Elite - Chapter 30
Saturday
“Wow,” I said when we entered the ballroom.
It looked completely different than the last time I’d served here.
There weren’t any tables, just a huge dance floor.
There weren’t even any adults in sight. Well, maybe a few.
I spotted Mr. Hill yelling at some kids about dancing too close, but I quickly looked away.
The last thing I needed was for him to yell at me instead.
I looked around the ballroom. There were gold balloons everywhere. I wouldn’t have even been surprised if they were somehow made from actual gold. “Do you think we could pop one?” I asked.
Kennedy didn’t respond. She was just staring at the dance floor where tons of students had stopped dancing.
It was like someone had lit up a big neon sign saying to quiet down. Heads turned toward me. Everything was hushed. I swore the music volume even lowered. And then the whispering started.
“What is happening?” I said to Kennedy out of the corner of my mouth.
“They’re probably staring at you because of that song Matt sung on the float. Just ignore them. Who cares what they think?”
I wish I didn’t.
“Come on. Let’s get some drinks.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd like the whispers didn’t bother her at all.
I wanted to be like Kennedy when I grew up. She was so good at brushing things off. I tried to stand up a little straighter.
I swore I heard someone whisper the word slut . And I had a feeling that some of the whispers weren’t about me. Kennedy gripped my hand a little tighter. She’d heard the word thrown at her too. But the smile remained on her face.
For some reason I found it easier to be strong for her even though it was hard to be strong for myself. I squeezed her hand back. “You’re right,” I said. “Who cares what they think?”
We stopped in front of the bar that was usually decked out with alcoholic beverages for adult events. Tonight it was filled with juices and sodas galore.
James was standing there, drumming his fingers along the wooden bar top. His crown was lopsided on his head, but otherwise he looked more sober than I’d seen him all week. Maybe being the king to Isabella’s queen had finally sobered him up.
But when the bartender wasn’t looking, James unscrewed the cap off a flask. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking and proceeded to dump the whole flask into the punch bowl. He shoved the flask back in his pocket just before the bartender turned around.
“Can I get you ladies anything?” the bartender asked, completely oblivious to what James had just done.
“I’ll have some punch,” Kennedy said and stepped forward.
I opened my mouth but then closed it. Kennedy could drink one glass and I could still keep my promise to Uncle Jim. Honestly, if people were whispering about me being a slut, I’d want a drink too. I’d keep an eye on her.
“What about you?” James asked me. “Don’t you want some too?” He tried to straighten his crown but it just made it more lopsided.
“Um…no thanks.”
For some reason that made him smile. Smiles from James were few and far between. Especially real ones.
I wasn’t sure why he was even talking to me, let alone smiling at me.
Aside from Matt’s performance today and his texts, all the Untouchables had been avoiding me like the plague ever since the truth had come out.
Well, except for Mason tonight. He’d been weirdly kind.
And he’d hinted that the Caldwells and Hunters weren’t really speaking anymore. Which broke my heart.
“So no drink,” he said as Kennedy joined me by my side. “How about a dance then?”
I forced myself not to look over my shoulder, even though I couldn’t believe James was asking me for a dance. Wait…why was he asking me? “Actually, Kennedy and I…”
“Kennedy is just going to drink this real quick and join you two on the dance floor in a bit,” Kennedy said. She raised her eyebrows and stared at me like I was insane.
Which was weird because she was the one that was acting insane. James and I weren’t friends. He was nice sometimes. Other times he was just plain cruel. And I didn’t feel like playing whatever game he was currently making up in his head. “Um…”
“Come on, Brooklyn,” he said and put his arm out for me. “I promise I won’t bite.”
I glanced at Kennedy who was shooing me away.
This felt like some kind of weird trap. But I wasn’t exactly sure how to get out of it without looking like an ass.
And after what Matt had done to James? The least I could do was cheer him up with a dance.
I looped my arm through his and the smile came back to his face.
A slow song cut in as soon as we walked onto the dance floor. He pulled me in a little closer. Too close. I could smell his cologne and the mint on his breath. Why was he so close?
“Is Rachel here?” I asked.
James’ hands settled on my waist. “What do you think?”
“Well…if you’re anything like me…you haven’t spoken to her all week.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
I looked up at him. There was nothing I could say. If Matt was telling the truth, Rachel had come on to him. Not the other way around. And I didn’t want to ask James about what he thought actually happened. It would just make everything worse. “So you aren’t speaking to her. Or Matt?”
“Or Mason.”
I nodded. “Or Mason. Aren’t they your best friends?”
“Best friends don’t fuck their said best friends’ girlfriends.”
Fair enough. “Congrats on being homecoming king.” It was a terrible segue, and we both knew it.
He laughed again.
It was so strange hearing him laugh. I liked the sound. I wished he’d do it more.
“It was rigged,” he said. “The homecoming king. I’m sure Mason won. Everyone actually likes him. Well, except for all those girls he screwed and dumped.”
“I think they make up enough of the student body that he wouldn’t have won.” But now that I thought about it, Mason was the one always high-fiving people in the hallway. He was usually smiling. He wasn’t nearly as silent and brooding as James.
James shrugged. His expensive tux felt like silk against my forearm. “It was still rigged, trust me. Isabella found out she was going to win queen, by threatening someone I’m sure. And then she manipulated it for me to be king.”
“I’m sure she didn’t.” Although, I wasn’t so sure. That sounded a lot like something Isabella would do. Threats and manipulation were her first language.
“No, she told me as much.”
Oh. “I’m sorry.”
“Why? I’m the freaking king.” He didn’t look so happy anymore.
“Well, it looks good on you.” I reached up and straightened his crown for him.
“It looks better on you. The tiara I mean.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. But I could feel my cheeks blushing. And I realized my hand was still on his crown. I moved it back to his shoulder.
His eyes traveled to my flushing cheeks and he smiled.
For some reason it just made me blush more.
“You know…” he said, his voice trailing off as his eyes drifted to mine. “I was thinking. Maybe there is a way I could get over Matt being an ass.”
“Yeah? And how would you do that?” I wanted James to be happier. I didn’t want to have to worry about him. And he had such a nice laugh. It would be nice if the world could hear it more often.
“For starters, we could fuck.”
I stopped swaying back and forth. It took every ounce of restraint not to slap him. I knew he was up to no good. Asking me to dance so he could prove some kind of point to Matt? Screw him. “I don’t think that would fix anything, James.”
“Really? I think it would fix everything.”
I stared back at him. “How would that fix anything? You’re dating Rachel. And I’m dating…” Who the hell was I dating? Felix? Miller? Matt? God, was I kind of dating all of them? I’d had zero punch and my head was still spinning.
“You know, this summer I told Rachel I’d give everything up for her.
All this shit I don’t care about. That I’d pass on Harvard.
That I’d renounce my inheritance. I’d give up all my responsibilities.
That we could run away together. And she got mad at me.
Furious, actually. That was the night Matt screwed her.
And all I keep thinking about is that my mother was right.
That Rachel just likes me for my money. Rachel thought I was going to give it all up so she hopped in bed with someone else.
I don’t want to believe that. But…” his voice trailed off and he shook his head.
“I’m sorry that you’re hurting.” I truly was. This was one of James’ nicer moments. And all I could wonder was if Matt was right. If he was hurting so much that he might do something to himself. He wouldn’t, right? He couldn’t.
He smiled. “Then how about you make me feel better?”
Just when I thought he was being nice. “I’m not sleeping with you, James. I don’t do…that.”
“Don’t do what? Have revenge sex? Let me tell you, you’re seriously missing out.” His hands slid slightly lower on my waist.
I looked away from him, searching for Kennedy in the sea of other students. She said she’d join us on the dance floor. Where was she?
“Oh my God,” James said.
“What?” I didn’t look back at him. Kennedy, please magically appear and save me from this awkward conversation.
“Are you a virgin?”
I forced myself to look back at him. “That’s none of your business.” I was done being polite. I didn’t have to dance with him. He wasn’t my responsibility to look after. “I’m going to go find Kennedy.”
“Wait.” He caught my arm as I tried to flee. “I’m sorry, I just…it would make Matt so fucking mad. How could you not want that? He kept you his dirty little secret for weeks. He didn’t tell any of us about you. Doesn’t that piss you off? That he was that embarrassed of you?”
“He wasn’t embarrassed of me. Isabella was threatening him. She…”
“Isabella threatens everyone. He’s a pansy if he was scared of her. It’s her father he should be worried about.”
I tried to ignore his last statement. Mostly because I was worried it was true. The thought of that unread contract made my stomach twist into knots. But if I thought about that now I was pretty sure my head would explode. “Matt said Isabella threatened to kill him. And me.”
“And you believe him? After everything he put you through? It wouldn’t be the first time Matt lied just to get into some chick’s bed. You’re allowed to be mad at him, Brooklyn. Freaking let it out.”
“You know what? I am mad. I’m mad that you’re trying to use me to get back at him. I’m not a pawn.”
“I didn’t say you were. I just thought we might feel the same way. Rachel used me. Matt used you. Why can’t we make each other feel better by making them feel like shit?”
“Because you don’t even like me.”
“Why do you think I don’t like you?”
“Because you’re being an ass.”
He laughed. “Well, my offer stands. I rented a room for the night. 315. Take a key.” He pulled out a keycard from the same pocket he was hiding a flask in.
“No thanks.”
“I do like you, Brooklyn. You’re everything I thought Rachel was.”
“And what did you think Rachel was?”
“My way out of this hell.” He slid the keycard down the front of my dress.
This time I was going to slap him. Because his hand had frozen on my left breast. James Hunter was not a very nice boy.
Just as I was about to lift up my hand, I realized he was staring at something behind me.
And he looked even more pissed off than I was.
I turned around to see Matt walking into the ballroom.
With Rachel on his arm. If I thought the room had shushed when I walked in, this was a whole other level. It was freaking silent.
Matt’s tux fit him perfectly. And Rachel looked beautiful on his arm. They were both smiling and it felt like a punch in the gut. Maybe James was right. Maybe I did hate Matt. Maybe I did want to get back at him.
Matt’s eyes locked with mine. His gaze traveled down to where James' hand had just dropped the keycard in the front of my dress. Matt’s smile faltered, despite the fact that he was literally walking into the dance with another girl.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” James said.
“Not if I do it first.”
“Better idea,” James said. Before I even realized what was happening, James had pulled me back into his arms. And his lips were on mine. Revenge tasted bitter even though his lips were sweet.