Lost in Las Vegas

LOST IN LAS VEGAS

OTHER BOOKS BY MELODY CARLSON:

Carter House Girls series

Mixed Bags (Book One)

Stealing Bradford (Book Two)

Homecoming Queen (Book Three)

Viva Vermont! (Book Four)

Girls of 622 Harbor View series

Project: Girl Power (Book One)

Project: Mystery Bus (Book Two)

Project: Rescuing Chelsea (Book Three)

Project: Take Charge (Book Four)

Project: Raising Faith (Book Five)

Project: Run Away (Book Six)

Project: Ski Trip (Book Seven)

Project: Secret Admirer (Book Eight)

Books for Teens

The Secret Life of Samantha McGregor series

Diary of a Teenage Girl series

TrueColors series

Notes from a Spinning Planet series

Degrees series

Piercing Proverbs

By Design series

Women’s Fiction

These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking

On This Day

An Irish Christmas

The Christmas Bus

Crystal Lies

Finding Alice

Three Days

Grace Chapel Inn Series
, including

Hidden History

Ready to Wed

Back Home Again

ZONDERVAN

LOST IN LAS VEGAS
Copyright © 2009 by Melody Carlson

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

Mobi Edition June 2009 ISBN: 0-310-86288-4

Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
: Applied for
ISBN 978-0-310-71492-7

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
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. NIV
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. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

About the Publisher

Share Your Thoughts

LOST IN LAS VEGAS

1

“REMIND ME TO NEVER,
ever star in another high school musical again.” Eliza sighed dramatically as she poured her coffee. It was the Sunday morning after the final performance of
South Pacific
, and DJ suspected that Eliza was just fishing for compliments. Not that she hadn’t already gotten plenty. And last night, she’d been presented with a huge bouquet of roses. DJ knew they were from Eliza’s parents, but Eliza received them as if they had been an Oscar.

“But what if Mr. Harper does
High School Musical
in the spring?” asked Kriti with wide dark eyes. DJ could tell by the way Kriti said this she was hoping he would. Eliza probably was too.

“That is so last week,” said Taylor.

“Meaning you wouldn’t participate in it?” Eliza pushed a long strand of blonde hair over her shoulder and sat up straighter, looking directly at Taylor like this was a personal challenge.

Taylor rolled her eyes and then reached for the fruit platter. “Meaning, I don’t really want to think about it right now. Sheesh, Eliza, didn’t you just ask us to remind you
never
to be in another musical?”

“Eliza is probably just trying to secure her next starring role,” said Rhiannon. Then she frowned like she hadn’t really meant it to sound like that. “And why shouldn’t she?” she added quickly. “Eliza was absolutely fantastic as Nurse Nellie. Everyone said so.”

“And it’s obvious that Eliza will never let us forget she was a star,” teased Casey.

“Was.”
Taylor chuckled. “As in she’s a has-been now.”

Some of the girls snickered, but Eliza just glared at Taylor.

Then as if she’d just started listening, Grandmother cleared her throat, closed the open date book that she’d been studying, and looked at the girls. “I see there are only two weeks remaining until winter break, ladies.” She shook her head sadly. “I just can’t believe that it’s already December. It seems like only yesterday that you girls arrived at Carter House. My, my, how time flies.”

“And the Winter Ball is next Saturday,” Eliza reminded them. As if anyone could’ve forgotten with posters plastered all over the school. DJ was still unsure whether she should go. Conner had asked her, but she hadn’t agreed. Even though Haley hadn’t returned to school yet, it still made DJ uncomfortable to be seen as more than “just friends” with Conner. And DJ knew that Haley’s swim-team buddies were probably reporting to her.

“My mother and I are shopping for gowns today,” continued Eliza. She glanced at her roommate. “And Kriti too, of course.”

“I already have my dress,” said Taylor. “A little something my mother sent over from Milan while she was performing there last month.”

DJ could tell this little dig was aimed directly at Eliza. The two girls had been going at it steadily for the last couple of weeks. It first started when Eliza’s boyfriend, Harry, gave Taylor a “shoulder massage” while backstage during a rehearsal for the musical. DJ had observed the two of them and had no doubt that Harry was flirting. But what Harry didn’t know was that Eliza had been watching too. Of course, Harry denied everything, and then Eliza blamed Taylor for the incident. Yet, in a way, DJ was glad Eliza and Taylor were at odds again. They had all experienced those two power forces united during last month’s ski trip — and it had been a rather frightening experience. Sort of like it might be if Russia and China ever got together.

“My mother offered to shop for a gown in Paris for me,” said Eliza — her attempt at one-upping Taylor. “But I told her to wait. I wouldn’t want to risk having a dress that fit poorly.”

“That’s why God invented alterations, Eliza,” said Taylor. “Or perhaps you don’t have such conveniences down south.”

“I don’t see why girls think they need to go out and spend a bunch of money on something new for a stupid dance,” said Casey. She glanced at Rhiannon, and DJ suspected that Casey was trying to make her feel better. “I mean, you’ll wear that dress like one time. What a waste!”

“So what do you intend to wear?” asked Eliza with a bored sort of interest. “Your Doc Martins and something with spikes?”

Casey made a face. “Actually, I might go eighties retro. Like Madonna or Blondie.”

“Right.” Eliza turned up her nose. “The Winter Ball theme is White Christmas, and we’re supposed to dress in a fifties style of Hollywood elegance.”

“You take those posters literally?” asked Casey.

“They suggested dresses in Christmas colors of red, green, or white.” Eliza continued like she was reading it from a brochure.

“I think it’ll be pretty,” said Kriti.

“I intend to look for something sparkly in white to show off my tan,” said Eliza.

“Fake tan.” Taylor pushed a curly dark strand of hair away from her face and laughed. “My dress is black.”