Will the Real Prince Charming Please Stand Up (4 page)

October evenings in Southern California were usually chilly, but standing up on that float, the temperature seemed closer to forty degrees than sixty. As grateful as I was for the long gloves Ally had provided, I started to wonder if we should have considered draping a cat across my shoulders, after all, just so it could have kept me warm while the parade float inched its way around the football field. Even a pair of fuzzy slippers to keep my feet warm would have helped, but Ally had insisted I wear her peep-toe stilettos, though they were pinching my toes.

Note to self: Never borrow your friend’s shoes when she wears a half-size smaller than you do.

“You’re doing a great job,” Sandra encouraged from her perch beside me. “Keep smiling!”

“I’m not smiling,” I replied as I waved mechanically to the crowd. “I’m clenching my teeth to keep them from chattering.”

She laughed. “Stop being a baby. It’s really not that cold.”

“You’re not the one wearing a strapless gown,” I complained.

“Yeah, well, these little skirts don’t exactly cover up a whole lot, either.”

I laughed. I’d never realized she could be so sassy. “Point taken.”

She shrugged. “We’re out like this almost every week. You get used to it after a while.”

The float lurched to a stop, and I gripped the post beside me to keep from falling. A couple of guys from the AV Club hurried out with a stepladder so I could descend the float and join the rest of the Homecoming court on the makeshift stage at the fifty-yard line as Mr. Hamilton introduced me as the Sophomore Class Princess. Amid deafening cheers from the crowd, I took my place beside Nikki under the harsh fluorescent stadium lights. I felt a little better when I saw the other princesses in their white strapless gowns, but I still wished I had a jacket or something to warm my neck and shoulders. I looked out at the spectators and enviously eyed the coats and sweatshirts I saw everyone wearing.

On the other side of the stage, Tim, Brady, and Liam Iverson were wearing their football uniforms; the other two senior guys wore crisp black suits. My brother beamed at me, and I was warmed by his grin. Tim was watching me, too, and when he winked at me, I shivered, but not because I was cold.

One by one, the senior girls were introduced and stepped onto the stage, escorted by their proud fathers. They were equally resplendent in their white gowns, their faces shining in excited anticipation.

Once the entire court was on stage, Mr. Hamilton began a monologue about Westgate’s rich history and how delighted he was to present such an intelligent and talented Homecoming Court. I kept smiling and tried not to shiver, but I was secretly willing him to hurry up and announce the King and Queen so that I could retreat to the warmth of the girls’ locker room where a bag of warmer clothes awaited me.

“How do you do it?” I whispered to Monica through clenched teeth.

“Do what?” she asked, a smile frozen to her face, her lips hardly moving.

“Stand perfectly still like that and not freeze to death.”

She glanced at me and shrugged almost imperceptibly. “You do what you have to do.” She stared forward again and whispered, “I’m imagining myself on the beach in the Bahamas right now.”

“Does that work?”

“I don’t look cold, do I?”

When Mrs. Goldberg finally approached the stage to hand the principal two white envelopes, I was so eager for this to be over.

“I hope your brother wins,” Nikki whispered to me. “I voted for him.” When Brady’s name was announced, she jumped up and down, clapping excitedly.

“Nikki!” Monica barked.

The freshman quickly stiffened and stood straight. “Sorry, Monica.”

I watched my brother accept his crown and scepter and tried not to laugh. He looked ridiculous in his grass-stained football jersey with a velvet cape draped across his shoulders and a large crown on his head, but the grin on his face said it all. He was ecstatic.

Mr. Hamilton announced Amy Crawford as Homecoming Queen, but she remained motionless until one of her friends nudged her and whispered something. Then Amy’s eyes grew wide, her hands flew to her mouth, and she staggered forward to accept her crown, tears of joy streaming down her face.

There was definitely some kind of protocol for accepting a tiara that I didn’t know about.

****

“It’s so cold, you guys,” I whined, pulling fuzzy socks over my still-frozen toes. “I don’t think I’ve thawed out yet.”

Mom wasn’t too thrilled with leaving the game after the halftime parade, but my dad had insisted she take me home, though that may have been to get me to stop complaining. Not even Brady’s baseball jacket layered over my Westgate Prep hoodie had managed to cut the chill. Mom tried to argue with him but ultimately agreed when Dad said he would take care of cleaning up after the game. Once we got home, she called my grandmother to tell her all about Brady being named Homecoming King. My friends and I camped out in the family room to watch the second season of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
.

“You looked so pretty!” Ally gushed as her fingers flew across her laptop, drafting a new blog entry. “I did an awesome job, if I may say so myself.”

“Did our class win the float competition?” Talia asked. “I didn’t really get most of the other themes.”

Ally frowned. “No. The Drama Club won again. We only got second place,” she said, bitterness lacing her words. “It’s so not fair. The Drama Club shouldn’t even be allowed to enter. I mean, they’re made up of people from different classes, anyway, and they have an entire crew that does nothing but build sets and stuff, you know?”

“I didn’t get to see anything,” I said with a pout.

“The Drama Club float was fab,” Talia said, ignoring Ally’s sullen glare. “They did this neat Hitchcock thing with, like, four different movie scenes. Kyle Mitchell was running in front of the float, dodging this remote-controlled plane like in
North by Northwest
.”

“Oh, that would have been fun to see.” I knew Kyle from Drama Club, so I could totally imagine him hitting the dirt full-on to avoid a tiny airplane as he reprised Cary Grant’s role for the evening.

“Yeah, it was cool. And Francesca Martinez had all these birds attacking her, and she was freaking out. It was awesome. I don’t know how they did it.”

Ally closed her laptop and set it on the coffee table. “I’ll admit it. I’m bitter we didn’t win,” she said, grabbing the giant bowl of popcorn and sinking onto the couch. “I mean, it’s not my fault you had to wear a white dress and have cheerleaders on your float. You were a perfect Audrey Hepburn.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said, smiling, “but you’re most definitely a genius.”

She grinned. “I am, aren’t I?”

“So does Brady’s win as Homecoming King mean he’s out of the running now for Prom King?” Talia asked, taking a handful of popcorn and sitting beside Ally.

“Oh no,” I groaned. “I hope so. His head is already going to be so much bigger when he gets home tonight.”

Talia and I laughed, but Ally let out a wistful sigh.

“I want to go to Prom this year,” she said.

Talia grabbed a paper towel and wiped her hands. “So get a junior or a senior to take you.”

“I’m serious, you guys,” Ally said. “I’ve been sitting in on all the Dance Committee meetings, and it sounds like this year is going to be awesome.”

“Where are they having it?” I asked. “Not Lakeridge.” The Lakeridge Golf and Tennis Club was gorgeous, but since so many students’ parents were members, it was considered the venue of last resort.

“No, they’re talking about buying out Iconic for the night,” she replied, her eyes wide with excitement. “You know, the club Marco del Valle’s dad owns?”

“Get out!” Talia shrieked. “I love that place. Ephemera’s played there a couple of times. It’s so cool.”

“I’ve never been.”

“Then you totally need to go, too,” Ally said, her curls bobbing as she nodded.

I wrinkled my nose. “They’ll probably have some lame boy band playing, though.”

She gave me an exasperated look. “Who cares? It’s Prom at Iconic! I just want to go.”

“I kind of do, too, now,” Talia agreed.

“Really?” Ally said. “You’re, like, totally anti-school functions.”

Talia smirked. “It doesn’t mean I’ll dance. It’s just a cool place.”

Ally pursed her lips as she thought. “Maybe you can get someone from Ephemera to take you.”

“Yeah, like going out with Jake’s bandmates wouldn’t be weird. Besides, could you see me going out with Zack?” Talia shuddered. “Ick.”

I smiled. Zack Montgomery was a junior and Ephemera’s lead guitarist and singer. I thought he was kind of a jerk, but he wasn’t bad-looking, and lots of girls at school adored him.

“I don’t know. I think Keith’s kind of cute,” Ally said, referring to the bassist.

“You think everyone’s cute.” Talia reached for another handful of popcorn. “No, seriously. Who of Brady’s friends is single?”

“Really, you guys?”

“Not Tim,” Ally said, ignoring me.

“Definitely not Tim. Bianca’s got dibs.” Talia grinned at me and added in a sing-song voice, “She’s got a crush on him.”

“I
had
a crush on him,” I corrected her. “When I was in, like, fourth grade.”

“No, I mean Tim’s going out with Chelsea Cooper,” Ally clarified. “She’s his date tomorrow night, anyway.”

“What?” I asked, not bothering to hide my surprise.

Talia stared at her. “How do you know these things?”

“It was on the sheet,” she replied as though it was common knowledge. “You know, the one you fill out when you buy your tickets?”

I don’t know why, but it suddenly felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Tim had a girlfriend, but I still felt a little unsettled. It wasn’t jealousy or anything. I just didn’t like hearing that news.

“Okay,” Talia said, drawing out the word. “So then Tim really is off-limits.”

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Bianca doesn’t care,” Ally said with a flippant wave of her hand. “She’s got Dante.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I don’t
have
Dante,” I corrected her. “It’s not like we’re official or anything.”

“But you could totally get him if you wanted to,” she said. “That’s, like, almost the same thing.”

Talia scowled. “I can’t imagine why you would want him, though. He’s a total skeeze.”

“But he’s really cute!” Ally insisted. “Even you have to admit that.”

“I don’t care how cute he is,” she retorted. “Good looks aren’t an excuse for behaving like a total jerk.”

I gazed absently at the television and watched as Buffy fought with Spike in the school hallway.

“Dante’s been really sweet, Talia,” I said.

She snorted. “For now.”

“Is it so hard to believe a guy might actually like me?”

Talia popped a popcorn kernel in her mouth and chewed slowly. “That someone might like you? No,” she said after she swallowed. “But that Dante genuinely likes anyone?” She shook her head. “I know his type, and all he cares about is having a pretty girl to parade around on his arm.”

“No way,” Ally protested for at least the sixth time in as many hours. “The Sunbeam Alpine is the best Bond car ever.”

Finn adjusted his glasses and stared at her in disbelief. “Are you crazy? Q didn’t even make any modifications to it. It’s gotta be one of the Aston Martin DB5s.”

“The fact Q didn’t need to touch it is exactly why it’s the best car,” she insisted.

He was incredulous. “But the whole point of being a Bond car is all the stuff Q adds to it!” he said. “Otherwise it’s just a car.”

Ally’s eyes grew wide as she stared at him. “Oh, you did
not
just say that.”

This was an argument carried over from our last Bond Marathon in May. Ally had declared the Sunbeam Alpine featured in
Dr. No
was the best Bond car ever, and both Jake and Finn disagreed. Last time the guys had said the BMW Z8 in
Tomorrow Never Dies
was the best one, though, so I thought Ally’s case seemed more solid. I mean, at least she stayed consistent.

It was kind of weird having Finn at my house without Jake. Talia and I had started Movie Marathon Night in seventh grade when Brady had gone to his first Homecoming dance, and when he’d gone to the Winter Formal, we’d asked Ally to join us. It was our thing. Any time Brady went to a dance, we would have a movie marathon. The guys didn’t join us until last year, and it had been Jake’s brilliant idea to watch as many Bond films as we could, so it was especially strange not having him there.

“Why couldn’t we go to Jake’s show, again?” I asked, grabbing a slice of room-temperature pizza from the open box on the coffee table.

Talia looked up from her phone, probably reading a text from him. They were always texting each other. “Bonfire isn’t an all-ages club,” she reminded me. “Zack’s cousin booked the gig, and it’s, like, an eighteen-and-up or something.”

“Jake just turned sixteen, though,” I protested. “And the rest of the guys are juniors. They’re underage, too.”

“I guess it’s different when you’re the talent.”

I pouted. “Bummer.”

“I hope they win tonight,” Finn said. “That would be pretty epic.”

Talia nodded, still looking at her phone. “He said he thinks there’s some label exec there or something. So, yeah.” She looked up and smiled. “It would be hugely epic.”

“How do they sound in rehearsal?” Ally asked.

“Really good,” Talia said, sounding a bit surprised. “I guess Zack has been on them about practice and stuff, because they’re a lot tighter than they were over the summer.”

We were already about an hour into
Tomorrow Never Dies
, the fourth movie of our marathon. Brady hung out with us and watched most of
GoldenEye
before he left to pick up Kira Preston, his girlfriend, for the dance. After that, it was just us four hanging out in my family room. My dad came in once or twice to watch with us, but our running commentary must have annoyed him because he never stayed long.

“Wai Lin has got to be the best Bond girl,” Talia announced as we watched the Chinese spy battle alongside the British intelligence agent. “Can we at least agree on that?”

Finn’s brow creased as he thought. “That’s debatable,” he said. “But she’s one of the best, for sure.”

“Oh, come on! Look at her! She could totally take Bond in a fight.”

“Well, yeah,” he agreed. “But she could take anyone in a fight. I would definitely want her on my team.”

“You’d take any of them on your team,” Talia said.

Finn held up a finger as if to silence her. “Not true. Some of the Bond girls are pretty useless. They just stand there and scream.”

“I want to be a Bond girl,” Ally said with a sigh. She draped herself upside-down across my mom’s velvety aubergine chaise lounge, her golden curls pooling onto the plush carpet below.

“Why?” Talia asked, her mouth full of corn chips and guacamole.

“They’re all beautiful, they’re all smart, and they always get James Bond.”

“Yeah, but not for very long. They’re nothing more than pretty faces. It’s not like he’s madly in love with any of them.”

“That’s not true, Talia,” Finn said. “He got married once.”

“Oh, yeah!” Ally chimed in, sitting up. “That countess chick. But she got shot at the end.”

Talia threw her hands up. “Okay, so that’s one out of, like, how many? Three per movie?”

Ally returned to her bat-like pose and smiled at her. “Maybe he’s just emotionally constipated. We all know people like that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded, her eyes narrowed.

“Be nice, you guys,” Finn said, eyeing them.

Poor Finn. Without Jake around, he was reduced to playing referee between my two best friends. At least if Jake was there, they could have shared the responsibility.

“Bianca?” my mom called from the doorway. “Someone’s here to see you.” Standing behind her, holding a giant bag of pretzels and a two-liter bottle of soda, was Dante. His hair was more ruffled than usual, and he looked really good in his ripped jeans and retro concert tee. Not that he wasn’t cute at school, of course, but he looked amazing out of uniform.

I hopped up from my perch on a giant pink floor pillow and rushed over to greet him.

“Dante! Hey!” I exclaimed, taking the pretzels from him. “I didn’t think you’d show.”

My mom stepped to the side to let him pass, and he peered into the family room as though he wasn’t sure if he should enter. “It looks like I’m late,” he said, his eyes scanning the room. “You didn’t really tell me when to come over.”

I raised my shoulders in a nervous shrug. “We’ve been here all day, more or less, but we had a late start. Finn didn’t get here until a little before eleven.”

“Eleven? Like this morning?”

“We have lots of movies to watch,” Talia said, glaring at us.

My mom was still standing in the doorway, watching us with her arms folded across her chest. When I glanced up at her, I saw her lips pressed together in that familiar Mom-is-not-pleased look and winced.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked.

I turned to Dante. “Um, I think you know everyone. There’s pizza if you’re hungry and, like, other stuff.” I could tell I was rambling and stopped myself. “Just make yourself at home.” I gave him an encouraging smile. “I’ll be right back.”

I followed my mother into the kitchen where she sat down at the breakfast table and motioned for me to join her.

“So tell me,” she said in an even tone, her hands smoothing nonexistent wrinkles on the tablecloth. “Who is this Dante?”

I shrugged. “He goes to Westgate. He seems like a nice guy.”

“Is he in your class?”

“Um, we aren’t taking any classes together this year, but he was in my algebra class last year.”

“So he’s a sophomore?”

“Uh-huh.”

She nodded once. “What’s his last name?”

“Schwartz,” I replied, wondering if my mom really did know all the parents at Westgate. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she did.

Her lips were still pursed. “Does Brady know him?”

“I don’t know,” I said with another shrug. “Maybe? I guess?”

Mom stared at me for a few moments before she sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. I looked into eyes that people say I inherited and braced myself for a lecture.

“You’re fifteen,” she said at last, “and you’re ready to date. I can accept that.”

I bobbed my head in understanding but inwardly cringed, afraid of where she could be taking this conversation.

“And I trust you enough to make intelligent decisions,” she continued, her eyes fixed on mine.

“Okay.” Whenever Mom said she trusted me to make intelligent decisions, it usually meant we were about to head into very uncomfortable territory, and the prospect of it was making me nervous.

My mom took a deep breath and resumed smoothing the tablecloth, studying it as her long fingers glided across the cream linen. “There is a brand-new roadster outside that wasn’t there until your friend Dante arrived,” she said.

I blinked, surprised. “There is?”

She nodded again. “Mmm-hmm. But if I’m not mistaken, Charmaine Schwartz’s son won’t be sixteen for another month and a half.” She looked up at me. “Isn’t that interesting?”

My eyes grew wide as I understood what she was telling me. “Yeah.”

She paused before adding, “Equally interesting is that Charmaine and Aaron both told me they couldn’t help out with any Homecoming weekend festivities because they would be out of town, so unless they were lying, I would say they probably have no idea where their son is right now.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

“Indeed.” She grimaced and reached over to squeeze my hand. “I know you’ll make good choices,” she said after another heavy sigh. “I trust you.”

I remained motionless in my chair, waiting for the lecture to continue, but my mom stood up, patted me on the head, and left me alone at the table.

It was, by far, the weirdest talk ever.

Dante came into the kitchen a few moments after she walked out.

“Hi,” I said, standing up. I made a vague gesture in the direction my mother went. “Sorry. My mom’s kind of weird sometimes.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and shrugged.

“No, I get it,” he said.

“I was about to go back and join you guys. Did you need something? Like more snacks?”

He moved closer to me. “No, there’s still plenty of munchies in there.”

“Oh, okay.” I stared at a piece of lint on his shirt as I tried to think of something to say. “We’re missing the movie,” I finally blurted.

Dante chuckled. “You know, I’m really not a big James Bond fan.”

“Seriously? Then why are you here?”

“To see you,” he replied, taking another step closer.

“Oh.” I looked at my bare feet, feeling embarrassed.

“I looked for you after halftime last night.”

“We left right after the parade,” I explained in a rush. “I was freezing.”

Dante’s cheeks dimpled as he smiled. “I couldn’t tell from where I was sitting. You looked amazing.”

“Thank you. Ally did all the work.”

“Not all of it.”

My cheeks were definitely burning, and I couldn’t meet his gaze. “Thanks.”

“So this movie thing,” he said, reaching for my hand. “How long are people staying?”

He was so close to me, I could see the cotton of his shirt straining to stretch across his chest. “Well, um, Ally and Talia are sleeping over,” I said. “And, um, my dad’ll take Finn home whenever we decide we’ve had enough. So maybe in, like, an hour? It’ll be around midnight if we watch the next one.” I bit my lip and studied him. “Why?”

He took another step closer. “I thought maybe you’d want to go to the after-party with me.”

His sweet citrusy-peppery-leathery scent was heady. “After-party? Like, the after-Homecoming after-party?”

“Yeah, at Liam’s. It’s supposed to be some huge thing since he’s a senior and all.”

I frowned. It sounded like Dante was asking me out, which was so awesome I could scream, but I wasn’t going to ditch my friends. Besides, Brady had told me enough about parties at the Iversons’ for me to know it wasn’t my scene. I wasn’t interested in watching people puke in the bushes or pass out on the patio furniture.

“No thanks,” I said. “I’m not really the big party type. And besides, Brady will probably be there, and it would be weird if I suddenly showed up. Sorry.”

“That’s too bad. I was kind of hoping I could have you to myself for a little while.”

“Really?”

He laughed. “Really.”

Inside, I was squealing and turning cartwheels. On the outside, all I could muster was a lame shrug and a giggle.

“Well, since it seems like I won’t get that alone time with you,” he said, taking a step back, “I think I’ll head over to Liam’s for a while anyway.”

“Oh.” I tried to hide my disappointment. Even if we wouldn’t have exactly been alone, we still could have hung out together. But I nodded. “Okay. I’ll walk you out.”

Mom wasn’t kidding about the new roadster in our driveway. Dante pushed a button on his key fob, and the sleek black car lit up. He saw me eyeing it and grinned.

“Do you want to go for a ride?” he asked.

I let out a nervous laugh. “Everyone’s inside,” I said. “It would be weird leaving them.” I hoped that sounded reasonable. I didn’t want him to know I was kind of freaked out by the fact that my mom knew he was driving without a license. Plus she already pulled that I-trust-you-to-make-good-decisions talk on me. It was one thing for Ally to drive Brady’s car around the block a couple of times. I mean, her dad had taught her to drive when she was twelve. But I had to admit I really didn’t know enough about Dante to defend him to my parents.

Dante shrugged. “Your loss.”

“Maybe some other time?”

“Maybe.”

“Thanks for coming over, though,” I said, walking with him to the car. “I’m sorry you can’t stay longer.”

He took my hand and smiled. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

There was something in the way he looked at me as he said those words that made me catch my breath. And then he pulled me closer to him, locked me into his arms, and pressed his lips firmly onto mine.

I’d always imagined my first kiss would be magical and spectacular. My eyes would lock with his, he’d hold me close and lean in to kiss me, I’d close my eyes in breathless anticipation….

The reality was nothing like that.

I thought it was a good kiss, but I mean, I didn’t have anything to compare it to. I wished I’d had more notice he might kiss me, though, because he’d caught me completely off guard. His lips were soft, and he sort of tasted like spearmint, which was nice, but as soon as he shoved his tongue between my lips, I kind of froze for a second because I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I mirrored his actions and figured it out pretty quickly, though, and when he finally lifted his head from mine, I found myself clinging to him for dear life.

“I think we have an audience,” he said, looking over my head.

I glanced backward and saw my friends’ faces peering from the front window. I buried my head into his neck. “Oh, this is a nightmare,” I said, mortified.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “I don’t mind.” He pressed his forehead to mine and held me really close. “I really like you, Bianca,” he said. “And I’m really hoping you want to go out with me.”