The Follower by Kate Doughty (ebook reader with built in dictionary TXT) 📕

a smile on her face as Bella adjusts the phone above their heads, searching for the perfect angle. Bella snaps the picture, and Cecily remembers her smudged mascara. Maybe the lighting will be bad, and it won’t be obvious, she tells herself. Maybe Mom won’t notice.

Bella definitely doesn’t seem to. “Oh my god, thanks a ton!” she squeals. “So you said you’re new in town?”

Cecily forces herself to maintain the smile. “Yeah. We just moved into a house on—”

“You’re fixing up the Tremont house!” Bella interrupts. “Of course! I just watched your video. I thought the thumbnail looked familiar, but it seemed too good to be true—you know, having the Cole triplets here. I watch every one of your videos. I mean, your makeup is fantastic—” She pauses to take a breath. Cecily likes this girl. “Okay, wait, was it fake? Did you really not know about her until the tour?”

“Her?” Cecily asks.

“The murder-suicide girl,” Bella says, lowering her voice a notch. “Alex Grable? Track star, went psycho and stabbed her mom?”

“Her mom?” Cecily asks with a gasp. “I thought she just . . . jumped out of the window . . .” Her palms suddenly feel clammy, her throat dry. She pictures the view out of the turret, the ground so far below.

“Nope, she stabbed her mom first and then jumped,” Bella continues with a shudder. “Like, twenty years ago. Shit. I guess you guys really didn’t know.”

Cecily feels her hands start to shake. A suicide is one thing, but a murder? How on earth are they going to sell this house? How can she film makeup videos in a house where someone killed their mother?

“Are you okay?” Bella looks directly at her, eyes wide with concern. Cecily nods, aware she needs to not overreact in public but reeling internally from this new bit of information about the house. An awkward moment passes, and then thankfully Bella charges on. “Uh, I can’t wait to see it fixed up, though! I just know you guys will make it amazing. But it’ll be so weird to see the local haunted house all fancy.”

Cecily’s chest flutters. “Uh . . . haunted?” She’s trying to sound casual but doesn’t think she’s pulling it off.

“Oh, you know, ghost stories, kids trying to scare each other, that kind of thing.” Bella waves a hand as if to dismiss her words, and Cecily knows she’s definitely not pulling off the casual act. She needs to pull herself together. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re here,” Bella says a moment later. Now the conversation seems to have really stalled. “Oh—oh yeah. Pizza. Gimmie a sec.”

She disappears behind the counter. Cecily turns to survey the rest of the restaurant and realizes that the boy is staring at her. A weird stare.

“Hey,” he says.

She gives him a quick, strained smile and looks away, praying that he’ll take the hint. But of course he doesn’t. She hears the scraping of his chair as he gets up, walks over, and leans on the counter next to her. She prays he won’t ask for a picture. Taking pictures with random fanboys always feels a little creepy, even more so when her brother and sister aren’t there with her.

“I’m Steve,” the boy says, sweeping his hand through his hair in a way that’s clearly choreographed to be sultry. It isn’t. “What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“I have a boyfriend,” Cecily lies.

He takes a step back. She’s said the wrong thing. “Hey, I’m just trying to be friendly.” He’s tall, dark haired, not bad looking. Of course, every single positive thing about his appearance is negated by the way his face soured when she indicated she wasn’t interested. He crosses his arms as he looks her up and down. “I heard you talking about Instagram. Is your boyfriend one of those influencer types, too? I bet he’s a douche, whoever he is.”

“Leave her alone, Steve,” Bella says. She gives Cecily an exaggerated eye roll as she reappears with the pizza, and the tension is instantly gone. “Don’t you know who Cecily Cole is? She’s famous. You don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.” She rings Cecily up. “Twenty-six even. And I promise all the kids in this town aren’t like this loser. Hey—we should hang out sometime.”

The chip reader beeps and Cecily grabs her card, giving Bella a quick smile. “Sure.”

“I can grab your number, or . . . ,” Bella says hopefully.

“Uh, oh, I forgot my phone,” Cecily lies. She shoots a half look at Steve and sees understanding flash across Bella’s face. “Why don’t you just DM me on Instagram or something. You know, we’re—”

“I know your account,” Bella says with a laugh. “Definitely.”

Cecily grabs the pizza and shoots Bella a genuine smile as she turns to leave. She tries to think less about the murder-suicide news and more on the potential hangouts. Sure, they’re here for only a month and a half, but that doesn’t mean she has to be cooped up inside the whole time. Suburb kids have to have fun, too, right?

“Hey, I’ll DM you, too!” Steve calls as she leaves. “In case you get scared, all alone in that big, creepy murder house. In case you need someone to protect you from all those ghosts.”

CHAPTER 4

Amber

By the time Cecily and Mr. Cole return, Amber and Rudy have dug an ancient, warped table out of one of the downstairs rooms and set it up in the kitchen. Amber has no doubts that it will be one of the first things to hit the curb once the renovation starts. Cecily and Mr. Cole set the box down, and the smell of melting cheese fills the room.

“Thank god,” Rudy says, reaching for a slice straight from the box. But as he leans forward, he trips and pinwheels in the air before he catches himself. “Ahh!”

“What are you doing here?” Cecily asks, bending over to pick up Speckles as he darts out from in between Rudy’s feet. “Did you escape