The Real Prom Queens of Westfield High by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Author:Laurie Boyle Crompton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2013-12-16T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

I’m putting my books in my locker after first period when Rick grabs my arm and guides me into the math room. I try to resist, but he seems determined to get me alone.

He swings on me the moment the classroom door closes behind us. “What the hell, Shannon?”

I want to hide behind one of the desks. I’ve been so focused on getting even with Grace and winning Luke over to gain a foothold in the competition, I somehow managed to ignore Rick’s feelings for me. And the fact that they might be reciprocal.

Rick looks so angry I can’t think, and despite all my Prom Queen training, I find myself stammering, “I-I-I…j-just…”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He takes a step toward me, and I back up to one of the desks. Looking around wildly, I try to figure out whether or not this classroom is wired. If anyone walks in right now, I’m boned.

“What’s the matter? Afraid you’ll get caught talking to me?” Rick’s anger flashes and I want to explain everything. Instead, I keep my palms flat against the desk underneath me and shake my head no.

The emptiness of the classroom fades as Rick fills the space in front of me. Drawing closer until I’m leaning back against the desk, we stare at each other eye to eye. He glances down at my mouth, and my heart gives a dip. I lick my lips and realize my body language is practically begging him to kiss me right now.

Rick wraps an arm around my waist, and I instinctively press forward. He touches my cheek. I close my eyes. I don’t care about being a bottom three loser, or getting even with Grace Douglas, or anything except for how much I want his lips on mine. Wait for them.

“Shannon?”

I open my eyes and see hardness has seeped back into his gaze. “What is going on between you and Luke Hershman?”

“I-I-I…” I start stammering again, and the spell is broken.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Rick releases me, pushes off the desk, and turns away.

“Wait,” I call, but he just keeps walking. At the door, he turns to give me a look of sadness, but I can’t think of a single thing I’m allowed to say that will make him stay.

***

It turns out Marnie must have been right about Rick’s “I’ll reject you before you can reject me” complex, because when I try to tell him later,“It’s not what you think,” he won’t even look at me. Instead, he gets suddenly absorbed with something buried deep in his backpack.

At the end of the day, when I walk by his locker, he starts studying his BlackSpot sneakers as if they’ve sprouted wings.

“All right already,” I say to him, holding my palms up in surrender. “I get it.”

Some of us don’t need a 150 IQ to know when we’re being blown off.

The cameras must have caught Rick dragging me into the math room, because Victoria asks me about it at our next SACC meeting. She

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