Truth or Dare by Jacqueline Green Read Free Book Online

Marta snuck Tenley an envious look. “You share a house with him?” she murmured.
    “And a shower,” Tenley whispered back. It wasn’t exactly a lie; she
could
use his shower if she wanted to.
    “What was that, Tiny?” Guinness draped an arm around her shoulder, his fingers grazing her skin. She froze in place, not wanting him to move.
    “Oh, nothing,” Tenley said, craning her neck to look up at him. She liked how much bigger he was than her, how she could fold right into him. “I should probably go return this old photo to my room.” She paused. “Are you going to stick around?”
    “For a bit. My plans for tonight got canceled, so why not?”
    Tenley gave him a tiny smile before heading back toward the main house.
Sure
, his plans had gotten canceled. As she walked across the lawn, she flipped the photo from Vegas over in her hands, admiring it. More like he’d gotten a glimpse of what he was missing.
    Tenley jogged up to her room, sticking the Polaroid back into its hiding spot underneath the dress of one of her Steiff bears, the princess one that had always been her favorite. She quickly double-checked her appearance in the mirror before heading back to the party—and Guinness. She’d just reached the pool house when she saw Fatty Patty—ahem,
Tricia
—heading out the front door. “Are you leaving?” she asked, giving Tricia a strange look.
No one
left her parties this early, especially not a girl whose idea of a wild time used to be the candy aisle in the supermarket.
    “Tenley!” Tricia chirped. “I was just going over to the main house to use the bathroom.” She crossed her legs apologetically. “The one in the pool house has a line, like, a mile long, and I’ve had three glasses of your lemonade.”
    Tenley couldn’t help but stare at her. It was hard to believe this was the same girl who used to come to school wearing a homemade shirt that said SAY CHELLO TO MY CELLO . She seemed like a whole different person now; she even hung out with Caitlin’s friends. She’d spent allsummer trying to convince herself that the mark she’d left on Winslow was too strong to fade—but suddenly she wasn’t so sure.
    She hooked her arm through Tricia’s. The more friends she had on Tuesday, the better, she decided. “Well, lucky for you, pool-house rules say the hostess gets to cut the line.” She flashed Tricia a smile. “Come on, I’ll get you right to the front.”

    Several hours later, half a dozen empty pitchers of spiked lemonade were scattered across the bar, they had moved on to a second keg, and several members of the football team had just finished up a cannonball contest in the pool. Tenley was sitting on the couch with Caitlin, Emerson, Marta, and Tricia, playing a game of kings. Guinness had left to do some photo work, but other than that, the party was still in full swing.
    “Can you believe Fall Festival is in one week?” Tricia asked, shuffling the cards expertly. “Where did summer
go
?”
    “Personally I can’t believe Fall Festival is happening at all,” Marta replied. “Hasn’t anyone heard of three strikes and you’re out? I’m pretty sure that counts for three
deaths
, too.”
    Emerson laughed. “Come on, Marta. You don’t really believe in all that Lost Girls crap, do you? Nicole Mayor didn’t die because of some ‘curse.’ ” She paused to air quote. “She was murdered.”
    “I don’t know, Em,” Tricia mused. Lowering her voice, she wiggled her eyebrows at Marta. “Maybe it’s like everyone is always saying: Pretty girls come to Echo Bay to drown….”
    As Marta’s face went white, Tenley turned to Tricia. “You swam out to the Phantom Rock once and you didn’t drown,” she pointed out.Tricia stared at her blankly. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember,” Tenley said with a laugh. “We were down at the beach? I dared you?” She trailed off as an idea suddenly struck her.
    She looked around the room, surveying the scene. It was a good party,