Secrets of the Sisterhood (The Cinderella Society, Episode 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

out the game. Mental wheels spinning at hyper speed, I turned to pick up my bag and rammed right into a now-familiar chest.
    I rubbed my nose and snuck a glance at Ryan’s face. Just in time to see the corner of his mouth tugging up in a half grin.
    “Is this going to be our thing?” He lost the battle to keep from smiling. “Running into each other everywhere?”
    That sounded way too appealing. “I didn’t hear you come back down the stairs.”
    “Not hard to believe with all the girly squeals.”
    He gave me a wink and moved toward the door before turning back. “Don’t let Cass make you do anything you don’t want to do. She’s a devil underneath that squeaky-clean exterior.”
    “Ryan! Don’t scare the guests.” Cassandra swatted him out the door. “You’re gonna make her run before we even get to check her out.”
    “Check me out?”
    “Get to know you,” Cassandra said smoothly, steering me away from the front door–slash–escape route. “Come on in, Jess. I promise we’re harmless.”
    I must have hesitated a second too long, because Cassandra draped an arm around me. “Lexy’s not here,” she said in a low voice, while Kyra and Sarah Jane greeted two other girls I recognized from school but couldn’t name. “She has her own plans, so it’s just us tonight.”
    I wasn’t buying it. Since when had I ever been an us ?
    “Look, I don’t blame you for being suspicious,” she said. “You’re here for a reason, but I guarantee you it’s not what you think. Do you have your pin?”
    I patted my shorts pocket.
    “That’s your ticket for the evening, and Lexy definitely doesn’t have one. Trust me, okay?”
    I looked up at Cassandra in all her shiny-haired glory, and for some inexplicable reason, I trusted her. That had to mean something. The pin felt warm in my pocket, like it was trying to send me a message. Believe, it seemed to say.
    To which I responded: I am the person here; you are a piece of metal. Hush it.
    But I couldn’t shake Cassie’s soothing mojo. She was drawing me in. Despite Ryan’s warning, and my sneaking suspicion that I might still be the evening’s entertainment, I swallowed hard and let optimism reign supreme.
    “Onward,” I said.
    The time had come to meet my fate.

Chapter Six

    Cassandra led me back into the open, airy kitchen—a modern wonder roughly the size of my whole house—where girls were sipping delicious-looking shakes. That sounded awesome, since I’d been too nervous to eat before I went to the Grind. Except now I was a bundle of new nerves and harfing up a smoothie in front of the hostess would probably be frowned upon.
    As we walked around the large island with its gleaming countertop, I noticed the two girls on blender duty adding dashes from all kinds of pretty bottles. I couldn’t see the labels, but hard liquor was an easy bet. Which stunk, since I don’t drink. I don’t even like being around people who do. Yet here I was, finally on the fringe of social acceptance, and whammo . The booze dilemma.
    I didn’t get a chance to think of a graceful way to decline because Sarah Jane, Kyra, and a girl named Paige immediately joined us with frosty glasses that smelled like a divine mix of bananas and chocolate.
    Cassandra lifted her glass in a toast to the four of us. “To a successful summer.”
    “To a successful summer,” we repeated, clinking glasses.  
    Everyone else took a long drink of the frozen wonder.  
    I hesitated.
    Cassandra watched me over her glass. “Not thirsty?”
    “No, it smells great, Cassandra. I just . . .” Wanted to crawl under a rock. “I haven’t eaten in a while.”
    Which was true. Partly.
    “It’s Cassie, or Cass, and don’t sweat the shake, Jess,” she said, grabbing several veggie-wrap slices from a nearby tray and handing them to me on a beach-print napkin. “There’s no alcohol at Overnight.”
    That did not compute.
    A party with Populars and no alcohol? That was a jolt to my system.