by Kieran Scott
“It’s Veronica,” I told her.
“Tell her I said hey!”
No arguments. That was how it was. When Veronica called, you took the call. It was just accepted fact. I clicked over.
“Hey, V!” I said, my fingers going to the diamond D pendant around my neck, a gift from Veronica for my sixteenth birthday. It was exactly like her V, but slightly smaller. She hadn’t given one to Mariah or our fourth, Kenna Roy, so it meant a lot to me.
“Hey, D! Listen, I wanted to tell you that I bought a new dress for homecoming, and it’s blue.”
I stopped halfway across the sidewalk. “What? But mine’s blue.”
“I’m sending you a pic right now.”
My phone beeped with a text. I opened the photo and just about died. The dress was not only the exact same shade of blue as mine, but it was almost the exact same cut. Except this one had more of a plunging neckline. With her hair curled into perfect tendrils and her lips shellacked in deep red, Veronica looked like she was walking the red carpet at the VMAs. I would kill to look that good, just once.
“I don’t get it,” I said into the phone, ducking into the shade under the pink-and-brown-striped awning of Goddess Cupcakes. “We shopped together. I thought you liked the red dress you bought.”
“Um, hello? When are you going to tell me how much you love the new one?” Veronica asked.
A harried-looking mom with a double stroller walked by me, and one of her mop-haired kids dropped his striped sock on the ground. I bent to retrieve it and jogged as best I could to catch up with her.
“Miss? Your son dropped this,” I called.
She stopped and looked at me with tired eyes. “Thank you!” she gushed. “He would’ve screamed the whole way home.”
I smiled at her and waved at the little guys as they took off again. One of them waved back. Too cute for words.
“Darla? Are you there?”
I flinched. I’d almost forgotten I was on the phone.
“No! I mean, yes. Sorry. The dress is awesome,” I said. “But aren’t you worried that we’re going to look . . . I don’t know . . . like matching bridesmaids or something?”
“Of course not. Because after school tomorrow we’re going shopping for your new dress.”
Suddenly I felt very, very hot. I turned around and pressed my forehead into the cool glass window of Goddess, my fingers gripping my phone so tightly they hurt. I loved my dress. Veronica knew I loved my dress. It made my waist look tiny and my legs look longer and the cap sleeves totally hid the fact that one of my shoulders was slightly higher than the other—something my back brace didn’t entirely fix.
I took a breath, choosing my words very carefully. “That’s really nice of you to offer, V,” I said. “But I like my dress. And it was on sale, so you know I can’t return it.”
“So you’ll wear it to prom,” Veronica said, like the conversation was over. “Or give it to your mom or something. It probably wouldn’t make her hips look huge.”
“It makes my hips look huge?” I asked, lifting my head.
“Well, when your waist is cinched that small, your hips naturally stand out by comparison.” Veronica was getting impatient. “Why are we still talking about this? Tomorrow we’ll go shopping and find you something even better, I promise. I gotta go. Mom’s trying to force-feed me an omelet, so I must go get her head examined.”
“Okay. Bye.”
Veronica was already gone. I gazed down at the picture of her again, feeling suddenly exhausted. She, of course, looked perfectly proportioned in her dress. I flicked through my photos to the one we’d taken of me in the dressing room when I’d decided on mine.
Oh my God. My hips were huge! How had I not noticed that before? I blanked the screen and shoved my phone back in my purse. There. Gone. I could obsess about that later. Right now I was late to meet my boyfriend.
Shaking my hair back from my face, I reached for the door handle, but froze. There, not five feet away inside the shop, was Orion, and he was talking to . . . no, flirting with True Olympia.
They were totally oblivious to me standing there. True laughed, tipping her head back to expose that long, swanlike neck, and Orion watched appreciatively, giving her a ravenous look that should have been reserved for me.
Everything inside me clenched. He was my boyfriend. Mine. I’d worked hard for this moment, for this relationship, the guy who finally proved to the world that I was the girl I’d always wanted to be. There was no way I was going to let that weirdo sweep in and ruin it for me.
Deep breath, Darla. Let it go. Deep breath. Let it go.
No. Not this time.
Homecoming court was going to be announced tomorrow. If Orion and I were nominated, there would be posters to make and campaigns to wage and speeches to write. I couldn’t have my boyfriend flirting with other girls. It would make me seem weak. Pathetic. Unworthy.
Then I remembered my second mantra—the one that my mother had nothing to do with. This one I’d come up with myself to get through moments just like these:
What would Veronica do?
I yanked open the door and strode across the tile floor toward Orion. True took one look at me and her face fell.
Don’t trip, I thought. Don’t trip, don’t trip.
“Hey, baby!” I trilled, throwing my arms around Orion’s neck. I did sort of trip at the last second, but it just made it look like I was really enthusiastic about the hug.
“Hey!” he replied.
I kissed him right on the lips, leaving no room for misinterpretation as I moved my hips against his and pressed my chest into his rough wool jacket.
“Miss me?” I asked.
“You know I did,” he replied, smoothing my hair behind my ear in that way that sent a shiver down my neck.
“Hi, True,” I said blithely, smiling at her expressionless face. “Can I get a coffee? Skim milk, two sweeteners?”
“Sure,” she said.
Then I turned and dragged Orion to the corner booth, where I sat half on his lap with my legs crooked over his. He couldn’t take his eyes or his hands off me. It was like there was no one else in the room.
“You ready to be my homecoming king?” I asked, cuddling against him.
Not that I ever thought I could win. A senior almost always won, and if it wasn’t a senior, it would be Veronica. But I could pretend. I spent half my life pretending.
Orion smiled sexily. “You’re gonna be the most beautiful queen ever.”
I smiled back. This was much better.
CHAPTER FOUR
True
I couldn’t stand behind the counter for one more minute. I was in such close proximity to Orion and Darla’s smacking lips that I could actually hear the slurping, see the saliva when it caught the sunlight just so. If I didn’t move soon, the resulting meltdown would probably involve someone getting an entire vat of decaf dumped over her head. Which, while momentarily satisfying, would be bad for everyone in the long run.
“Tasha?” I turned to my coworker, who was pouring out coffee for a middle-aged dad with a six-year-old who’d just picked up his birthday cupcakes. “I’m taking my ten.”
“Oooookay.”
She had a dubious look on her pretty face. Probably because we’d only been working an hour. But when a girl needed a break, a girl needed a break. I lifted the pink Formica counter open at its hinge and walked over to the table on the far side of the room near the front window, where Hephaestus had settled in for his stakeout. He gave me a wry look as I sat down across from him, my back to the happy couple.
“You okay?” he asked.
I wanted to put my head in my hands, but I refused to slump. Not in front of her. I had recognized the look she’d given me when she’d thrown her arms dramatically around Orion’s neck. Triumph. Plain and simple.
“
He was flirting with me, wasn’t he? Before she got here,” I whispered hoarsely. “I’m not making that part up.”
“You’re not making that part up, no.” Hephaestus slowly folded the newspaper he was perusing and laid it aside. With the red-and-blue-striped scarf hanging around the neck of his open leather jacket, the steaming coffee, the newsprint, he looked like a young, hot college professor. “But does it really matter? As soon as you make your next love match, the two of you will be reunited and you’ll be out of here, anyway. What happens today is irrelevant. Soon all of this will be vapor, like a waking nightmare.”
I looked down at my hands, the fingertips raw from practicing with my bow for hours last night after so many days without touching a string.
“It doesn’t feel irrelevant.” Darla giggled loudly. “Though nightmare is about right.”
Someone rapped loudly on the window and Hephaestus and I both jumped, but it wasn’t Artemis or Apollo. It was Wallace. He waved, then made a move for the entrance. At the same moment, Darla extricated herself from Orion’s arms and started across the café toward the bathroom. Wallace opened the door, still looking in my direction, and slammed right into Darla’s side. What can I say? I was powerless to stop it.
Well, actually, I could have stopped it with my powers, but I didn’t. My bad. There are worse things than hoping to see your rival fall on her butt.
“Oh God! I’m so sorry!” Wallace said, grasping her arm to steady her.
“It’s okay. I’m fine,” Darla said, flustered.
Then they looked at each other. His eyes widened. She blushed. For the first time I think they were really seeing who they’d each just bumped into, and it definitely had an effect on the both of them.
“Oh, um . . . hey . . . Darla.” Wallace shoved his hands into the pockets of his heather-gray wool jacket.
“Hey, it’s . . . Wallace. I mean, hi.”
“I didn’t see you,” Wallace said. “I mean, I did see someone, but it was too late to stop, so I tried to zig and then you—”
“Zagged,” Darla said.
They smiled. Together. Like mirror images. Like they were both thinking the same thing. It lasted half a second, before Darla shyly averted her eyes to look at the floor, but I saw it. Something flipped inside my chest, and my pulse began to race. There was way more going on here than the average person could see.
They liked each other. More than liked. I could feel it in my bones.
But Wallace Bracken, the proud tech geek with a 4.0 in awkward behavior, and Darla Shayne, the boy-crazy, clothing-obsessed, popular chick with the vapid friends? How was that even possible? Until now I’d never seen the two of them speak to each other.
“Yeah,” Wallace said. “Anyway, I guess I should go—”
He pointed at me and Hephaestus.
“Me too.”
She lifted her hand in a sort of wave, then click-clacked toward the bathroom without looking back. Wallace turned slowly and joined us. His dark hair fell over his warm brown eyes, and he checked his iPhone quickly before shoving it back into the deep pocket of his black cargo pants.
“Hey, True . . . Heath.” Wallace made a big show of looking over the newspaper. “What’s happening in the world? Anything good?”
Hephaestus smirked. “Is there ever?”
Wallace laughed a fake laugh and glanced in the direction of the bathroom alcove.
“Um . . . what was that?” I asked.
He lifted his shoulders, Mr. Casual. “What was what?”
“That.” I lifted a thumb toward the ladies’ room door. “You and Darla. It seemed . . . awkward.”
“Oh. That.” He sat heavily in the chair next to mine. “We used to be friends. A long time ago. No big.”
He was avoiding my eyes. Wallace never lied, but he also never avoided my eyes. Which meant he was lying now. For the first time since I’d known him. Or at least not telling the whole truth.
“So,” he said, leaning forward and finally looking at me. “Where’s my cupcake?”
Way to change the subject. There was something going on here. What if Darla and Wallace were a love match? What if they were meant to be? On the outside, they were complete opposites and totally wrong for each other. But maybe he could ground her a little with his penchant for straight talk and total disregard for social acceptance. And maybe she could help him live a little—introduce him to new people, stray his attention from his iPad every now and then with a party or something.
And if they could find true love, then she would break up with Orion, and Orion would be . . . free.
“Coming right up,” I said with a smile, rising from my seat.
I walked back to the counter, feeling much lighter than I had when I’d left it, and shot Orion a big, bright smile—which he returned in spades now that his girlfriend wasn’t around. This could be it. This could really be it. My third pairing. Match this couple and Orion would be mine, one way or another. Mine, all mine.
CHAPTER FIVE
Darla
“Claudia! Peter! Wait up!”
I jogged as best I could in my Jimmy Choo boots to catch up with Claudia Catalfo and Peter Marrott in front of the school on Monday morning. It wasn’t easy, considering the pencil skirt I was wearing and the fact that the point on the bottom of the heels was about one millimeter square. When Claudia turned around, her eyes widened. I hoped because I looked so hot and not because I looked like I was about to deck.
“Hey, Darla,” Peter said, his brown hair flopping over his forehead adorably, like always. He looked me up and down. “Wow. You look—”
I paused in front of them, half panting. He didn’t finish his sentence. Just kind of winced. Claudia had a grip on his hand like she was afraid I might tear him away or something.
“I know,” I said, tossing my hair over my shoulder. “Well, homecoming court is being announced today, so I thought I’d dress up.”
Not just me, of course. Veronica and I had spent an hour on our phones last night, texting selfies back and forth until we found the perfect outfit. She was wearing a red cardigan and white tank top with a dark-gray miniskirt, and I was wearing a pink cardigan with a gray tank top and a black miniskirt. I had chosen the boots myself.
Claudia’s green eyes flicked to my cleavage and her nose wrinkled. A blush crossed my face, but whatever. The girl never wore makeup and dressed like a grandmother half the time in these turtlenecks and leggings, her hair always in a bun. I wished she would come into My Favorite Things, the boutique where I worked. When you’re that tiny, it’s practically a sin to wear baggy clothes. Plus, if she would give me five minutes, I could totally show her how to accentuate her cheekbones and make her eyes look five times bigger. But then, she’d landed Peter Marrott with her current look, so she must have been doing something right.
“Okay,” Claudia said, glancing at her watch. “So . . . did you need something?”
“Oh, right. I want to join Boosters,” I said as a school bus roared by us, leaving behind a huge cloud of acrid exhaust. “Orion Floros and I are going out, and I think I should take over as his . . . booster person.”
“But he already has a booster,” Claudia said.
I rolled my eyes. “I know, but True Olympia? Come on. He doesn’t even like her.”
Lie. He did like her. Possibly, he was even attracted to her. But it was one tiny white lie for the sake of the greater good. I hadn’t asked Orion yet, but I was sure that if I did, he would say that he would totally want me, his girlfriend, to be his booster instead of some random person who wasn’t even part of our crowd. It just made sense. Plus, I loved the idea of doing the things for him that a booster was supposed to do, like baking brownies and decorating his locker and leaving little gifts at his house. Projects were totally my thing.
Also, I didn’t like the way it felt, seeing them together yesterday
. I didn’t want to be jealous, but I was. Orion was my ticket to homecoming court. He was the last piece of my popularity puzzle. He wasn’t supposed to be looking at other girls like he wanted them. What would people think?
“Well, there she is now,” Claudia said, gesturing toward the parking lot. “If she doesn’t mind stepping down, then it’s fine.” She waved to True, who was walking toward the front door of the school with Heath at her side. The girl said something to Heath and came over to us alone. She was wearing a long, colorful, flowing skirt and a form-fitting white top. Very pretty. She’d definitely turned her whole look around since she’d first moved here. I had to admire that, at least.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?” she said, greeting the most popular guy in school and his girlfriend as if they were old friends. Color me confused.
“Darla wants to take over as Orion’s booster,” Claudia said, hugging a book to her chest. “Would you mind giving him up?”
I narrowed my eyes at True, trying for my best don’t mess with me look, which I’d learned by watching Veronica.
True laughed. “Um, yeah, I would.”
My jaw dropped, and an indignant sort of bleat came out. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” True replied.
I was so stunned I felt myself start to shrink. As hard as I tried, confrontation had never been my thing. When someone stood up to me, I became that girl again—the loser wallflower that no one listened to or cared about. The one who would sooner die than speak up for herself. My throat closed over, and I started to sweat. So, very, gross.
Get a grip, D. What would Veronica do?
I took a deep breath, lifted my chin, and looked down my nose at True.
“Excuse me, but he’s my boyfriend.”
Peter hid a laugh, badly, behind a cough. True sucked in her cheeks as if she’d just tasted a sour apple. “I’m aware. But if you wanted to be his booster, you should have signed up the day he made the team, like I did.”
“Okay, ladies,” Claudia said. “Let’s not make this a thing.”