A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy) Read Free

hand instead. It was the question I hadn’t wanted to ask him for the last year. After all, Heathcliff came complete with a full eight-piece set of emotional baggage. He had a true love back home in those pages, and her name was Catherine Earnshaw. She was the woman made for him, even if they never actually got to be together. Heathcliff and Catherine. They were probably the most famous star-crossed lovers since Romeo and Juliet.
    Heathcliff never talked about Catherine. I’d never met her in person, but I’d come close when their creator, Emily Bronte, had tried to take over Bard by bringing her to this world my sophomore year. Emily had killed her then to show Heathcliff her power over both of them.  
    But, since that day in the vault with Emily, he’d never mentioned Catherine, and I hadn’t brought her up either. It was said I looked something like her, and sometimes I thought that maybe I was a nice consolation prize. But as soon as that little insecurity popped up, I tried to squash it. I looked at Heathcliff’s face and wanted to believe he loved me for me .
     “My life is here,” Heathcliff said, giving me that intense look he sometimes wore that made my stomach jump. Looking at him, I couldn’t help but believe him. He pulled me into his arms and I went, and I stood there, feeling warm and protected. If only life could be this simple. If only I could stay here forever and not worry about the future.
    Because, part of me knew that the faculty would not let Heathcliff keep this book. They would come for it and for him. Maybe they’d come for me, too. And they’d do it because they would think it was the right thing to do.
    And even if they didn’t, could I live with him in this tiny cottage for the rest of my life? Would I have to say goodbye to my family? To my friends? I had parents. I had a sister. Heathcliff was an orphan and he was separated from everyone he once knew in his life already. Could I willfully do the same?
    The truth was I didn’t know.
    And how long would it be before the faculty found us? One week? A month? Two? This could not be forever.
    “Miranda,” Heathcliff pulled away from me and met my eyes. “Stay here with me.”
    He pulled a small velvet pouch from his pocket. Inside, there was a gleaming silver locket, a necklace I’d thought was lost forever. 
     “Where did you find this?”I asked him of the necklace he’d given me two years before. “I thought…”  It had been lost aboard the Pequod, Ahab’s famous whaling vessel, a year ago. Junior year, Sylvia Plath had decided to bring Moby Dick to life. It had been an adventure that had nearly gotten me killed, and I was glad to say that the only real casualty was my necklace.
    I had been sad to lose it, but I also knew I was lucky that’s the only thing I’d lost that day.
     “I have my ways,” Heathcliff said and smiled at me. “Go on, open it.”
    I pried open the small silver oval with one thumbnail. Inside, I saw a new piece of notebook paper with Heathcliff’s handwriting on it.
    Be my present and my future. Yours in this world and the next, H.
    I glanced up at Heathcliff and saw hope flicker in his eyes. I could see how badly he wanted me to say yes. And part of me really wanted to.
    Yet, this was happening so fast. Words crowded together in my throat, but none actually came out.
    I should be telling him yes. My heart was screaming yes, but my mind wasn’t so sure. Could I be happy with only Heathcliff? Alone together here? Forever?
    Then again, he had already given up everything he knew to be with me. Shouldn’t I be willing to do the same?
    The locket felt cool and smooth in my hand, as I snapped it shut.  
    “Miranda Tate,” Heathcliff said, suddenly sounding formal. “With this locket, I would like to ask you to be mine.”
    “What?” I couldn’t have heard him quite right.
    “Miranda Tate, do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
    “I can’t marry you,” I sputtered, before I even knew