C I N: "Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin. You never come out the way you went in." (The C I N Series) by Christina Leigh Pritchard Page A

hall. I figured she wouldn’t invite whoever it was inside so I went out to the porch.
    Michael sat on the purple porch swing in his beanie cap and a long sleeved shirt. His eyes widened when he saw me. My hair must be sticking up. I ran my fingers through my hair and smiled. “Hi, I just woke up so I am sorry if I look a mess.” He grinned, lowering his head. “What’s so funny?”
    “Did you look in the mirror?” I gasped. Ally … She made me so sick.
    “I have black magic marker all over my face, don’t I?”
    Michael nodded.
    “Terrific. I hate that girl.”
    “Ally did this to you?” Michael’s eyes widened. “I knew she was horrible, but I never thought she’d do something so cruel—”
    “You’re the one who called her a Nazi Commandant!” I screamed.
    He jumped up from the swing and covered my mouth with his hand. “Are you crazy? She will hear you.”
    I shoved him away. “I couldn’t care less if she heard me. Look at my face. LOOOK at it!” I kicked the wooden railing on the porch. All that did was hurt my foot. I fell down and grabbed my toes. “Why’d I just do that?”
    Michael leaned over me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go next door to Millie’s house and get you cleaned up. A little hairspray and it will be off your face in no time.” He lifted me up and guided me across the yard to Millie’s house. Pig followed with excitement. “What in the world did you do to that dog?” Michael shook his head.
    When Aunt Millie saw my face she froze in the center of the room. “What did you do to your face?”
    I frowned. What did I do? Figures she’d assume it was me who did it and not her star pupil.
    “Ally did this to my face. She tricked me into thinking we were going to do each other’s make-up.”
    “Ally doesn’t wear make-up.”
    “Yes, I know. She brought in her mother’s old make up and we used that—well I used that on her face but she used a permanent marker on my face. What good times we had last night.” Where were you Aunt Millie, when all this was happening? You should’ve been home so that you could’ve intervened.
    “Do you have any hairspray?” She nodded and pointed down the hall. I followed Michael into the bathroom.
    I looked into the mirror and forced myself not to cry. I looked hideous. I was surprised Michael hadn’t run for the hills just so he could get away from me. MY FACE HAD BLACK MARKER ALL OVER IT. I was going to kill Ally. She’d played her last practical joke on me. Who did she think she was?
    “Close your eyes,” Michael ordered, pointing a bottle of hairspray at me. I jerked back.
    “What are you doing?”
    “I’m going to spray your face with it. This helps get ink out. Trust me.” He half smiled. I closed my eyes and Michael squirted. The hairspray stuck to my skin and it felt gross. He took a wet wash cloth and scrubbed.
    “This is awful,” I pushed against his chest.
    “Stop moving, this stuff is really tough to get out.” Michael squirted my face with more hairspray.
    “You could warn me before you sprits my face!” I smacked him in the shoulder.
    He laughed. “Even when I’m trying to help you, you still hit me. Hold still,” he directed, rubbing my cheeks with the cloth. “Hmmm, I think you look better now; a little red but much better.”
    I opened my eyes and stared at my reflection. Most of the ink was gone. It looked like I had some gray eye shadow on my lids and you could barely tell there was ink on my cheeks. My lips were still completely black.
    “I kind of like the black on your lips. It looks cool.”
    “Well, it’s coming off,” I decided, grabbing the hairspray. I rubbed my lips until they burned. “I can’t believe Ally would do something like this. What happened to her to make her so mean?”
    “I think she is just a bad seed. She’s never done anything this horrible before, though, at least not to my knowledge, but I guess none of the girls at C I N would ever admit to having