Later that night, I decided to do something that I rarely ever did. I wandered down the upstairs hallway from my room to the other end of the house. I stopped in front of Bea's door and knocked. As I waited for a response, I heard a few muffled sniffles, some shuffling, and then a shout through the door, "Go away!"

Impatiently, I yelled back, "Open the fucking door, Bea. You owe me a favor."

I heard my sister's footsteps pad across the floor. The door opened by a few inches. Watery blue eyes stared at me through the crack. "My mom's not coming until next week. You can't collect yet."

I placed my hand on the door and pushed my way in. "I know, but what I need from you is kinda complicated. You'll probably wanna start preparing as soon as possible."

Bea glared at me, but she didn't try to kick me out. "You're such an insufferable bitch."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said smoothly as I closed and locked the door behind me. "Anyway, I noticed you've been hanging out with the new girl at school."

"Who? Lily? Yeah, she's a sweetheart."

I gagged inwardly. "Uh-huh, that's the one. Were you guys together at all this past weekend? Did Lily mention what she was getting up to when you weren't with her?"

Bea scowled at me irritably. "Why do you care?"

"Just answer the question, Bea."

"Okay, fine. Lily and I went out shopping on Saturday afternoon, but then she mentioned she had plans later that evening, so I came home early. That's when I ran into you in the kitchen."

I took out my cell and pulled up the sinister texts I had received that night. I handed my phone to Bea.

"There was a strange car parked outside our driveway when I received these texts on Saturday night. I was going back and forth with this weirdo before I finally convinced him, or her, to leave."

As Bea scanned over the messages, her eyes grew wide with shock. "What the hell, Cate? If this is your idea of some kinda sick joke, then it's not funny! Was I home when this was happening? Oh, damn it! I was totally at home! We could've been raped! Or killed! Who sent these to you?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Lily mentioned she had plans on Saturday evening, right?"

Realization dawned on her. "There's no way, Cate. Lily would never do something like this!"

"I'm not accusing her of doing anything," I replied carefully, "but I just want to be sure. That's where you come in."

"You're crazy! Lily is the most wholesome person ever. Did you know that tattooed asshole boyfriend of hers broke up with her a few days ago?"

"I might have heard something about it."

"Then, you should know the poor girl is absolutely crushed! That was why Chloe and I insisted on taking her out for a girls' day last Saturday. Lily is beside herself. She can barely roll out of bed. There's no way someone as depressed and heartbroken as her can pull off a creepy prank like the one you just showed me."

"I hope you're right," I murmured, "but I'm still gonna need you to do something for me."

My sister gave me a nasty look. "You're so heartless, Cate. Just like Daddy."

I ignored Bea's jab. I refused to believe I was anything like my coldhearted Dad even as I heard the threat slide out of my mouth, "So, what's going on again between you and Evonne?"

The mere mention of Evonne's name straightened out my sister's salty attitude real quick.

"N-nothing, it's none of your fucking business," she stammered. "What do you want from me, anyway?"

The only semi-impressive achievement Bea might be able to list on her college apps was the holiday charity ball she hosted every December. It was sponsored by the Christian club she spearheaded at Ashton Wellesley. The ball was typically a fancy black-tie, formal-gown affair, and this year Bea and her Christian Fellowship members had decided on a campaign for addiction awareness while fundraising for drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers across Massachusetts.

I pursed my lips slightly. On one hand, I was pleased that Bea was finally getting with the program, but, on the other hand, I also worried about whether my plan would actually work. I had failed to convince Zac to get on board with me while he was driving me home earlier today, so, barely an hour ago, I made a rash decision to go with the "act first, apologize later" approach. Securing Bea's cooperation would be step one in my crazy scheme.

"I want you to move the Christian Fellowship's charity ball from your current venue to Lily's house. Make sure her parents aren't going to be there. And leave my name out of it. Lily has to believe that you hate my guts—"

"Bitch, I totally hate your guts!" Bea interrupted with a snarl.

"Good. Then convincing her won't be hard for you," I ignored her bitchy comment and stayed the course, "as I was saying, Lily needs to believe this idea is completely your own. Do this for me, and I promise I'll carry your secret to the grave."

Bea went red in the face. Through clenched teeth, she ground out indignantly, "Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do, Cate? The Fellowship has been planning this event for months! I can't just tell everyone that I wanna cancel our venue and move it to someone's house—"

"I hear double bookings and scheduling errors happen all the time," I supplied graciously.

"How the hell am I supposed to convince Lily to let me invite two hundred plus students to her house? Does she even have the space for it? We only started hanging out a few weeks ago. She's going to think I'm insane!"

"Sounds like a personal problem to me."

My sister stomped her foot like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. "You're the worst sister in the world! I hate you so fucking much!"

"I don't blame you," I cooed sympathetically as I rose to leave. "Good luck with everything, Bea. I know you won't let me down."

As I reached for the doorknob to open the door, however, Bea suddenly cried out, "You know that dad just got married to some bitch off the street, right? How can you be so insanely calm right now?"

My hand hovered in the air as her words sank in. Little did she know, I wasn't calm at all. I was teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown, but I wasn't about to let Bea in on my state of mental health.

Nevertheless, I found myself retracting my hand from the doorknob to turn around and face my sister. "Oh, trust me, I definitely have my opinions about dad and his new wife. I just choose not to obsess over them."

"Easy for you to say. You're, like, barely human! I can't even remember the last time I saw you cry."

Annoyance spiked through me.

What the fuck?

This was the second time today someone had accused me of being cold and unfeeling. In frosty tones, I snapped back, "You're aware that it doesn't matter what we think, right? Dad's just gonna do whatever the hell he wants. Like he always has in the past. Take my advice, Bea, don't waste too much of your time or energy getting upset over him. He doesn't give a fuck about how we feel."

"But he's our dad, we're supposed to be family!"

"Family doesn't mean shit."

"Family is everything!"

"Not in our family. Definitely not with someone like our dad. We live in his house. He provides for us. I'm grateful for those two things, but that's about it."

Bea berated me sharply, "How can you be so clinical about your own parent?"

"Because," I explained quietly, "if I didn't train my brain to think this way, I think I'd probably kill myself."

My sister became quiet. "Is that what you've been doing this whole time? To cope with all the shit that happens in this house?"

I wasn't sure if Bea was merely referring to our father's recent nuptials or something else, so I kept my answer purposely vague, "Well, everyone copes with trauma... differently. This is just how I choose to deal with mine, I guess."

"I wish I was strong like you, Cate."

"I'm not as strong as you think," I admitted.

Bea sighed. Almost wistfully. "You know... I think this may be the longest conversation we've ever had without trying to tear each other apart."

By golly, she was right.

I blinked in surprise. "Yeah, it's kinda crazy, huh? The two of us actually... talking. Like we're sisters or something."

Bea's lips parted and closed as though she wanted to say something and then decided against it. "Ugh, don't start getting all sentimental on me!"

I scoffed. "Whatever. You started it, bitch."

Before I knew it, my sister had reverted back to her viperish ways, "No promises, Cate, but I'll see what I can do about moving the charity ball to Lily's house. Now, get outta my room before I stab you with my tweezers."