9
Even Hell
Has its Factions
“Stop fidgeting!” Macy tells me several hours later, smacking at my hands as we get ready to head to the party. “You look amazing.”
“Are you sure?” I open my closet door, look in the full-length mirror for at least the tenth time since I got dressed.
“I’m positive. That dress is amazing on you. The color is perfect.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s not the color I’m worried about.”
“So what are you worried about?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I tug on the neckline a little, try to pull it up an inch or three. “My boobs falling out, maybe? So not the first impression I’m going for here.”
She laughs. “Oh my God. The dress is gorgeous. And you look gorgeous in it.”
“The dress is gorgeous,” I agree. Because it is. And it probably looks perfectly respectable on Macy’s tall, willowy figure. My big boobs make things a little trickier, though. “Maybe if I don’t take a deep breath for the whole night, things will be okay.”
“Look, maybe you should wear the jeans you originally planned.” Macy crosses to my bed and holds them up. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
It’s tempting, so tempting. But… “Are any of the other girls going to be in jeans?”
“Who cares what the other girls are wearing.”
“I take it that’s a no.” I tug on the neckline one more time, then give up and shut the closet door. “Come on, let’s get going before I decide to stay in and binge-watch Netflix for the rest of the evening.”
Macy gives me a hug. “You look really beautiful. So let’s go have fun.”
I roll my eyes at her a second time, because “beautiful” is a bit more than a stretch—with my curly auburn hair, plain brown eyes, and the random groupings of freckles on my nose and cheeks, I’m pretty much the opposite of beautiful.
On a good day, I’m cute. Standing next to Macy, who is freaking gorgeous, I’m wallpaper. The bland, boring kind.
“Come on,” she continues, grabbing my forearm and tugging me toward the door. “If we wait much longer, we’re going to be more than fashionably late to your welcome party.”
“We could just skip it altogether,” I say even as I let her pull me out the door. “Be fashionably absent.”
“Too late,” she answers with a deliberately obnoxious grin. “Everyone’s waiting for us.”
“Oh, yay.” Despite the sarcasm, I head out. The sooner we get there, the sooner I’ll get the hard part over with.
But as I start to weave my way through the crystal beads outside our door, Macy says, “Here, let me hold those for you. Don’t want them to shock you. Sorry I didn’t think about that yesterday.”
“Shock me? What do you mean?”
“They shock everybody.” She tilts her head to the side, gives me a funny look. “Didn’t you feel it when you went downstairs last night?”
“Um, no.” I reach out and close my fist around several strands of beads, trying to figure out what she’s talking about.
“You really don’t feel anything?” Macy asks after a second.
“I really don’t.” I look down at my favorite pair of rose-tattoo Chucks. “Maybe it’s the shoes.”
“Maybe.” She looks doubtful. “Come on, let’s go.”
She closes the door, then brushes her hands through the beads several times, like she’s trying to get shocked. Which, I know, makes absolutely no sense, but that’s definitely what it looks like.
“So,” I ask as she finally gives up on whatever she’s doing. “Why would you deliberately keep a beaded curtain around that builds up static electricity and shocks everyone who comes in contact with it?”
“Not everyone,” she answers with a pointed look. “And because it’s pretty. Obviously.”
“Obviously.”
As we make our way down the hall, I can’t help but notice the crown molding on the walls. Decorated with black shot through with thorny gold flowers, it’s elaborate and beautiful and just a little creepy. Not as creepy as the lights that line the ceiling, however, which look a lot like trios of weeping black flowers connected by crooked, thorny stems. Gold light bulbs hang from the center of the flowers, partially obscured by their downturned petals.
The whole effect is eerie but beautiful and, while I definitely wouldn’t choose to decorate my room like this, I have to admit it’s stunning.