Page 1 of Wild Child
Prologue
Ellie
The smell of alcohol stained the air.
Grimacing, I hovered around the edges of a crowd of sweaty high school bodies clad in elaborate strappy gowns and dark tuxedos. Hairspray and perfume thickened the air. A simple dress of deep blue rustled around my legs with no design except a layer of sheer, shimmery fabric over the top. The bodice was a little tight, but my chest felt tight anyway.
Anyone would, wearing adress.
Not to mention the fact that I hadn’t been asked to this prom. My best friend was here with the sweetest, most popular girl in the school, and I hated crowds with an introvert’s fiery passion.
Still, I pressed on.
The high school gym hadn’t trulytransformed despite the sparkle lights, food table, and crepe banners clogging the air. You can’t hide a run-down school with cheap decorations, no matter how hard you tried. Certainly not for the last dance of the year.
The sudden absence of pulsing music left shuffles and whispers in the air. The principal, Mrs. Comstock, tapped across a stage on the far side of the gym. She wore a pair of bright pink high heels and a skirt of sheer black. Teenage couples pulled apart, turning their attention to a spotlight that illuminated her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a bun. She stopped at a microphone in the middle of the stage, an envelope in her left hand.
“Boys and girls,” she said, voice fuzzy from the speakers. “Hope you’re having a good time and thank you for behaving yourselves. The time has come to announce the King and Queen of this year’s prom.”
A round of applause and whoops rippled through the room, followed by a drumroll from the DJ, who worked in the corner. My stomach clenched. As if any of them needed Mrs. Comstock to tell them who would be King and Queen. We all knew who would get the crown. I crossed my arm in front of me, tucking my icy fingers away. At least I wasn’t late.
Where wasthe perfect couple anyway?
My heart thumped as a familiar set of broad shoulders came into view on the other side of the room, near a punch bowl guarded by the towering football coach Mr. Bell. Coach Bell glowered behind the bowl in a challenge to anyone who tried to get past him with alcohol. Not far away stood my best friend Devin Blaine. His sandy, dark hair had been combed into submission for the night. I preferred it unruly. He had his arm around a girl named Cassidy, who wore a brilliant, strawberry-pink dress that fluffed around her legs.
Devin tugged her closer to the middle of the room, where a few of his football buddies had congregated. When Devin leaned down to whisper in her ear and she grinned broadly, I clenched my fingers together and resisted the urge to dart away.
This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come. It didn’t matter that it was Devin’s senior prom, that he’d surely take the crown withCassidy. Both of them ruled the school with their unsought-for-popularity. I, on the other hand, kept to the shadows. Occasionally, Devin’s spotlight put me in the public eye, but he largely protected me from it. His friends were his friends at school and football practice. I got the rest of him. They knew to leave me alone, and I lived happily at his side where I belonged.
This was our only opportunity to have a dance together before he exited the teenage world and stepped into the adult one.
I shouldn’t have come.
But something—maybe innate loyalty or deep desperation—kept me glued to the spot as Mrs. Comstock ruffled through the envelope to pull out a piece of paper. Everybody already knew the two names there, but the formality lent a sense of routine to the whole event. Soft music started in the background, a royal accouterment with dramatic violins. Two of Devin’s friends nudged him from behind. He rolled his eyes at them good-naturedly.
I wanted to vomit.
Mrs. Comstock leaned closer to the microphone, gazed out on the crowd, and grinned. The spotlight washed out her tanned face as she purposefully delayed the suspense. Given the chance, I’d willingly slash at her like a cat. Somewhere in the crowd, a girl tittered. Another called out, “Just say it already!”
My heart hiccupped as she paused for another seemingly endless minute before crying, “Devin Blaine and Cassidy Tanner!”
Music crashed through the speakers, drowning out the shouts and cries of almost everyone in the room. Applause thundered. Balloons, strapped to a net on the ceiling, rained all over the floor. Glitter cluttered the air in a metal shimmer. Devin, with his heart-stopping smile, held a bent elbow out for Cassidy. A hand covered her mouth. Her eyes—so perfectly warm and kind and compassionate I wanted to hate her but couldn’t—sparkled with shock.
Really? I wanted to say.You’re surprised? No one else is.
The perfect couple ascended the stairs on the side of the stage together, toward the awaiting student body president and vice president who held their crowns. Cassidy’s tiara glittered obnoxiously as they set it on top of her head. She looked beautiful, with her dark skin offset by the white gems inlaid in her dress. She waved at her adoring public that had gone wild the moment the crown hit her head.
But it was Devin that took my breath away.
The tuxedo cut angular lines across his shoulders, and his hair now had the adorably tousled look I loved so much. Star quarterback had served him well. Helookedlike a King up there with his bowtie, wide smile, and a genuine affability for people that boggled me.
I leaned back against the wall, crushing my skirt in my hands. My heart banged so loud in my ears I couldn’t hear the congratulatory screams anymore. Just the race of my blood through my body. There was only half an hour left of the dance, plenty of time to find him in the crowd and fulfill the promise of our dance. Cassidy would let me—she was good and kind that way. She wouldn’t think Devin’s tag-along best friend that was only a junior would be in her way.
Although I felt she was inmyway.
An ugly truth had occurred to me earlier that night as I’d watched him get dressed for the dance. It happened the moment I comprehended that I was jealous of him being with a girl as perfect as Cassidy. Seeing him on the stage, as far from me as he’d ever been, slammed the truth into me all at once.
I freaking loved my best friend.
