Chapter Eleven

Amelia's POV

I wasn't sure what I had expected Jeremy Domitia to look like.

Crazy, perhaps?

Maybe all dressed in black with heavy eyeshadow and skin pale like a vampire's.

But he looked like a perfectly normal guy.

He stared quietly up at me, his face expressionless, while I stared down at him, hoping that my face wasn't embarrassing me.

"Why are you still awake?" I blurted out.

Slowly, deliberately, he looked from me to himself and back at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, I get it," I grumbled. "I'm not one to talk when I'm also awake."

"Awake and breaking curfew," he added. "Do you never learn, Isabella?"

There was something off about the way he said the name. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that he knew my secret. Knew that I was an imposter, while his real sister was miles away from here.

"Anyway," he said. "I'm awake because they…" at that, he flicked his gaze upwards, towards his parents' rooms, "told me to report to them if you snuck out or did anything equally dumb."

I gulped, my throat going dry.

"So," I said, trying not to sound as shaken as I felt, "are you going to snitch on me, then?"

He watched me quietly for a full moment, during which I got the feeling that I was on trial. Then he shrugged.

"No," he said simply, then returned to his room and shut the door with a click.

I blinked, staring at the door with my mouth open. What the hell was that just now? I hesitated outside his door, wondering if I should knock and say thank you or something.

'But he's crazy,' I thought. 'He bugged my room like some stalker. Just because he helped me, doesn't mean I'll forget that. Besides, he might have helped me only to make me feel like I owe him. That's not happening!'

With that in mind, I turned and raced up the stairs to my room. Just to be thorough, I locked the door as well. I was changing out of my clothes when my phone rang.

Isabella had saved the number as Ray.

Yet another person she didn't think to tell me about. I picked up and waited for this mystery person to speak first.

"Hey, Bella," a sunny voice spoke.

It was the same woman who had helped me escape from that Jacob Flynn guy.

"Hey, Ray," I replied.

"Did you get home okay?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you."

"Cool. Um… I told Jackie that I saw you earlier, and she said to invite you to the sleepover at her place tomorrow," she said.

There was a beat of silence, during which a million questions raced through my mind.

Who was Jackie?

Where was this house of hers?

Why the hell was I being invited?

"Sleepover?" was all I managed to croak out.

"Yeah… it's okay if you don't want to come, though. We just haven't seen you much since you started hanging out with Elijah, so we'd love to catch up," she replied.

'Oh,' I thought. 'These are Isabella's friends.'

"I'll… let you know later," I said.

"Okay," she replied. "Good night, Bella."

"Good night, Ray."

After she cut the call, I sat still for a moment, staring at the phone.

A sleepover with Isabella's friends.

The obvious step to take here would be not to go. But I was Isabella Domitia now.

I couldn't avoid my friends forever.

Besides, going to the sleepover would help me get familiar with Isabella's friends, which was very important.

It was settled, then. I was going to attend this sleepover.

"I should send for Daisy," I said. "I'm not going to be unprepared."

……

Jackie's home turned out to be yet another extra large mansion. I should have known.

A chauffeur dropped me off, and I headed into the house with my sleepover bag.

As I approached the entrance, Ray ran out with a big smile to meet me.

"You're here!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me.

The gesture took me by surprise, but I hugged her back immediately. I couldn't let anyone suspect that something was off about me. Also, it felt nice.

Nobody but Nancy ever hugged me.

When Ray finally let me go, it was to take my hand and tug me forward.

"Did you bring a swimsuit?" she asked, practically bouncing on her toes. "Everyone else is at the pool."

Who, exactly, were "everyone else"?

My heart lodged itself in my throat, and I hoped that Ray couldn't notice how sweaty my palms were getting.

She led me around the side to the back of the house, and I had to stop myself from gasping. There was a swimming pool as large as a football field, and I couldn't control how round my eyes were going.

"So, the vanishing princess is here!" a voice called out.

I started, looking up. There were three women at the other end of the pool, all sprawled out on a large picnic mat. The one who had spoken was rising to her feet, long tanned legs gleaming in the sun as she strided towards me. I braced myself immediately.

The way she walked, the saucy look in her eyes… I might not be Isabella Domitia, but I had lived long enough to know a "mean girl" when I saw one.

"Jackie!" Ray exclaimed. "That's not how you welcome a friend you haven't seen in a while!"

Oh. So this was Jackie.

I really should have seen that one coming. The mean girl was always the queen bee in every clique. And this, definitely looked like a clique.

"And whose fault is it that we haven't seen her in a while?" she said, her eyes fixed on me. "She met some fuckable guy with sweet words, and next we knew she was running off to who knows where."

She stopped right in front of me, a smirk on her face.

"Have you finally gone out of business, slut?"