Page 41 of Kissing the Debutant
Lillian Preston, good girl, rule follower extraordinaire, broke the number one rule at Defiance Academy, and there would be no repercussions.
She’d always imagined rule breakers and rebels getting what they deserved for disobeying orders, for deciding their judgment was better than that of the adults trying to keep them safe.
Wylder was one such rebel. All year, Lillian watched her neighbor flaunt her rebellions, from the dreadlocks on her head to her constant sneaking out. Everyone at the academy knew Wylder wasn’t one of them, not really. A fact she held on to like a trophy. She didn’t want to be one of them, but she also didn’t openly disdain them either.
Her parents weren’t wealthy, they didn’t design apps that saved the world, or negotiate peace deals in foreign countries, or star in the latest Hollywood films.
Instead, they owned the local hardware store.
She wouldn’t even be at the academy if she hadn’t been kicked out of Twin Rivers High and if her country star brother didn’t get her in and pay her tuition.
Why was she proud of it?
Lillian understood her just a tiny bit more after the night before. Not because she knew Wylder better, but because she felt it too. That exhilaration that came with rebellion.
Long after she’d made it to her dorm, she lay grinning into the dark, wondering if this was how Wylder felt every day of her life. The girl who cut class and threw parties in empty school buildings during the summer. She was a legend.
And Lillian couldn’t hide from one simple fact any longer. She wanted to be friends with her.
But why would Wylder pick her? Why, when her friends at school consisted of popular hockey jocks and some of the smartest kids in school?
That was a question that haunted Lillian as she sat watching Wylder scroll through Facebook on her phone. “Do you think I should cut all my hair off?” Wylder asked the question like the answer wouldn’t matter to her, like that kind of decision was as big as what to eat for breakfast.
Lillian leaned over the side of her bed to stare down at the girl lounging on her floor. “Um… no?”
“Really? Because I think it could be fun. I could pull off the short pixie look. I think.” She shrugged and changed the subject. “I wish I was graduating this year.” She turned her phone so Lillian could see the picture of her brother and his equally well-known boyfriend. “Look at them. They even tagged me and said they wished I was there. Do you know where they are?”
Lillian shook her head.
“Rome.” Wylder groaned dramatically. “My brother is on tour in Rome, and I have to do a fifth year of high school. I’ve already done my penance. I don’t see why I should have to do an extra year.”
Ah, the consequences of rebellion. Wylder was expelled for cheating in a desperate attempt to pass her junior year, which she ultimately had to repeat at the academy. Maybe the exhilaration of rule breaking wasn’t worth it.
Lillian focused back on her phone and the conversation she was following on Facebook. The competition was coming soon, and she didn’t feel any more prepared than before taking Jack on as choreographer. And here were the girls she’d met at orientation bragging about how they couldn’t wait.
Luckily, Lillian’s sort-of friends, sort-of competitors weren’t in her category. They wouldn’t be going head to head, but she imagined the kinds of dancers she’d be up against as she read the chat.
Jenna: I am so ready to get this over with.
Rose: I heard they had a record number of sign-ups.
Lola: Does it matter? They won’t beat us.
Lillian’s cheeks warmed at being included in that ‘us’. Through all her dance classes, other dancers had only seen her as someone to best or someone to revere. Never anus.
Wylder pushed herself from the floor and jumped onto the bed, jostling Lillian and knocking the phone from her hands. “Whatcha doing?”
Lillian’s shoulders stiffened. “Were you really that bored that you wanted to come do nothing in my room?”
“Lil.” She bumped her shoulder. “This is what people do in the dorms on the weekend. Haven’t you ever just… hung out?”
Lately her weekends had been filled with debutant events and dance, but even before that, she couldn’t remember ever just sitting with someone. “Uh.”
“This is why you need me.”
Yes, but why did Wylder need her? “Is the hockey team out of town or something?”
“No.” Wylder lifted a brow. “Why? Did you want to go to tonight’s game?”
