Chapter 4: The House

The Delta Gamma Rho house had white columns and a porch swing and a banner that said Welcome Home, Sisters.

I stopped on the sidewalk forty feet from the front steps.

It started like a ringing in my ears, the way a tooth hurts before the drill.

The ring on my finger went warm.

Then the sound opened up.

I could hear the house.

I could hear a refrigerator, a dryer, and a dozen different heartbeats, some of them fast.

I could hear voices coming through the second-floor window, as clear as if I stood in the room.

"Okay, everybody get on the stairs. You on the landing, you have the big phone."

That was Kendra.

"Wait, what's the plan again?" a girl asked.

"He walks in. I say sorry and start crying. He gets mad or he says something creepy. We get all of it."

"What if he doesn't say anything creepy?"

"He will. He's weird, he's a dishwasher. Brock says the booster will send another two thousand when the clip goes up."

"Two thousand just for a video?"

"Two thousand for a video that makes him look like a stalker with a billion dollars."

"Everybody on the stairs. Phones up. Don't laugh until I cry."

I stood there on the sidewalk with my hands in my hoodie pocket.

My heart was pounding, but not from fear.

It was from how angry I was, with a clean, sharp edge on it.

I walked up the steps and rang the bell.

Kendra opened the door herself in a soft pink sweater, her eyes already wet.

"Wesley," she said. "Thank you for coming. I'm so, so sorry."

She was good.

I'll give her that.

The hall behind her was a curving staircase packed with girls in matching jackets.

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