“Bottom line is, I wondered if you had a date for the Cream gig tomorrow.”
Lucky thing I was leaning on the arm of the couch. Otherwise I would have fallen right off it and sprawled on the floor. “Why would I be going to Cream? And why would you ever think I’d go with you?”
“Great, you don’t have a date. I’ve got a tier-one pass.” He lifted his arms and did a disgusting shimmy with his hips, which made his shirt pull out of his waistband, which made him look even more of a mess than he was. “We can dance, drink, get nasty. Huh? I figure you’re a woman with taste. If a guy’s gotta have someone’s seconds, it might as well be royalty.”
I stared at him for a moment. Had he really said what I thought he’d said?
No. He couldn’t have.
The grin slid sideways off his face. “What’s the matter? You only date black guys?”
With all this offensiveness, I hardly knew where to begin. Maybe I should do like Lissa, and make a list. I stood up, clutching the rolled-up magazine. “One, you better not mean what I think you mean by seconds. Two, I date people I like, no matter what color they are. And three, I would rather date a Gila monster and go swimming in a live volcano than go out with you.”
It took him a second to process this much information. Then his eyebrows went up. “You like swimming? We could go to the beach.”
“No. Not now. Not ever.”
“But me and Brett are buds. You and MexiDog are buds. That’s, like, a foursome. You should try me on. You might like me.”
I leaned into his face, and when his gaze dipped to my chest, the rat, I grabbed his chin and yanked it up. “Do. Not. Ever. Call her that in front of me.”
“Uh. Okay. Hurting.” As soon as I let go, he said, “So is it true you gave it up for the prince?”
“What?” I lost it and walloped him upside the head with WWD so hard he didn’t even have the sense left to yell. “Go ahead, say that again!” I shrieked, and whapped him a second time. He threw himself over the back of the couch, but I didn’t stick around to get the satisfaction of seeing him cowering on the floor. I hit the door and stomped across the entry hall, every slap of my jeweled flip-flops sounding like the smack of a hand on a face.
I looked up at a commotion on the stairs, and what a relief—there were my girls. “You guys are gonna have to wait,” I said. “I need a shower.”
“What happened?” Carly looked me up and down. “Are you okay? Did you spill something?”
“No. Rory Stapleton asked me out. And then he insulted me to the power of a hundred.”
Shrieks of disgust bounced off the floors, the stone pots with their palm trees, and the row of French windows opening onto the quad. They probably also bounced off the side of Rory’s head, since he was still in the common room, but I didn’t care. “I took care of him. He won’t be opening his nasty mouth again. Let’s get out of here.”
We made wicked fun of the stupid nimnul all the way into Cow Hollow in the cab, which meant my happy levels were nearly back to normal by the time we flocked into the bamboo lobby of the Tea House.
After we’d chosen our colors (Rajah Ruby was going to go so well with the vintage Lanvin dress Gillian and I had scored in New York over the summer) we all settled into the leather chairs. Gillian winced as the aesthetician began to work on her cuticles. “I hate to bring up the creep again, but what made Rory ask you out? It’s not like we’re all kissy with that crowd to start with. I haven’t heard word one about you being on his radar.”
“Please don’t let that rumor get started,” I groaned. “That’s even more disgusting than people thinking I’m sleeping with Rashid.”
“No kidding,” Gillian said. “I don’t know how Brett can stand him.”
“He can’t,” Carly said, her head back on the cushion and her eyes closed. “They were friends up until the exam-answer debacle last year, and then it was over.”
Lissa snorted. “I was surprised to see him back here, personally. But then I noticed the new Media Communications Center.”
“The Lawrence Stapleton Bail-out and Guilt Center, you mean?” Gillian inquired. “With the brand-new, state-of-the-art workstations, editing booth, and professional video cameras?”
“That would be the one.”
“Must be nice to have your dad bribe the headmistress to keep you in school.” I shook my head.
“He’d have come back somehow. This way, Curzon gets a shiny new media lab at no cost to her,” Lissa pointed out.
“At some cost to us, though,” Carly said. “We have to put up with him for another nine months.”
“I’m not putting up with him at all.” At the aesthetician’s prompting, I changed feet, sub-merging my left in the hot jets of the tub. “I’d never tell Rashid what he said, but if he comes near me again, I’ll set Farrouk on him. That man carries a girl’s best friend—a stun gun.”
“From what I hear, a girl’s best friend is locked in Curzon’s safe,” Lissa said. “I can’t believe you didn’t wait long enough to show me and Gill the ice.”
“Too much exposure to all that compressed carbon can’t be good for you,” Gillian informed her. “It’s better off behind lead.”
“You’ll see it tomorrow,” I said.
“Everyone within a mile’s radius will see it,” Mac said. She’d been so quiet since we’d arrived that I wondered what was wrong. Maybe tonight when we were getting ready for bed, Carly and I would pry it out of her. “And you’ll notice we’ve not said a word about why a man would be giving you such a thing?”
“He isn’t giving it to me. I told you that yesterday, before we took it down to Curzon.”
“Did she faint?” Lissa wanted to know.
“I didn’t open the box. I just said it was a necklace and she put it away. The fewer people who know it’s here, the better, right? Especially since it won’t be around for long. I’m giving it back to Rashid on Sunday and it’s going back to where it came from.”
“So you guys aren’t, like, engaged or anything,” Gillian asked in her just-being-sure voice.
“Give me a break.” I rolled my eyes at her.
“Because, you know, a guy doesn’t drop a cool two million on just any chica in stilet-tos,” Carly said.
“I’m wearing it once, then back it goes,” I repeated firmly. “He’s a prince. For all I know, he gives diamond earrings to his cleaning lady and sapphire bracelets to his teachers.”
“Tobin would be happy about that,” Carly said. “Hey, did you guys hear she and Mr. Milsom are getting married?”
“Ewww!” A chorus of noise made all our aestheticians look at us as though we’d lost our minds. “How do you know?”
“She has a quarter-carat diamond on her finger. I happened to be using a magnifying glass and noticed it.”
Mac snorted. “Clearly Mr. Milsom needs a few lessons from Shani’s prince.”
“He’s not mine, but you’re right.”
“She’s a lot happier with that quarter-carat than you are with your wreath,” Carly said quietly. “Give him credit for that, at least.”
“I’ll be real happy Saturday night,” I told her. “You’ll see.”
I’m no dummy. That necklace was mine for one more day, and I was going to enjoy it just as much as if it really meant something.
DGeary Want to hear the latest?
VTalbot Bored to tears. Please.
DGeary Hanna and the prince are engaged.
VTalbot Uh-huh. And I’ve got a tramp stamp to show you.
DGeary Serious as a heart attack. He gave her a $2M Harry Winston wreath.
DGeary Van? You there?
VTalbot When did you get so gullible? Stop wasting my time. Rory was going to ask her out. Poaching would be too challenging for him.
DGeary Truth. Dani saw them under the trees. Am forwarding pic to your phone.
VTalbot Status?
EOverton 45 confirmed.
VTalbot This is a joke.
EOverton Sor
ry, Van. Apparently Due is opening tomorrow night too.
VTalbot So???
EOverton I know Brett’s going there.
VTalbot I don’t care what he’s doing. I want to know what you’re doing to help me make this the event of the fall.
VTalbot It’s Friday night and you’re FAILING.
EOverton It’s Friday night and maybe I have better things to do. Like go out.
VTalbot Don’t make me laugh.
EOverton Maybe I’ll go to Due if you feel that way.
VTalbot Maybe you should. Just don’t ever expect another invite to anything from me. Including lunch.
EOverton You should be nicer to your friends.
VTalbot I am. I wish I could say you were one of them. But you obviously want me to fail.
EOverton You’re doing that all by yourself.
HAVING THREE IN a room built for two has its problems. Closet space, for one. Privacy. Clashing taste in music. But what it’s great for is ganging up on somebody who isn’t spilling what’s bugging her.
I turned on the lamp next to my bed a few minutes after Tobin called lights-out and I’d heard the clop of her sensible heels recede down the corridor. “All right, girlfriend,” I said to Mac, “how about you tell us what’s kept you so quiet all day?”
Mac rolled over to lie on her back while Carly and I propped ourselves up on our elbows like a pair of bookends. “It’s nothing.”
“Right,” Carly said. “Nothing bugs me all the time. Keeps me from feeling good after my mani/pedi, and it’s guaranteed to keep me quiet when I’m having dinner with my friends.”
“Very funny.”
“The operative word being friends,” I said in a softer tone. “Talk to us.”
Mac’s chest rose and fell in a deep breath that could have been a sigh. “I’m terrified about testifying, that’s all. Everyone staring at me. Having to see”—her voice hitched—“David again.”
“He can’t hurt you.” Carly’s tone was reassuring, but I’m not sure Mac believed her.
“Maybe not, but he can hurt my mum.”
“How? He can’t pack a pipe bomb into the courtroom.” I’d never been in one, but even I knew that.
“Not that way. She’ll see him and how he looks like my dad, and it will just be a mess.”
“He looks like your dad?” Carly had seen Mac’s half-brother the psycho a couple of times, but I never had. Not that I’m not happy about that.
Mac nodded, her head moving slowly on her pillow. “Same eyes. Same jaw. He’s the reason my parents divorced, you know. When mum found out, everything changed. Ended. Bang, it’s over.”
“Unlike my parents, who let it die a long, slow death,” Carly said. “So slow I didn’t even see it coming.”
“When does your mom land?” I asked.
“The trial starts next Tuesday. She arrives Monday night. She’s staying at the St. Francis.”
“Are you staying with her?”
Mac shook her head. “No mercy from Curzon there. When I’m not in court, I’m supposed to be in class. As if anyone could concentrate on silly equations and essays while this is going on.”
“That’s pretty heartless,” Carly agreed. “But at least you won’t have to sit in the courtroom with him staring at you the whole time. My dad says they’re keeping us in a separate room, and we go in by some other entrance than the one where the media are.”
Mac looked at her. “So I can’t sit with my mum?”
“I don’t think so. But I bet they’d let her come in with us if you asked.”
Mac smiled an evil smile. “I’d like to see them try to prevent it. She can play the Countess to the hilt when she wants to.”
“Are we going to meet her?” I asked. “She sounds so scary, I wouldn’t want to miss it.”
“Mum isn’t scary, she’s lovely,” Mac retorted. “And yes, of course you can meet her. She’ll be coming up here to see me every day when we’re not in court together.”
“So let’s see.” Carly held up a hand and began counting off fingers. “We’ll have a prince, a countess, and a princess-to-be right here at little old Spencer. All we need now is a—”
“Princess-to-be?” I broke in. “Who’s that? Vanessa? Does she get to be principessa when her mom kicks off, or what?”
“Not her, silly,” Mac said. “You.”
I stared at both of them. “Oh, please.” And flopped onto my back. “Puh-flipping-lease.”
“I’m just sayin’,” Carly added. “I hope you weren’t planning to keep that necklace a secret, because it’s all over school that he gave it to you.”
“How do you know this stuff?” I demanded. “Do you pay people for phone tips, like the rags?”
“’Course not. I just listen, that’s all. It’s the rowing team that’s Gossip Central. Those guys are worse than we are. Their girlfriends tell them everything, and they pretend they don’t care and pass it on, and Brett tells me.”
“What else are they saying? And if it’s about my nonexistent sex life, I don’t want to hear it.”
Carly giggled and flopped back, too, so that all three of us admired the plaster medallions in the ceiling. “That’s the stupidest rumor yet this term. No, you won’t believe me.”
“I’d believe you,” Mac said. “If there’s anything I’ve learned at this school, it’s that the stranger it sounds, the more likely it is to be true.”
“This is getting pretty strange.”
“If you don’t spill, I’ll come over there and dump your bottle of water on you,” I warned her.
“Rumor has it there’s a new A-list in town.”
“What?” Mac sounded confused, but I got it right away.
“I wondered when that would come out into the open.”
“What do you mean?” Mac asked.
I opened my mouth, but Carly answered. “It’s us,” she said. “Haven’t you noticed the signs?”
“Uh, no.” Mac’s tone was flavored with lemon. “I’ve been preoccupied with staying sane.”
“You haven’t noticed people saying hi to you in the halls that never noticed you before?” Carly asked. “People asking you what you’re doing on the weekend, and then showing up at the same stuff? Vanessa giving up her table?”
“I noticed that,” Mac said. “I also noticed she had it staked out the next couple of days with her minions, whom she then kicked out when her tier-one people arrived.”
“Dani offered to lend me her iPod during free period so I could listen to the new Rihanna song,” Carly said. “And rumor has it Emily and Vanessa are on the outs. Remember, the other day she tried to stay and sit with us? And Vanessa wouldn’t let her?”
“Like we care,” I scoffed. “Those people aren’t friends. They’re mutual back-scratchers. You guys are real, and Rashid is real. I have a feeling that us being friends with a prince is a big factor here.”
“Not us,” Mac said. “You. Who just happen to be friends with us. I’d love to know why he gave you that necklace. While we’re sharing, why don’t you share that?”
“Because he wanted to, I guess. He says it’s like a thank-you for being his friend.”
“That’s some thank-you. It has to mean something,” Carly said. “Is it like a really expen-sive promise ring?”
“No.” This was beginning to scare me. “I already told you. The guy gives people presents. I made sure there were no strings attached, no promises, nada.”
“Hm.” Mac didn’t sound convinced. “Maybe not out loud. But there’s got to be something behind it. I think you should ask him.”
“I did ask him. Maybe he does want more, but I told him I couldn’t promise anything. Besides, I didn’t want him to think I thought he had ulterior motives for giving me something,” I said to the ceiling. “It’d make us both look cheap.”
“Not for two mil,” Carly said to no one in particular.
“I’m not his keeper. The man can do whatever he wants. If he wants to make a pretty gesture
and send our social status into orbit while he does it, that’s fine with me.” I got the conversation back on track. “You have to admit, it’s interesting, this whole A-lister thing.”
“Don’t be smug,” Mac said. “Even if it’s true, who knows how long it will last?”
“Or even if we want it to.” I shut off the lamp and snuggled under my duvet.
I might not be any kind of princess in the real world, necklace or no necklace. But it felt good to think I might be one in the social world of Spencer Academy, even if it only lasted a week.
Truth? After four years of being the loner with no friends, it felt pretty good.
Chapter 14
POP! POP-POP-POPPITY-POP. A dozen flashbulbs went off in my face as I got out of the limo Manolos first, straightened, and took Rashid’s arm. Half blinded, I put an arch in my spine and led with my hipbones as we walked the gauntlet of media and paparazzi toward the doors of Due. The dark raspberry silk of my vintage Lanvin whipped around my ankles, and I could practically feel the diamonds lying on my collarbones heating up with the intensity of the light.
“Whew!” Lissa said behind me. “This is good practice for the red carpet next month.” She shook her hair, caught up into her mom’s Art Deco diamond clip, back over her shoulders.
“And the courthouse next week,” Carly added. “I counted three TV networks. It must be a slow night for news.”
“I don’t think it’s us.” Brett, who is half a foot taller than any of us girls, craned his neck over the crowd in the vestibule. “Panic! At the Disco is playing, but I don’t think it’s them, either.” He looked again. “Oh. That explains it. My cousin is friends with Scarlett Johansson’s agent. I just saw her duck into a private booth. She’s filming here, and the rags are probably dogging her.”
Whoever Brett’s cousin had hired to plan the party for opening night, they were brilliant, as Mac would say. The place was done up in burgundy velvet and steel, with hardwood floors and an elevated balcony with a Plexiglas dance floor, packed to the edges with people and shimmering with lights. I might get away with dancing up there, with my long dress, but Lissa had better not try it. She wore a pale pink petal-hem babydoll by Robin Brouillette, a San Francisco designer she’d just discovered who was a friend of Tori Wu—and anyone sitting at the tables under the elevated floor would be able to see, well, anything they wanted. The dance beats reverberated in my stomach, and I shrugged a little to the rhythm as Brett’s cousin—Chase, his name was—materialized out of the crowd to show us to our booth.
Who Made You a Princess? Page 12
