Page 39 of The Promposal

That sent a shudder through me, and I didn’t know if it was from his words or the ice cream. I suspected it was all Jake. “I hope those things will be worth my time.”

I handed him my ice cream to finish off, eager to be on our way. He laughed at how my words didn’t match my actions. He got up, pulling me into his embrace. “Oh, it’ll be worth it. You’ll even like it. I promise.”

He was right.

I totally did.

I probably shouldn’t have made out with Jake until we’d talked everything through and I knew exactly where I stood with him and prom. But in my defense, he was super hot, I loved him, and he had magic lips. I was powerless to resist.

Wanting to talk things over with my sister, I tried to wait up for Ella when I got home that night. She was off doing some volunteer thingy. Petting babies and swaddling dogs. Something like that. But exhaustion overtook me, and I fell asleep in my school clothes. I had so many spinning plates that I had to make sure kept spinning, only they were all laden down with the pile of things I was worried about.

The next morning I drove with Jake. (Ella had already left.) I was excited to see her and tell her about my day date with Jake, until I realized that it might be painful for her to listen to me. It was probably better for me to keep quiet. I wondered how long it would be before I could tell her about my relationship without having to worry about hurting her.

And I wondered about how long my relationship might last.

Just after second period, I got a text from Ella.

COME TO THE FRONT OF THE SCHOOL RIGHT NOW!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL! REPEAT! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

A fizzy elation filled my entire body. Was this it? Was it finally happening? Had Jake come to his senses and was finally, finally going to give me my promposal? Why else would she be so excited and telling me to come out front?

This had to be it! I couldn’t believe it. My promposal! My heart thundered inside my chest as I raced to the front of the school, accidentally knocking people over (and apologizing for it) and generally causing a ruckus in the halls until I threw open the front doors.

I heard the sounds of trumpets being played. It was music like from a Renaissance fair. Which seemed odd. A big group of kids had gathered, and I heard a clicking, scraping noise. When I finally elbowed my way through the crowd, I saw a fully garbed knight, riding on a white horse toward the school. The horse’s hooves striking the asphalt was the noise I’d just heard.

Huh.

Why would Jake dress up in armor and get on a horse? That wasn’t really our thing. I mean, I guess it was sweet and romantic, just not what I’d been expecting.

“Fair Lady Ella!” a sophomore off to my left announced. He was in a costume that also had a strong Renaissance vibe to it. Billowy white tunic, a cloak that looked like it had been mended several times, and what looked a lot like brown tights/leggings.

It took me a second to realize he’d said Ella and not Mattie.

This wasn’t my promposal from Jake.

This was Ella’s promposal from whoever was on that horse. And the only thing I knew for sure? The guy most definitely was not Trent. Even if they were still together there was no way he’d make a fool of himself like this. Somebody else had gone to a lot of effort.

My sister deserved a guy who would ask her this way, just because it would make her happy.

Jake had been right. Not only about there being guys who would ask Ella if they knew she was single, but about how quickly the word about her breakup had spread. It had been only a couple of days since she’d officially ended things with Trent, and she already had a promposal.

“I am the knight’s loyal squire,” the kid in the patchy cloak said. “And Sir Deacon has fought his way through the classes of Malibu Prep, vanquished his foes on the field of football, and ridden a day and a night to make his way here. To ask you, fair Lady Ella, if you will allow him the great honor of escorting you to Ye Olde Prom. Make his dream come true and say yea, dear maiden!”

It was all so cheesy.

And if it had been for me, I would have broken out the tortilla chips to lap up all that yummy queso.

Deacon arrived then, taking off his helmet and handing it to his squire. All perfectly timed. He got down from the horse with some trouble, and I half expected him to fall over as he attempted to get clear of the animal. The squire got the horse to keep still by feeding him some carrots.

Then Deacon made his way over to my sister and knelt down, with some difficulty, his armor making all kinds of weird metallic squeaking noises as he got comfortable. “Ella, I know we don’t know each other that well, and you just got out of a relationship, but I’ve wanted to take you out for a long time and thought this was my big chance.”

It was sweet. I could see that his words affected my sister, too.

Deacon stood back up, with the same creaking noises, and offered his hand to Ella. She took it, and he led her around to the back of the horse. There was a sign on the rear of the animal that said, “Ella, will you go to prom with me? Yea or neigh?”

Cute.

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