said she bribed him,” Annabelle offered.
Trevor still looked perplexed. “Ebony tries to bribe him every dance. Whenever she comes over she tells my mom about how he keeps turning her down.”
Annabelle stared at his profile, then back out to the dark surface of the water, her mind stunned into silence. Was it what she had said to him? Had he come because she had called him on his fears, and he came to prove he could conquer them?
She had to turn her back to Trevor to keep him from seeing the tears brewing in her eyes. Will—stunning, remarkable Will—had faced his demons head on, and now he was being begged by them to dance. It was almost comical.
And her? What had she done to fight dressing up to be someone else for a night? Nothing. Not a thing. She had even felt like someone else while they had been taking pictures. She was always pretending to be someone else. That was her entire life. It was what she did to be accepted; to have friends. That was who she was.
Wasn’t it?
She suddenly thought of yelling at Will in his car, the two of them glaring furiously at each other. She thought of crumbling in his arms in the hallway at school. Of clinging to his waist and laughing hysterically as they drove around on the ATV, getting covered in dirt from head to toe. Of resting in his arms in her room after the carnival, feeling safe and peaceful for the first time in days.
Something inside of her snapped.
That was the real her. The one who thought it was fun to get dirty. The one who didn’t care about someone’s social circles. The one who wanted to laugh and have fun without worrying about saying or doing the right thing all the time.
And if Will was going to wear a tuxedo for a night and face his fears, she could take off her mask for a night and face hers.
She turned to Trevor abruptly, catching him off-guard. “Do you want to go say hi?” she asked, fully intending to go sit with Will and Ebony whether Trevor came or not.
He blinked, startled, but he nodded. She led the way back in and paused, scanning the room for either of her friends. She finally spotted Ebony at a table in the corner of the room, surrounded by friends. In the darkest corner of the room slouched Will, looking like he was trying not to jump out of his seat and make a run for it.
She strode straight for their table, feeling Trevor at her heels. As they walked up, everyone at the table shifted and straightened, their eyes darting between Trevor and Will. Will straightened as well, his dark eyes flashing at the sight of his brother.
Annabelle, working purely on adrenaline, pulled an empty chair over to Ebony’s side, reached down, slipped off her high heels, and dropped them onto the middle of the table.
“Those things hurt like a bitch,” she announced.
She wasn’t sure who was the most surprised: Trevor, Ebony, Will, the others who only knew her by reputation, or herself.
And then Ebony’s lips closed and lifted into a smile. She reached over and picked up one of the heels, eyeing it. “I bet,” she drawled, then looked up at Annabelle with a deep grin and dancing eyes. “They are really cute, though.”
“They’re my mom’s,” she laughed, stretching out her cramped toes. She looked back at Will. “I see you escaped Claire and Claudia.”
He was smiling with an unreadable expression, but he leaned forward. “It was rough. They’ve got claws, you know.”
She thought about all the times Claire had grabbed her. “Oh, I know,” she agreed dryly. She looked up at Trevor, who seemed bewildered and lost. “Sit,” she insisted.
He hesitated, as if he wanted to ask her if she was okay, but he slowly pulled a chair over and sat down. He cast a look over at Will. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight,” he said finally. “Mom will be happy. Did you take any pictures?”
“Oh, I’m on that!” Ebony declared, rising quickly and producing a camera from the purse she had dangling around her wrist. “Both of you stand up. Get together.”
Will shot her a murderous look, remaining seated even as Trevor stood slowly from his seat. He still looked unsteady, as if he was unsure about what was going on.
When it became clear that Will wasn’t going to get up, Annabelle laughed, standing herself. She walked