Page 29 of Enemies to Prom Dates
“Seems we’ll be doing a lot of things together this year,” Fitz said.
No. That would mean rehearsals and more time spent with him. Alone. “You can’t possibly do this. How can you fit in with football?”
“You must not have been paying attention. The event is on a Sunday which won’t interfere with my games and we can rehearse whenever both of our schedules allow it.”
“But I have to work now in the evenings.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re back to the working at The Club?”
“I never stopped working at The Club. Javier, remember?”
His eyes narrowed further.
“So it sounds like, it will just be you, Fitz,” Miss Havisham concluded. “If you can’t work it into your schedule, Beth.”
It was for charity, which means I could add it to the community service paragraph of my college applications. Of course I had to do it.
“I’ll make it work. I always make it work.”
“Excellent. I’ll let the vice principal know. Now you better be off if you’re going to make your fourth periods.”
I left the classroom without looking at him, but it didn’t take a second for him to catch up with me. Damn him and his long legs.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“My locker. I need my laptop.” As it was still between periods the hallway was relatively empty except for the random straggler on her way to the bathroom. “Why would you agree to host the fashion show? That’s so not you.”
“It makes sense to be a part of anything that’s happening in this school. The Fall Fashion Show is the next biggest event other than the football games, and the Cotillion, which isn’t for months. The more I see what’s happening at the school, the more I’ll know. The real question is why wouldyouwant to have anything to do with the fashion show.”
That stopped me. It was true. I didn’t have Star’s style. In fact, I had no style. Even Mary had a consistent way of dressing: modestly. The twins: shamelessly.
I couldn’t be bothered. As long as I was covered and warm all clothes looked the same to me.
How the hell was I going host a fashion show?
“Ugh.” I threw myself against a wall of lockers and heard the rattle of them as one lock dug into my back. “Someone tell me how Miss Havisham plugged in debate performance and concluded fashion show host.”
“She knows we’re both comfortable on stage. Not many people are. You’ve got a presence few have when speaking and I’m certain everything we need to say about the actual fashion will be written out on cards for us.”
I blinked. “Wait. Was that a compliment? That part about having a presence.”
He smiled. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Me throwing compliments at your feet. We might be working together toward a single objective, Bennet, but don’t get carried away.”
“Last Friday you said you didn’t want to be enemies,” I reminded him.
He moved closer to me, but as my back was already pressed into the lockers I had nowhere to go.
“Didn’t mean I wanted us to be friends. Because really, Beth I don’t see how that could work, either. There seems to be a certain amount of—what’s the right word?—tension. Between us. We don’t rub together easily, do we?”
“I don’t want yourubbingagainst me at all. For all I know your summer girlfriend left you with a nasty STD.”
He braced himself against the lockers, his arms on either side of my head as he bent even closer so that only I could hear what he said.
“She wasn’t my girlfriend. She was my lover. See, you can’t even get the words right. For instance, is Javier your boyfriend or your fuck-toy?”
“Javier is none of your business.”
“On the contrary you’ve made him my business. Twice now. It’s almost like you’re shoving him in my face for some reason. Why would you do that, Beth? You’re not trying to make me jealous, are you?”
