Chapter 2: What She Was Hiding Behind That Smile
My dad's voice was low, almost calm.
"Before you came to college, we did some research.
We wanted to see what kind of person Chloe really was before you spent a whole year living with her."
I stared at him.
"So you...
dressed like this on purpose.
To test her."
He nodded.
"People show you exactly who they are when they think there's nothing to gain."
I thought about Chloe's face in the parking lot.
That single word.
*Oh.* The way her eyes had moved from Dad's jeans to the garbage bags to me, like she was doing a quick calculation.
Then I thought about all those questions she had asked me online.
The car.
The house.
Europe.
She hadn't been getting to know me.
She had been sizing me up.
I walked back into the room.
Chloe was arranging her desk, her back to me.
"Hey," I said.
"Can I ask you something?"
She turned around, smiling.
"Of course."
"Why did you tell your friends you didn't know?"
The smile didn't disappear.
But something behind her eyes did.
She opened her mouth.
Then her phone buzzed on the desk.
She glanced down at the screen — and went completely still.
I looked at the name on the notification before she flipped it over.
It was my name.
She had been texting someone about me.
Right now.
While I was standing in front of her.
---
What was in those messages — and who was she sending them to?
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What my dad found out next made my blood run cold.
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