by Ruby Vincent
“...this weekend. I know we’re all looking forward to it,” Ezra said sunnily, “but first, our headmaster with a message.”
Ezra and his co-host disappeared from the screen and were replaced by a man I had only met in person once: Headmaster Evergreen.
I scrunched down in my seat—as though the weight of his gaze was reaching through the screen and pressing on me.
“Good morning, freshman class.”
Headmaster Evergreen was a thin man. No matter what suit I saw him in morning after morning; it always looked like he was swimming in it. But despite that, every other part of him fell into the stereotype. His beard was neatly trimmed, thick glasses perched on the edge of his nose, and there was a slight thinning on the top.
“As you all know, the Halloween masquerade ball is tomorrow night. As such, afternoon classes will be canceled so you can purchase what you need for the dance.”
A squeal behind me made me turn to Sofia. “We’re going shopping together,” said my best friend. “It’s happening. Don’t try to get out of it.”
I laughed. “I won’t. I need an outfit anyway.”
“...expect you to remember you represent this school at all times.” The headmaster’s voice broke through our conversation. “Conduct yourself in a proper manner while you off campus and return on time. No excuses.”
I had the strongest urge to say “yes, sir” even though he wasn’t in the room.
“Thank you.” The screen went dark and then Ezra and Catarina were back.
I dropped my head and picked up my pencil to return to my math. A shadow fell over my paper.
“So who you going with to this dance, Val?”
Maybe it was him using my actual name for once that made me answer. “The girl behind me.” I shot Jaxson a smile as he scraped his chair over to my desk. He paid no mind to the daggers Markham was shooting our way. I did care, but ignoring a guy like Jaxson was impossible. He demanded attention like a burning building. “Why?”
He grinned. “Don’t get excited; I wasn’t asking. I’ll be deejaying the dance.”
“You will? They didn’t want a professional?”
His grin widened. “They did, and that’s what they got.”
I rolled my eyes.
“And it’s good you don’t have a date. I don’t want to be up there watching you grind that ass on anyone else.”
Propping my head on my palm, I smiled at him. “Who I grind my ass on is my business,” I returned. “So just don’t watch.”
Chuckling, Jaxson leaned in until I was enveloped in his spicy, sweet scent. His blue eyes danced as we fell into a routine that was becoming familiar. “I do like ’em feisty, but you take it to a whole other level, girl.” His gaze swept my face in a way that was blatantly appreciative. It pulled a blush to my cheeks. “You’ll save me a dance tomorrow night.”
“Are you asking me or telling me?” I replied, brows raised.
“You pick.” Jaxson reached out and brushed a curl behind my ear, leaving a trail of goose bumps in his wake. “The result will be the same.”
He was pulling back and returning to his desk before I thought of something to say.
Sofia tapped my shoulder. I caught her look and winced. “Don’t say it.”
“Don’t say what?” she replied, careful to make sure her voice didn’t carry. “Don’t say you both need to pop into the stairwell and bang it out already. Okay, I won’t say it.”
If I thought my face was on fire before. “No one is banging anything,” I hissed. “Where do you get this stuff from?”
Her smile told me how much she was enjoying this. “You two flirt literally every morning.”
I snuck a peek at Jaxson, but he was absorbed with talking to Claire. “Yeah, and then he spends the rest of the day flirting with everyone else. It doesn’t mean anything, and even if it did”—my throat grew tight—“I’m not ready for a relationship with anyone.”
“Whatever you say,” she sang.
I pointedly turned my back on her and went back to my work. Things were going well for me. My grades were up. I wouldn’t be taking a Diamond spot as highest GPA in the class, but I was maintaining an A/B average. Sofia, Claire, Eric, Paisley, and I were tight. We ate together every day and goofed around campus on the weekends. And most importantly, I haven’t dealt with Ryder since the party.
Like the rest of us, he was too busy with school and whatever he did as a Knight to make my life miserable, and I was more than happy with that. Life in Evergreen was good; I wouldn’t mess with that by getting into a relationship I wasn’t ready for.
And I repeated that to Sofia as we headed for the school gates that afternoon. “I’ve already got a gorgeous date,” I said. “There’s no way I could trade up.”
Sofia swept her hair over her shoulders. “That’s true. You can’t do better than me.”
I laughed. “So where are we going first?”
First years streamed around us, all heading for the shuttles waiting beyond the gates. There was a buzz of excitement in the air. After all this hard work, we were more than ready to blow off some steam.
“Dress first,” Sofia announced. “Then we’ll find masks to match. If they had given us more time to shop, we could have gotten them custom-made. I tried to get Madam Madeline to order me a mask, but... she was busy.”
I drifted closer and bumped her shoulder. I wished there was something I could say to make her feel better, but the only thing that could do that was her parents giving a crap.
“Anyway, a costume shop will have to do.”
Together we strode down the paved path and escaped through the gates. Five darkly tinted shuttles with the school’s name on the side waited for us.
We walked up to the nearest shuttle and fell in line. We were all going to the same place: Evergreen Promenade.
I climbed up and waved to Eric and Claire in the back. We took the free seats next to them.
The second my butt hit the seat, I caught sight of Isabella Bruno. She glided down the aisle and, one by one, her posse followed after her. In the last few weeks, I’d gotten to know all the Diamonds, even if some were only by sight—like advertised: they were all top in the school in some way or other, and they all milked it. Claiming the lunch table nearest the Knights, throwing parties in their dorms, getting special treatment from the professors. They weren’t on the same level as Jaxson, Ezra, Maverick, and Ryder, but they were close.
Lesson Number Two: There is a hierarchy in Evergreen, and it matters.
“You missed the homecoming dance, Val.” My eyes slid from Isabella to Eric. “The parties here are the best.”
“I’m excited. I missed the homecoming dance at my old school too.”
Claire frowned. “Oh no, did you get sick again?”
“Again?” Sofia asked.
“I got sick my last year in middle school,” I explained. “Mono. It was awful.”
“Val was out of school for months,” Claire added.
“Yeah, but that wasn’t why I missed homecoming. I couldn’t afford a dress and decided it was better not to give the kids another reason to make fun of me.”
“Oh.” Claire dropped her eyes and the conversation. I read all over her face that she was remembering what I went through in middle school. By the time the bus pulled away from the curb, we had moved on to another topic.
The ride into town was short, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot to see. The difference in this neighborhood and my own was staggering. The streets I used to walk were littered with trash and cigarette butts while these were pristine. The view from the windows I looked out of boasted grimy buildings and smoggy air, while there were rolling hills and trees as far as the eye could see. Topping a few of those hills were the mansions many of the students called home—Sofia being one of them.
She pressed her finger against the glass. “See that brown one? That’s my place.” I bobbed my head in awe. Even from here I could see it was gorgeous. “Ooh! You sho
uld stay with us over winter break. It’ll be so much fun!”
“I’ll ask my mom,” I replied as the mansion faded in the distance. “But I couldn’t stay the whole break. She’ll need help with Adam.”
“Whatever, as long as you come.”
Ten minutes later, we were turning into the promenade. There was practically a stampede when the doors opened up. Students found their friends and ran off in a dozen directions, hunting down their favorite stores.
Sofia seized my hand the moment we stepped down. “Okay, first Maxfield, then Dynasty, then Saks, and if we haven’t found dresses by then... we panic.”
I laughed. “Alright, let’s do it.”
I looked over at Eric and Claire. “You guys coming with us?”
Eric shook his head. “Got my suit already. I only came out to get off campus.” He gave us a salute as he walked off. “See you guys later. I’ll be the one with the chocolate ring around his mouth.”
“You better be packing some chocolate for me,” Sofia called after him. She turned on us, beaming. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Claire backed away. “I’m going to Green Mart for my dress.” She cut eyes to me. “Val, shouldn’t you— I mean, do you want to come with me?”
“Oh, right,” said Sofia. She dropped my hand.
“Why don’t we all go together? We do Green Mart and then hit Sofia’s stores.”
The girls agreed, dropping their uncomfortable looks, and we took off.
Green Mart had the bargain finds you’d expect of a supermarket, but they didn’t have a great selection of party dresses. Claire looked through the clearance racks until she found a black and emerald one-shoulder dress that we gushed over.
On the way back to the promenade, Claire broke off from the group. “I’m going to drop my bag on the bus then catch up with you guys.”
I nodded. Claire was far from the only kid on scholarship, but that didn’t mean she wanted to flaunt it. Not all the rich kids were as nice as Sofia.
“Okay, Maxfield is on the end of this street. I saw a dress on their website last night that was killer.”
She dragged me off to the boutique. Sofia burst through the doors and left me standing on the welcome mat.
My eyes swept the cream carpets, lounges, and color displays. I had never been in a store like this. I had never walked down a street that had stores like this.
These clothes are so—
“Hello, can I help you?”
I jumped.
A store attendant had materialized at my side. She was impeccably dressed—not a hair out of place and makeup done with an expert hand. The clothes she wore no doubt equaled six months of Mom’s paycheck, and from the way she scanned me up and down, she was seeing if mine did too.
I tugged my blazer closed and her eyes immediately fell on the Evergreen patch. Her whole face changed.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” she said cheerily. “My name is Christine. You must be here for the Evergreen Halloween ball. We’ve gotten multiple orders to be picked up tonight. Are we holding something in the back for you?”
“No, I haven’t found my dress yet.”
“Not a problem, ma’am. I would be more than happy to assist you. Can you tell me more about what you’re looking for?”
Biting my lip, I glanced around at the parade of obscenely expensive clothes. “I was thinking blue. Like a dark or midnight blue.”
“I know just the thing. Why don’t you sit down and enjoy a cup of tea while I pull a few dresses for you?” She looked me up and down again, but this time her look was shrewd over snobbish. “Size zero. C-cup.”
I clapped my hands over my chest. “Um, yes.”
“Perfect. I’ll be back in a moment.”
She took off before I could get a word out. Not seeing why not, I padded across the carpet to the middle of the room where couches and a small coffee table took up the space. Resting on the table was a fine tea set. I touched my hand to the teapot. It was still warm.
I never felt so bizarre as when I filled my dainty cup with Earl Grey tea and relaxed onto the lounge. I was definitely not in Wakefield anymore.
“Val? Valentina?” Sofia emerged from the back of the store. “There you are. I found it. What do you think?”
It was a strapless bloodred mermaid dress. My mouth dropped. “Dude, if you don’t get that, I will.”
She squealed, clutching it to her chest. “No way, it’s mine. I’m going to try it on. Don’t move.”
“I’ll be here.” I waved her off and went back to my tea.
“Ma’am?” Christine returned with her choice in tow. “What do you think of this?”
I sucked in a breath—and my tea—and choked. I fell into a coughing fit as Christine held up the dress.
“—love the Brodeur.” A voice cut through my hacking, sounding from the dressing rooms Sofia had disappeared into. “But there will be diamonds on my mask so I need something to...” Isabella, Airi, and Natalie stepped out onto the floor. Isabella trailed off and frowned at Christine. “Chris, what are you doing? I told you Mother won’t approve a dress over two thousand and this isn’t even in the right color or size. Put it back.”
“This is not for you, Bella.” How often do you have to shop here to get on nickname terms with the attendant? Christine turned to me. “It’s for her. What do you think?” she asked, holding the dress up proudly.
Three pairs of eyes landed on me, but I only had eyes for the dress. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. It beckoned me forward and I climbed out of my seat to get a closer look. A midnight blue masterpiece of tulle, lace, and jewels stared back at me. The top was sheer, showing off the shoulders, sides, and back, but intricate beadwork covered the front. The rest of the dress cascaded to the floor in a waterfall that shifted from blue to black as it caught the light.
“Valentina?” Isabella looked at me like she had no idea what I was doing here. “But she can’t afford that either.” She didn’t sound like she was trying to be mean; on the contrary, she spoke like she was stating a simple fact.
Christina lost her smile. “Excuse me?”
“She doesn’t—”
“Actually, I think it’s perfect.” I met Isabella’s eyes steadily. “If it fits, I’ll take it.”
Christina perked back up. “Excellent. I’ll put this in your dressing room.”
“What is this?” Isabella folded her arms. “Am I missing something? You said your mother works in a daycare and your dad took off before you were born.”
“She does. And he did.”
Her brows drew together. “Then why are you pretending you can afford a four thousand dollar dress?”
I lifted my shoulders. “Who’s pretending?”
I stepped around her and went into the dressing room. I knew the moment I slid the dress over my thighs that this would be the one. A look in the mirror only confirmed it.
I left the dressing room, the gown slung over my arm, and slapped my credit card on the counter while Isabella, Airi, and Natalie watched.
Chapter Seven
My fingers glided over the stones, following the curves and dips of the mask. I hadn’t put it on yet. I was having too much fun staring at it.
My bedroom door flew open. “Val? You ready?”
“You’ve got to learn to knock,” I replied without turning around. “What if I had been naked?”
“You never get naked—hence the trouble getting rid of your V-card.”
“Shut up,” I laughed. “I’m not having trouble.”
“Mm hmm. Especially in that dress,” she purred. The figure in the mirror looked even more amazing in the red mermaid dress than when I saw her the day before. Sofia had piled her silken hair on top of her head and let the curls fall on one side of her face. She completed the look with the red and white Venetian-style mask perched on her nose.
“Let me see you.”
Sofia grasped my shoulder and spun me around. She whistled. “You look amazing. Jax
son won’t be able to keep his hands off you.”
The bubbles made a reappearance. “Yes, he will,” I said firmly. “Everyone is keeping their hands to themselves.”
“Everyone except me.” Sofia took my mask and turned me back around. “I may wander off with Jeremiah at some point,” she said while she carefully placed it on my face and tied the ribbon beneath my bun. “Will you be okay on your own?”
“I’ll be fine. You two have fun.”
“Thanks, Val.” She stepped away to let me have the full effect. I could barely believe that reflection was me. The dress molded to my body like I was poured into it, and the mask... Somehow we had managed to find the exact shade of blue as my dress. A Phantom of the Opera–style filigree mask that covered more of my face on one side, but was studded with glittering stones that drew attention to my light dusting of eye shadow.
I was ready.
THE DANCE WAS BEING held in the sports complex, but if I hadn’t known that beforehand, I wouldn’t have recognized it. The gym had been decorated to disguise everything from the bleachers to the hardwood floors. I placed my heels on the dark carpet that was now surrounding a black, makeshift dance floor. Heavy curtains hung from the ceiling covering up the paneled walls and scoreboards. And that was not the only thing hanging from the ceiling.
I marveled at the hanging lights and spinning spotlights as much as I did all the people around me. It was hard to make anyone out between the darkened room, pounding music, and jeweled masks, but it was clear everyone had dressed to impress.
Sofia waved to someone across the room. “Okay, Val. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Wait. What? I didn’t know you were ditching me the second we stepped inside.”
She giggled and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “You don’t need me. I see someone else is ready to take my spot.”
I froze. Jaxson?
Sofia disappeared into the crowd as a hand settled on the small of my back. A single word drifted over my shoulder.
“Valentina.”
“Ezra.”
That was the only person it could have been. I knew that voice for all the times it whispered in my ear, and I knew that touch from the ripples it enticed from my skin with every accidental brush. I turned and met his obsidian eyes—the exact shade as the mask that obscured his features.