Nothing To Lose

14- Crashing A Party

It's date time again. And not the good kind of date like the one I had with Damon on Friday. It was time to get Austin's blackmail out of the way- hopefully this would be all he requested. Even though it was Alia who was actually going on the date, I felt nervous as well. What if something happened to her- or to me or Damon?

"Are you ready?" Alia asked as she fidgeted with her hair in the mirror. She'd already shifted so she looked like me- well, me with bright, dyed red hair. I'd returned my hair back to its natural blonde earlier today so Austin wouldn't recognize me. I was wearing one of Alia's dresses and it looked like the kind of thing I usually tried to stay away from. The last part of my disguise was a pair of giant sunglasses to hide my eyes and part of my face.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess so. Do you have the earring?" Somehow Alia had managed to get herself an earring that had a sound recorder and transmitter in it and an earring that caught the signal for me so I could hear everything she did. It felt surreal; like something from a spy movie.

"Yup, let's go," she stated calmly, but I could see the fear on her face. She was confident in our plan, but that didn't help ease her (or my) fears that something would go wrong.

I managed a small smile in agreement and we went downstairs to wait for Austin to arrive; he would get here any minute now. Riley, Tristan and Monica had gone to a movie which was actually very coincidental. I'd thought about telling her what was going on, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't let us go along with the plan if she knew. The doorbell rang and Alia and I shared a quick and worried glance before I went into the kitchen to hide and she answered the door. I could hear their whole conversation through the earring.

"Hey, are you ready for our date?" Austin asked, his voice sounding weird and robotic through the earring.

Alia agreed quickly, "Sure. Let's go."

"Remember to be a little bitterer about the whole thing," I whispered into my bracelet; another part of the spy gear she had gotten. I was starting to think she knew someone in the CIA. She couldn't reply so I waited until I heard the door shut before running over to the window. I watched Alia and Austin get into his truck before focusing on the black car parked across the street- its windows tinted. That was Damon.

Austin and Alia pulled out of the driveway and I ran down to Damon's car. As soon as I was in, I was doing up my seat belt and he had started driving; following the truck inconspicuously. So far they had yet to talk to each other again so I gave Damon a small smile. "Hi."

"How are you?” He asked glancing at me. I would've replied, but I was too shocked by the little stud above his eyebrow. He laughed at my shock. "Yes, I have an eyebrow piercing."

"I like it."

"Thanks," he replied before I heard Alia start to talk through the earring. I hushed Damon and he nodded in understanding so I could listen to their conversation.

Alia started it by asking, "Why did you want to go on a date with me? There are so many other people at our school; why would you want a date with me?" I nodded in approval; it sounded just like something I would say.

"I thought it could be fun," he muttered in reply. I wasn't even there and I knew he was lying. I quickly relayed the information to Alia in case she hadn't noticed the slight shaking in his voice.

Alia sighed. "How is it fun? I’m dating someone else."

"Look, drop the attitude or the deals off and I tell Elise everything," Austin threatened, making my heartbeat quicken.

Alia hesitated before saying, "Alright, I'm sorry. Please don't tell Elise anything."

"I won't; for now. We'll have to see how the date goes before I completely make up my mind though. So I suggest you be on your absolute best behavior or the secret's out."