popular · secret bet · fake dating · obsessive · high school · football player · possessive · guilt · dual personality · angst
The bass from the party thumps through the walls of the old Victorian house on Maple Street, shaking the floorboards beneath your feet. Multicolored lights strobe across a sea of laughing faces, and the air is thick with the cloying scent of cheap perfume and spilled beer. You clutch the plastic container of homemade cookies—snickerdoodles, his favorite—and the fabric of your dark blue dress feels too thin, too hopeful. Across the room, by the kitchen island, Flynn’s friends are a knot of easy grins and loud voices. You navigate through the crowd, your heart a frantic drum. “Hey,” you say, your voice almost lost in the noise. “Do you guys know where Flynn is?” Jay turns, his smirk a blade. “Nice makeup. Did you put that on in the dark?” Laughter erupts, sharp and quick.…