Free A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger Page A

fun.”
    “No, I’m good,” I said. “Really.”
    “Whitley, come look at the dress we’ve picked,” Bailey said, waving me over. Given a choice between Bailey and Sherri, I chose Bailey immediately. I skirted around the racks of colorful gowns until I was standing next to the little blond and her mother. “Sorry about her,” Bailey murmured. “Aunt Sherri gets excited easily.” She cleared her throat. “So, this is it. This is the dress.” She pointed to the one Sylvia was examining.
    It was bubblegum pink—an instant reason to hate it—and floor-length. The sleeves came to mid-forearm and the bodice was decorated with a spray of tiny yellow fabric-and-bead flowers going up the middle and over one half of the sweetheart neckline. Exactly what you’d expect Sylvia to pick out for bridesmaids’ dresses.
    And exactly what I wouldn’t be caught dead in.
    “It still needs to be altered,” Sylvia said, as if reading my mind. “I’m going to have the sleeves taken off and the hem shortened just a little. The wedding is in early September, so it will still practically be summer. I think that will look much better.”
    “What do you think?” Bailey asked.
    “Gorgeous,” I grumbled.
    “Did someone need measurements?” called a woman fromthe front desk just as a redheaded customer exited the boutique carrying a large frilly dress wrapped in plastic.
    “Over here.” Sylvia stepped out from behind the wall of hanging dresses. “One of my bridesmaids needs to be measured for her dress.” She beamed before ushering me toward the desk, where the clerk waited. “This is Whitley. She’s a bridesmaid for the Johnson-Caulfield wedding. You should have me on file.”
    “I do,” the clerk said after a few seconds. “The pink gown with the flowered bodice, correct?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Great.” She turned to me then. “All right, Whitley. I’m Lexie. Follow me back into the fitting room and we’ll get your measurements done.”
    Lexie was one of those overwhelmingly pretty people. Not beautiful, but pretty. Stick thin. Black hair cut just below her chin. And she walked like a Victoria’s Secret model, strutting down the runway. I couldn’t help admiring her as she led me to the back room of the shop. This chick had it going on.
    “Step in here,” she said, gesturing to a dressing room hidden behind a white curtain.
    “Why?” I asked. “I thought we were just doing measurements.”
    “We are,” Lexie replied, picking up a strip of measuring tape from a nearby table. “But this is a form-fitting dress, and to get an accurate measurement, I’ll need you to strip down to your underwear. Unless you’re cool with everyoneseeing,” she added, gesturing to the door as Sherri, Sylvia, and Bailey entered behind us.
    I groaned and walked into the dressing room, Lexie on my heels.
    Not that I had a problem with my body—for the most part, I didn’t—but these were the last people I would want to see me in my purple bra and thong. They’d probably be scandalized by all that (currently sunburned) skin.
    Though I really didn’t want Sexy Lexie to see me practically naked, either. I could feel her eyes on my flat butt, my less-flat stomach. The smug expression on her face when I pulled off my T-shirt told me exactly what she was thinking:
    I’m hotter than this chick.
    Or maybe she was inwardly laughing at the blistering sunburn that covered the back side of my body. That was possible, too.
    “Arms up,” she said, unwinding the measuring tape.
    I raised my arms above my head and winced as she wrapped the measuring tape around my chest, the edge of the strip cutting painfully into my inflamed skin.
    “Might try a higher SPF next time,” Lexie commented, moving the strip down to my midsection, not bothering to be any gentler, despite having noticed the burn.
    “Yeah, thanks,” I muttered. “I appreciate the advice. Because I had no idea what had gone wrong.”
    Outside the curtain, I could