Chapter 29
GEMMA
Then
Prom is tomorrow night and I don’t have a date.
I did have a date. Russel Tompkins asked me weeks ago and I said yes.
Not because I particularly wanted to go with him but because I wanted to go with someone and up to that point, he’d been the only one who asked.
After the rumors Ethan started about me last summer, you’d think I’d be number one on every horny teenage boy’s hit list. Instead, the lies he spread seemed to have the opposite effect.
It’s like I’m trapped in a bubble. Like I’m surrounded by an invisible force field no one seemed to want to breach until Russel.
He’s relatively new to Barrett. He moved here from Shreveport a few months ago to live with his uncle.
We have a few classes together and he seems nice.
This morning, Russel found me before class and mumbled something about his grandmother being sick and his family having to drive to San Antonio to go visit her.
Sorry, Gemma. I’ll pay you back for your dress or whatever if you want me to.
When I told my mom I was invited to prom, she went into a frenzy. My dress is a six thousand dollar Carolina Herrera. The matching shoes and bag were even more than that.
Russ is a bagger at the Stop-N-Shop. He’s definitely not in a position to pay me back for my dress.
While I was disappointed, I told him it was okay and that I hoped his grandmother was feeling better soon. Dent has been having dizzy spells lately and I’ve started to worry about him living alone, so I get it.
“You can always come over to my house,” Emily offers with a sympathetic smile. “We can order take-out and watch Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“You hate it when I make you watch that movie,” I remind her with a laugh. It’s our lunch period and we’re sitting under a tree in the quad, just the two of us.
“I don’t hate it,” she says with an exaggerated eye roll. “I just—” Sitting up straight, Emily flashes me a huge grin. “Let’s drive into Dallas and go see it. There’s that midnight showing at that theater downtown—you know the one you used to beg Beck to take you to? We can get dressed up and?—”
“There’s no way in hell our parents are going to let us drive to Dallas on a Saturday night, by ourselves, to go see a midnight showing of anything,” I say, touched by her enthusiasm. “Much less a movie about a transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania.”
“So we don’t ask,” she says with a nonchalant shrug. “We just do it. We’re practically adults. We don’t have to ask permission, every single time we want to do something.”
“Emily Ackerman…” Shaking my head, I sit back with a grin. “You’ve never broken a rule in your entire life.”
“Yes I have,” she counters, defensively. “I break them all the time.”
She doesn’t break rules.
She breaks one, very specific rule:
Stay away from Cade Montgomery.
Because her weakness for him is a sore spot between us, I don’t say it.
I’ve lost enough friends over the last year, I don’t want to add Emily to the list—especially not over someone like Cade.
“It’s a good idea,” I say, shutting her down as gently as possible.
“But if I can’t go to prom, I think I’d rather just stay home. ”
“Okay.” Sitting back, she leans her shoulders against the tree we’re sitting under on a sigh.
“At least come over. Don’t sit at home, alone all night,” she says, even though that’s exactly what she was planning on doing.
I know a few boys asked her to be their date but she politely declined without citing a reason.
I thought maybe her refusals were in solidarity with me but she said no to Walker Hendricks, after I accepted Russ’s invitation, so I know that’s not what it’s about.
“Or…” I flash her a cheeky grin while an idea of my own starts to form. “We can ditch last period and go shopping for a dress and you and I can go to prom together.”
“Oh.” The idea seems to alarm her. Emily shakes her head. “I don’t have a ticket.”
“I have two, remember?” I remind her. “Russel?—”
Across the quad, a loud peel of laughter rings out, the sound of it making Emily flinch.
Because I can’t help myself, I look over my shoulder at the large group of Barrett kids, hanging out under one of the huge oak trees that dot the grassy area where we all spend our lunch time.
Sera is laughing and dodging her brother, Colt, while he chases her around with ketchup smeared all over his fingers.
A few yards away from the chaos, Cam and Cade are talking to each other, intently.
She keeps reaching for his hand and he keeps pulling away.
They started going out over Christmas break.
When I tried to talk to Emily about it, she just shrugged and said she was happy for them and maybe now, Cam and Sera would leave us alone.
For the most part, they have.
Since Cam and Cade started dating, things with Sera and Cam have fallen into a pattern of long stretches of quiet, followed by what I call flare-ups.
Out of nowhere, Emily will find a flat tire on her car in the school parking lot.
They’ll come into June’s on the weekends and sit at the counter so they can laugh and whisper about me while I wash dishes.
We’re in a quiet period right now, but I feel a flare-up coming on.
Looking back at Emily, I shake my head. “Screw ‘em,” I tell her because I know what’s she’s thinking. That if she’d just kept her mouth shut about Cade and the night he kissed her, we’d all still be friends. We’d still be included. We wouldn’t be sitting here, on the outside, looking in.
“You’re right.” Giving me a wobbly smile, Emily starts to gather her things. “Screw ‘em.” Standing, she shoulders her backpack before looking down at me. “I’m going to head to class. See you after school.”
“Okay.” Even though we still have ten minutes left in our lunch period, I don’t argue. “But if you change your mind about ditching last period for dress shopping, text me.”
Moving away from me, she shoots me a flat smile over her shoulder. “Maybe I will,” she says but we both know she won’t. Emily’s going to stay at home—where it’s safe.
“You’re my best friend, Emily Ackerman,” I call after her loudly, earning myself another faint smile before she’s gone. Sighing, I move spots, positioning myself against the base of the tree, so I can watch the people who used to be my friends, pretend I don’t exist.
Unable to help myself, I find Riggs. He’s standing on the fringes of the group, talking to Alex McLeod while Cheyenne Maxwell clings to his arm and stares up at him like he hung the moon. They started dating last summer—three days after the argument we had, the last time he walked me home.
I don’t care what you promised my brother—stay away from me.
That was it. The last thing I said to him because he admitted that he liked kissing me and that he wanted to do it again—and in the next breath, he said it felt wrong.
That kissing me and wanting to kiss me again was something he felt bad for and in true, Gemma Pierce fashion, I lost my temper and stormed off.
That happened on a Friday. By Monday, Riggs and Cheyenne were an item. It’s been nearly a year and they’re still an item. Every time I see them together, I want to pluck out my eyeballs and throw them at them.
Like he can feel me watching them, Riggs suddenly shifts his gaze away from Alex, flicking it over me before returning to his conversation. Caught staring, I feel the back of my neck heat with embarrassment.
Desperate much, Gemma? You’re the one who told Riggs to stay away from you and now here you are, staring at him like a lost little puppy.
Deciding Emma had the right idea all along, I push myself away from the tree to stand.
Bending over to retrieve my backpack, intent on getting an early start to my next class, I straighten myself to find that Riggs isn’t talking to Alex anymore.
Abandoning his conversation, and his girlfriend, Riggs jogs after someone who’s cutting across the quad.
Catching up to him, Riggs grips him by his shoulder and turns him around.
It’s Russel Tompkins, my almost prom date.
When he turns around and sees Riggs’s standing over him, Russel’s face goes pale.
As impossible as it seems, he’s only gotten taller over the last year.
Russel is probably close to six foot but standing in front of Riggs, neck cranked back as far as it’ll go, he looks small and more than a little scared.
Whatever Riggs is saying to him has Russel shaking his head like Riggs is accusing him of something and he’s emphatically denying it.
Finished terrorizing him, Riggs lets go of Russel’s arm just as the bell begins to ring, telling us it’s time to start heading to class.
Immediately, people start to move. Some slowly, lingering like they’re savoring their last few moments of freedom before being locked in a cage.
Others gather their things and head to class at a brisk walk like they’re running a race.
Like the bell is a starting pistol, Russel takes off as soon as Riggs lets him go, dodging his way through the crowd like he’s running for his life.
I’m suddenly sure that Russel’s grandmother isn’t sick.
Like he can still feel me watching him, Riggs finds my gaze with his again. This time he doesn’t look away. He stares at me from across the quad, the weight of his glare slamming into my chest with the force of a wrecking ball before he turns around and walks away.