His bloodshot eyes narrow, but without a spark of recognition. Not surprising; with my hair pulled back, there’s nothing Sadie-like about me. “Do I know you?”
“Ah. No. It’s just … that’s a good name,” I say limply.
The ponytailed girl presses a button to reset the targets. I move to the second station as Vance raises the gun and sets his sights. “Champions first,” he says loudly, and starts firing off shots in quick succession. Even though he’s clearly drunk, he manages to knock over ten of the twelve targets. He raises the gun when he’s finished and kisses the barrel, causing the girl to grimace. “Still got it,” Vance says, making a sweeping gesture toward me. “Your move, milady.”
I raise the gun in front of me. I happen to possess what Ezra calls freakishly good aim, despite having zero athletic talent in any other capacity. My hands are slick with sweat as I close one eye. Don’t overthink it, I remind myself. Just point and shoot.
I press the trigger and miss the first target, but not by much. Vance snickers beside me. I adjust my aim, and hit the second. The crowd behind me starts murmuring when I’ve lowered the rest of the targets in the top row, and by the time I’ve hit nine they’re clapping. The applause spikes at number ten, and turns into whoops and cheers when I knock over the last one and finish with eleven down. Ezra raises both arms in the air like I just scored a touchdown.
Vance stares at me, slack-jawed. “You’re a goddamn ringer.”
“Move along, Vance,” someone calls. “There’s a new sheriff in town.” The crowd laughs, and Vance scowls. For a few beats I think he won’t budge. Then he flings his gun on the counter with a snort.
“Game’s fixed, anyway,” he mutters, stepping back and shoving his way through the crowd.
The girl turns toward me with a tired but grateful smile. “Thanks. He’s been here for almost half an hour, freaking everyone out. I thought he was going to start firing into the crowd any minute now. They’re only pellets, but still.” She reaches under the counter and pulls out a Handi Wipe, swiping it thoroughly across Vance’s gun. “I owe you one. Do you guys want free wristbands to the House of Horrors?”
I almost say yes, but pull out my and Ezra’s job applications instead. “Actually, would you mind putting a good word in for us with your boss? Or whoever does the hiring around here?”
The girl tugs on her ponytail instead of taking the papers from me. “Thing is, they only hire kids from Echo Ridge.”
“We are,” I say, brightly. “We just moved here.”
She blinks at us. “You did? Are you— Ohhh.” I can almost see the puzzle pieces lock together in her mind as she glances between Ezra and me. “You must be the Corcoran twins.”
It’s the same reaction we’ve been getting all week—like all of a sudden, she knows everything about us. After spending our lives in the orbit of a city where everyone’s fighting for recognition, it’s weird to be so effortlessly visible. I’m not sure I like it, but I can’t argue with the results when she extends her hand toward the applications with a beckoning motion. “I’m Brooke Bennett. We’ll be in the same class next week. Let me see what I can do.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Malcolm
Sunday, September 8
“You have four kinds of sparkling water,” Mia reports from the depths of our refrigerator. “Not flavors. Brands. Perrier, San Pellegrino, LaCroix, and Polar. The last one’s a little down-market, so I’m guessing it’s a nod to your humble roots. Want one?”
“I want a Coke,” I say without much hope. The Nilssons’ housekeeper, who does all the grocery shopping, isn’t a fan of refined sugar.
It’s the Sunday before school starts, and Mia and I are the only ones here. Mom and Peter left for a drive after lunch, and Katrin and her friends are out back-to-school shopping. “I’m afraid that’s not an option,” Mia says, pulling out two bottles of lemon Polar seltzer and handing one to me. “This refrigerator contains only clear beverages.”
“At least it’s consistent.” I set my bottle down on the kitchen island next to a stack of the college brochures that have started to arrive for Katrin on a daily basis: Brown, Amherst, Georgetown, Cornell. They seem like a stretch for her GPA, but Peter likes people to aim high.
Mia unscrews the cap from her bottle and takes a long swig, making a face. “Ew. This tastes like cleaning solution.”
“We could go to your house, you know.”
Mia shakes her head so violently that her red-tipped dark hair flies in her face. “No thank you. Tensions are high in the Kwon household, my friend. The Return of Daisy has everyone shook.”
“I thought Daisy’s coming home was temporary.”
“So did we all,” Mia says in her narrator voice. “And yet, she remains.”
Mia and I are friends partly because, a long time ago, Declan and her sister, Daisy, were. Lacey Kilduff and Daisy Kwon had been best friends since kindergarten, so once Declan and Lacey started dating, I saw almost as much of Daisy as I did of Lacey. Daisy was my first crush; the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen in real life. I could never figure out what Declan saw in Lacey when Daisy was right there. Meanwhile, Mia was in love with both Lacey and Declan. We were a couple of awkward preteens trailing around after our golden siblings and their friends, lapping up whatever scraps of attention they’d throw our way.
And then it all imploded.
Lacey died. Declan left, suspected and disgraced. Daisy went to Princeton just like she was supposed to, graduated with honors, and got a great job at a consulting firm in Boston. Then, six weeks ago, she abruptly quit and moved back home with her parents.
Nobody knows why. Not even Mia.
A key jingles in the lock, and loud giggles erupt in the foyer. Katrin comes sweeping into the kitchen with her friends Brooke and Viv, all three of them weighed down by brightly colored shopping bags.
“Hey,” she says. She swings her bags onto the kitchen island, almost knocking over Mia’s bottle. “Do not go to the Bellevue Mall today. It’s a zoo. Everybody’s buying their homecoming dresses already.” She sighs heavily, like she wasn’t doing the exact same thing. We all got a “welcome back” email from the principal last night, including a link to a new school app that lets you view your schedule and sign up for stuff online. The homecoming ballot was already posted, where theoretically you can vote anyone from our class onto the court. But in reality, everybody knows four of the six spots are already taken by Katrin, Theo, Brooke, and Kyle.
“Wasn’t planning on it,” Mia says drily.
Viv smirks at her. “Well, they don’t have a Hot Topic, so.” Katrin and Brooke giggle, although Brooke looks a little guilty while she does it.