Be cool

You need to act like CCL here, not like yourself. Your ears feel hot, but you keep your face calm.

“I was saying what I meant,” you tell Lopez, who looks grudgingly impressed. You enter the room.

“Can I come in?” she asks.

“What for?”

“I told you. A girl in this room disappeared. I want to look around.”

You think that over quickly. You don’t love the police, but Amy has obviously allowed this woman into CCL house. She has no warrant and it doesn’t sound like there’s anything very urgent going on. Apart from your search for Rey. And Hailee.

“Oh, god,” you say, slapping your palm against your forehead.

“What’s wrong?”

“Rey? Hailee?” You roll your eyes. “There’s a party going on somewhere.” You watched Rey eye-fuck Hailee enough times to know that she’d jump on that cheerleader the first chance that she got. Hailee is… extremely popular. That’s why you always kind of worried that she was out of your league.

You don’t need to be looking for Rey. Rey is just fine. You’re starting to put it together. You broke the rules with the sponge and the paint… Rey probably sensed that her chances of initiating in tonight were shot, so she found some other fun.

Oh, man. You really blew it. It was out of character for you to be so aggressive with her, but you wanted to seem cool and bold. You know. Like Rey is. If you’d just played along, you would both be in CCL right now and by now… probably having a three-way with Julieta or something. But you had to try a little too hard. You’re in, but Rey is out. And your chances of getting with Rey… she might hold this against you.

You sigh.

“I see,” Lopez says, but what she’s really seeing is Julieta, who looks absolutely delectable. Her underwear is just a mesh of red string, and her skin is perfect. She is adorable, and how does she make that coquettish face with those big eyes? You can’t do that. How does she look so innocent and so slutty at the same time?

Lopez is obviously under her spell.

You wonder how she was chosen to be the one to ‘welcome’ you. Did she volunteer? You’ve seen her coming and going from Aki’s room a lot since you moved in. They are definitely together in some way. Of course, no one in CCL is exclusive… that would be against the rules. A couple girls have serious girlfriends, like Beth, but they don’t tell their partners about CCL’s rules.

You come to your senses. Lopez is watching your face.

“That makes me feel better,” she says. “I was worried something might have happened to Hailee.”

“Something’s probably happening to her,” you say bitterly. “But I’m guessing she likes it.”

Lopez smiles. “Right. So. Can I come in?”

Let Lopez in? Or refuse?