and cleared her throat. “I mean, to go as friends of course.”
“Friends,” I repeated.
“Yeah…” Rocky’s face fell for a moment before brightening. “We’ll have a lot of fun. We’ll be normal kids.”
I let a puff of air out of my nostrils. “How would I know what normal is?”
Chapter 4
“So you want to go to the dance?” Mr. Elliott folded his hands together, creating a steeple with his index fingers. Resting his nose on the makeshift tower, he exhaled lengthily. “I thought Jesse Tyler didn’t do dances.”
Crap. He really was going to drag this out.
“He doesn’t, but his best friend does.”
“Raquel Rossi?” The vice principal’s eyebrows rose in surprise. His interest seemingly piqued, he leaned over like a star-crazed paparazzi photographer. I wondered if my affection for her was more obvious than I assumed.
I nodded. “Yes, Rocky.”
He pursed his lips. “I spoke to Miss McMillan today. She speaks quite highly of you.”
“As she should,” I replied smugly.
Mr. Elliott pursed his lips. “I’m glad to see you’re listening to my advice.”
“It wasn’t advice, it was a punishment, right?” I crossed my arms over my chest, then, thinking better of it, relaxed them to my sides. I was asking a favor—something I hated to do—and I needed to play nice.
“Nevertheless…she seems quite smitten by you…I mean smitten in the most respectable term, of course.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably.
Just what BFHS needed—a sex scandal. I smirked. “Yeah, the class is definitely fun.”
Let’s throw an innuendo there to make him squirm.
He nodded his head slowly. “Seeing as you are taking your punishment seriously, I’ll lift my ban on the dance if you promise to stick to the club for at least a semester.”
My heart jumped in jubilation. “Thank you.”
“Suffice it to say, you don’t get into any more trouble before then, hmm?”
I nodded, though deep inside I knew it was a promise I couldn’t—wouldn’t—be able to keep.
***
“We’re going to homecoming!” Rocky practically shrieked at Stephanie, who stared at us in bewilderment.
“What? Since when?” She eyed us suspiciously. “This has got to be a joke, right?”
Rocky bounced from one foot to the other, a ball of nervous and excited energy ready to burst. “No, not a joke. We decided just last night. Isn’t this exciting? I get to buy a dress and get my hair done.”
As Rocky continued to ramble on, Stephanie lifted an eyebrow in confusion. “Wait, last night? What were you two doing last night?”
“We—”
“Ran off to the courthouse and eloped,” I interjected with a wink.
Stephanie was not amused. “So you guys ditched me. Again.”
“We didn’t get married, Steph,” Rocky said quietly.
“Duh, I’m not an idiot,” she replied with a laugh. “Anyway, what am I going to do now?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, leaning into my locker. I purposely allowed my shoulder to rub against Rocky’s and reveled in the way the contact made her quiver.
Stephanie groaned in exasperation. “We never go to dances. I was kinda looking forward to stuffing my face with pizza and watching Weekend at Bernie’s like we always do! You know, so we don’t have to worry about stupid high school dances?”
Crap. In all the excitement, I had forgotten about our stupid tradition of pizza and a bad eighties flick on dance night. It was an unspoken pact between the three of us to spend time away from the student body we all hated so much. Then again, it was mostly an excuse for three outcasts—the quiet bad boy, geeky art student, and unpopular brainiac—to avoid the unwanted pressure of attending. Well, every tradition had to be broken sooner or later, right?
“Why don’t you just ask somebody? That way you can go with us,” I suggested.
Stephanie’s big eyes widened further. “Are you serious? Why would I do that?”
Rocky tilted her head thoughtfully. “You do like that Daniel guy from our trig class, right?”
“Rocky!” Stephanie’s eyes darted around the hallway. “You weren’t supposed to say anything about that. You promised!”
I laughed. “Come on, I don’t think we’re important enough for anybody to be eavesdropping on.”
“Speak for yourself.” Stephanie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Why would I ask him? Shouldn’t he ask me?”
“He’s had that option for a while now,” I replied bluntly. “Maybe it’s time you take matters into your own hands.”
“Easy for you to say.” She snorted. “You knew Rocky would go with you—”
“Ahem!” Rocky coughed, shooting Stephanie a look of warning.
Stephanie shrugged. “Just saying.”
Rocky rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Steph, you have over a month until the dance…who knows? Maybe this will turn into something more than