Elite - Chapter 34
Saturday
“Kennedy, do you want to go get a glass of water?” I asked.
She ignored me and clasped her hands behind Rob’s neck. “Hey,” she said and smiled up at him.
I waited for her to rawr again, but luckily she didn’t.
“Hey yourself,” Rob said with a smile. He didn’t seem as phased by the whole tiger thing as I was.
“Do you want to go make out in Mr. Hill’s classroom?” she asked.
Oh no. This was bad. Really bad. I wasn’t going to let her put herself in a position to be taken advantage of again. And how was she even planning on breaking into Empire High to make this happen? Before I could protest, Rob started laughing.
“That depends on three things,” he said. “Exactly how many cups of punch have you had? Are you actually broken up with Cupcake? And are you still in love with Felix?”
Kennedy gasped. “Well, I do not know how many cups I’ve had. Less than tweleven. But I know for a fact that I will never, ever let Cupcake near me again. Nunca,” she said and poked Rob in the middle of the chest. “That means never, in case you don’t know. It’s me and Brooklyn’s favorite word.”
“Nunca. Got it.” Rob smiled. “And what about the third thing?”
“I don’t remember you mentioning a third thing.”
“Are you still in love with Felix?” Rob asked.
“I do not know what you’re referring to regarding Mr. Green.”
He laughed. “I’m referring to the fact that you look at him with stars in your eyes. And that I’m pretty sure you should be asking him to go to Mr. Hill’s classroom instead of me.”
“Nunca.”
“Is that all you can say?” he said with a laugh.
“Nunca.” Kennedy started laughing too.
“I should probably steal her back,” I said.
Rob whispered something in her ear before I stole her from his embrace. Just because I’d done a lot of crazy stuff tonight didn’t mean Kennedy had to too.
“If you two need a ride home, let me know,” Rob said. “You can take my limo.”
“That’s okay. We have a ride.” I just needed to find Miller so we could get the hell out of here.
“Later Kennedy,” he said and disappeared into the crowd.
Kennedy was smiling so hard. “Brooklyn!” She turned to me.
“He whispered in my ear.” She pointed to the ear that Rob had whispered in.
“He said he didn’t believe the rumors. He said I looked beautiful in my dress.
And that he owes me a kiss whenever I’m in a state to remember it.
Whatever that means. Isn’t he the best?”
“He really is.” I ducked my arm under hers to walk her toward the bar for some water.
“What do you think he means by me not being in a state to remember a kiss?”
“That might have to do with how much you’ve had to drink.”
“Oh, he means that I’m drunk!” She giggled. “I might be drunk. But I have the best idea!” She started twirling in a circle, dragging me with her. “Let’s dance off the booze!”
Tonight, couldn’t be saved. Even by sweating out whatever her punch had been spiked with. “After some water,” I said and grabbed her hand.
“Water!” she yelled and threw her hands up in the air, almost knocking me over.
“Yup. Water.” I pulled her off the dance floor. Oh, no. Matt was still standing at the bar. Staring at me. Although he didn’t look as mad anymore. He just looked…intense. My feet froze as he lifted his finger and ran it across the tip of his nose. His lips even turned up in a smile.
Why was he smiling at me and giving me our signal? Hadn’t he seen all the terrible things I’d just done? I knew I’d promised him a dance. But not right this second. I needed a moment to just breathe.
I turned us in a circle and Kennedy yelled.
“Yay, we’re dancing!”
I spotted Miller standing along the wall. His arms were folded across his chest. And he was also staring right at me. Matt no longer looked that pissed, but Miller sure did. Despite that, it still seemed easier to walk toward Miller. I pulled Kennedy with me.
Miller raised his eyebrow at us as we stopped in front of him.
“So I’m guessing you saw that?” I asked.
His arms remained folded across his chest. “Which thing?”
That was a fair blow. “I’m really sorry…”
“You said you were only going to dance with Kennedy. Yet…Kennedy’s been hanging out at the punch bowl all night. Which now that I’m paying attention to her instead of staring at you dancing with literally every guy in the place…I realize that the punch bowl is spiked. Fuck.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’ve already said that.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I need to go tell them to dump the punch before anyone else drinks it.”
“Miller.” I reached out and grabbed his arm. “Please, can you just take us home?”
“There aren’t any other guys you want to make out with first?”
I winced. I deserved that. “Miller…”
“I think I need a minute, Brooklyn.” He walked past me. But instead of going over to the bar to warn the bartender of the spiked punch, he pushed out the doors of the ballroom.
Shit.
Kennedy pulled on my arm. “Come on. This is supposed to be the best night ever. I don’t want to go home yet. Dance with me.”
“Kennedy, I messed everything up.” I felt like curling up in a ball and crying. This wasn’t the best night ever. It was the worst.
“What happens at homecoming stays at homecoming!”
“I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“Sure it is. Please.” She stuck out her bottom lip. “Dance with me?”
I’d already let her down tonight. And Miller said he needed a minute to cool off. It wouldn’t kill me to dance while I waited for him to come back. “Okay.”
Kennedy dragged me onto the dance floor. But I kept my eyes on the ballroom doors. Song after song passed, but Miller didn’t come back.
I started to look around for Rob. He’d said we could borrow his limo. Or maybe Felix could get us home. He was still here somewhere. Right?
The later it got, the more my stomach twisted into knots. I had that same feeling in my gut that I did the day my mom had passed away. The same feeling I did when the ambulance had come to Empire High. It was like a ticking time bomb. I needed to get us out of here.
The music died away and Mr. Hill tapped on the microphone.
“Let’s give a hand to our homecoming king and queen, James Hunter and Isabella Pruitt.
” He clapped his hands together as Isabella and James walked up to the stage where the band was set up.
“It’s tradition for the king and queen to have a dance,” Mr. Hill said and stepped to the side of the stage as Isabella and James walked on.
Isabella grabbed the mic from him. “And it’s tradition for the queen to make a speech,” she said into the microphone.
“No, that’s not…” started Mr. Hill.
Isabella directed one of those glares I thought was reserved for me right at Mr. Hill. He shut his mouth.
Isabella cleared her throat. “Who’s having a fun night?!”
Tons of students cheered.
James stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets.
He must have tossed his torn tux jacket.
There was what looked like a footprint on his white dress shirt.
And he was sporting a black eye. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere in the world than on that stage with Isabella. And I didn’t blame him.
“James, come here,” Isabella said. “You lost your crown earlier in that silly bit of argy-bargy.”
James didn’t move. So Isabella walked over to him and put his crown back on.
“Perfect,” she said as she placed her hand on the side of his face.
He grimaced.
“Speaking of perfection,” Isabella said into the mic. “I recently discovered that I have a baby sister. It was the most unexpected but brilliant news. I’ve always wanted a sibling. Sissy! Sissy, where are you? I want to officially introduce you to everyone.”
My traitorous fellow classmates parted like the red sea.
Kennedy and I were just standing there with everyone staring at us. The ticking in my head stopped. This was the explosion I was expecting. God, what was she going to do?
“Oh splendid,” Isabella said. “Don’t you all love her tiara? I thought it would be perfect for her to wear one tonight. The princess to my queen. Do we have a spotlight? Can we put a spotlight on my sister?” She looked over at the DJ.
He just shrugged.
“Fine. Be unhelpful.” She turned back to me. “Brooky, I’ve been having so much fun getting to know you.” She put her hand to her chest. “You’re the sister I’ve always dreamed of. And it’s so nice that my friends are your friends. And your friends are my friends. Isn’t that right, Kennedy?”
I turned to Kennedy. “What is she talking about?”
“What?” whispered Kennedy. “Isabella’s actually super cool. We’ve been hanging out all night. She kept telling me how pretty I looked. And she made sure I never ran out of punch shots.”
What the hell is happening right now?
“So I just wanted everyone to know that there’s a new girl in town,” Isabella said. “My little sis. She’ll be unforgettable at Empire High. Just like me. And just like tonight! Cheers, Sissy.” She realized she didn’t have a glass so she just lifted the mic in the air. “Love you!” she shouted.
Everyone started clapping and cheering. When had everyone lost their minds?
“And now I shall dance with my king. Future hubby,” she said and put out her hand to James.
He slowly pulled one hand out of his pocket and put it into hers.
“Smile for the pictures,” she hissed at him before Mr. Hill took the mic back.
“Your homecoming king and queen,” Mr. Hill said and everyone cheered as the music started up again.
I watched James in what looked like the most miserable dance of his life.
When the song finally ended, he pulled off his crown and practically ran away from Isabella.
And right into Rachel’s arms. Rachel laughed, stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him.
He put his crown on top of her head and kissed her back as another song started.
Well, at least the whole revenge thing had worked out for him. Me? Not so much.
What did it mean that they were back together? That James believed Matt? Or that he just forgave Rachel? Or that he was just too drunk to have any idea what was happening? It felt like my head was spinning when Isabella appeared right in front of me with a huge smile on her face.
“I came over to dance with my new besties!” she said.
“The elephants are coming!” Kennedy and Isabella both laughed like it was some kind of inside joke. And if it was, I definitely wasn’t getting it.
Had Kennedy forgotten about the fact that Isabella had destroyed all of my clothes just a few hours ago? Or the fact that she made it her mission to torture us at school?
As if Isabella could read my mind, she shouted, “I’m so sorry about your clothes, Sissy. It was a moment of weakness. I’ll replace every single thing that Sir Wilfred destroyed.”
So we were going back to the dog lie?
“He’s just a baby! He doesn’t know any better.”
Mr. Pruitt told me it was Isabella and her friends. Why did she keep being fake nice to me?
“Besides,” said Isabella as she danced with Kennedy. “You look amazing in vintage. I’m sorry I ever said otherwise.”
That actually kind of felt genuine. Maybe because she was smiling at me like she wasn’t internally screaming at me.
“Thanks?”
“And blue really suits you.”
All the words were nice. But I couldn’t trust her. She was hateful.
“Come on,” Isabella said. “What can I do to make you forgive me? I want us to start over. To be real sisters.”
My first instinct was to tell her to bite me. But I was worried she actually would. Or that she’d get Sir Wilfred to bite me. “I’m just going to need some time,” I said.
“Time. Well, we all have plenty of that.” She started hopping up and down with Kennedy.
No we don’t. We never had enough time. I blinked fast, trying not to think about my mom and my uncle. Someone like Isabella didn’t understand how precious time was.
It was too hot in here. Too loud. Too fake. God, where was Miller? I turned toward the doors and practically ran straight into Matt.