The Anti-Prom - By Abby McDonald Page 0,86
for, like, two minutes. You’re the only one who can drive this old thing.”
We make it to the diner without any more public displays of affection, piling into a huge red leather booth in the corner. The place is bright, full of early-morning truckers and students recovering from the night before.
“Hash browns, and waffles, and sausage, and maple syrup,” Meg tells the waitress, practically swooning over the menu. Scott grins, still holding fast to her hand.
“Need any help with that?”
Meg shakes her head so fast, her hair spins out. “Get your own!”
“Just coffee for me, black,” Dante says. He slips out of his seat and heads for the corner jukebox. A second later, the twang of an old country song begins to play. “Jolene, Jolene . . .”
Smooth.
“If I’d known you were so easy to crack, I’d have called him in a long time ago,” I tell her.
“Shut up!” she protests, but there’s no bite in her tone. Jolene nods at the small book on the table between us. “You know what you’re going to do with it yet?”
“I was thinking a ceremonial shredding.” I decide. “Every last page.”
“But there’s still Kaitlin’s dirt in there,” Meg points out. “You could keep that.”
I shake my head. “I’m done with her. All this stupid bitching . . . I’m better than that.”
“And so modest, too,” Jolene elbows me. I yelp.
“Just for that, I’m stealing all your bacon,” I inform her, sending a longing look at the kitchen. Then I stop. “No way!”
I blink, staring at the group of goth girls crammed into a table by the door. But I’m right: it’s her. My cousin, Selena, in thick black eye makeup and a black strappy corset, her hair twisted into sharp spirals. All this time I’ve spent trying to be as perfect as her, and it turns out, my sorority cousin isn’t so image-perfect after all.
I laugh, waving across the room. She looks confused, and then worried, and then finally she raises her hand and gives me a tiny wave back.
“What?” Meg cranes her neck around.
“Nothing.” I turn back to my table with a grin. Maybe my mom won’t be freaking out so much about the feud with Kaitlin. At least I don’t have a metal bar spiked through my nose.
“Did you see the flyers by the door?” Dante returns, pushing all of us tighter together. “Okkervil River is playing out by the lake tomorrow night.”
“You mean tonight,” Jolene corrects him. He rolls his eyes at her, she sticks her tongue out, he leans forward, and then I interrupt before it all descends into make-out city again.
“Let’s go,” I suggest as the waitress begins to dispense vast piles of food in front of us. I inhale the carbs. Heaven. “After we’ve had, like, ten hours’ sleep I mean.”
“Sounds good to me.” Scott reaches for the home fries. “My last final will be done.”
“I don’t know.” Meg bites her lip. “My dad —”
“Leave him to me,” I promise.
“And my mom . . .” Jolene adds, looking up from her bacon.
“Trust me,” I insist, snatching a piece from her plate and settling back in the booth. I look around, happy. “This is going to be an awesome summer.”
Thanks as always to my wonderful agent, Rosemary Stimola, and the fabulous team at Candlewick: Liz Bicknell, Kaylan Adair, and Tracy Miracle, and everyone else who worked to make this book possible.
Thanks also to my mum and dad, and the friends who offered ceaseless enthusiasm and advice: Veronique Watt, Elisabeth Donnelly, Darinka Aleksic, and Narmada Thiranagama. Thanks to Tyler Ruggeri for the support, and Will Sheff for writing “Unless It’s Kicks.”
ABBY MCDONALD is from Sussex, England. Since graduating from Oxford University in 2006, she has composed teen magazine quizzes, interviewed rock stars, and bounced back and forth across the Atlantic so often that the airlines should give her automatic upgrades (she wishes). She is now based in London, where she writes full-time.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2011 by Abby McDonald
Cover photograph copyright © 2011 by Carolyn Ross
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2011
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
McDonald, Abby.
The anti-prom / Abby McDonald.
p. cm.
Summary: On prom night, Bliss, Jolene, and Meg, students from the same high school who barely know one another, band together to get revenge against Bliss’s boyfriend and best friend, whom she caught together in their limousine.
ISBN 978-0-7636-4956-2 (hardcover)
[1. Interpersonal relations — Fiction. 2. Proms (Dances) — Fiction. 3. Revenge — Fiction. 4. High schools — Fiction. 5. Schools — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M4784174Ant 2011
[Fic] — dc22 2010039170
ISBN 978-0-7636-5460-3 (electronic)
Candlewick Press
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Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
visit us at www.candlewick.com
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Jolene
Meg
Bliss
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright