Killer Content

1

17 Hours Before 

Gwen 

I swear to God, if we don t get it this time, I m going to kill you both. Cami s face is red with exertion. She grabs my arm, her grip a bit too firm, and guides me through the moves again. It s right, left, turn, and pose, okay?  

So basically, how we ve been doing it? I mumble. 

How I ve been doing it. You re still off, Cami snaps. 

Cami s full name is Dolores Camila Villalobos de Ávila, but almost everyone calls her Cami, since, in her words, Dolores is a name for a grandmother, not a TikTok star. 

She thinks she s in charge because she s the only one with real dance experience. She went to the School of American Ballet for two years, until she hit puberty and her curves became too pronounced for the world of classical dance. Cami s always patronizing me for not being formally trained or knowing all the proper dance terms--A frappé is not just something you get at Starbucks, Gwen. If I wanted to, I could be just as condescending back. It would be easy to knock her down a peg--remind her that I m the one with eighty million TikTok followers, while she lags behind by more than half. That although she may know the correct way to count music, there s only one queen bee in this house: me. 

But instead, I keep my professionally plumped lips sealed and nod along as she walks me through the forty-five-second dance for the tenth time. If I say anything now, things will just devolve into another fight, and she s right, we don t have much time left to get this right. 

I honestly can t tell the difference between what I was doing before and what she wants me to do now. But she seems pleased with my improvement. 

All right, let s run it again. She turns to Tucker, who had been filming us but is now lying across the foot of Cami s bed, scrolling through Instagram. He s gone ahead and made himself comfortable, with

Kiley Roache is an author and journalist. Her novels include Frat Girl and The Dating Game, and her articles have been published by The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Times, among others. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Journalism School. When she isn t writing, Kiley spends her time drinking iced coffee, painting in her backyard, and racking up screen-time hours scrolling through TikTok and Instagram.

Praise for Killer Content:

Mystery lovers will enjoy this thrilling narrative A page-turning portrayal of social media gone wrong. Kirkus Reviews