Jealousy Read Online Free Page B

us?”
    â€œAbout as close as you can get,” I said. “Taylor was just accepted to Canterwood. It’s his first night on campus.”

THE COVER-UP
    â€œOMIGOD!” LEXA, CLARE, AND KHLOE SAID at the same time.
    â€œSorry. I mean, welcome!” Clare said, recovering first.
    â€œI’m glad you found a school that you liked,” Lexa said. “It’s great that you have a friend to help you settle in.”
    â€œOmigod!” Khloe said again. “Sorry! It’s just . . . wow. You’re a student. Here. At Canterwood.”
    Taylor smiled at everyone. He was being great with my friends. “Crazy how it worked out,” he said. “I’m still kind of in shock too.”
    â€œHow about we go inside, grab snacks and drinks, and chat more?” I suggested. “Maybe find a quiet-ish place so we don’t throw Taylor into the middle of a party at a new school?”
    â€œIf I were you, I’d be a little overwhelmed,” Clare said to Taylor. There was a look of understanding in her blue eyes. “Promise not to introduce you to every single one of my friends tonight.”
    Lexa and Khloe added their agreement.
    Taylor and I went up the stairs, following my friends inside. Tay slowed as his eyes wandered around the giant room.
    â€œWow,” he said. “ This is a party.”
    Fog curled out of the machine Khloe had borrowed from the theater department, and mist covered the floor and added a spooky feel. Tables of all shapes and sizes were positioned around the room, and there was plenty of space in the middle for dancing. I knew Jill had been on table duty, and she’d nailed it. Every table was draped with a silver, purple, or black fabric. A pumpkin that fit the table size had a freshly carved face and a flickering votive inside. Benches with soft, cushioned black leather had been lined up along the wall for extra seating.
    As if that wasn’t enough to look at, everyone had stuck to Khloe’s dress code. Or . . . maybe she’d tossed them at the door if someone hadn’t followed her “request,” aka “command,” to dress up.
    Girls swayed to music in strapless, sleeveless, capped-sleeve,bubble, bandage, and every other type dress, and the variety of dress colors formed a kind of rainbow across the floor.
    â€œAren’t the masks the most beautiful part?” I asked Taylor.
    â€œI’ve never seen anything like these. I was thinking Mardi Gras masks, but these are serious. They are so ornate and detailed.”
    I nodded. “I did a lot of looking online. Some have ostrich plumes, some have rooster feathers—it all depends on what you want.”
    â€œLet me see yours up close.”
    I handed Taylor the stick of my mask. His thumb brushed my pinky when he grasped it. Months ago that would have made me shiver and do a Taylor-touched-my-hand cartwheel in my head.
    This time? Nothing. Just our fingers touching for a half second on the braided silver fabric that covered the stick.
    Taylor gingerly held my mask. “It’s so you, LT. I couldn’t see well enough in the moonlight. It’s pretty.”
    I beamed. “Thanks!”
    It had taken me hours to find the Venetian-style mask. It was the lightest silver with tiny pink rhinestones inrandom swirls and matching rosy pink around the eyes. Silver trimmed the mask’s edge, and on the side an oval-shaped crystal jewel hid the tips of the dozen whimsical, thin feathers that fanned to the outside of the mask. Taylor handed it back to me.
    â€œYour masks are great too,” he said to my friends. He nodded at Lexa, Clare, and Khloe while looking over their masks.
    I almost looped my arm through his. I was so excited about how well he was getting along with my friends. Each of them smiled, holding out their mask so Taylor could see.
    Khloe’s mask was shiny white satin on a matching stick. On the right side a