Chapter Thirteen
"No way. Not in hell. Not gonna happen."
I raised my eyebrows at Ace and shrugged
"I don't need your permission. Not like you wanna take me to the dance yourself."
"That's beside the fucking point! No girl of mine is going to the dance with another guy."
"Christ, Ace, it's just Gordie. You know there's nothing going on. Jesus, you let me sleep in his room!"
"One, I don't 'let you' and two, that's different. Nobody knows. I'm not letting Lachance parade you around at the high school."
I let out my breath frustratedly. "Well, I'm going, Ace. Whether you like it or not."
"So how you gonna pay for tickets, huh? Or a dress? You sure ain't got one fancy enough for a dance now, have you?"
"Gordie bought the tickets…the dress I'm working on."
Ace seemed to relax some and tipped me a faint smile.
"Work away, babe. You ain't getting a penny from me."
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"Hey, Fran. You got any jobs going?"
Fran looked me over carefully, checking for signs of bruises or distress. Satisfied I was okay she shook her head regretfully.
"Sorry, sweetheart. Nothing right now. I'll keep you in mind if anything comes up though."
I thanked her before throwing myself down at a nearby table.
"Rough day?"
I knew the voice before I turned around but I turned round anyway.
"Oh, so you're talking to me now?"
Chris Chambers steady blue eyes looked back at me from the next table.
"That it?" I demanded. "You ignoring me again?"
He sighed and ran his head over his short blond hair.
"Nina…"
I stared at him.
"Look…" he started. "I was in a difficult position…"
"Yeah, you coulda walked away when I asked you to or stop talking to me forever."
He studied me for a while before he nodded at the counter.
"You looking for a job?"
I followed his gaze to the counter and sighed.
" I need a stupid dress for the stupid dance."
He smiled.
"You don't think it's stupid really."
He was right. I didn't think it was stupid. But I shrugged.
"So I hear you're taking Lucy Rowe."
"Uh-huh. Second choice, of course. Gordie was taken."
The asshole made me smile a little. Seeing this, he smiled wider. I hated to admit it but he had a great smile. It lit up his whole face and made the smug bastard even more good looking.
"Are we okay now then?" I demanded.
"Course we're okay…but I gave my word. I gotta steer clear of you." He pushed back his chair and stood up.
There was a growing anger in the pit of my stomach.
"You're a pussy, Chambers. You give all this shit about Ace ruling my life but then you let him rule yours too."
For a second I thought he was going to sit back down but instead he reached for his coat.
"I'm sorry I hurt you."
His voice was quiet and remorseful but his words only made me angrier. Hurt that Chris Chambers wasn't talking to me? Being ignored by him was old news.
"Hurt?" I spat. "You couldn't hurt me."
He looked at me but didn't say anything as he slipped his jacket on.
"You're a shitty pool player," I snapped childishly.
"You're a shitty liar," he said as he slipped past.
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"See you later?" I leaned over in the passenger seat of Ace's Plymouth and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"See ya."
My usual bus was pulling to a stop in front of us as I slammed the car door. Gordie and Chris stepped off and started to cross the parking lot towards me. Spotting them, Ace revved his engine, pushed down on the gas, only slamming his brakes on feet from where they stood. I froze as the car jolted to a stop just in front of them.
"Jack ass!" Gordie yelled. Chris gave Ace a pointed look and Ace leaned out the window with a smirk.
"Sorry, girls. Didn't see ya there." He waited until they were just clear of the car before gunning his engine again and roaring away.
Chris and Gordie reached the sidewalk simultaneously.
"Are you okay?" Gordie turned and flipped the bird to Ace's disappearing car.
"Yeah. Screw him. Nothing's gonna spoil my good news. Not even that jerk."
"I'll leave you to it," Chris said, backing away from us. I scowled at him.
"Guess what?" Gordie reached into his backpack. "I won."
"Won what?" I took the letter he was holding out and scanned it quickly. "Portland Writing Camp. Wow, Gordie. You won! You really won!"
I was genuinely psyched for him. His story was awesome and deserved to win the competition. You could see the glow of success in the flush of his cheeks. "That's amazing!"
I reached out to squeeze his arm when I finally acknowledged the date of the writing camp. "Oh. That's-the camp- it's-"
"I know. I'm gonna miss the dance. I'm sorry, Nina."
I sucked back the disappointment and forced a smile.
"Forget it. I don't have a dress anyways. And this is way more important."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah? I can't believe I'm gonna have real writing classes from real writers. Oh man, this is boss."
I smiled at him.
"You're pretty boss, Lachance."
He gave me a shove.
"You're only saying that cos you get my bed to yourself."
I wrinkled my nose at him.
"Nah. I'll stay with Ace while you're gone. Be weird without you there."
Gordie seemed to consider this.
"It will be weird without me there," he echoed. "I can't believe I'm gonna be staying in Portland."
"I hope they know that you snore."
"Me? You're the snorer, Willis."
"Keep telling yourself that when your roommates toss your ass."
And seeing him smile was worth all the dances in the world.
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"You're sure you're gonna be okay?" Gordie placed another shirt inside his bag and gave me a look of concern.
"I think I'll last the week," I told him sarcastically. I was laying on the floor working through my math homework. He peered down at me.
"Hey, since when did you stop sucking at calculus?"
I shrugged, a blush creeping over my cheeks. "It's probably all wrong."
Gordie bent down and picked up the book. He held it up for a few moments, his eyes scanning the page.
"Looks good to me. So spill. What one of the Cobra's is a secret maths whizz?"
I laughed.
"Shut up, Lachance. Chris showed me once. It just made sense his way."
He looked thoughtful.
"Yeah. Chris is a good teacher. I wish you two were still talking. At least I'd know he was here to look after you."
"Gordie, I don't need looking after. Go to Portland, write a brilliant story, preferably about a heroine called Christina, and I'll see you in a week, okay?"
He cast a glance at the two spring dance tickets on his night stand.
"I feel bad…I wish you could still go."
Me too as it happened. I'd hinted at Ace but there had been no offers to step in and take me. He even seemed pleased that Gordie was going away and I could no longer go.
"No more feeling bad. That kind of talk is banned. Now get into bed and go to sleep."
That night Gordie and I lay on opposite sides of the bed and whispered like kids at a sleepover. He was so excited he couldn't fall asleep and before we knew it, his Mom was banging on the door to wake him up for the early drive to Portland. I nearly had a heart attack but she didn't come inside and we heard her footsteps on the stairs seconds later. I rewrapped myself in the blanket, spreading my body out when Gordie got up before falling back to sleep.
It was 7am when I awoke the second time and now sitting up, I could see that over Gordie's desk chair was a beautiful emerald dress. My eyes widened. It was just like my favourite story as a kid- Cinderella. Like my fairy godmother had appeared overnight to deliver it.
Getting out of bed, I crossed the room and held the dress up. It was my size and it was gorgeous. Jesus, I had the best friend in the world. I wondered where Gordie had got it from. It still had the label on it although the price had been torn away. Maybe it was his Mom's. But it was hard to picture dowdy Mrs Lachance in anything so beautiful.
Even before Denny died she hadn't seemed the type for glitzy dresses. He must have bought it out of his birthday money or something.
I twirled in front of the mirror with the dress held against my body. The sparkly green dress shimmered in the morning light as I moved. I had two dance tickets, I had the dress. Now all I needed was a prince.
Problem was, Ace Merrill was certainly no prince.
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