Prom Queen Perfect Read online

  I wanted to kiss him as much as I wanted to smack him, because how dare he have this effect on me?

  Deep down, I was a mess, but the rest of the student council didn’t have to know that. I cleared my throat and tried to read the notes on the planner in front of me. “As far as the venue is concerned, we’ve already booked a reservation at the Bluebell Hotel. They have—”

  “Wait, what happened to Bayview Country Club?” Cory didn’t even bother to raise her hand. She gave me a look that said she thought my reign as Queen of Asia Pacific Academy was about to end due to this disaster. “Weren’t you pushing for that venue? Didn’t you say they were the best?”

  I was about to answer when Adam leaned forward on the table, his forearms glinting golden under the sunlight streaming through the windows. “We looked at the venue together, and it fit the theme better. What was it you said, Alex? I think something along the lines of Bayview being better suited for a garden party?”

  I shot him a look. He didn’t need to defend me. I could’ve eviscerated Cory with a single look that said ‘tread carefully’, and she would’ve shrunk into her seat like a balloon two days after a birthday party.

  I tamped down all the emotions inside me, looked at Cory, and said, “Yes, that’s right. The Bluebell Hotel has a certain shabby chic charm that will be a great backdrop for our twenties theme.”

  If you had any taste at all, you would’ve realized that, I wanted to add, and I honestly surprised myself by not saying that last line. I was spending too much time with Christy. Her kindness, no matter how undeserved, was rubbing off on me.

  “We’ve already chosen the contents of the buffet table,” I continued, flipping to the next page of my planner, “and my mother’s publicist already booked DJ Colin for the night. He doesn’t usually do proms, so I had to ask for help. And, oh, our party favors are… Well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.” I surveyed the room one more time before my eyes zoomed in on Cory. She fidgeted in her seat. “Any questions?”

  Like the rest of them, she shook her head.

  We then reviewed minor details—who were assigned to buy what, do what, and so forth. It was a mind-numbing discussion, because I’d already been over this so many times in my head. Prom was drawing nearer, and we had to make sure everything down to the very last detail was perfect.

  When the meeting ended, the student council officers scurried out of the room, eager for their Saturday to really begin. I didn’t even bother to stuff my things into my purse, because Stephen and I still had to talk. Beside me, Adam organized the contents of his backpack with the efficiency of a conveyor belt.

  Stephen grabbed the seat next to mine, turned it around, and sat on it backwards. “So…”

  “So?”

  With a nod at Stephen and me, Adam stood up with his backpack slung over one shoulder and left, his back as straight as a ruler. I stared until he disappeared through the doorway, unable to rip my eyes away. It was beyond pathetic.

  “You and Cordero, huh? Must say I never saw that coming.”

  I whipped around to face Stephen, but stopped myself before any words came bursting out of my mouth. Instead of bombarding him with questions because he was a boy and I was dying to hear his opinion, I calmly grabbed my pen and twirled it around my fingers. The image of cool and collected, I said, “There is nothing going on between me and Adam.”

  “That death glare he gave me said otherwise.” Stephen’s grin grew wider if that was even possible.

  I thought it was more of a careless nod than a death glare, but my stupid, stupid heart jumped at the chance to believe Stephen. I told myself to get a grip. He was too much of a loose cannon, and I had no idea what he would do with information I sent his way. Changing the topic was my best bet. “What did you want to talk to me about, anyway? I’m sure you didn’t ask me to stay behind to discuss Adam.”

  “That is true.” Stephen nodded. He leaned forward on the chair, and when he spoke, his voice was lower in volume. “I wanted to ask you about your friend Christy. Is she going out with anyone?”

  Christy was going to freak when I told her about this conversation, but right now, I had to act nonchalant for her sake. “As far as I know, she’s single. Why? Know anybody interested?”

  “You’re looking at him.” Stephen clutched the back of the chair he was currently leaning against. An intense look stole over his eyes, and that told me everything I needed to know. “She asked me to dance at my party, and we talked for a little while. She was really funny. And nice. I’ve never dated a nice girl before.”

  “That’s always a plus.” I ripped a blank piece of paper from the back of my planner and wrote down Christy’s phone number. After folding it thrice, I handed it to Stephen. “This is her number. I’m only giving it to you, because I think you really like her. However, if you hurt her, I will make it so that no girl in this school, in this planet, will ever want to touch you again. Are we clear?”

  Stephen gazed at me with a mixture of fear and awe. It looked strange on his beautiful face. He gulped. “Crystal.”

  I walked out of the office, leaving Stephen to mull over my parting shot, and stopped in the middle of the empty hallway. My eyes darted from the lockers to the polished floors that led to the school lobby. Telling myself to stop didn’t help at all, because my eyes kept looking anyway.

  Adam was already long gone.

  I let out a sigh, but immediately sucked that sigh back when I caught sight of my locker. Somebody had taped a poster that said ‘Alex dela Cruz for Prom Queen’ on it. The poster was printed on shiny black paper, and the words were in an understated shade of gold surrounded by tiny crowns—elegant, sleek, and exactly what I wanted.

  I almost didn’t notice the note underneath. I held my breath before reading it, hoping against hope that it was from the right person. It said:

  This is just a prototype.

  But maybe you’ll like it?

  Adam.

  The earth shook underneath my feet. The light streaming through the windows and bouncing against the shiny floors seemed to glow brighter than ever. In some distant part of the world, lions roared and roses bloomed, each one redder than the one before it. Right then and there, I swooned.

  Because that was what you did when you liked a boy and he maybe sort of liked you back, too.

  Chapter Five

  I floated on air for the next couple of days, as light as a breeze lifting a paper lantern into the night sky. Mayas sang for me. Freshmen girls seemed less annoying. And at any moment, I expected a bunch of furry woodland creatures to run up to me and start sewing my ball—nay, prom—gown.

  This was all shot to hell when I received a text message from my mother’s personal assistant.

  Mommy was coming back early from her business trip to Milan and wanted me to prepare dinner for her, Alice, Clay, and Adam. This was not good. In fact, if good was wearing an appropriate silver dress to the Oscar’s, this was being photographed wearing a jumpsuit with a bad case of camel toe.

  I panicked.

  Obviously.

  “What is wrong with you?” Christy tore her gaze away from her equation-filled notebook, her face leaning against her hand. She had a small smudge of blue ink on her nose. “You’ve been staring at your planner for thirty minutes, but you haven’t written anything down. You’re starting to scare me.”

  We were in the library after school doing our homework for the next day.

  “My mother wants me to plan a dinner party.” I put my pen down with a sigh.

  Christy tilted her head to give me the same look I gave the freshmen girls earlier when they asked me about appropriate prom hairstyles, like they didn’t have a clue. “I don’t get it. You’re almost too good at planning things. It’s gonna be great.”

  I scrambled for words on the surface of my mind to make her understand the complicated relationship I shared with my mother. The words escaped me like sand slipping through fingers. “Let’s just say my mother has very high
standards.”

  “Must run in the family,” Christy muttered with an impish grin.

  “Exactly.” I uncapped my pen, willing the ideas to burst forth from it. “In my family, if you don’t have high standards or aren’t crowned prom queen, there’s a chance you might be adopted.”

  Mommy didn’t even bat an eyelash when Alice came home from prom night all those years ago and announced that she had been crowned prom queen. She merely readjusted her cat eye reading glasses, the ones she only wore around the house and never in public, and said, “That’s hardly exciting news, Alice.”

  I didn’t even dare imagine how she would react if I didn’t win. If the future didn’t involve a plastic tiara, I was going to drown myself in Cheetos and stay on the couch until it swallowed me whole.

  “Your sister’s the one who’s always tagging you on photos online, right?”

  Christy’s voice stopped the slowly worsening list of things that would happen if I didn’t become prom queen. I blinked. “Yes. That’s Alice.”

  “Well, if she won prom queen, then you surely will,” Christy said the same way you would say the earth revolves around the sun. “You’re way prettier.”

  I loved her at that moment.

  Christy, the girl whose existence I hadn’t been aware of until little more than a month ago, won my loyalty and adoration in one fell swoop. After a lifetime of standing in Alice’s shadow, Christy’s words made me feel like one of those people who combed the beach with a metal detector trying to find gold, and after years of waiting, it started beeping.

  Gold. Her words were gold.

  “You’re not my friend anymore,” I said, hating the word as soon as it escaped my lips.

  ‘Friend’ got tossed around in my social circle so carelessly it was almost worthless. I was friends with Cory the same way I was friends with other people who did my bidding because they were afraid of my wrath, of the havoc I could wreak on their reputations at Asia Pacific Academy.

  “W-what? Why?” Christy’s eyes widened, reminding me once more of Bambi.

  Something like this would’ve made her burst into tears a few weeks ago. A strange sort of pride bubbled up in my chest. I couldn’t help but laugh. Smiling widely, I said, “You’ve been promoted. Consider yourself my best friend.”

  ***

  It rained on the night of the dinner party. Big, fat raindrops fell from the sky and crashed against the windows. The explosion of blue hydrangeas I placed on the center of the dining table looked wrong somehow, like a girl who wore a chiffon gown to the beach. Out of place and too attention-seeking.

  Mommy sat at the head of the table, chewing the beef fillet our cook had prepared. She wore a midnight blue dress. The pearl pendant hanging from the silver chain around her neck glinted with her every movement, and I stared at it two seats away as if mesmerized. When Mommy’s eyes landed on the hydrangeas and narrowed by a fraction, I wanted to sweep them off the table until the vase the flowers were in shattered, thousands of crystal flecks flying in the air.

  I was a mess.

  Alice sat next to me, her silverware not making any noise. It might’ve been raining outside, but she looked like summer to me, practically radiant in a white dress with yellow daisies all over it. Across the table, Clay and Adam shared a private joke.

  At first glance, you would’ve known immediately that they were brothers. Clay looked like a bulkier and smiling version of Adam, but the similarities ended with their looks. If Clay was made up of T-shirts and hellos, his younger brother was starched button-downs and stiff nods.

  “This is delicious, Tita,” Adam said after swallowing a mouthful. Tonight, he was wearing a black button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A silver Rolex glinted on his wrist.

  Mommy looked down at the main course I tasted seven times in the kitchen before allowing the maids to serve it. She didn’t comment on the taste. “How has school been, Adam? Any new academic achievements I should be aware of?”

  A sliver of dread wound its way around my stomach. In my mother’s eyes, he was the golden boy who could do no wrong. It was so easy for him to please her. I wondered what that felt like more times than I wanted to admit.

  I tried to meet Adam’s eyes over the silverware and hydrangeas, but he kept them focused on his plate. The sliver of dread around my stomach wound itself even tighter. Without looking at me, he said, “You should ask Alex. She’s been very busy planning the prom.”

  “That’s not necessarily something you need to worry about, Alex, darling.” My mother took a sip of red wine, her lipstick leaving an even redder mark on the glass. “I’m sure you’ll be voted prom queen without lifting a finger. Alice was.”

  I smoothed my features into a placid expression, eyes carefully blank and mouth with a little smile, even if all I wanted to do was scream. Visions of knocking the hydrangeas off the table filled my mind once more, and I could almost hear the satisfying crunch of glass underneath my feet. It became harder to breathe.

  Underneath the table, Alice’s fingers found my hand. She laced her fingers through mine, squeezing a little. I let out the breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding. Then, my beautiful sister proceeded to raise her eyebrows at her husband, a movement so quick it was almost invisible.

  Understanding dawned in Clay’s eyes like the sun bursting through the clouds after days of rain. He leaned his forearms on the table with a light, easy smile.

  “Alice was only voted prom queen, because I bullied everyone into voting for her.” He laughed. “Anyway, I’m sure Alex will win. The people at Asia Pacific Academy aren’t blind. They all know who the prettiest girl at school is. Isn’t that right, little brother?”

  If you multiplied the definition of the word ‘uncomfortable’ by ten at that moment, it still wouldn’t have been enough to describe the look on Adam’s face. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. Flat out refusing to look at me, he said, “Of course.”

  The beef fillet which had tasted so delicious only a few seconds before turned to ash in my mouth. What was going on? Why was Adam treating me like I had the plague?

  An image of the poster he made for me flashed in my mind. Things couldn’t have changed that fast. He couldn’t have changed his mind me about me that quickly. For the rest of dinner, I couldn’t swallow another bite and pushed my food around my plate instead.

  Mommy. Adam. Mommy. Adam. I couldn’t take it anymore.

  After dinner, Mommy dragged the three of them to the study to show off a painting she bought in Milan. It was a fantastical rendering of the Milan Cathedral composed of cloudy shades of blue and swirls of dirty white. I didn’t tell Mommy, but I hated it. I didn’t know why, but I was starting to prefer seeing things the way they were.

  The rain had turned into a slow drizzle so I escaped into the veranda, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I wrapped my arms around myself due to the slight chill in the air and sent Christy a text message.

  Have you heard from Stephen yet?

  Christy’s reply arrived in a matter of seconds. I couldn’t help the grin that took over my face when I read it.

  Yes, her text message said, but I haven’t replied. Trying to keep him on his toes.

  I almost couldn’t believe this text message was from Christy Marquez, the ultimate good girl and Stephen King fangirl.

  And my best friend.

  The words sounded unfamiliar in my head. I had never had a best friend before, but having one felt amazing.

  I was still grinning down at my phone like an escaped mental patient when Adam walked into the veranda. His face hardened when he saw me, a muscle ticking in his jaw. The moonlight cast shadows on his face and made him look like he had been sculpted out of silver.

  “Alex,” he said, saying my name the same way I would’ve said ‘fashion victim’.

  For the first time in my life, I had no idea what to do. Adam had made that poster for me which made me think he sort of liked me.

  B
ut now? He was treating me like the past couple of weeks hadn’t happened, like we were the same people who argued over the right way to organize a recycling drive when we were anything but.

  I stuffed my phone into my pocket and faced him. “Adam.”

  “I should go.” His eyes never drifted in my direction. They stayed focused on the potted orchids hanging from the awning behind me. “Sorry to interrupt.”

  Something about the way he said that last sentence, like he was trying to hurl the words in my direction, forced something in me to snap. Dealing with my mother was difficult enough. I didn’t need him to complicate things even more.

  “Wait.” My voice sounded sure and confident, but I was shaking inside. “What’s up with you? I thought we were okay. You even taped that poster to my locker—”

  “That was before.”

  “Before what?”

  “Before I tried to defend you at the meeting.” Adam took a single step toward me with every word. The tips of his ears were turning red.

  I gazed into his brown eyes, the eyes that had always been kind despite the insults we threw at each other. With a jolt, I realized they were filled with hurt, not anger. I let out a sigh of frustration. “Is this about what Cory said? You didn’t have to defend me. I can take care of myself.”

  “But that’s the whole point.” Adam shook his head at me, like he was explaining that one plus one added up to two and I simply did not get it. His hands, warm and firm, landed on my arms, and he pulled me closer, just by a tiny fraction.

  “Wh-what is?” The goosebumps that rose up on my arm were a dead giveaway about how I felt about him, but I was beyond caring at that point.

  One of Adam’s hands drifted down from my arm and captured one of my hands. He slipped his fingers through mine, and it felt like we’d both been waiting for this for years.

  “Alex, God knows I didn’t have to defend you,” he said. “I… I just wanted to.”

  Chapter Six

  When I returned to school the next day, Cory’s face was the first thing that greeted me. Her eyes tilted up at the corners because her smile was so wide, making her look like a cat that got two bowlfuls of Fancy Feast the night before. She slammed her locker door shut the second she laid eyes on me. “Alex, have I got some news for you or what?”