I'll add in a graphic and comment of the chapter soon (I'm half asleep!!), but I promised you guys a double so here it is! ❤️ hope you still like cliff hangers 😉

You were right, I wrote. He is cheating. I'm sorry Penelope.

I sent her the dim-lighted picture I'd caught on my phone. Then, I ordered an Uber home. Cole and the girl had gone inside now. There was nothing more to see.

Penelope didn't reply to my message for days. On the bright side, it gave me the chance to pretend for a while that I wasn't playing double-agent. On the down side, I had no idea what she was doing.

Her silence was broken on Thursday afternoon when an envelope arrived at my door, shoved under by one of my housemates. I picked it up, my heart lurching at the thought it was another attempt to contact me from my mother.

But, it wasn't from my family.

Joselyn Preston,

You are cordially invited to celebrate the birthday of Penelope Aldgate as the guest of Felix Bradford. The masquerade ball commences at nine.

The invitation was decorated with red glittering swirls flourishing its border, shining in the fluorescent light of my bedroom. It was scheduled for next weekend, and I vaguely recalled Penelope mentioning it before. I didn't realize how formal she was expecting it to be, but I guess it made sense.

I met Felix on campus. He was wearing headphones, nodding his head from side to side as he scrolled through his phone. I sat in front of him at his seat at Beanz.

He jumped when I tapped his fingers, his look of concentration shifting to a broad grin. "Your music taste is divine."

"You're listening to my playlist?"

He gave a trademark Felix wink and pulled his headphones from his ears. "I was looking forward to talking to you."

"Oh?"

"Are you free next weekend?"

"Depends," I said, already knowing what was about to come.

"Cole's girlfriend is throwing a huge party. I talked to her about inviting you along, I know there's already going to be loads of people so a plus one won't hurt," he said, grabbing my hands from across the table.

My heart lurched and I felt my cheeks heat. "Sure."

"It'll be super formal, knowing her. And masquerade, so you'll have to dress up. If you need any help finding something, I know the girls can help."

"Please, you think I need help to dress formal?" I challenge, running a hand up and down my worn knitted jumper and black distressed jeans. I'd given up on Penelope's fashion ideals a while ago. I was already accepted by her friends, after all.

"Of course not," he said. "In fact, just wear that."

It actually was tempting, but I didn't want to get on Penelope's bad side by spiting her at her own party. I was already terrified of going to begin with. What if her and Cole broke up? What if she had no use for me anymore and just exposed me instead?

Felix and I had spent a lot of time together the last few days. In fact, I'd spent every other night at his house, it was starting to become a big deal. The hardest part was making excuses for him to not come to mine, to pretend that the carpets were being re-done or my shower was broken. My guilt grew every time, and I was running out of excuses for justifying it to myself. Just tell him. Rip the Bandaid off. Penelope's non-disclosure contract is one thing, but falling for Felix is another! Every cycle of it made my fear grow—hurting him would break me, I was sure of it.

But those mornings—the ones where I woke up nuzzled against his hot skin, safe in his grasp as his chest rose and feel softly against mine—they were worth it. The evenings where we laughed and cooked dinner on his stove, drinking mulled wine on his back porch or sitting beside his record player chatting about music.

It was almost easy to let the rest of the world fall away.

We got to class later than the others, striding down the aisle pretending we didn't see the ever-frustrated look of Professor Malcolm. I sat next to Jada, pulling out my laptop and getting comfortable.

"Did you two get the invite?" Poppy asked excitedly as we packed up our things at the end of the lecture. Cole looked uninterested in talking about his girlfriend's party. In fact, it seemed he was pretty uninterested in her altogether, considering the other girl in his life.

"Yeah," Felix said. "Are you bringing Ella?"

Poppy nodded excitedly. "We're going shopping for masks tonight, do you guys want to come?"

"Yes please," Jada said. She hadn't said much for the last few days, but now her typical sarcastic humor was returning. "I can't wait to hide my face."

"Felix? Josie? Cole?"

"Penelope has me sorted," Cole said, not looking up from where he slid his notebook into his bag.

"I have a night class, but you should go, Josie," Felix said with a reassuring smile.

"Uh—yeah, I mean, I don't even know where I would find one," I said.

"Perfect," Poppy said. "It'll be a girl's night."

After class the four of us piled into Ella's bright red car. Jada and I had to climb over the front seats to get in, and once Ella turned the radio on any chances of conversation were void. I leant back against the leather and listened to the speaker vibrating pop music through the car. It felt oddly nice to be with a bunch of girls—for once my guilt of being with Felix and my stress of spying on Cole wasn't going to bug me.

"The costume shop down town?" Ella asked. "Or The craft store?"

"Both," Poppy said, reaching forward to run a hand through Ella's hair. She'd recently run green dye through it and I admired it enviously. I'd never be able to keep color like that without bleaching the life out of my dark, thick hair.

"Do you think the guys are going to wear generic masks? It's annoying to think the effort we go to when they're gonna show up in some boring plain ones," Ella said.

"Knowing them, definitely," Jada said. "Maybe we should surprise them by doing the same. It'd cut our shopping time in half."

"I don't know, if Penelope's getting Cole's mask it'll probably be crazy," Poppy said. "Diamond encrusted or something."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"I'm not even kidding, she buys him insane stuff all the time." Poppy rolled her eyes. "She's like his sugar daddy... sugar mama."

Well, I guess I wasn't the only person Penelope was funding. I felt bitter. That girl could probably control whoever she wanted, whether it be with money or the secrets it could buy.

We started at the craft store, a large bright colored building on the edge of town. By the time we'd walked a few feet into the space Poppy already had a feather boa around her neck.

"Think it could be a fun accessory?" she asked me, her fingers skimming over packets of sequins as we followed Ella and Jada.

"Definitely," I said. I looked wistfully at the tub of vintage buttons as we passed.

"Do you know what you're going to wear?"

I gave a tight-lipped smile. I hadn't thought about it yet, but when I did it came to me. "I never went to prom, but I bought a dress for it that's still buried in my wardrobe. It's over the top. Red and glittery with a super deep neckline. I guess it's the only thing I have that's formal... but maybe it's too much."

"It sounds divine" Poppy said, her lips pouting in thought. "You know, now you say that, I had a back-up prom dress from back in the day. I wonder if I could get it sent to me and Cole's house in time..."

Her words trailed off as Ella stopped abruptly. "Masks! Oh, look at this one!"

"Ah, yes, diamantes!"

I stood with Jada as Poppy and Ella started sifting through the collection.

"I was thinking lace," Jada said.

I hadn't thought much about a mask—I'd only remembered my ex-prom dress a few moments ago. I peered over Poppy's shoulder, watching them pick up each style. One of the masks caught my attention as Ella put it to the side.

"Like this?" I asked, retrieving the intricately made black lace mask discarded from the pile. Jada's lips raised in a smile.

"Perfect."

In the end, I found a rose-gold wire mask. It wasn't exactly concealing, but if I was wearing the red, sparkling dress then the last thing I wanted was to go overboard with the mask.

Jada and Poppy were busy talking about a masquerade party they'd gone to in high school, and I was momentarily distracted with the fabric rack. I'd had this idea to convert one of my old ripped jeans to a skirt with a patterned underlay. Maybe if I could grab some to practice on, I could buy an old sewing machine with some of the extra cash from Penelope...

"You know, I never thought it would be like this," Ella said, startling me. I hadn't realized she'd lingered behind with me.

"Mask shopping?" I smiled and waved my selected mask in front of my face. "Yeah, we were pretty lucky that we all found one at the same place."

Ella's pastel purple mask was still in her hand by her side.

"I don't mean the masks," Ella said, staring at me intently. I peered to where Poppy and Jada's voices were elevating down the aisle, wondering if they were listening to us. This was starting to get awkward.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, letting go of the fabric I was feeling and quickening my pace a little. Ella matched me.

"I'm talking about Penelope," Ella said. "And spying on Cole Kensington."