Page 45 of The Promposal

“I don’t know.” I couldn’t even think of anything bad enough to do to her. “But one crisis at a time. We’ll figure it out.”

I’d have to have faith that we would fix the prom and make it an incredible night. That everything would work itself out. Getting revenge on Mercedes was way down on the bottom of the list, regardless of how much I wanted it.

Other things mattered more.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Later that evening when I got home, I collapsed onto the couch, dropping my bag on the floor. My dad wandered out of his studio at the noise. “WTF, kid?”

What had I done that was bad enough that my own father was swearing at me in an acronym? But then I remembered that he was my dad and probably had no idea what he was saying. “What do you think WTF means?”

He sat down on the couch next to me, the smell of oil paints drifting toward me. “It means ‘What’s with the face?’”

I resisted the urge to groan at his utter uncoolness. “No, it doesn’t. And yours would be WWTF. Don’t use WTF again, please.” Especially when he didn’t know the actual meaning.

“Okay. But you look upset.”

A year ago, he wouldn’t have noticed. He would have been too caught up in whatever he was painting to pay attention. While I’d always felt loved, his relationship with Jennifer had turned him into a much more attentive father.

Which could sometimes be a bad thing, but other times, like now, I was glad that I could unload on him. “Life sucks. The universe sucks. Everything everywhere sucks.”

“Well, it’s good to know that whatever’s going on with you, at least you’re not being overly dramatic.”

I frowned as he cracked himself up. “I’m not kidding, Dad. Everything is terrible.”

“Maybe I should rent out a storage locker for all your current negativity.”

This time I did groan. “You don’t know all the facts. Like, Trent and Ella broke up, and I punched him for cheating on her.”

“I knew that already.”

“What?”

“Ella told me and then Jennifer told me. You’re actually the last one to tell me the news. I also heard she already has another date?”

“She’s Ella. Of course she does.” And I meant that as a matter of fact, not with any bitterness. I was really glad she had someone to go with. Even if it was going to be a stupid at-somebody’s-house prom. “And Mercedes Bentley blackmailed my treasurer into not paying our deposit check, and we lost our venue, and with prom being only a few days away, we weren’t able to find anywhere else to hold it. So now we’re having the prom at freaking Victor Kim’s house.”

“Do you want me to make some calls?”

Some small part of me was so tempted, but I couldn’t accept. “No, we’ll figure it all out.”

He looked at me in surprise.

“What? That’s just part of becoming a grown-up. Handling your own problems and not running to your daddy to make it better. Legally, I am an adult,” I reminded him.

“Yes, and legally, you’re still my little girl and always will be.” He kissed me on the top of my head. “Is that everything?”

“Well, there’s the stupid thing mom said in that interview, and then there’s Jake.”

I rarely brought Jake up to my father because of the dangerous look he got in his eyes whenever I said his name. “What about Jake?”

“He’s ... being secretive.” And it seemed to be getting worse. Like after our emergency meeting this morning (which Jake wasn’t there for) I saw him in the afternoon, outside the building, talking to Ella. They both had very serious expressions on their faces. When I saw them together, I thought of how not too long ago I would have assumed something was happening between them. I had assumed it, at the masquerade ball back in September. I’d been completely wrong then, and I knew Ella would never hurt me that way, but it still felt like another strange thing in a big pile of strange.

“Not that I’m on Jake’s side, but people are allowed to keep things private.”

Boyfriends weren’t. Which, if it wasn’t already, should be another one of those Ten Commandments.Thou shalt not keep secrets from your girlfriend.I shrugged off my father’s logic. “And on top of everything else, he hasn’t asked me to prom. I don’t understand why.”

“Have you talked to him about it? Told him how important prom is to you?”

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