Chapter 21: Grab Me
Lizzie
For a moment after my introduction, the entire room froze. Not the kind of pause where people simply stop talking.
This was different.
It felt heavier than that—like someone had pressed an invisible pause button on the whole party. Nobody moved. Nobody laughed. Nobody even shifted their weight. They just stared.
Dozens of faces turned toward me, expressions flickering between shock, curiosity, amusement. Some of them looked almost hopeful, like they had just been handed front-row seats to something explosive and were waiting for the moment it would finally detonate.
I didn’t move. Instead I kept my chin lifted and my shoulders squared, refusing to give Lauren—or anyone else—the satisfaction of seeing me cower.
I knew she had plans to embarrass me and p
