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“What are you waiting for, Legs? Show us what you got.”
Chapter 21
I ended up buying the little blue car.
Finn had kept his promise and teased me about my driving—although never about the fact that I was a girl—and I’d taken the car down a little stretch of road near the ocean during the test drive. With all four windows rolled down, the ocean breeze had swept through the car, clearing out the new car smell and replacing it with something tangy and wild.
When we returned to the dealership, Mason and Cole sat down on either side of me while I went into the office to sign the papers and make it official. Neither of them said anything, letting me take the lead, but Cole kept his face intimidatingly blank, and Mason glanced over at me once with a look like satisfaction on his face.
On the way back to school, I insisted on driving by myself. I wanted a moment to appreciate the significance of this moment. I had just bought my first car, with my own money. I owned it, and no one could take it away from me. I had picked it out. And just like Mason’s car fit him, the little blue car fit me like it was made for me.
My mom may have done cruel things—may have been a worse bully than the Princes, even—but I had to believe that she had truly loved me. That maybe Sand Valley, as shitty and rundown as it was, had been her fresh start, a place where she had tried to do better. She had cared about me enough to leave a trust for me, at least, and although she could never have predicted it, that money had saved my life.
Mason drove behind me, with Finn in the passenger seat next to him and Elijah and Cole in the back. I glanced at them in the rearview mirror, having a sudden memory of the first time I saw them. It’d been through the rear window of a car that time too, as I’d sat in the back seat with Jacqueline on the way to my grandparents’ house. I hadn’t known any of their names, hadn’t known anything about them—but I had been drawn to them anyway.
They all looked so different to me now.
Physically, I was sure they looked pretty much the same as they had then. All almost inhumanly gorgeous, muscular, and elegant. Cole’s hair had grown back to the style he usually kept it in, longer on top and short on the sides, and Elijah and Mason’s bruises had faded completely.
But still, they looked different.
Maybe it was because I knew them better now—had seen their ugliness and cruelty, had seen their flaws and scars. It was like seeing all the layers of a painting, knowing the details and hidden brushstrokes that made up the finished image.
Somehow though, knowing all those things didn’t make the Princes less beautiful in my eyes. It was like I could see them more clearly now that the light around them didn’t shine so bright.
A smile tilted my lips as I pulled my gaze away from the mirror and focused on the road.
It had been a good day.
A better day than I’d had in a long time.
And even though I knew not to trust it, knew it was only a matter of time before I destroyed whatever trust had been built up between me and the Princes, I tucked the memory away somewhere safe in my heart.
I would pull it out and look at it one day, when the Princes hated me again.
On Thursday, I woke up with butterflies already flapping around in my stomach. The week had flown by. I’d done an extra big homework push over the weekend so that during the first few days of the school week, I could focus all my extra energy on dancing.
I had snuck into the studio after school three days in a row, and Finn had come to hang out with me each time. It vaguely occurred to me that he’d become like my mascot, my good luck charm. I was so used to going through my routine with him leaning against the wall by the door that I hoped I wouldn’t be thrown off during my audition when he wasn’t there.
My appointment was scheduled for 1:15 p.m., but I’d requested the whole day off from classes because I didn’t want to be rushed or distracted. I slept in a little, then woke up and showered, taking extra care with my makeup and pulling my hair into a tight bun at the back of my head.
I did some stretches in my living room—I’d do a true warm-up at the theatre before I went in for the audition—and at a little after ten, I headed for my car.
As I was passing by the tip of Hammond Hall, Adena emerged from the building, and as soon as her gaze landed on my street clothes, she sneered. “Did you finally get kicked out, trash?”
“Fuck off.”
She noticed the gym bag I was holding with my ballet slippers and other necessities in it and scoffed. “I know the only reason you want to be a ballerina is because you’re too ugly to be a stripper. Who’d want to watch that shit? Guys would probably pay you to put more clothes on.”
“No, I’m not a stripper because my daddy didn’t buy me a new pair of tits when I turned sixteen.” I dropped my gaze pointed to her chest. “Watch out around sharp objects. Don’t want to spring a fucking leak.”
Her blue eyes flashed with anger, but before she could give me any more shit, I turned and strode away. Fuck her. If she was trying to tear me down, she’d picked the wrong attack. My body had been through a lot of shit, but when I danced, I knew it was beautiful.
And no bitchy mean girl could take that away from me.
I listened to music and drank in the ocean air all the way down to L.A. I’d never really been in the city, just to LAX a few times, and the sheer size and insane traffic were intimidating. But I followed the directions on my phone and managed not to get lost.
It was a good thing I’d given myself extra time to get there, because when I pulled up in the lot near the Pacific Contemporary Ballet theatre, I had only half an hour before my audition slot. That would be just enough time to change, warm up, and get ready.
