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

“Now,” he says finally. “I won’t always be around to bail you guys out like that. So I meant what I said about no more stunts, okay?”

Rudy and Cecily get up without responding, but Amber gives him a tight smile. “Thanks, Dad,” she says, before following her siblings down the hallway. It’s not until they reach the second-floor landing that Cecily turns around. But she’s not angry or upset like Amber thought she’d be; instead, she’s smirking.

“All right,” Cecily says. “We didn’t get grounded. You know what that means.”

“What?” Rudy asks.

“The bonfire, duh,” Cecily says.

Amber had almost forgotten.

“Do you think we should still go?” Amber asks. “After—”

“Of course,” Cecily cuts Amber off.

“Let’s go,” Rudy agrees. “See what there is to do in Nowheresville, USA.”

“Fine.” Amber gives in. When Rudy and Cecily agree on something, it takes a lot more than her to stop it. And Cecily does seem really excited.

“Yes!” Cecily says. “Hey—I can even do your makeup, get you feeling really beautiful and ready to impress those Norton babes. Apparently half the high school ‘it’ squad is going to be there.”

Amber caves. She and Cecily hadn’t sat down to do makeup and get ready in, well, forever. It reminds her of old segments they used to do, where Amber would pick out the clothes and Cecily would do some elaborate makeup looks to match.

“Okay. Sounds fun.” As if anyone will look at her next to glamorous Cecily. But then she thinks back to the comments on the livestream. Maybe she’s wrong. Maybe they will.

Rudy rolls his eyes. “I’m going to go start recording my debut album then, since you two are going to take about five hours.”

“You can tell Mom we’re leaving,” Cecily says. “And then meet us in the car in about thirty minutes. Bella texted me the address.”

Forty-five minutes later, Amber is admiring herself in the mirror. Glossy, loose waves cascade over a perfectly made-up face. She looks good. She feels good. Like Photoshop in real life. She wonders if Cecily feels this good all the time.

Cecily is buried in her closet, lost in a maze of designer clothing as Speckles hops around her. Of course she let him out again—but Amber doesn’t mind. He is super cute, and she needs some bunny therapy after all the stress of Hurricane Mom. “Amber, what are you wearing?” Cecily asks, reemerging with a small blue dress that Amber knows will accentuate her every curve. “What do you think about this?”

Amber makes a face. “I’m sure it’ll look great, but it’s a bonfire, right? Do you really want to scrape up your shins walking through the woods in that?”

Cecily reevaluates the dress and hangs it back in her closet. “You’re totally right. What would I do without you?” She shakes her head and puts her hands on her hips, staring into the closet. “Sorry. I guess I just really wanted to, I don’t know, make a good impression? Live up to the hype?”

Amber softens and walks over to the closet and sifts through it. “Don’t worry, Cece,” she says, shooting her sister a smile. “You could go in your pajamas and still live up to the hype. They’ll love you. But how about this?” She pulls out an old, flannel top that she knows is one of Cecily’s favorites—even if she rarely wears it on camera.

Cecily takes it. “Ooh, I love this one. And it is super soft. But isn’t it too . . . laid-back? For an influencer?”

“It’ll make you look like an L.L. Bean model,” Amber says. “It’s perfect for the woods. And if you’re comfortable in what you’re wearing, you’ll be comfortable talking to the new kids, too.”

Cecily gives her a side smile and puts on the flannel. “I guess I should have known that I would fall prey to a famous Amber fashion faux pas,” she jokes.

“Don’t sacrifice comfort for fashion!” the girls say in unison and dissolve into a fit of giggles. Amber is actually surprised that Cecily remembers it—she hasn’t recited her fashion rules on camera in forever.

Amber eventually settles on a crop top and her blue jeans, still splattered with paint from the livestream. The crop top definitely breaks a couple plus-size fashion rules, but Amber doesn’t care, and even Cecily admits that the paint-splattered jeans look cool.

But despite all her persuasion that this bonfire in the woods is going to be casual, Amber can’t stop Cecily from stuffing her go bag of makeup and makeup remover inside her purse. “Just in case,” she says.

Rudy is waiting for them in the Range Rover, wearing ripped jeans and an “artfully worn” T-shirt from his favorite designer. Amber still isn’t sure if the label is worth the price tag, but her brother loves the “shabby-on-purpose” aesthetic. “You two ready?” he asks.

“Oh, hell yes! I need a drink,” Cecily says as she slides into the backseat. Amber grins, secretly pleased her sister let her take the passenger seat.

“You sound good, by the way,” Rudy says as they pull out of the driveway. “If you ever want accompaniment, let me know.”

“What?” asks Amber.

“Wasn’t that one of you? Humming? I could have sworn I heard someone . . .”

Cecily shakes her head. “Wasn’t me.”

Amber makes a face at her brother. “Maybe you’re just going insane from listening to all those tapes.”

Rudy wiggles his eyebrows at her. “Or maybe it was . . . the ghost.” He says, putting on his best spooky voice.

Amber giggles. “Shut up!”

“Seriously,” Rudy says. “We have to ask around about the legends and start brainstorming all the content we can do—this is going to be so cool. Right, Cecily?”

In the backseat, Cecily is silent. “Sure,” she finally says, but her voice is flat.

“You okay?”

She crosses her arms and looks out the window. Amber feels a tinge of regret; Cecily is clearly still freaked out from before. “Can we just stop talking about it?” Cecily asks.

“Uh . . .” Even though Amber can feel herself getting excited about the ghost content, she scrounges around for a different topic. “Rudy’s