Necessity had caused Katie to invent a mother of a plan back in May, when she discovered something Vanessa didn’t even know yet: The plug was pulled on the family funds.
She needed to fake it, make everyone think this summer would be exactly like those old carefree Cape weekends, three whole months worth! Only this summer she’d be living in a luxury mansion with her best friend-without parental supervision!-shopping, sunning, and funning, sprinkled with large doses of worthy (read: wealthy) boytoys.
With Lily’s help, Katie could have the life she loved, while figuring out how to escape the one she’d be coming home to in September
If nothing else, it would give her time and space to figure things out, and the chance to earn money of her own.
Her (ex) best friend Lily McCoy had rubbed mock tears from her eyes after Katie confided the real reason she needed to bolt Boston, fly under the radar, and what they’d be doing during those long, lazy summer days.
�Working?� Lily had sputtered, barely able to get the word out. The privileged daughter of State Senator Louis McCoy had been incredulous. �Kidding, right?�
It’ll be a goof!
Katie laid out for her best friend what she’d privately dubbed �Plan A,� for Awesome. As long as they were ensconced in Lily’s aunt’s deluxe five-bedroom mansion-with-pool, and showed up at trendy clubs at night, who’d be the wiser?
�So let me get this straight,� Lily said. �Monday through Friday, we’ll babysit snotty brats for drudge wages, and then … weekends we’ll sleep? Forgive me if I don’t see the Awesomeness of your plan.�
�Where’s your sense of adventure?� Katie nudged her. �It’ll be just like Paris and Nicole, only without reality TV cameras.�
That’s when Katie played the guilt card. �You teenchat mobile site can quit, if you want. It’s not your entire life that’s being yanked from under you like some cheap rug. You’re not about to suffer. …� She paused for maxi-effect. �But you can be the hero, helping your bff in her hour of need.�
Laying the guilt-trip had worked. Eventually, Lily agreed to go along with the plan, help Katie keep up appearances, and earn coin. �Remember,� Katie cajoled, knowing she was about to hit on Lily’s (Achilles’) heel, �I got us day jobs-every night we’ll totally go clubbing and meeting guys.� Lily McCoy was all about flings. Both a speed and serial dater, Lily’s violet eyes were always out for a new conquest.
She and Lily had long ago pledged allegiance to each other, and the fabu-lives they cultivated, deserved, and treasured-no matter what deep, dark secrets they had to keep and cover up for each other. So it’d been set. A done deal.
Until, just like that! Poof! It got undone. Plan A had died an instant and painful death when her now ex-best ex-friend Lily McCoy drove a stake through its vibrant little heart and pulled out.
Lily’s weapon of choice? The backstab, the betrayal, the �Something Better Came Along, and too bad for you� bludgeon. And it was all for a guy.
Bluntly: She wasn’t going with Katie to the Cape this summer. She wasn’t going to be a counselor alongside Katie at Camp Luxor. And she wasn’t going to be able to offer her aunt’s luxury mansion, either. She was really sorry. (Right.) But for what it was worth, she, Lily McCoy, would totally keep Katie’s secret. She’d make sure everyone believed Katie was summering on the Cape, kicking it with heirs, scions, and trust-fund trendoids, their usual crowd.