Chapter Two
HALLIE
I’m beyond tense and freaked out by social situations. Most people say I’m shy, awkward, even anti-social. Ry knows the truth. It takes time for me to get comfortable with new people, find out if I like them—I’m selectively social. I also take everything way too seriously and he’s trying to help me learn to relax, be more impulsive. I’m getting better at just rolling with what life throws my way but the last minute texted invite to an off-campus Halloween party has turned me into a tangled up ball of anxiety.
Glancing down at my phone, I recheck the address for the third time then stare beyond the rusted iron gate, along a cracked walkway lined by massive weeping willows and moss choked trees to the crumbling gray façade of a classic southern mansion. Decades ago it h
