Whenever-kobo Read Free Page B

our house and show us up, are you?”
    “Nope.” I looked away because his gearing me up for the game was jacking with my nerves.
    Crap. Zoe. She walked down the aisle on the arm of my ex-boyfriend Tanner. They must have been in the back, because the principal wasn’t letting anyone else in at this point. Tanner and Zoe snagged the empty seats Bliss held with Austin’s letter jacket.
    Zoe herself wore Tanner’s letter jacket over her cheer uniform. He’d never given the jacket to me when we were dating, but Zoe had been wearing it since the first dance. I’d gone with Tanner and pushed for a picture under the balloon arch. Tanner had put me off. He’d said, “The line is too long. We’ll go later.” When Zoe arrived, he’d laid it out. I was too busy with family stuff and my own hobbies to be serious about him. By the time the first slow dance ended, Tanner was posing under the balloon arch with Zoe, and she’d worn his letter jacket from that day forward.
    I hated the thought of Tanner besting me, and I planned to top him. When Homecoming came around, I’d pose under the balloon arch with my new boyfriend. I’d created a short wish list for my new man: loyal, and higher on the food chain than the male equivalent of Zoe. Much higher. I hadn’t gotten far in my search, but I had two prime specimens at the THS table with me. They could give me some advice.
    Rhys’s relationships didn’t last long, as bad boys and commitment didn’t mesh, but he had a numbers advantage over Austin and me so he probably had some tips. I nodded at the Trallwyn Prep table. “What do you think of him for a date? I need a new guy.”
    “Prince Callum?” Rhys shrugged, more interested in his chemicals than my search for a new boyfriend. “Prince is really an honorary title. It’s not like he gets to rule the country.”
    “Like she could get that,” Austin said.
    “I could.”
    Austin glanced from me to Prince Callum and shook his head.
    “I am number one in our class.”
    Austin’s lips pinched together. “Not for long, and that’s not going to get you more dates anyway. Maybe it will for me when I’m valedictorian, because I’m a guy, but not you. You’re pretty and all, but I wouldn’t give you odds on snaring a prince.”
    Jerk. Maybe I had meant the prince, but Austin didn’t need to know that. “Princes don’t date Americans. I meant Christian Wentworth, the politician’s son.”
    “Christian?” Austin sniffed. “Politicians always make the headlines for doing someone dirty. Bet their kids are no better.”
    Why was I even asking these two? Life by committee never worked. Choose your own path and make it happen. I’d read that in a chocolate-dipped fortune cookie and tried to embrace it. The motto had helped academically, not so much for my love life.
    I glanced down at Zoe. She had her hand on Tanner’s knee. Enjoy, because I’m bringing Christian Wentworth from Trallwyn Prep to Homecoming. I leaned forward on my palms and checked him out. Christian was focused on the audience. Prince Callum concentrated on me. He had an intent, unwavering stare. Americans didn’t stare that way. It was rude. I tried to tell him that with my eyes before examining the crowd again.
    Tanner leaned down and kissed Zoe’s glossed lips. When he lifted up, she wiped the smudge off. He tilted back and gazed at me with an arched brow and tilted chin. I breathed in deep and flattened my hands against the table so I wouldn’t flip him off. That wouldn’t score well with the judges.
    “Don’t let them get in your head,” Austin said. “I’ll talk to Bliss and get them to trade with some of the girls in the back.” He crooked his finger at his girlfriend. “Man, we’ve brought a crowd today.”
    Bliss rose but when she reached the steps, Prince Callum’s bodyguard stopped her. He tapped his earpiece and shook his head. Bliss held up Austin’s letter jacket and pointed at our table. The bodyguard raised five fingers,