All-American Princess - Maggie Dallen Page 0,53

which was currently a makeshift dancefloor. This school looked exactly the same as the first day I’d walked these halls, but it felt different.

I felt different.

I ignored the stares, the way I always did.

“Hey, Lila,” one of Amber’s friends called out. I gave her a little wave but kept walking. Would I ever fit in here at this school?

Maybe not.

Did I care?

Hell no.

Fitting in was overrated. I’d fit in with my friends back home and look where that had gotten me. Forgotten and mocked the moment I was out of the picture. No doubt it would be the same here. But maybe there would be a friend or two in this group of ordinary teenagers. Maybe Amber, or maybe one of her friends. Brandon, for sure. I liked Brandon.

And Jack. I swung open the doors to the gym and spotted him instantly. I definitely liked Jack. My heart gave a jolt at the sight of him. It leapt in my chest like it was trying to jump out of my body and into his.

Jack leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the room, looking bored and sexy. His dark gaze roamed over the crowd as he ignored the group of girls standing beside him, talking to one another and possibly to him. He didn’t seem to notice them. His gaze found me, and that group ceased to exist. Everyone in this gym faded into nothing.

The thumping, terrible music, the tacky Christmas lights strung up to mimic something romantic and elegant—it was all a blur around me as his gaze held mine and read everything. He saw right inside of me, and I didn’t try to hide.

I was here… for him. To be with him. And it was terrifying.

I stood there for what felt like an eternity, frozen in place by the sheer overwhelming excitement of the moment. The thumping of the bass in the epically bad sound system matched the thud in my chest.

After a moment of staring into my eyes, it happened. His mouth quirked up in an achingly slow, heart-wrenchingly perfect smile. It was knowing and smug and freakin’ sexy as hell.

I found myself returning his smile. Some distant part of my brain was aware that we must have looked silly gazing at one another from across the room like this. If anyone was watching, we clearly looked ridiculous. A total cliché.

But in that moment, every romantic cliché made sense. Every one of them. The bubbly pop songs, the melodramatic poems, the angsty teen movies.

Yeah. I got them now.

The world did fade away to just the two of us. My heart was pounding in my ears. His gaze on me was so hot I could feel it on my skin, and the air between us held no oxygen… only gravity.

I’d be damned. They were clichés for a reason.

He pushed away from the wall and headed toward me, his gaze never wavering from mine. He weaved through the crowd, and my smile grew as he drew nearer. I couldn’t wait to tell him what I’d just decided right then and there. All hesitation was gone, all the fear replaced by an insane flood of hope.

Things could be different. I could be different.

I let out a breathless laugh as I watched Jack making his way toward me. With Jack, I could start over, make a new life, maybe even—

“I need to talk to you.” Brandon’s voice behind me shocked me out of my happy daze, and I whirled around.

All of my joy was replaced with concern. “Brandon, are you okay?”

No. The answer was clearly no. His handsome face was pale, the skin around his eyes and mouth taut with stress and something else.

Something worse.

Something like desperation.

“We need to go,” he said.

I glanced around quickly, but I’d lost Jack in the crowd, and Amber was nowhere to be seen. “Brandon, you’re scaring me,” I said. “Where do you need to go?”

He took a step closer and gripped my arms. “I’m ready to take your dad up on his offer. I’m ready to go to Hollywood with you.”

I blinked up at him. “What—when—wh—” I swallowed another asinine question and tried again. “What made you change your mind?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to get out of here.”

I looked around again at a loss. This seemed like a wonderful moment for one of his close friends to step in. Amber would know exactly how to handle a distraught, emotional Brandon.

I floundered in the