CHAPTER 2

Dandy lost it when she hitched her leg up, deliberately raising her skirt a bit higher. Did she really think that was attractive?

"Okay, did you just eat a raw onion?" Dandy asked crudely, cringing his face as though he smelled something horrible.

Samantha Tyler's provocative smile disappeared. "Excuse me?"

"Oh God, it smells like Dead Clown." He scowled. He held the edges of his bar stool and scooted a few times away from her. Keeping his hand in front of his nose, he looked back at her. "You were saying?"

Samantha glared at him, her cheeks turning as red as her fake strawberry blonde hair. "Forget you, loser." She hopped off her stool, glaring at him one last time before walking away. Dandy sighed, taking another sip of his glass of champagne.

Dandy looked at his reflection, wondering at life's ironies. He was gorgeous—given, all the Motts were naturally beautiful—yet he wished ladies did not attract to him like honey attracted bees. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

"Making a good impression, I see." He didn't bother turning and his mother took Samantha's place. "That Tyler girl makes the what, twentieth girl you scared away?"

"Twenty-one, actually." Dandy said matter-of-factly. "Though I could just strangle her neck if it pleased me."

"You will do no such thing." Gloria scowled, slapping him in the shoulder with her fan. "No matter how much of a whore the Tyler girls are, their disappearances will be noticed."

"What is it now, mother?"

"Manslaughter aside, are you still interested in the performing arts?" Gloria asked seriously.

Dandy's eyes widened, but he hesitated to answer. If this is another ploy at getting grandchildren. "Depends, what's this about, mother?"

"I'll be frank: Olivia Hetherington is a bitch and I do not want to see her with the satisfaction that her son as Romeo for this year's play." Gloria said frankly. "Dandy, dear, do you know the troupe called Starstruck?"

It was all Dandy could do not to scream. I've been begging you to let me join for years and you only hear about Starstruck when the new money mentions it? "I have." He said curtly. "Why?"

"Join it, get the role for Romeo before Darius Hetherington does—but do not kill him, I mean it—"

"Romeo in Romeo and Juliet?" Dandy said distastefully. "I'd rather not and save myself for a more…solo lead."

In a swift, graceful flow, Gloria stood up and grabbed Dandy's collar so discreetly that nobody could see her or the tension in her fingers. "Now you listen to me, you brat." She said coldly, smiling sweetly. "I chose to look away from those poor animal victims, I overlooked all the imported clothes you shredded for that stupid costume, and I looked away as I buried Dora to clean up your mess. And if you don't get to Jupiter Center this Saturday and grab that role from Hetherington's hands, I swear to God, Dandy…"

"Okay okay," Dandy said dejectedly. On the inside, he was leaping with joy. Romeo and Juliet was not one of his most favorite plays—who would die for a girl anyway? They're all boring—but like all the greatest thespians he knew, he had to start somewhere.

He thought of the bus in the middle of the woods, and his tub of acid. He would miss a few weeks, but now that he had a shot at the theatre, he was going to take it.