family was poor. My mom made a good amount of money working for an account firm, but she made pennies compared to what Aubrey's family raked in. Like most spoiled kids, she had no idea what her parents did, and she didn't really care, as long as it kept designer brands in her closet.

Hailee and Sacha weren't quite as rich as Aubrey. Then again, nobody was 'quite' anything compared to Aubrey.

That was the thing about Aubrey. As much as I knew I should stay away from her, I couldn't seem to escape her clutches. Just when I had thought I was finally free from being just another one of her minions, I found myself here, again, in a ridiculously expensive car driving towards a party she helped create. Nothing good could come of this.

My ringtone went off, and the catchy, though slightly over-played chorus of 'Shake it Off' filled the silence of the car. Hastily, I pulled my phone out of my sweater pocket to reveal that Ivory was calling me.

I sent the call to voice mail, and only felt a brief twinge of regret as my nerves changed to excitement. It had been months since I had last been to a party with Hailee, Aubrey and Sacha. Even though I knew I was undoing weeks of work to distance myself from that trio of terror, I was excited to see Ricky again.

"By the way..." Hailee intruded upon my thoughts. "What are you wearing?" She didn't make any attempt to hide her disgust. I immediately tugged my sweater off to reveal my crop top and leggings.

"Better?"

"Much." She nodded, then glanced over her shoulder to make sure the lane she wanted to merge into was clear. I took the opportunity to take in her outfit.

Hailee had braided her white-blonde hair into a side-braid that fell nearly to her waist, and she wore a plaid shirt tied so that it exposed her entire stomach and clearly displayed the studs on the wide brown belt that held up her tiny jean shorts. I doubted her shorts had the ability to cover her butt, and I wasn't surprised. That was Hailee for you.

"What are you?" I blurted out, and Hailee was obviously confused by the question.

"I'm Hailee Ann Reyn-"

"No," I cut her off, realizing she'd misunderstood, as Hailee often did. "I mean, what's your costume? For Halloween? For the party?"

"Ohhhhhh," she drew out as she finally clued in. "Right. I'm Daisy Duke, duh."

"Of course," I muttered, rolling my eyes. How was I not surprised?

Shortly after, we pulled into Sacha's driveway. It had been a while since I had been in there, and I couldn't stop the wave of nostalgia that washed over me as I stepped through the front door and entered the crazy whirlwind that was a Sacha-party.

Immediately, I was overwhelmed by the stench of alcohol, tobacco smoke, and weed, and it was barely 7:30. It definitely wasn't pleasant, but that wasn't my main concern.

My main concern was that Ricky, aka God's gift to mankind, was standing less than two feet away from me.