Best Friends Forever

Chapter Five

"And you've got the script memorized?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hm."

"Because we can go over it one more time if you-"

I put a hand over Courtney's mouth to stop her from talking anymore.

"Trust me, I've got it," I said. "Let's just go in there and ham it up with all your old friends and all my old enemies."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Please don't tell me you're planning to be this overdramatic the entire time."

"Of course not. I'm just getting the last bits of petty resentment out." I threw her a smile from the side. "Besides, Dalton has no reason to be an asshole to these people. He doesn't know how evil and soulless they are. "

"You sure that's really the last of it?" Courtney asked in a challenging voice. "There's no more venom in there?"

I hummed in consideration as I thought it over. There were plenty of venomous things I could still spray out, but I didn't want to stand outside all night, bitching about people I hadn't thought about in years–and I'm sure Courtney wouldn't appreciate that very much either.

"No. I think I'm good," I said before sweeping an arm to the big double doors at the front of the lodge "Are you ready to go in?"

Courtney held her hand up and wiggled her fingers. "Hm?"

I looked at her hand for a second–such an innocent gesture that made me feel so much in my chest–before I nodded and laced my fingers in hers. "Mm-hm."

Since I was technically the outsider in this situation–Dalton hadn't gone to McElwood High, after all–I let Courtney lead the way into the lodge so we could dive into the initial mingling party that was scheduled.

There was a low sense of anxiety that I was about to be face-to-face with some of my old tormentors from high school, but I had to keep reminding myself that if Courtney hadn't been able to recognize me in my flawless disguise, then there was no way these people would. They might guess or have suspicions, but not enough to say anything. More likely they would psychoanalyze Courtney for dating someone who looked like her best friend rather than thinking her date was her best friend.

The moment we stepped into the big, open room where everyone seemed to be congregated, eyes turned to Courtney and I and faces lit up in recognition. Not for a no one like me, of course. No, all the attention was for the return of the golden princess that had led the McElwood volleyball team to back-to-back state championships.

"Courtney!"

A slim woman with bleached blonde hair dashed up and pulled Courtney into a hug that nearly tore her hand out of mine. I gripped her a little harder until this woman let her go, just in case. There was no way I was going to face these dangerous waves alone, but I also wasn't going to send Courtney adrift either–we were a team on this mission.

"Candace!" Courtney said in immediate recognition of this woman, who looked like a million other women I saw every day on TV and billboards. "Oh my God! I didn't know you'd be here!"

There was a little twitch in Courtney's smile, a tell she had when she was lying, that told me this Candace woman was the exact kind of person she'd hoped she wouldn't encounter on this trip.

Probably the leader of her old crew. I always remembered that girl being an uber bitch from hell. Even for high school girl standards.

"How could I not?" Candace replied and waved Courtney off as if she were being silly.