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A huge smile spread across her face. “It’s time to step out of the shadows and into the light.” My stomach flipped at her words. What was that supposed to mean? She turned back to her computer but kept talking. “Does this hiding away extend outside of school hours? Like, do you ever meet up with anyone outside of school? Do anything social?”
My cheeks grew hot. “No.”
“Hey, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you. It’s okay that you haven’t. I just get the feeling you’re hiding, rather than doing it out of choice? Am I right?”
Wow, she was direct. And completely correct. “Yes.” I sighed, lowering my gaze. “I guess…I’m used to keeping to myself. I don’t know how to be any other way.” I couldn’t add the rest of it, couldn’t voice my fears aloud, but that was enough of an explanation for Lena.
“Okay. We’re going to try a few things. Get you more comfortable being around people.”
“Why are you doing this?” Why would she want to help me?
She smiled, turning back to face me. “Because…let’s just say that I know what it’s like to hide away. And I can read you, and I know that underneath that cautious exterior the real Raine Laurent is dying to come out to play.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Fright Night. You’re coming with me.”
Fright Night? Was she serious? That was going to be a huge event—all the local schools had been issued invitations, and I was pretty sure almost all the students in my classes would be there.
I stared at her for a moment, before I managed to gasp out the words. “But…but that’s a huge event!”
A satisfied smile played across her lips. “Exactly. That’s why it’s perfect. There’ll be so many people around, it’ll be easy for you to blend in. Doing this, you get to be around people out of a school setting without the pressure of attention on you. Trust me, you can handle this.”
I stopped and thought for a minute. She was probably right, and maybe with her there as a buffer, it would be okay. I groaned under my breath. “I don’t know what…I want to say yes, but I guess I’m scared.” If I was truthful with myself, I knew I needed to stop hiding away all the time. Why couldn’t I have Lena’s confidence? Why was I still so hung up on my past that I couldn’t move on?
“I know you are, but this will be good for you.” She placed her hand on my arm, squeezing it briefly. “I promise you’ll have fun.”
I didn’t really have an excuse. I was only going to be spending the evening home alone, anyway. Again. It was rare that my aunt and I both had an evening at home together these da
ys, where I wasn’t busy doing homework or sewing costumes and she wasn’t working another overnight shift at the hospital birth unit where she was a senior midwife.
“Okay,” I said finally. Turning back to my computer screen, I mumbled, “I hope I don’t regret it.”
“You won’t regret it,” Lena promised me. “You get to be in disguise, too, so you don’t even have to worry about people recognising you if you don’t want them to.”
My fingers paused, mid-type, and I twisted in my seat, giving her my full attention. “A disguise?”
“Costumes,” she elaborated. “It’s Halloween. You do know most people will be wearing costumes, right?”
Right. “Oh, yeah.”
“No need to sound so enthusiastic.” She rolled her eyes, grinning at me. “I think you should make something. Use your talent for costume design.”
“Hmm. I guess I could. So you want me to come up with something that disguises me? Why don’t I just wear a full body suit?” I smirked at her. “Ooh, I could go as a hot dog.”
“Did you actually make a joke?” A proud smile spread across her face as I shrugged, then nodded. “Yay! This is a breakthrough. You’re becoming comfortable enough to joke around me.” The smile disappeared as she narrowed her eyes at me. “But you are not going as a hot dog. Think of a sexy disguise.”
I laughed. Sexy was just about the last word anyone would use in relation to me. “Fine. I’ll see what I can come up with. What’s your costume?”
“Harley Quinn, or an approximation, at least. It means I can mostly wear my own clothes.” She shrugged. “You know me. I’m not one to conform.”
For the hundredth time, I wished I had her attitude. How freeing would it be to be yourself, completely? “That’s true,” I agreed. “Okay, so I need a costume. I don’t have much time, but I’ll see what I can put together. Anything else I need to know?”
“Nope. Nothing I can think of. I’ll meet you by the main park gates beforehand, and we can take it from there.”
“Okay.” I returned my attention to my screen, scrolling back to the beginning of my essay so I could read through everything I’d written so far. As a group of people entered the room, Lena leaned towards me, lowering her voice.
“You need to have fun. I mean it. This is your last year at school, and you don’t want to have regrets.”
