Page 77 of Reckless At Raleigh High
“First things first,” Susan projects through the PA speakers. “I’d like to thank everyone for helping to decorate the school for tonight’s event. These things take work, and we’d have been lost without you guys—”
“Get on with it, Susan!” someone yells in the crowd. “Get off the fucking stage!”
Susan blushes furiously, shuffling a bunch of pages in her hands. She obviously wrote an entire speech for tonight’s proceedings, and she’d planned on more time with her audience. With crimson cheeks, she flicks through the pages, her hands shaking nervously. “Okay, okay. I get it. This is a party. We all wanna get back to the festivities. In that case, let’s proceed to the matter at hand. Our prom queen this year didn’t win by a landslide. In fact, just to make the rest of you girls feel a little better, she only won by three measly votes. Honestly, we were a little surprised when we finished the count. Anyway, anyway…I’m getting side-tracked. This year’s prom queen…” Susan looks around, searching for someone. “Can I get a drumroll, please?”
“Here.” Alex hands me an engraved silver flask, smiling softly. “I’m sorry,Argento. I shouldn’t have let that bitch get under my skin. Take a hit of this. Should make you feel better.”
Since there’s no live band in the gym, the DJ obliges Susan and plays a drum roll for her, while I place the mouth of the flask to my lips and tip it back, wincing as the liquor sears the back of my throat with a welcome burn. God, I fucking needed that.
I still have a mouthful of tequila when Susan’s chirpy, high-pitched voice blasts out of the speakers again. “This year’s Raleigh High prom queen is none other than…Silver Parisi!”
I spray tequila at the back of Micha Williams’ head, splattering his bald cap with liquor. What the fuck did that girl just say? “No. Uh uh.” I shake my head, turning to Alex. I’m panicked. Totally, utterly and desperately panicked. “No. I’m not the fucking prom queen.”
Alex laughs a little as he holds his hand out toward the stage. “Seems like your fellow classmates have all voted otherwise,Argento. Better not keep your public waiting.” He is fucking loving this.
“Haven’t you seen Carrie?” I hiss. “If I take one step up onto that stage, I’m getting drenched in pig’s blood.”
“You honestly think I’d let that happen? You don’t think I’ve already made it very clear that nothing bad is to happen to you tonight, on pain of very agonizing death?”
“Come on up here, Silver! Where are you?” Susan booms into the microphone. She’s already got the damn crown and a bunch of red roses in her hand, and she’s scanning the faces of the people in front of her, looking for me. “Get up on the stage, girl! Come up here and claim your crown!”
“I’m not claiming shit. No fucking way.” I attempt to back away. The emergency exit’s only a couple of feet from me, and the chaperones who were guarding it before are nowhere to be seen. Wouldn’t be that hard to make a run for it, slam through the double doors and flee barefoot out into the night. Alex has other ideas, though. I crash into him, my back colliding with his chest, and I suddenly have nowhere to go. It’s like trying to go through a brick wall.
“No way, Parisi. This is your ‘fuck you’ moment,” he whispers into my ear. “This is the moment you get to look down on every single one of these motherfuckers and let them know that you’re still standing strong. They voted for you, for fuck’s sake. Doesn’t matter how many votes you won by, either. They chose you. So, go take that fucking crown. It’s yours, damn it.”
It’s a nice thought, that there are actually people at Raleigh who want me to be their prom queen. I just can’t swallow the idea, though. Even if there are people here who feel badly about how they treated me, they wouldn’t vote for me as their prom queen. It makes no sense. I don’t trust this moment, and I don’t think I should get up on that stage.
Alex is so damn adamant, though.
I look back at him, and there’s a devilish, wicked smile on his face that speaks volumes. “You did this, didn’t you?” I hiss. “You rigged it so that I’d win.”
He shrugs nonchalantly. “I might have accidentally found out that Kacey was planning on coming back tonight and claiming her crown. It sounded like a vulgar display of power. I might have fiddled with the votes a little to make sure she didn’t get what she came here for. Now seriously move. Kacey’s head looks like it’s about to pop.”
God, it does. She’s gone so red, her usually perfect, creamy, flawless skin is all blotchy and uneven. If she could only see herself now, she really would explode.
My feet carry me to the steps that lead up onto the stage. I’m numb down to the very roots of my soul as Susan shoves the flowers at me and places the crown firmly on my head. It’s all so damn surreal…
I’ve never imagined this moment. Never. Kacey was always going to be crowned queen of prom, there was never any doubt. The fact that I’m standing up here in front of the whole school instead of her is bewildering. I can’t make any sense of it.
The round of applause that follows my coronation is sounds real enough. There are even a couple of loud whoops and catcalls, cheering out my name. Zander and Halliday, by the sounds of things. Horrified, I realize that there’s no way Alex would ever have doctored the votes to make sure he was crowned prom king alongside me. It’s just not his style. Which means…
Oh god, no.
Surely not Jake.
God, please no, not Jake.
Susan beams at me as she holds the microphone up and makes the second part of her announcement. “My fellow Raleigh Rebels, tonight we have not one but two surprises for you! Our prom king is also an unexpected surprise, but one I personally could not be happier with. It’s my great honor to share with you all that our new prom king is none other than my friend Gareth Foster!”
Gareth Foster?
Captain of the Chess Club?
Gareth Foster?
What the fuck?
I should have known Alex wouldn’t put me in a position that brought me anywhere near Jacob. Hediddoctor the votes for prom king, and hedidn’tgive himself the crown. He gave it to the captain of the chess club, a nerdy guy, who was perhaps the person least likely to be nominated. It’s so bizarre and so sweet of him, that I almost don’t mind as Gareth comes bounding toward me across the stage and plants a wet kiss on cheek, screaming, “Hey! Wife For The Night!”
