Deception Read Online Free

Elmered to the front door all night, with my thumb pressed to the security print. Every time I tried to step away and assess damages, the doorbell rang again.
    The Natalie gang arrived first with the kegs. I hadn’t seen any of them since they set up in the kitchen. You’d think at least Daniel would’ve swapped Latin verses with me. And where was Jared? I wore my black miniskirt and no leggings just so he’d notice my boots again.
    But the only one who noticed was a senior from Uni who said, “Sexy boots,” right before he yukked next to them. That’s when I left my post at the door and searched for Natalie.
    I found her in the living room. With Jared. Making out. On Nefertiti’s head.
    As I stood there, mouth agape, a hand snaked around my waist. “Baby, we’re all hooking up. I get you.”
    I spun around and found Primus leering at me. I shoved him. “No, you don’t.”
    “C’mon. Jared gets Natalie, Daniel gets Maisy.”
    “That leaves you Caroline,” I said.
    Primus pointed to the corner where Daniel, Maisy, and Caroline were locked in a threesome. I wanted to be blasé and cool with it, but I sort of felt: yuck.
    And this whole time, the doorbell was ringing and dinging and driving me insane, and Natalie suddenly broke away from Jared and looked at me. “Why aren’t you answering the door?”
    “Party’s over, Natalie! Some guy from Uni just puked in the hall!”
    “Don’t be silly, everyone’s having the best time.” Natalie slid a proprietary hand over Jared. “Especially me.”
    Jared didn’t even look at me — he was too entranced with Natalie. I’d always hated his Rip Curls anyway, whatever they were.
    The doorbell continued to jangle. “Let them in,” Natalie told me.
    “No.”
    “Then I will,” she said.
    I followed her down the hall. “How are you going to open it without my thumb?”
    “That can be arranged.” She sidestepped the vomit. “Ew.” At the door, she turned to face me. “I know you didn’t want this party, Emma, and I’m sorry. About everything.”
    “You are?”
    “Yeah, but I’m not done yet.”
    She opened the door, the alarm wailed, and the police were waiting outside.

5

    The cops weren’t here about the party. They came because they got a report that I was living alone. Standing next to me in the doorway, Natalie became someone else. That bitchy girl who’s inexplicably always hated you.
    “That’s right,” she confirmed. “She doesn’t even know how to get in touch with her parents.”
    “I do too,” I blurted. “They’re just on vacation! Natalie!” Why was she doing this to me? What had I done to deserve this?
    Natalie smiled sadly. “Oh, Emma, don’t lie. They can check.”
    “We already have,” the cops said. “Child Protective Services is on the way.”
    They let me stay long enough to clean the floor and make sure that nobody walked off with one of my mom’s Day of the Dead dolls. But they didn’t let me spend the night. Instead, they took me to a halfway house.
    Halfway to what? Nowhere I wanted to go. The only good thing was that I didn’t dream — not about death masks or ashes or ghostly figures.
    Probably because I was already in hell.
    The next afternoon, I met with my CPS caseworker, a cadaverous man who looked way deader than anything in our apartment. Plus, his office smelled like formaldehyde, as if the embalmment had recently begun.
    “You have two options, Miss Vaile,” he said, his voice devoid of inflection. “The first is — ”
    “Can’t I just phone my parents?” I asked.
    “You may place a call, Miss Vaile, but according to the file, you don’t have your parents’ contact information.”
    “But I do! It’s not like they’ve abandoned me.” Saying the words made me sick; it was exactly like they’d abandoned me. But I summoned a weak smile. “They’re just on vacation.”
    The Cadaver opened a manila envelope and pulled out my cell phone, confiscated at the door of the halfway house. I