How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come Tr - By Sarah Strohmeyer Page 0,68

“Something you forgot to tell me, Zoe?” he asked angrily, giving Sage a dirty look.

Sage bowed. “If I have offended thy good prince by kissing his fair wench, then I apologize.”

I winced. Cinderella’s Prince Charming was only supposed to have one wench—Cinderella—and I prayed no kid had been close enough to hear. Fortunately, Jess was working in the park and, having caught wind of the growing tension, had moved swiftly across Fiddler’s Green to my rescue.

As were Dash and Valerie, who was whispering excitedly, probably because she’d recognized Sage. Dash, meanwhile, was grinning and not in a good way. It was the same evil grin he got when Ian kissed me.

What happened next took, at most, ten seconds, but it seemed like hours as everything exploded when I said to Ian, “He’s just a friend.”

Ian said sarcastically, “I can see that.”

Jess arrived breathless, right when Sage whipped off his sunglasses. She would have blurted, “Oh my god! You’re Sage Adams!” if I hadn’t given her the Look.

“We’re on Fairyland business,” I said, under my breath. “On the down low.”

Michelle got off her phone. “What’s going on here?”

Dash unhooked himself from the gawking Valerie and slapped Ian on the back. “Don’t take it so hard, bro. You’re not the only one to get screwed over by Zoe. She hooks up with every guy here.”

If Ian hadn’t swung around and socked him in the jaw, I would have. All it took was one hard blow from Ian’s fist and Dash teetered backward like a Weeble and went down for the count, a Prince Charming in his noble navy coat laid out on the green. The trolls came running, along with Karl in his wolf costume.

Valerie screamed. Sage said, “Wow! Impressive,” while Jess cursed, “You freaking liar!” and gave Dash a kick with her faux glass slipper.

Michelle yanked me to her side and tore off her sunglasses to reveal beady eyes rimmed in bloodred. “You have just totally blown it, Lady-in-Waiting. Take me to the front office, so I can personally inform your boss that this deal is dead.”

Twenty-six

I was fired.

“The facts are indisputable. You allowed a situation to get out of control, and because of that we lost the opportunity to sign on Sage Adams as our spokesman.” The Queen reclined in her chair and petted Tinker Bell, who was snuggling in her lap. I expected they would both be looking for new quarters after this summer, since Her Majesty’s long tenure as overseer of Fairyland had ended with Ian’s single punch.

“You have displayed a shocking lack of Wow! spirit.”

That really got to me, even though I’d been telling myself nothing mattered, that the Queen thought I was a simpering lackey for whom she had no respect. The sad truth was that I had come to like the Queen. Not in a cozy, best-friend way, but in the way you’d appreciate a chemistry teacher who’s been hard on you all year and, as a result, you ace the AP chem exam because you really do understand covalent bonds.

“There are steps that must be taken,” she said, placing Tinker Bell back on her doggy bed. “Though Michelle has made it evident that no contract will be in the offing, simple courtesy, Zoe, requires you to appear at Mr. Adams’s room with an apology and an explanation.”

I failed to see how this was entirely my fault. If anything, competition for the Dream and Do grant was to blame, since it brought out the worst in us. Ian wasn’t a violent guy, and maybe, in another setting, Dash wasn’t a total jerk. I certainly wasn’t the type to play two guys off each other at once, and if Jess had ever kicked, punched, or in any way physically harmed anyone before, it was news to me.

Still, because I’d been so well-trained, I said, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Then you are to return to your room, pack your bags, and make arrangements to be transported to the bus station tomorrow morning, which is when you will also relinquish your master key and the telephonic device that I have trustingly placed in your possession.”

The phone was in the pocket of my dress with RJ’s number just begging to be pressed. Once the Queen was finished with me, I could use it to call him and tell him to get the PUD:1,001 progress report that was still in my bag, since I’d been too busy with Sage and his mother to deliver it to the Queen. How sweet would it be