Four Of A Kind - Chapter 210: [4.28] My Paranoia Has Four Names and One Weekend

I was fucking losing it.

All week—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday—every Valentine sister had been hovering on the edge of telling me something. Not quite dropping the bomb, just sort of dangling it like a live grenade.

“So, about this weekend,” Harlow had said, then immediately started talking about her vampire maid costume.

“For Friday,” Cassidy had begun, and then somehow segued into how badly she planned to fail her test.

“Regarding Friday,” Vivienne had started, before getting distracted by quarterly projections.

Even Sabrina, who normally spoke in complete thoughts or not at all, had been cryptic. “This weekend should prove enlightening,” she’d said yesterday before disappearing into her book.

What the hell was happening? They were planning something. Had to be. Four different girls all being vague about the same timeframe wasn’t a coincidence. It was a conspiracy.

I kept waiting for one of them to crack. Harlow was usually the weakest link—she couldn’t keep secrets for shit. But not that time. She was tight-lipped except for her vampire cafe babbling.

“I’ve got the fangs custom-ordered,” she’d told me that morning, bouncing on her toes. “They’ll look super real but won’t actually puncture skin. Probably.”

“Probably?” I’d raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, definitely! Safety first!” Her smile had been too wide. “Anyway, about this weekend—”

Then Cassidy had walked by, grabbed her arm, and literally dragged her away mid-sentence.

Subtle.

Friday morning rolled around and my paranoia had reached new heights. I was sitting in Calculus, trying to focus on derivatives while my brain kept circling back to the same question: what were they planning?

“You look like shit,” Felix announced, dropping into the seat beside me. “Like, worse than your normal level of shit.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” He unwrapped a breakfast burrito the size of a small child. “You coming to the review session after school?”

“Can’t. Have to—”

“Tutor the scary hot quad-squad, I know.” Felix took a massive bite. “Wish I had your problems, man.”

“No you don’t.”

“Hot rich girls fighting over me? Yeah, I really wouldn’t want that.” He rolled his eyes. “Oh no! My steak is too juicy and my lobster is too buttery!”

The classroom door opened, and all four Valentine sisters entered in perfect unison, like they’d rehearsed it. They scanned the room, spotted me, and split into their usual formation.

Vivienne took her seat at the front, next to the preppy kids who ran student council. Sabrina slid into place near the window, opening a book thicker than my arm. Harlow bounced over to the theater crowd, immediately showing them something on her phone that made them squeal. Cassidy slouched into a chair near the back, glaring at anyone who made eye contact.

Four identical girls with four completely different lives. The only thing they had in common was that purple-eyed stare they’d all shot me as they walked in.

“Dude,” Felix whispered, “is it just me or are they acting weird?”

So it wasn’t just my paranoia. Great.

“They’ve been like this all week,” I muttered.

“Think they’re planning to kill you?”

“Probably.”

Felix nodded sympathetically. “Want me to write your eulogy?”

“Fuck off.”

“Isaiah Angelo,” Ms. Vance called from the front. “If you and Mr. Beaumont are quite finished with your morning chat…”

“Sorry, Ms. Vance.”

I focused on my notebook for the rest of class, or at least pretended to. My mind was still racing through possibilities. Maybe it was just the festival Harlow kept talking about. Maybe they were planning a study group for Cassidy. Maybe—

The bell rang, and I practically bolted from my seat. One more class until lunch, then I could corner one of them and demand answers.

“Absolutely not,” Cassidy said when I finally tracked her down in the library during our physics tutoring session. “I’m not telling you anything.”

“So there is something to tell,” I countered, leaning across the table.

She rolled her eyes. “There’s always something to tell, scholarship boy. You’re just not entitled to know it.”

“It’s about tomorrow, isn’t it? Saturday?”

She flipped a page in her textbook aggressively. “Maybe we should focus on Newton’s Third Law.”

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction?” I recited. “Like me asking questions, and you deflecting?”

“No, like you annoying me, and me shoving this textbook somewhere uncomfortable.”

“Charming as always, Cass.”

Her lips twitched. Almost a smile. “Just focus on today, okay? I have that math test last period.”

Right. The test. The one she’d been threatening to deliberately fail for our bet.

“You’re going to try your best,” I reminded her.

“Absolutely.” Her smile was wicked. “My best at failing.”

Before I could respond, Harlow appeared, sliding into the chair next to me.

“Hi hi hi!” she chirped, dropping a stack of papers on the table. “Working hard? That’s good! Physics is important! For gravity and falling and stuff!”

Cassidy narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?”

“Nothing!” Harlow said too quickly. “Just checking in! Also, Mr. Klein said we have a week left to prep for the Halloween festival and I’m getting volunteers for Saturday!” She turned to me, eyes wide and pleading. “The vampire maid cafe needs help, and you promised to be our butler!”

I had promised. After she’d left that mark on my neck that took days to fade.

“I know, I’ll be there.”

“Great!” She beamed at me. “I put your name on the sign-up sheet already.” She slid a paper toward me. “Right here.”

“You didn’t need to ask if you already signed me up.”

“I’m being polite!” She batted her lashes. “Besides, I need to make sure you won’t bail.”

“Since when do I bail on commitments?”

“Never,” she admitted. “It’s one of your best qualities.”

Cassidy made a gagging sound. “Go away, Harley. We’re studying.”

“You’re not studying,” Harlow observed. “You’re interrogating Isaiah about tomorrow, which we agreed not to discuss.”

Ah ha! So there was something happening tomorrow.

“I’m not interrogating anyone,” Cassidy snapped. “I’m doing physics.”

“You hate physics.”

“I hate a lot of things. Doesn’t mean I won’t do them.”

Harlow giggled. “That’s what he said.”

“Oh my god.” Cassidy threw a pencil at her. “Get out!”

Harlow dodged the pencil and stood, gathering her papers. “Fine! I’m going! But Isaiah—” She looked at me seriously. “Don’t forget to come tomorrow. It’s important.”

“For the vampire cafe, got it.”

“Yes. For that.” She gave me a look I couldn’t decipher. “See you later!”