Solitaire, Part 2 of 3 Read Online Free

five years. I still do though. Since when did nudity become so normal?
    “Tori. You are dressing up. It’s my fancy-dress party and I say so.”
    “Fine.” I think hard, weighing up my options. “I could go as … Snow White?”
    Becky pauses as if waiting for the punchline.
    I frown. “What?”
    “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”
    “You don’t think I could go as Snow White.”
    “No, no, you could be Snow White. If you want.”
    I look at my hands. “All right. I’ll … er … think about it.” I twirl my thumbs. “I could … make my hair … all wavy …”
    She seems satisfied and puts on the tiny green dress with fairy wings.
    “Are you going to try and talk to people tonight?” she asks.
    “Is that an actual question or an order?”
    “An order.”
    “I make no promises.”
    Becky laughs and pats me on my cheek. I hate that. “Don’t worry. I’ll look after you. I always do, don’t I?”
    At home, I put on a white shirt and a black skater skirt I bought once for some job interview I never showed up to. Then I locate my favourite black jumper and black tights. My hair is just about long enough to style into tiny plaits and I draw on more eyeliner than usual.
    Wednesday Addams. I was sort of kidding with Snow White and I despise Disney anyway.
    I leave the house around seven. Nick, Charlie and Oliver are just sitting down to dinner. Mum and Dad are going to see a play and then staying at a hotel tonight. To be honest, it was Charlie and I who insisted that they stay overnight rather than make the two-hour drive home. I guess they were kind of worried about not being there for Charlie. I almost decided to stay home and not go to Becky’s party, but Charlie assured everyone that he would be fine, which I’m sure he will, because Nick’s staying round this evening. And I’m not even going to be out for very long.
    It’s a dark party. The lights are dimmed and teenagers are spilling out of the house. I pass the smokers and the social smokers who gather in rings outside. Smoking is so pointless. The only reason I can think of for smoking is if you want to die. I don’t know. Maybe they all want to die. I recognise most people from school and from Truham, and there are Year 11s through to Year 13s here and I know for a fact that Becky doesn’t know them all personally.
    A selection of Our Lot is squeezed into the conservatory, along with a few other people that I don’t know. Evelyn, scrunched into the corner of a sofa, spots me first.
    “Tori!” She waves so I wander over. Eyeing me thoughtfully, she says, “Who are you?”
    “Wednesday Addams,” I say.
    “Who?”
    “Have you seen
The Addams Family
?”
    “No.”
    I shuffle my feet. “Oh.” Her own outfit is rather spectacular: straightened hair put up in a classy bun, insect sunglasses and a fifties dress. “You’re Audrey Hepburn.”
    Evelyn throws her arms into the air. “THANK YOU!
Someone
at this party has some bloody
culture
!”
    Lucas is here too, sitting next to a girl and a boy who have basically merged into one being. He’s wearing a beret and a rolled-sleeve stripy T-shirt with these skin-tight, ankle-length black jeans and he has an actual string of garlic bulbs hung around his neck. Somehow, he looks both very fashionable and very ridiculous. He waves shyly at me with his beer can. “Tori!
Bonjour!
”
    I wave back and then practically run away.
    First, I go to the kitchen. There are a lot of Year 11s in here, mostly girls dressed as a variety of promiscuous Disney princesses, and three boys dressed as Superman. They’re chatting excitedly about Solitaire’s pranks, apparently finding them hilarious. One girl even claims she took part in them.
    Everyone seems to be talking about the Solitaire meet-up blog post – the one that Michael and I found after he broke me out of that IT classroom. Apparently, the entire town is planning to attend.
    I find myself standing next to a lonely-looking girl, possibly a Year