Clandestine

twenty four

Carlotta, Rosalina, and I pick out our outfits for the night. Rosalina forces us to wear pieces of her latest collection. Not only does it make us look rich and classy, but it's free advertising for her line. Anytime someone compliments our dresses, which with Rosalina's brand will be a lot, we will go into a spiel about how great this brand is and how much we love the clothes and how the prices are totally worth the quality.

Rosalina puts on our makeup and does our hair, all the time chattering about her dinner with Penny. Apparently Penny had a lot of fun on her trip and Rosalina is having a very difficult time not being jealous.

After we are done, with Rosalina's touch, we all look like goddesses. I'm dressed in a silvery thigh length, strapless dress. Since it's a few months after Carlotta's rough breakup with her boyfriend, she has finally decided to put herself back out there. She's wearing a blue dress from the fashion show, a sparkly bodice with a tulle skirt the puffs just a little past the waist.

Rosalina squeals and takes a picture, "These are going on my blog. We are going to have so much fun tonight. I have three whole month until my next fashion show so we are going to party hard. I need to get all this stress out of my system."

Carlotta and I exchange grins and we go downstairs to get in our car.

My mother waits in the kitchen. As we walk past, my mother calls out, "Hey, where are you going tonight, Julia?"

She's never bothered to ask me this before.

She must know that there is a Tinsley party tonight.

I definitely can't tell her the truth. She would be more than furious. After all, she told me to stay inside and take all the precautions against Alan Tinsley. She said now that he has escaped jail, he may be looking to murder me as revenge.

She doesn't know that I know Alan Tinsley is dead because she killed him. She doesn't know that I know I am in absolutely no danger, unless his daughter decides to go crazy.

"We are just going to go to Rosalina's house. She wants to get a good fashion shoot of some of her latest collection. We won't leave her house. I'll be safe, I promise."

My mother gazes at me for a second like she's trying to decide if I'm lying.

Finally she nods, "Okay, have fun. Remember what I told you about Alan Tinsley. You need to be on your guard."

She's right. I do need to be on my guard. But I'm shouldn't be careful of Alan Tinsley, I should be careful of my mother.

I just smile and thank her. "I'll probably spend the night at Carlotta or Rosalina's house. It'll just depend on how late the photo shoot goes."

She smiles and tells us to be sure to have fun.

We nod and leave as quickly as we can. We have my chauffeur drive us to Rosalina's house. Then, we'll have Rosalina's chauffeur take us to the party. Her parents couldn't care less what Rosalina does with her free time. I'm afraid they are too busy partying themselves to worry about what their daughter might be doing.

We are quiet the ride over. I'm not sure what my chauffeur might tell my mother. What if she asks him about our conversation? We can't risk slipping anything. We have our own texting conversation, but I try to keep even that clear of secrets.

I don't know if I can trust my mother. Actually, I do know. I know that I can't trust her. She murdered someone. What else is she doing that I don't know about? What if she is tracking all my phone texts?

My cheeks go red at the thought. I try to think of her reading through all my texts between Carlotta and Rosalina about a boy I might have a crush on or complaining about our periods or discussing different types of parties.

What does my mother know about?

We arrive at Rosalina's house. I thank my chauffeur and hand him a tip. I tell him not to wait for us.

We go inside Rosalina's house, just in case the chauffeur is still watching. We do any last minute makeup touches. Rosalina sprints up to her room to get her favorite pair of wedges and a matching tube of lipgloss.

She hurries down the stairs and announces that we are finally ready to go.

We pile into her limo and chatter all the way to the party. Rosalina is ready to get as drunk as possible as after fashion show therapy. Carlotta wants to find someone new people to talk to. She's trying to drink less as the college applications and the idea of competing on her favorite team comes closer. She refuses to let anything as trivial as underage drinking hold her back from her dream. I'm going to hunt down the daughter of Alan Tinsley and see what she knows.

It may be a bit of a problem as I don't know what she looks like. I don't even know her name. I've never been to one of their parties, though I think that Rosalina has. She says that Alan Tinsley was certainly the guest of honor, but she didn't even notice any daughter.

I do a quick search on my phone for Alan Tinsley's daughter, but nothing comes up. I do a couple different combinations. I manage to find out that her name is Diane, but that is it. No picture. No age. There's certainly no news about her father's death.

I guess I'll just have to spend the whole part asking around for Diane Tinsley.

I drum my fingers on my leg and try to numb my nerves.

What if she is crazy just like her father? What if she recognizes me? Will she kill me? Maybe she knows that my mother did kill her father. Perhaps she'll try to use me as revenge.

Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea after all. I consider making some excuse about feeling sick but we are already stopping in front of the house.

Author's Note

Sorry about the lack of an update the last two days. It's homecoming weekend for me and I've been very busy. 

I want to thank everyone who's voted, commented, or read this story. Apparently there have been some technical difficulties along the way. If it isn't working, try messaging me and we'll figure out something that works. 

Thanks again! Love you!

Anne Brees