A voice shouted behind her from across the academic quad.
Georgia turned around and saw that the voice calling her was Pierce. He was on the other side of the very large square lawn surrounded on four sides by ivy clad, brick buildings.
Pierce ran to her from a hundred feet away. His shiny, brown locks bounced up and down as he came toward her. Georgia thought it appeared he was running in slow motion He was a good-looking dude. She got what Emily saw in him.
Pierce approached her, not in the least bit out of breath.
“Hey, glad I caught you,” he said, “I was wondering if you could help me.”
“Me? What do you need,” she asked.
“Well, Em and I are going to the ball… We’re going as dead Jack and Jill,” he said.
“Yeah, she told me,” Georgia had thought the idea was cute.
“Well, I have a bucket I bought, as part of the costume but I kind of, and you might think this is corny,” he said seeming bashful all of a sudden, “But I wanted to put it in her room with some flowers in it. As a little surprise.”
Even Georgia had never gotten flowers from a guy before. She thought it was romantic and wanted to live vicariously through Emily.
“Aw, that’s sweet,” Georgia said, “Do you want me to put it in the room for you?”
“Honestly, G, I was hoping you might just lend me your key? I want to do it myself and hide a few other little presents around as well. It would mean a lot to me if I could do it myself. And you know, it’s just a bit… personal.”
“G.” Pierce had a way of making people feel special with his little nicknames. It was charming.
“Promise I’ll get the key back to you before you even notice it’s gone. I’d ask you to let me in but if you got caught doing that… I mean, I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble. Also this way, if I get caught I might be able to talk my way out of it and get away with sevens or something. Without another girl around. If you get my drift.”
Georgia thought he was just perfect. She was so happy that Emily had found Pierce so soon in her prep year.
“No prob,” Georgia said, “I can give it to you now. Why don’t you just use it then hide it in 1919 yearbook in the common room when you’re done? I don’t need to go back to the dorm until three. Can you do it before then?”
“You got it. You’re a star,” he said.
Georgia took the key off her Pandora heart key ring and handed it to Pierce.
“She is going to love this,” Georgia said, smiling.
“Thanks. Yeah, I hope so,” he said, winked and turned off.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
GETTING FLOWERS FOR the first time is something that most women, young or old, whether or not they like flowers, plucks the heartstrings. Something about it was timeless. Even vikings must have picked the first spring wildflowers for their loved ones.
When Emily saw the bucket with two dozen roses in it, her heart played a mad, booming, epic song, like the Star Spangled Banner.
She dropped her bag by the door and rushed over to the bucket which had a bright orange and black bow tied to the handle. Emily noticed other bows of the same color dotted around the room.
There was a note dangling around the bucket. It read:
To my Jill can’t wait for the dance
Where I can finally have my chance
To be with the most special girl
That this Jack has met in the world
Emily wanted to melt into a puddle. Her entire body went warm, fuzzy, buzzing. She just couldn’t believe it. For her, it had almost been like love at first sight with Pierce. She couldn’t believe he seemed to feel the same way.
Looking around the room, she collected the rest of the orange and black bows that wrapped around a small, black box. There were five in total. Within each one was a chocolate truffle and a candy heart with a different saying:
Love bug.
You rock.
My girl.
Only you.
Text me.
Emily was happier than she had been in a very, very long time. Little by little, it was as if all these wonderful things sewed together her wound. Sometimes at Harlow she felt as though Minnesota didn’t even exist. She could put that all behind her and just be at Harlow, re-create herself. And now, the new and improved Emily was getting everything she wanted.
But suddenly, out of nowhere, she wondered if Andy would have liked Pierce. Why was she thinking about Andy at a time like this?
Prince Charming had come to sweep her off her feet and take her off to another kingdom and that was that. She would be a citizen of this new world and renounce the past. She threw herself onto her bed and lied on her back with one of the lovely little bowed boxes in her hand, smiling and feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.
Just then, Georgia entered the room, disruption Emily’s unicorn ride into the sunset.
“This is more than I expected,” she said, and Emily shot up in bed.
“So, you let him in,” Emily asked.
“No, I let him borrow my key. I can see why he wanted to do this alone. Tres ro-man-tique My God, how many roses are there,” she asked.
“I know, right,” gushed Emily, “He left these cute little boxes around the room, too,” Emily handed one to Georgia.
“They all have a fancy little chocolate and a love heart.”
“AAAAWWWWW,” said Georgia, looking at the box, “He’s so cute!”
“I know, I’m freaking out… but I mean, in a good way,” Emily said.
“Have you let him know you’ve seen it yet,” Georgia asked.
“No,” Emily said, popping up to grab her cell from her fallen backpack.
“Well,” said Georgia, grabbing the love heart out of Emily’s hand, “This one says ‘text me’ so get on it. He’ll probably be wondering what you think.”
Georgia went into her adjoining room and left Emily to it.
Sitting back down on her bed, she sent a text to Pierce:
OMG. Literally am speechless. You are the best.
Pierce texted back almost immediately.
Glad you like it. Can’t wait to be your Jack.
Emily held her cell to her chest and swooned. Was this for real? One of the most gorgeous and popular guys in school wanted her. He wanted her. Little, boring Emily from the Midwest who came from nothing was close to becoming the girlfriend of Pierce Donahue.
Only Pierce didn’t know her rags to riches story. And nobody else did either.
She suddenly had that haunting feeling come over her. It was like a cold draft sent to make her shiver. What if everyone found out who she really was? Would Pierce still like her if he knew she wasn’t like everyone else? Would he still like her if he knew her mom wasn’t a doctor and her dad wasn’t a lawyer and she would actually go back to a shared room in a tiny house and unlikely to get Christmas presents because her mom spent everything on Emily’s Harlow books and a new suitcase?
Emily bit her lip and looked out the window. She could not let that happen. She couldn’t handle losing again.
Her phone buzzed. Another text from Pierce.
You’re just the Jill I’ve been looking for.
The text made her smile, and she shook her body like a dog drying off to dispel her worries. Pierce liked her. That was that.
She took up one of the black boxes. They were the kind of boxes that jewellery would normally come in. The only other time she had had a box like this in her hand was on her tenth birthday. Her gift from Andy. It had been a fantastic day.
“Happy birthday, Emily,” Andy had said, handing her a box.
Emily had looked up at him, confused and surprised at the time by the gesture.
“It’s your tenth birthday. You know, a whole decade. That’s pretty cool, so I asked Mom if I could get you something just from me,” he had said.
Emily’s heart had flittered as she opened the small box. There, inside, had been a charm bracelet: a heart and a round charm that re
ad “sister” on it.
“Oh my gosh, Andy… that’s awesome,” she reached out and hugged him tightly.
He had pushed her away, suddenly shy.
“Yeah, well… you don’t turn ten every day,” he had said.
It had been her first present from a boy.
She hugged Pierce’s box tightly to her chest. She wondered if she would have even told Andy about Pierce. What would he have said? Emily smiled to herself knowing full well Any would have been protective.
But a familiar thought occurred to Emily. The one she had while driving in from Logan. She may not have even taken the leap to attend Harlow if Andy had still been alive. She wouldn’t have had this adventure. She wouldn’t have met Pierce.
Looking back at the path that lead her here: her mom’s depression, her own sadness, Pepper at her birthday… leaving had been inevitable. A guilty, confused feeling washed over her as she loved every minute of Harlow. And yet the only reason she was here, was because her brother had died.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
EMILY SAT IN her room on her bed, trying to concentrate on the latest French assignment. The books were such a leap from what she had done in middle school. Her French classes had been great, for sure, but now at Harlow, her teacher spoke French for nearly the entire class and if you didn’t understand, he just spoke French more slowly.
It felt as though she went from singing Frère Jacques to reading Les Miserables overnight.
Just then, her Taylor Swift “Style” ringtone sang out, “You got that James Dean day dream look in your eye…”
Georgia teased Emily about her ringtone saying she was a hopeless romantic. Maybe.
It was Grace. Emily threw her head back. She was right in the middle of conjugating verbs and looking up her fiftieth vocabulary word. She wanted the break but not lose momentum. Thing was, she hadn’t spoken to Grace for almost two weeks.
Emily picked up her cell. Immediately, her friend’s face made her happy she did. Grace’s warm eyes melted any stress she had been feeling about past participles.
“Duuuuuude,” said Grace, “Where have you been? I have so been wanting to talk to you about your Halloween date!”
Emily had sent her a text gushing about her invitation from Pierce. And a photo of Pierce, stolen from his Instagram. Now that she was away, Pepper had no idea what apps she had on her cell.
“Yeah… I’m feeling very lucky.”
“What? Ok, he’s hot, true, but he’s the lucky one.”
“Come off it… you and I both know that’s not true!”
“Ok… he is a bit of a supermodel but I think you two look great together. You’re super pretty…”
“Pretty dorky… ”
“Emily! Stop! Girl, you are always putting yourself down. Like you’re telling me he asked you because you’re ugly?! I thought you were supposed to be smart!”
Grace laughed. Emily was always so hard on herself.
“Ok… I guess at least I’m his type. Or something… anyway, I am super stoked.”
“Do you have your costumes ready? I love the Jack and Jill idea.”
“Yeah, I think we both have everything. I am so nervous. You know I’m such a bad dancer! What if he’s awesome and busts out some Chucky Cheese TikTok moves?”
“Check out HBS tutorials… you don’t have to move your legs at all for those moves.”
“Ha ha…”
“My God Em, literally I can’t believe you are off doing all this glamorous stuff. Pierce is flippin’ hot, you’re completely independent and out there taking the world on. You’ll probably find my life boring when you come back. It’s pretty much the same thing, new school.”
“Oh, come on. I don’t have anyone to sing with here.”
Grace comically belted, “A whole new wooooooorld…”
Emily snorted.
“You’re hilarious… ”
“I know,” Grace said, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.
“Grace… I don’t want to be rude but I gotta go. I’m swamped in French reading right now but I know we haven’t talked for a while so I answered anyway. I do miss you, girl. It’s just…”
“I know. I’m sure it’s crazy,” Grace saved her from trying to explain.
“Thanks… I’ll be home before you know it. We can go ice skating and grab a Bunsen Burger… it’ll be awesome.”
“Cool… talk to you soon…”
Emily waved into her camera and hung up.
But instead of returning to her French homework, she hopped on SpiderWeb to find one of these HBS tutorials Grace was talking about. She needed some moves for the dance on Saturday.
CHAPTER THIRTY
SHE LOOKED AT herself one last time in the mirror. Pierce had texted her and he was downstairs in the common room waiting for her. Emily would have never imagined that when she had her first actual date, that she would have black and purple bruises on her face and fake blood dripping from her lip.
Emily hopped down the stairs feeling so full of excitement. When she entered the common room, she looked at Pierce and laughed to herself. Her prince was worse for wear. He had placed a fake head wound on the side of his forehead and also had a “bloody” lip. His pants were torn.
“Hey,” he said to Emily, beaming from ear to ear, “You look great.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” she said.
He rushed over to hug her and kissed her on her cheek.
He held up his broken crown in his hand.
“I couldn’t get this on right. Never used bobby pins before. Can you…” he asked.
“Course I can,” said Emily, grabbing the crown from his hand and telling him to sit. He was so tall she would never have been able to reach his head very well, even on her tiptoes.
Emily leaned over him, her perfume wafted over his face.
“Mmmm… you smell nice,” he said.
Georgia had spritzed Emily with some Bombshell Seduction from Victoria’s Secret before she left the room. She promised it wouldn’t go unnoticed. How did she know these things?
“Thanks,” said Emily, smiling inwardly.
She took her time pinning the crown into his hair. She loved touching his hair. It was thick and soft. It flopped around like a friendly puppy's ear. He seemed to like her playing around with his mop.
“That actually feels nice,” he said, “You’re really gentle. I think I must have pulled out a hundred strands trying to re-pin it every time I couldn’t make it stay.”
It didn’t look like any bit of the lush hair had disappeared.
Emily tucked in the last pin.
“There… all set.”
Pierce stood up and took Emily’s hand.
“Let’s do this.”
They chatted about cycling all the way to the gym, which was only a quick walk from Graves.
By the time Pierce and Emily walked in, there were already quite a few people milling about. Pierce thought being fashionably late was the right thing. Emily conceded even though she had been desperate to get there all day.
Harlow Academy had some very talented and enthusiastic event coordinators with very enormous budgets. Emily had never been to a dance, nor any event like it. Emily remembered watching tons of high school movies and none of the dances every even looked as cool as they did at Harlow. It was like some professional set designer stepped in.
Decorated with fake cobwebs, black and orange streamers or black lace netting, every inch of the enormous, cavernous gymnasium screamed Halloween. The DJ had loud pop music booming and disco balls, strobe lights and laser lights left no corner untouched. There was even an area dedicated to taking selfies and photos fully equipped with amazing props: a coffin, a life-sized skeleton from the science department, and loads of other scary dress up items that would enhance a ghoulish snap.
The couple were on the edge of the dance floor. Pierce looked at Emily.
“Come on, Little One, let’s get some punch,” he said, taking her hand and wa
lking her to the refreshments table.
On the table were three different punches, all in fluorescent shades that food shouldn’t come in.
Pierce picked up a ladle and a cup and turned to Emily.
“Ladies first. Pick your poison,” he said.
“Green , I guess,” said Emily, “Not that I can tell what any of them would taste like.”
He chuckled and got them both a punch cup, an old-fashioned teacup type glass that made Emily laugh and think to herself that back home they would have been drinking out of plastic ones.
Emily noticed that the gymnasium was getting more and more crowded. She worried about showing Pierce her lack of dance move innovation. Beyond a decent two step and her new love for HBS, she had nothing. She hoped that Pierce didn’t have high expectations.
It occurred to Emily that maybe nobody would dance at all when she saw that the walls were nearly completely lined with students and that the dance floor was completely and utterly empty apart from two prep boys who were basically just fooling around and talking there.
“So, strange kind of dance,” said Emily, “nobody is actually dancing. Not that I’m asking you for us to be the first ones out there.”
“Ah, it’s your first Harlow dance… you’ll see. Drink your punch and relax. I’d say any minute now the dancing will fire up.”
Emily looked at her neon green liquid and took a sip. Surprisingly, it just tasted of lemonade.
Suddenly, the doors of the gym burst open with a serious force and in walked about fifteen girls. They looked serious and walked over to the DJ. The DJ scrambled a bit as the huge group of girls headed to the edges of the dance floor.
Suddenly, Michael Jackson’s Thriller blasted out on the speakers. Emily had only heard the song a couple of times. Always at Halloween. Pierce grabbed Emily’s hand and looked at her. He raised both of his brows.
The End Defines the Beginning : A Boarding School Coming of Age (Harlow Academy Series Book 1) Page 12
