Truth or Dare (12 page)

For a brief second, Sydney thought about walking away and leaving the flyers on the beach. Someone would find them eventually, and she could just picture Tenley’s reaction when she discovered that Echo Bay’s rich and richest had gotten a full frontal view of her brand-new chest. That smug smile she always used to wear would melt right off her face. And if anyone deserved that, wasn’t it Tenley? One of the last times Sydney had seen her, she’d been teasing Joey Bakersfield, showing him a photo of an empty cage at the Franklin Park zoo. “It’s for rabid boys,” she’d howled.

Sydney fiddled with the thin gold ring she always wore on her pointer finger. As much as she wanted Tenley to have a taste of her own medicine, she just couldn’t do it. Tenley might be a bitch, but
Sydney
wasn’t. With a sigh, she gathered up the rest of the papers. She folded them up and stuck them in one of the oversized pockets of her khaki shorts.

A few minutes later, she’d just gotten the broom out of the Club’s supply closet when she heard a familiar voice. “Anyone hungry?”

Sydney spun around to find Calum smiling at her, holding a tray of coffee and doughnuts from Bean Encounters. “Starving,” she admitted. She glanced toward the bar, where Tony was busy filling drink orders. “And,” she declared, “ready for my break.”

She automatically went to her favorite break spot, a bench on the edge of the golf course, where the noise and chaos of the Club receded behind a thick line of trees. But it hit her suddenly that the bench might be a bad choice for Calum. It was a memorial to the Lost Girls,
given by an anonymous donor not long after Kyla Kern’s death. Under the inscription (
In Loving Memory of Those Lost Too Soon
) were three names: Kyla Kern, Nicole Mayor, and, of course, Meryl Bauer.

“I’m sorry,” she said hastily. “We can go somewhere else if you want….”

But Calum just waved her off, dropping down on the bench. “It’s been ten years, Syd. I got used to seeing tributes to her a long time ago. Now, take your doughnut.” He handed her a Boston cream, her favorite.

Sydney sat down, licking a bit of chocolate from her fingers. “Is this supposed to be some kind of bribe? Because if you want me to help you request off again, you’ll have to—”

“It’s not a bribe,” Calum interrupted. He passed her a coffee. “More like… an apology.”

“Ah, for postponing my beauty sleep last night?”

Calum laughed. “Something like that.”

Sydney took a bite of her doughnut. “Lucky for you, I can be bought with sugar.” She took a sip of her coffee. “And caffeine.”

“I am well aware.” Calum looked amused as he watched her devour her doughnut. “So about last night…” Calum pulled at one of his blond curls. “I’m assuming I was too inebriated to actually formulate an explanation at the time?”

“Good assumption. Though I do believe the word
hero
was thrown around.”

“Hmm,” Calum said thoughtfully. “I have been told I resemble Superman. Only shorter. And paler.”

Sydney smacked him on the shoulder. “I was talking about Super-
girl
over here.”

“Oh.” Calum lowered his head in an exaggerated bow. “I owe you a great debt of gratitude, Supergirl. In fact, give me your phone.”

Sydney eyed him curiously as she tossed him her phone. “Why?”

“Suspicious today, aren’t we?” Calum typed something into her phone before handing it back to her. “Now you have my number. Next time
you
need a late-night ride, chauffeur Calum is at your service.”

Sydney laughed. “Good to know. So what did happen last night?”

“Well, it’s a little… murky,” Calum said. “But we were playing truth or dare at Tenley’s party, and I think there was a kiss and then night swimming and then I realized my blood-alcohol level was much too high for me to drive home, so—”

“Whoa.” Sydney held up a hand. “Back up a step.”

“To the kiss?” Calum broke into a grin. “I’m pretty sure—”

“To before that,” Sydney interrupted, rolling her eyes. “You were playing
truth or dare
?”

Calum looked sheepish. “Everyone was. I was just trying to join in. You know, start senior year off on the right foot.”

“The right naked foot,” Sydney said, smirking.

Groaning, Calum leaned back. “It was a lapse in judgment,” he admitted.

“Oh, come on. It’s not that big a deal. It’s Winslow, not a nunnery. There’s bound to be new gossip by Tuesday. In fact…” She gave her hair a haughty toss, launching into her best imitation of Emerson. “Stacey Han
has
been looking a little chunky lately. Can you, like, say unplanned pregnancy?”

Calum made a big show of plugging up his ears. “Please never speak in that voice again, Syd. But,” he admitted, “you’re probably right.”

“I usually am. Hey, are you going to eat that?” Sydney pointed to the second doughnut, which sat untouched on the tray.

Calum cringed. “I think it might be days before I eat again.”

“No problem.” Sydney plucked the doughnut off the tray, stuffing
half of it into her mouth. “I’m a staunch believer in the No Doughnut Left Behind policy,” she explained, several crumbs tumbling down her chin.

“Well, I’m a staunch believer in
chewing
,” Calum replied.

Sydney made a face at him, but she chomped the rest of her doughnut loudly before speaking again. “Seriously, Calum, don’t worry about it. I guarantee there will be some shiny new gossip by Tuesday. A love triangle, perhaps? Or a scandalous hookup?”

Calum suddenly brightened. “Tenley did seem pretty interested in family bonding with her stepbrother last night. Who knows?” He sat back up, cocking his head. “Maybe they’ll come through for me in the scandal department.”

Sydney brushed the crumbs off her hands. “I didn’t know Tenley had a new stepbrother.” She was about to add that that wasn’t the
only
new thing Tenley had when Calum took her by surprise.

“Yeah,” he said, “this older guy who’s named after some beer.”

Sydney stared at him. “What did you say?” she asked slowly.

“Her new brother,” Calum repeated. “Bud? Amstel? No—
Guinness
. Guinness Reed. And I thought my name was bad.” Calum shook his head. “He seemed pretty abhorrent to me. He carried a camera around all night, like it was his pacifier or something….” Calum kept on talking, but Sydney barely heard him.

Guinness was Tenley’s new brother?

She blinked, stunned. Why hadn’t Guinness told her? Winslow Academy wasn’t that big a school. Did he really think it was possible she didn’t know Tenley?

Sydney took a deep breath. She knew it shouldn’t matter. Until yesterday, she and Guinness hadn’t spoken in months. But still, she couldn’t help but feel blindsided.

“Uh-oh, are you in a doughnut coma, Syd?” Calum grabbed her shoulders, shaking hard. “Come back to me!”

Sydney pushed him off and stood up. She couldn’t worry about Guinness right now. She
wouldn’t
. “Doughnut coma? Who do you think I am, Calum? I can hold my doughnuts, thank you very much.”

“I don’t know,” Calum said seriously. “Your blood-doughnut level is probably through the roof right now.”

Sydney stuck her nose in the air. “You’re just jealous because I doughnutted you under the table.” Grabbing his hand, she pulled him up. “I’ve got a proposal. Sweep the pool deck for me so I can help Laurie with her tables, and your debt of gratitude will officially be paid.”

Calum eyed her warily. “You do know it’s my day off, right?”

“Yup,” Sydney replied cheerfully.

Shaking his head, Calum started back to the Club with her. “Only for you, Supergirl.”

As Sydney ran around, grabbing drinks and plates for Laurie, she tried to push all thoughts of Guinness out of her mind. But no matter what she did, they kept coming back to haunt her.

Tenley and Guinness were stepsister and stepbrother. An especially friendly stepsister and stepbrother, according to Calum. She couldn’t help but think about Tenley’s newest additions. Fake or not, they probably looked good on her. And now Guinness would be sharing a house with her—and
them
.

As soon as her shift was over, Sydney grabbed her duffel bag from the Club and started for her car. What she needed right now was a nice long photo shoot, the kind that pulled her under and made her forget about everything else. She unzipped her bag as she made her way across the Club’s parking lot, shoving the photos of Tenley inside. She’d deal with those later.

She was just about to close her bag when she noticed something peeking out from beneath the zipper. It was a piece of paper, folded up like a note. She frowned. Where had that come from? It definitely hadn’t been in there when she stuck her bag in the employees’ closet earlier. Had Calum left her a note on his way out?

Stopping in the middle of the parking lot, she pulled the note out, smoothing it open. Typed across it, in an old-fashioned typewriter font, was a message.

Truth or dare is even more high stakes than walk the line. I dare you to come to the pier at midnight tonight to join the game… unless you want everyone to learn the truth about how hot you really are.

Sydney’s heart raced as she read the note over again.

What
was
this? And how did someone know about walk the line? It was a game she used to play when she was younger: She’d sneak out in the middle of the night to walk the line in the middle of a road, blindly trusting that oncoming traffic would swerve in time to avoid her. Guinness was the only friend she’d ever told about that.

She read the note one more time. Something twisted in her stomach. This didn’t sound like something Calum would write. And what did the note mean by “how hot you really are”? It almost sounded like it was referring to…

No. She immediately cut that train of thought off. Of course it wasn’t. She’d worked hard to leave her past behind at Sunrise. There
were only two people in Echo Bay who knew what she’d gone through: her mom and Guinness.

Suddenly a thought occurred to her. Could Guinness have left her this? She thought of the notes they used to slip each other at Sunrise, silly coded messages about sneaking out after hours or meeting up during free time. She still kept the first one he’d ever sent her in her jewelry box. On it he’d pasted clips from three photos he’d taken: the willow tree, the moon, and Sydney, her head thrown back in laughter. Translation: Meet at the willow tree at nightfall for some fun. She’d loved how she knew right away what he meant; it was as if they weren’t just on the same page, but the same word.

Sydney relaxed a little as she climbed into her car. That had to be it. Guinness must have slipped the note into her bag, his way of reminding her how things used to be between them. She couldn’t help but smile. So his wording wasn’t exactly perfect, but the gesture was sweet. An excited shiver ran down her spine as she realized what this meant. At midnight tonight, she was finally going to see Guinness again.

Sunday, 11:30
PM

ALL RIGHT, SPILL,” EMERSON DEMANDED WHEN SHE
climbed into Caitlin’s car on Sunday night. “Where are we going? It took me forever to get dressed under this shroud of mystery!”

Caitlin laughed. After she’d gotten the dare at brunch that morning, she’d told Emerson she had a special surprise for their girls’ night. It was perfect: When Emerson found out that Tenley had orchestrated a secret midnight party on a yacht, she’d have to change her mind about her.

“You look great,” Caitlin assured her, which was the truth. Emerson was wearing super-short black shorts over a pair of gray tights. Tucked into her shorts was a thin white T-shirt, accessorized with a long turquoise necklace, which Caitlin recognized from one of her Neutrogena shoots. She’d straightened her long hair, and it hung dark and glossy against the white of her shirt.

“I know,” Emerson replied, “but that doesn’t answer my question.”

Caitlin laughed. “Fine,” she said, giving in. “There’s some kind of
secret midnight party on Hunter’s yacht, apparently.” She gestured in the direction of the cup holder, where she’d tossed the dare on top of yesterday’s joke of a positive thought. “I’m pretty sure Tenley’s behind it.”

She’d spent most of her Festival Committee meeting that afternoon racking her brain for other people who might have sent her that note—Hunter, maybe, or one of his friends—but in the end, she kept coming back to Tenley. Dares had been
their
thing, and ever since Tenley moved back, she’d been trying so hard to reclaim what they’d once had. She’d almost texted Tenley earlier to find out more, but the note had made it clear that Tenley wanted her plan, whatever it was, to stay a surprise.

“Tenley?” Emerson wrinkled up her nose in disapproval. “I thought this was supposed to be our night, Cait.”

“It is,” Caitlin promised. “But since when does Emerson Cunningham say no to a party on a yacht?” She flashed Emerson a smile. “I thought it could be fun to go together, just the two of us, like old times.”

Emerson flopped back in her seat, looking appeased. “I guess it could be,” she admitted. She looked over at Caitlin. “So guess who Marta and I ran into this afternoon?”

“Ratner?” Caitlin guessed. Secretly, Caitlin was hoping Emerson would tire of her mystery man and get back together with her ex, Scott Ratner. Scott might not be the smartest guy, but his idea of mystery was leaving a card off a birthday gift.

“Ew, no. He left for college last week, thank god. Who we saw was much more fun.” Emerson paused dramatically. “Tim Holland.”

“Oh.” Caitlin kept her eyes on the road. She wasn’t dense; she knew Tim had a thing for her. What she didn’t get was
why
. They couldn’t be
more different. He was laid-back, carefree, obsessed with the waves. And she was… not. She didn’t even understand the appeal of surfing. Bumping up and down in the water like that, so much risk for only an instant of reward. She preferred her waves from a distance. Just like her guys.

“He was looking pretty hot,” Emerson continued teasingly.

“Oh,” Caitlin said again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Emerson smirk.