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

Rudy is here, too, sitting on the staircase, fiddling with the broken mix-tape, trying to coax the film back onto its tracking.

“You do know you can download all those albums, right?” Amber asks.

“Not if I don’t know what’s on the mixtape,” he says. “Besides, I like the cassettes. They’re vintage. And I’m almost there.”

Cecily raises an eyebrow. “You’re becoming an insufferable hipster.”

The doorbell rings; Amber catches a glimpse of Bella, outside leaning her bike against the porch rail next to Jada’s. Cecily shoots her brother one last glare before opening the door for their friends. Jada immediately gives Amber a tight hug. Amber is enveloped in the smell of her denim jacket—a mixture of evergreen and bonfire smoke over the scent of detergent. She has to fight the urge to hug her for too long.

“Thanks for having me!” Jada says into her ear.

“This is going to be so much fun,” Bella adds. “When we were kids, we used to dare each other to sleep over in this house—I never thought I’d actually do it.”

Jada gives Bella a friendly elbow. “You sure your mom’s okay with you staying in a haunted house? All that demonic influence?” she asks, grinning.

“I don’t want to get you in trouble—” Cecily starts, but Bella waves her off.

“Don’t worry about it; my mom is going to spend all night praying for my soul whatever I do,” she says. “If she gets too mad, I’ll just tell her that I spent the night trying to bring your hedonistic, social-media-loving souls to Our Lord and Savior.” She cackles and slips off her shoes. “Dude, this place is huge!”

“Can we get a tour?” asks Jada. Her arms dangle at her sides, and she inches toward Amber. For a split second her fingertips brush Amber’s arm. Amber feels her pulse accelerate.

“Of course,” Cecily says. “Oh! We can end the tour upstairs and do makeovers or something.”

“And, that’s my cue to leave and play violent video games,” Rudy cuts in. “See ya.”

Cecily and Amber lead the girls through the hallway, introducing them to their parents and Joseph as he says his goodbyes. Joseph has made a habit of lingering to discuss renovation logistics long after the rest of the crew had gone home; last night and tonight he’d even stayed for dinner. Amber knows that her parents are grateful for the extra help, and she’s grateful for the buffer at mealtimes. Talking about local high school kids and Norton with Joseph is a lot easier than discussing social media analytics with Mom, and Amber will take all the breaks she can get. He’s also surprisingly up to date on social media and influencer culture, citing his own kids as the reason. “I have to keep up with them, don’t I?” he’d asked the triplets that evening with a wink. “It’s how I convince myself that I’m not getting old.” He had made a joke about setting up an Instagram account of his own, and Amber had promised to help him take “all the best influencer photos.”

Cecily and Amber lead Bella and Jada through all the rooms off the grand foyer, updating them on their progress. Nothing looks too impressive just yet; they’re only about a week and a half into the renovation. The most they have to show is the new flooring in the kitchen, study, and half of the hallway. All the rooms are still waiting on paint.

“I love this house,” Bella sighs, running her hand over the wall. “But I don’t know what’s weirder—seeing it totally empty or thinking about it being all fancy. It seems . . . wrong, somehow. Is the upstairs this empty?”

“Nah, we’ve got furniture in the bedrooms,” Cecily says. “But it’s pretty sparse. The walk-in could use some shelves.”

“Hold up,” Bella says. “You have a walk-in? I need to see that.”

Cecily shoots her a grin. “Absolutely.”

To the side, Amber gives Jada a semi–eye roll. “She got to pick her room first,” she says. “And, honestly, she’s got way more clothes than me.”

“Only because sponsors keep sending me things,” Cecily says. Of course, Amber thinks, being size two definitely helps with that. She bites her lip but doesn’t say anything as Cecily leads the girls up the stairs and onto the second-floor landing. It’s already scattered with a couple pedestals, just waiting for something fragile and expensive.

When Bella walks into Cecily’s room and peeks into her closet, her mouth drops. “Is that Gucci?”

Jada laughs. “I don’t think I’ve ever even seen someone wear Gucci in real life—wait, you said sponsors send you this stuff? You get some of it for free?”

Amber can’t tell if Jada is impressed or horrified.

Cecily answers. “Uh, well, it’s not always great stuff. Sometimes, it’s super weird—like this company NastyBabe and, uh, NeoFashion. Once they sent us, like, these awful neon-green jumpsuits.”

Bella steps farther into the closet. “You know, there’s really not as much here as I expected there to be.”

Cecily flushes; Amber wonders if Bella is disappointed. “Well,” Cecily says. “I sell a bunch of it online, you know. Can’t keep everything.” More like can’t afford to keep everything, Amber thinks.

Jada joins Bella in the closet and looks around. Something catches her eye and she reaches for a hanger. “Is this the aforementioned neon-green jumpsuit?” she asks, holding it up. When Cecily nods, she laughs. “I look like a rave threw up on me,” she says, handing it off to Bella, who holds it to her chest and strikes a pose. “Seriously,” Jada continues, stepping out of the closet. “I think my entire wardrobe is from T.J. Maxx or Old Navy. Are you sure I’m not too basic to hang out with you guys?”

Cecily and Amber shift, responding just a second too late.

“No—” Cecily starts, but Amber cuts her off.

“Er, that would be a great video to do, actually,” she says eagerly. “We could do an Old Navy haul, find some cute looks, compare them to other designers—”

Jada laughs. “It sounds like you should be the one getting all the fashion sponsors.”

Amber