Mia flopped onto the seat across from him. “Mrs. B, your son is making me work, and now I need a giant plate of chili cheese fries.”
Jack’s mom pulled a pad out of her apron, straightened the nametag that red “Cara” and eyed them suspiciously. “Aren’t you two supposed to be at the dance studio?”
Jack groaned and dropped his face in his hands.
“We were.” Mia snickered. “But Jack got it into his head that some ballet snob could star in his video for class. She walked out on us after like five minutes.”
“Mia.” A disapproving frown marred his mom’s face. “It’s not nice to call people snobs.”
“Even when it’s true? She’s so uptight. It’s kind of ridiculous, actually.”
Jack lifted his face and sighed. “It’s not her fault, you know. You should have seen her mom.”
His mom put a hand on his shoulder. “Some people are raised with more ambition than love.”
Was that true? As soon as he thought it, he knew the answer. Lillian had everything most kids dreamed of. Money. A big talent.
But had she ever had kindness?
He ran a hand through his hair. “Mia is right, Mom. We definitely need a giant plate of chili cheese fries after that.”
She tapped her pen against the pad of paper. “You got it, kiddo. And two Diet Cokes?”
Mia mimed puking—her favorite move—and Jack looked to his mom like she’d betrayed him.
She laughed. “Kidding. Kidding. Wouldn’t want to deprive my eldest son of the sugar he needs to rot his teeth.”
“Thank you for realizing that.”
She muttered something under her breath and walked away.
Jack leaned against the sticky vinyl of the booth and released a tired sigh. “Well, that was a mess.”
Mia shrugged. “Good thing your cousin owns a dance studio. Ask one of the other dancers.”
But he didn’t want another dancer. From the first moment he’d seen Lillian dance, he’d been mesmerized, and from the first time he’d heard her mother yell, he’d been sad. How could a woman treat her daughter so poorly? And why did Jack feel like it was his job to fix it, to show Lillian it didn’t have to be that way? Dancing didn’t have to mean harsh choreographers, constant berating, and impossible diet restrictions. To him, it had always been about expression, freedom, and creativity. When he danced, he didn’t have to care what anyone thought of him or the limitations of his future.
He could imagine there was money for college, that he wouldn’t have to scrape and claw through his entire life.
What did Lillian imagine when she danced? Did she dream at all, or was she too focused on the perfection of it, the precision?
“Earth to Jack.” Mia leaned over the table to snap her fingers in front of his face. “Hello?”
“What?” He shook himself. “Did you say something?”
“Only that I’ve decided to run away and join the circus.”
“Huh?”
A laugh burst out of her. “Oh wow, I could’ve said anything, and you were too zoned out to hear me. What if I was professing my undying love for you?”
“Were you?” He lifted a brow.
“Gross, no.” She put a hand on her chest. “Good little me was trying to figure out which dancer would work for your video.”
“Lillian. Lillian works.”
“Dude, hate to break it to you, but she does not agree. Maybe you should ask Riley. She’s always had a thing for you, and she’s not bad. Or Sarah. She’s cute, so the entire class would totally ship you guys. You’d look so good together.”
He shook his head. “No, it has to be her.” He didn’t need to explain who her was.
“But why? I know this is totally unfathomable, but I don’t think she even likes you.”
“She doesn’t have to like me.” In fact, it was probably better for the video if she didn’t. Those were the emotions he needed to show. “She just has to dance.”
His mom returned and set a heaping plate of chili cheese fries and two Cokes in front of them before sliding in next to Jack. “Time for my break.” She stole a fry. “What did I miss?”
Mia took a fry and pointed it at Jack. “He can’t get it into his thick skull that there’s someone who doesn’t like him.”
She looked sideways at her son. “Jack, I’m sure there are plenty of people who don’t like you.”
Waves of laughter escaped Mia, and she almost spit out her food.
Jack gave his mom a wry smile. “Thanks a lot.”
“I’m just saying, you can’t let it stop you. Feelings change. Show her there’s nothing not to like about my boy.”
“Oh, there’s plenty.” Mia continued laughing.
Jack threw a fry at her, and the cheese stuck to her cheek as the fry fell to the table. Her entire body froze as her jaw fell open. “You did not just do that.”
Jack’s mom stood. “If you two start a food fight in my place of work, I’m making you clean it up. Now, my almost-adult son, the boy I know doesn’t give up, what are you going to do to make this girl see she’s wrong about you?” She didn’t wait for an answer as she turned on her heel and marched back to the kitchen.
Jack pursed his lips as he stared at Mia. “How do you feel about breaking into Defiance Academy?”
Okay, they wouldn’t be breaking in exactly.
There was one person at Defiance Academy who wasn’t like the others. Wylder Anderson grew up in Twin Rivers and even attended the public school until she’d gotten herself kicked out the year before.
Yes, she was that Wylder. The sister of a country music star and a once—sort-of friend—of Jack’s. They’d known each other well enough to have exchanged phone numbers at least.
Jack sat in Mia’s car outside the Defiance Academy’s gates as the phone rang. He wasn’t sure if she’d answer. Wylder had always been a wild card—no pun intended.
“Jack Butler,” she answered. “Now, this is a surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
He had her on speakerphone, so Mia leaned in. “Hey, Wylds.”
“Mia?” Wylder laughed.
“It’s been a while.” Jack didn’t know why it felt so strange talking to her.
“You two dating yet?”
Jack laughed. “You know the answer to that.” He’d taken Wylder on a date once, but she didn’t believe he and Mia were only friends, so nothing went beyond that. Even when they ran into Mia and her boyfriend at the time.
Wylder chuckled. “Guess I do. So, let’s cut to the chase. If you’re calling, you probably need something. I’ll issue my disclaimer first. No, I don’t give out dirt on my brother, no I won’t get you concert tickets or backstage passes.”
“I don’t care about Becks. This call isn’t about him.”
“Hmm… the plot thickens. Go on.”
Mia took the phone. “It’s about a girl at your school. Jack has this weird need to talk to Lillian Preston. He needs to get on campus.”
“Lil? Why do you want to talk to her? Jack Butler, that girl is not like everyone else, and I’m feeling this strange need to protect her from you.”
Jack stole the phone back. “Look, it’s not like it sounds. I need her to dance with me. That’s it. I think… I think we both need each other.”
Wylder was quiet for a long moment. “Fine. The gate guards will go on their rounds in ten minutes. I have the code to get through the walk-in gate near the visitor lot. I’ll come get you. If I get in trouble for this, I’m going to haunt you from my grave.” She hung up.
Mia’s wide eyes met Jack’s in the dark. “Did she just say Defiance Academy murders kids who break the rules?”
“Yep.” He shook his head with a laugh. The academy was a mystery to locals since they weren’t allowed on campus, but Wylder dramatized everything. She always had. “Should it surprise us she knows how to sneak people onto campus?”
“That’s why you called her, right?”
They waited nervously until the
gate opened, and a flashlight shone their eyes. Jack and Mia got out of the car and met Wylder in the shadows.
She gave them a giant grin as if breaking the rules excited her. “I’m only doing this because my girl Lil needs a little rule breaking in her life. Come on.” She waved them through the gate. Flashlights from the guards cut across the road in front of them, and Wylder turned the corner, leading them down a narrow path and up a hill toward a cluster of red brick buildings with ivy creeping up their sides.
Brick paths crisscrossed in front of them. Jack couldn’t help staring at what must be the academic buildings towering overhead. They were ten times as nice as the public school. In the distance, a domed building was lit up with spotlights.
“That’s the prized hockey arena,” Wylder whispered, making a gagging sound. “In reality, some of my best friends play hockey, but I still wish I could hate it.”
Even before, Wylder had never been a joiner.
They made their way from the quad down a path that led to another cluster of buildings. “Welcome to our home.” She gestured to the glass double doors. “Okay, so last time I snuck people into the dorm buildings, we all got in trouble. You two stay out here, and I’ll go fetch Lillian.”
She disappeared inside the building, and Jack released a long breath. How had they gotten here? Sneaking onto the exclusive campus after dark just to beg a girl to dance with him?
Mia had practically asked the same question he kept asking himself.
Why her?
10
Lillian
Lillian tried to steady her breathing as she pulled her hips back into downward facing dog. She’d learned a long time ago that yoga was more calming for her than dancing. As she stretched, she could focus on her breathing rather than hearing constant criticism.
Lifting one leg, she twisted to stack her hips, enjoying to burning in her arms.
A laugh came from the doorway. Lillian hadn’t heard the door open, but she turned her head to find Wylder watching her.
“That is a sight.” Wylder covered her mouth.
Lillian lowered her leg, ignoring her neighbor’s gawking. This was why she didn’t have friends. Other people were tiring, and she didn’t have energy to waste helping them understand her. She lowered herself with control until her belly hit the plush white throw rug in the center of her room. Pushing herself up into cobra, she asked, “What do you want, Wylder?”
Wylder bounced into the room and flopped down on Lillian’s bed uninvited. “Harsh, Lil. Très harsh.”
Lillian swung her legs around so she could sit. “It’s been kind of a crappy day. If you’re just going to laugh at me and invade my space, can you do it somewhere else?” She wasn’t in the mood to entertain anyone. After the failed practice session with Jack, she’d returned to campus and eaten dinner with Devyn, neither of them saying much. Without a long dance class, she’d had more time for schoolwork, but her mind could only stay on it for so long.
“What happened?” Wylder’s smile fell, and for a moment, Lillian got the impression she truly cared.
Lillian shrugged. “Dance stuff. You don’t really want to hear about it.”
“But I do. We’re friends. You can unload on me.”
Friends? Were they? The thought warmed Lillian, but she wondered how long it could last. Most people her age only saw Lillian as competition or they didn’t understand her drive. Yet, the desire to talk to someone was strong. Lillian got up off the ground and sat on the bed beside Wylder. “So, you know I’m a dancer, right?”
Wylder grinned. “I think everyone who’s ever met you knows that, but go on.”
“There’s this competition. I went to the orientation.” She thought of the girls she’d met there and their Facebook group. Did they count as friends? Frienemies, maybe. “My mom doesn’t think it’s worthwhile because it’s for a college scholarship.”
“Why do you need a scholarship?”
That was the thing. Lillian didn’t know if she did or not. If she chose to go to a normal college, would her mom pay for it? “It’s not only about the scholarship. I haven’t wanted to compete in a long time, but this could be my last chance before I join a company. If I join a company.” And if she decided not to. If she decided to take the secular college route, then this could be her last time dancing professionally. Maybe her last time on stage ever.
“Then why wouldn’t you do it? Who cares what your mom thinks?”
She did. That was the problem. “I sort of fired my choreographer.” Both of them. She felt bad about walking out on Jack, but she couldn’t go crawling back now.
“Well.” Wylder nudged her. “There is a very cute boy outside this building right now who wants you to dance with him.”
“What?” She jumped from the bed and paced the length of the room. “What are you talking about?”
“Jack Butler.” She shrugged. “Good choice if you ask me. I always liked him when I went to Twin Rivers High.”
“Jack? He’s here?”
Wylder nodded. “Didn’t I mention that? He’s been waiting outside this entire time we’ve been chatting.”
“Why? How?”
“Lil.” Wylder stood and crossed the room to put a hand on each of Lillian’s shoulders. “Calm down. He called me, and I helped him sneak onto campus.”
“That’s against the rules.” Wylder could get in serious trouble. “How do you even know how to do that?”
“I have my ways. As for the why… I thought that was obvious. He’s here for you.”
For her?
Lillian ran a hand over her bun, tucking in a few loose strands of hair. “Can you tell him to go?”
“Um, no.” Wylder met her gaze. “If you want him to go, it has to come from your lips.”
Lillian clasped her shaking hands. Why couldn’t Jack just give up on her? It would be for the best. Yet, she remembered how she’d spoken to him and realized she owed him an apology if nothing else. “Okay, I’ll talk to him.”
“That’s my girl.” Wylder swatted her butt, and Lillian jumped in surprise. “Go get ‘em.”
Her breath rasped in and out of her lungs as Lillian marched down the hall. There was an hour left until curfew, so many of the doors stood open as girls walked in and out of each other’s rooms. Gripping the metal handle, Lillian pushed the door open, stepping into the alcove between the two sets of doors. She sucked in a breath and walked outside to find Jack and Mia leaning against the side of the building.
Jack straightened as soon as he saw her, his grin reaching all the way to his eyes. How could he smile at her like that after she’d treated him so poorly?
The door opened behind her, and two girls walked out, not seeing the townies in their midst. Lillian rushed toward Jack, gripped his wrist, and pulled him around the side of the building away from prying eyes. Mia didn’t follow.
“Ow,” Jack laughed. “You’re surprisingly strong.”
“Shh.” Lillian pushed him up against the wall and looked behind her to make sure no one followed them. “I could get in so much trouble with you here.” They stood close, too close.
“Are you going to let me go?”
Lillian looked down at her hand still grasping his wrist and released him like he’d burned her. She stepped back, putting some much-needed distance between them. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
Those words washed over Lillian, and she wanted to hear them again, but she pushed the desire away. He wasn’t here for her, only her dancing. “Look, I know I owe you an apology. I don’t take direction well.”
“Ego.”
“What?”
“It’s because you have a healthy ego. I get it. You’re good, but you also know you’re good and that makes you arrogant.”
“Did you seriously just come here to call me an arrogant egomaniac?”
“No.” He blew out a breath. “Sorry, no. I was just explaining—”
“Me? You were explaining me to me.
Thanks, but I don’t need to be psychoanalyzed.” Lillian couldn’t remember the last person who got under her skin the way Jack could. “Sorry, I don’t normally talk this much. I usually just ignore people.”
“I noticed.”
“I—”
“Look, I didn’t come here to argue.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “I just want to dance.”
“Even after today? I walked out on you.”
“Yes, even now. Lillian, I’ll be honest here. There are other dancers I could ask who’d say yes, but I don’t want them. None of them dance like you. Your intensity, your drive. I need that in my video. I need you.”
His words stole the air from her lungs. No one had ever needed her before. Her mom used her—when she remembered her at all. Competitors envied her. Kids at school thought her strange.
But this boy… he needed her.
And maybe she needed him. As it stood, she was weeks out from the competition and had no plan. If she didn’t come up with one soon, she’d have to drop out.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Okay?” His grin lit up his face in the dark.
“I have conditions.”
“Of course, you do.”
She pursed her lips. “We do this together. I’m not simply a dancer, and you aren’t simply a choreographer. We have to be a team when it comes to crafting these dances and getting them right in a way that will work for both our goals.”
“I can work with that.”
“I might walk out on you again.”
He nodded like he’d expected it. “And I will come after you again.”
She pointed one long finger at him, knowing this last condition could be the most important. “If we’re going to dance together and portray a story, your girlfriend can’t get jealous.”
“My girlfriend?”
“She means me.” Mia walked toward them. “I promise not to get jealous if you stop being mean to him.”
“Wait.” Jack pushed away from the wall. “Mia and I aren’t—”
“I’ll try.” Lillian crossed her arms.
Mia looked to Jack. “Wylder says we need to go. Someone saw us out here. She’s waiting farther down the path we took.”
Kissing the Debutant (The Dangers of Dating a Diva Book 3) Page 7
