The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress Page B

me.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. I’ve worked at changing it, but sometimes when I’m not totally in control, I slip up a bit.”
    “Neat.”
    “Is it my turn now?” asked Cora, sitting herself up on her knees. She looked excited, and that made Nellie nervous.
    “Okay. I guess we can’t really include her,” said Nellie, glancing at Michiko, who was taking another sip of scotch. “So just do me.”
    “Which do you want?”
    “I guess . . . do the deed.”
    A wide grin spread across Cora’s face and Nellie’s heart sank. Okay, so she’d chosen the wrong option.
    “You have to go into the sitting room . . .”
    “No,” said Nellie right away.
    “You said the rule was you had to do whatever I told you to.”
    “But—”
    “You have to go into the sitting room and kiss the dead guy on the forehead.”
    “Cora!”
    “You have to do it!”
    “I refuse!”
    “You can’t!”
    Nellie pouted for a moment. “Fine. I’ll do it, but only if you admit you have a crush on Mr. Harris.”
    “That’s not the rule!”
    “I think you really want to see me do this, and I can tell you I just won’t unless you admit to it. So it’s up to you.”
    “You can’t break the rules.”
    “Look. When it’s your turn, either I’ll make you tell me if you choose ‘do the deed’ or I’ll ask you if you like him, and I know you do. So why not just get it over with now?”
    Cora sighed. Then responded, “I. Have. A. Crush. On. Mr. Harris.”
    Nellie laughed and clapped her hands. Michiko did the same.
    “But it’s a very little one,” Cora added hastily, “founded on biological impulses. He’s clearly meant to be someone that girls are attracted to. It just shows I’m a normal human being. However, pragmatically—”
    “Oh, shut it,” said Nellie, laughing, pulling the covers off and slipping out of the bed.
    “No, really, pragmatically I find him a fool, and I could never be truly interested in someone who—”
    “Are you coming or not? I thought you wanted to see this?”
    With another sigh Cora climbed off the bed, and she and Michiko followed Nellie into the sitting room. At one point Cora listed toward the wall, and Michiko grabbed her to keep her heading straight.
    “Thanks,” Cora said. “Who knew walking down a hallway could be so treacherous.”
    The three girls stared at the body lying on the couch. Or rather stared at the white sheet that covered the shape of the body beneath it.
    Nellie could hear Cora start to giggle behind her. Okay. So maybe she couldn’t handle her booze as well as she’d initially thought. Giggling just didn’t seem right for Cora.
    “This is so mean.” Nellie crossed her arms over her chest.
    “Do it,” said Cora.
    Nellie inhaled deeply. It was fair play, she thought, slowly approaching the couch. After all, when they’d shared secrets in the cab, her fear of this body had been just as big as Cora’s secret about Mr. Harris. And she’d had way too much fun picking on Cora about him. This was payback.
    The body seemed to float toward her, even though she was the one moving toward it. The white sheet almost made it creepier. And she had this feeling like all of a sudden the body would sit up, just as she was about to peel the sheet off. She reached out her arms, trying to make them as long as she could, keeping the rest of her body far away from it.
    Please don’t sit up. Please don’t sit up.
    She leaned over, her fingers touching the white sheet . . .
    “BOO!”
    Nellie screamed and whirled around. Cora was doubled over in laughter, Michiko staring down at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Damn you, Cora Bell! Damn you, and your bloody stupid sense of humor! What the hell is wrong with you?”
    “That scream,” Cora wheezed, “it was so . . . I’m sorry, but your face!”
    “You’re dead, you hear me, dead!” Nellie could barely hear her voice over the frantic beating of her heart. She turned back to the body and with one swift angry