Page 28 of The Promposal

“Do you know one of the things I do at school?” Ella asked Kenyetta. “I’m a cheerleader. Mattie’s told me how much you love to dance. Do you think any of your friends would like to learn a cheer routine?”

Her entire face changed into one of pure glee. “Let me go check!” Kenyetta ran off and began talking to some of the other girls.

Huh. Ella distracted Kenyetta without me having to do anything. One item off my to-do list.

“If I’m not back in half an hour, come rescue me,” my sister said. “Because I really want to get a pedicure done before we leave. The woman they have doing them is from Gigi’s, and she is the best. I’ve been trying to get in with her for weeks, but she’s always booked.”

Kenyetta returned with a handful of giggling girls, and they dragged Ella away. I took my gift bag over to a table that overflowed with presents. Like a gift volcano had erupted under the table and now it was spilling out over the top. I set it down, and the massive cake off to my right drew my attention. It was white and pink and looked scrumptious. But it hadn’t been cut yet. Darn. Despite eating all the ice cream in Malibu last night, I was still jonesing for some junk food.

I wondered if I could steal a tiny sliver from the back of the cake when I heard someone ask, “Are you stalking me now?”

Seriously? I turned around to see Mercedes Bentley scowling at me. “Stalkingyou? My standards are much higher. I mean, I could bring it up at the next Stalkers Anonymous to see if anyone else is interested in the job, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.” What was Mercedes doing at Kenyetta’s house? It was so weird to see two completely different parts of my life converging on a single spot.

“I know you think you’re oh so funny.”

“I’m hilarious. If you’re not bright enough to see it, that’s on you.” That would have been an excellent phrase to walk out on. I couldn’t do it, though. Even though I knew that I shouldn’t have cared, I had to know why she was here. “What are you doing at a child’s birthday party? Hoping to trick some kids into following you back to your gingerbread house?”

Instead of looking upset at the wicked burn I’d just delivered, Mercedes appeared way too smug and self-assured. “My daddy is friends with Dr. Drummond, and he wanted us to put in an appearance. And you ... what? Travel around looking for something to do given that your life is so pathetic? Crashing a kid’s party is probably a big day for you.”

“I’m Kenyetta’s tutor, thanks.”

“That poor girl,” she sighed.

I had a whole bunch of repressed feelings to unload, and I aimed both barrels at Mercedes.

But before I could say anything, she spoke. “Ella seems sad,” she said, using a fake sympathetic voice. “Did something happen to the perfect princess?”

Something was off in her tone, where she sounded too innocent but actually knew exactly what had happened to my sister. Which wasn’t possible. Maybe I was getting paranoid in my old age.

Even though there was no way she could know about Trent and Ella, it seemed like Mercedes knew more than she was letting on. Otherwise she’d be standing in some corner texting and chewing her hair instead of trying to aggravate me. What did she know and when did she know it? Part of me wondered if she’d somehow been involved. Which seemed farfetched because it wasn’t like she had held Trent down and forced him to cheat on Ella.

But I wasn’t in the mood to play her games. “I’ve already punched an idiot once this week. Don’t think I won’t do it again. And I’m sure your suck-up of a father wouldn’t appreciate having to pay for another nose job.”

She let out a strangled, shocked sound, which I enjoyed probably more than I should have.

And as much as I wanted cake, I wanted to be far away from Mercedes more. I would not ruin Kenyetta’s party by smashing her birthday cake in Mercedes’s face.

Regardless of how much that image filled me with a certain kind of joy.

“And no Jake?” she called after me, and it was like those words had rooted me to the ground. I had to turn and look at her to see what she’d say next when I should have just kept walking. “You think everything’s going your way and then ... poof. It all falls apart.”

Either she was intensely psychotic and trying to upset me, or more intuitive than I’d given her credit for and somehow figured out that things were not going well in my life. “Enjoy the party,” I told her. “I don’t want to keep you. I’m sure you have plans to convince one of these girls to trade her voice for a pair of legs.”

I stormed off, not looking where I was going and nearly clotheslined myself with a row of white twinkling Christmas lights. I noticed a big white tent off to my right that had the word “Massages” on a sign out front. I ducked inside. I was in desperate need of a massage to relieve some of this anger. I didn’t want to get kicked out for acting on some violent tendencies.

Fortunately, they had a table free and led me to a curtained off area where I did my best to relax and enjoy myself and not think about Ella, Kenyetta, Mercedes, Trent, or Jake.

Especially Jake.

About twenty minutes later, I felt tons better and remembered that I was supposed to rescue Ella from the tweenagers.

I looked all over the backyard but couldn’t find her. And since her phone was still missing, it wasn’t like I could call her.

Again not looking where I was going, I almost ran straight into Bahati.

“Mattie! Are you enjoying yourself?”

I nodded enthusiastically. I wasn’t going to let one bad Mercedes run-in ruin my day. “I am. The massage tent is amazing.”

---