Page 17

I try to think of who could have a key to my room, and the list is short. Me, Aniyah, and whoever runs the dorm, and that’s it. So either one of them let someone in or someone got a key another way, which is a thought that scares me, especially when the whole campus hates me right now.

I could toss the whole thing in the trash and go to bed, but then I’d forever wonder what the fuck was inside. What if it’s a treat? Or something I’m supposed to know?

I pick up the box, and something shifts around inside when I tilt it, so I slowly and carefully take the lid off. There’s a card on top next to a small black flash drive, and under, there’s red fabric. I lift the card first.

Congratulations. You’ve been chosen.

Chosen for what? I read on, my frown deepening.

Someone wants me to join a secret society. There’s a whole paragraph about how only a handful of people ever get picked, how it’s a rare honor, and how the ones who make it end up set for life. Then it asks whether I think I can pass all the challenges, as if it’s a dare. Each challenge happens somewhere they’ll tell me later, and apparently, I have a partner for the whole thing.

Jayden Burgess.

I should’ve known. Somehow, he’s mixed up in this too.

It says the two of us are partners, but we’re judged separately, so nothing he does counts for or against me, and nothing I do affects him. And I don’t have to do any challenge I don’t want to. That part’s underlined, as if it’s meant to reassure me, and it’s almost funny, because there’s nothing reassuring about any of this. I can turn down whatever they ask. Great.

But showing up isn’t optional. Every time they send a location, I have to go there. If I don’t, or if I say something about any of this to anyone who isn’t Jayden, they’ll release the video on the drive to the whole campus.

I look down at the flash drive. So apparently, I can’t tell my parents, Aniyah, campus security, or anyone at all. Jayden’s the only person on the whole planet I’m allowed to talk to about this. Just him. Fucking amazing.

Whoever wrote this thought of everything. If I go to the police, the video goes out. If I run to my mom crying, same thing. And of course the only person I’m allowed to talk to is the guy who potentially ruined my life. What kind of sick setup is this?

I set the card down and pull the fabric out of the box. It’s actually a red cocktail dress. I hold it up. The material’s soft, and this is pretty much a party dress. My jaw tightens. Is this Jayden’s idea of a joke? I turned him down in front of everyone at his party, so maybe this is his way of getting back at me. Maybe there’s no secret society at all, and it’s all another disgusting prank meant to destroy me.

Would he really go this far, just because I said no to him once? I don’t know. Possibly. He’s petty enough, and he probably has the connections to pull off just about anything. I set the dress down on the bed next to the card and rub my arms, because the whole thing has me on edge now.

And if it is him and the dress is something he’d choose for me to wear... He’d love watching me squirm and not know who to trust. I still have to see what’s on the drive, because I have no idea what kind of video it could be.

I snatch my laptop off the desk and push the drive into the port. A folder opens with a video file inside. I hover over it as my mouth goes dry. Maybe it’s nothing, and I’m working myself up over a threat that isn’t even real. It could be a virus, so maybe I shouldn’t open it. First, I scan it with my antivirus software, but it doesn’t find any threats. As I chew on the inside of my cheek, I click on the video.

My brow creases. It’s a video of me, or at least of a girl who looks exactly like me, but I’m in a room I’ve never been in and doing things I’ve never done with a guy I don’t recognize. Fucking hell. It looks completely real, but I know it isn’t.

My hand comes up over my mouth. It has to be a deepfake. I’ve never even met that guy and definitely haven’t slept with him. But no one else would know any of that. My parents would see it, and I don’t even want to imagine what they’d say, or whether they’d believe me when I swore up and down it wasn’t real. I’m not sure they would. It’s way too convincing.

I quickly close the video as my heart races. If this went out, it wouldn’t matter that I’d never done any of it. Everyone would see it, and they’d believe what they want to believe, and with my current reputation... Fuck.

Since the card says I’m allowed to talk to Jayden, I have to find him. Maybe he’s behind the whole thing, and it’s all a big setup intended to mess with me. Or maybe he got a box too, and he’s just as stuck as I am, and we’re both being played by whoever’s behind this. I need to find out.

SINCE JAYDEN’S A SOCCER captain and one of the most popular guys on campus, he’s never hard to spot, so I figure practice should be wrapping up around now. I head for the sports complex, half hoping I’ll spot him and half dreading it, because I don’t have a clue about what I’m going to say to him. Should I ask him if he did it? Or play it cool and see what he says and how he reacts?

I catch him coming through the door with his bag over his shoulder, and his usual crowd is nowhere to be seen. At the party, he had a cocky grin plastered on his face, but now his mouth is pressed into a tight line.

He steps toward me. “Oh, good, you’re here,” he says, looking over my shoulder as if he’s checking who else is around. “Did you get the box too?”

If this is a game, he set it up beautifully. But he doesn’t look like someone pulling a prank as he keeps looking around and running his hand through his hair.

“Yeah, I got it,” I say. “What is this society?”

He runs a hand through his hair again. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve heard people talk about it, but I always thought it was a myth. Just something people whisper about, you know? I never thought it was real.”

“But how do they even know we’ll play along?” I ask, because none of it makes sense. “Who does something like this?”

“I wish I knew.” He shrugs. “I asked around a little, and no one wants to talk about it. The moment I brought it up, the guy on my team just changed the subject, as if I’d said something I shouldn’t have.”

“But the card said we don’t have to do anything we don’t want to,” I say. “We just have to show up wherever they tell us.”

He nods. “Yeah. Did they make a fake video of you too? It’s insane.”