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I tucked the vials into the pocket of my skirt and tried to forget Cannon even existed. He didn’t matter, and I’d already proven to him I wouldn’t choke. Even if I’d nearly come close right before it was my turn onstage, I’d showed that jerk how talented I was.
For the next half hour, I hung out with my friends and tried to avoid Cannon. But that meant avoiding Jagger, whom I actually liked. When I saw Jags standing in a group without his best friend, I figured it was the only time I would get to thank him for coming.
As I approached, Jagger noticed me and shot me a grin. The boys he was talking to glanced my way, and I noticed them press their lips together, their eyes turning a little hostile. It wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to. The summer music program was pretty competitive, and most of them thought the only reason I got so much attention was because of who my parents were and how big they were in the music world.
The fact that I had more talent in my little pinkie than they could ever hope to have in their whole bodies didn’t enter their simple brains.
“You kicked total butt up there,” Jagger praised, wrapping me in a tight, brotherly hug. Hugging him back, I felt him kiss the top of my head. “I’m so effing proud of you!”
I didn’t notice the boys he’d been talking to walk off as Jags went into detail about how awesome he thought I’d been onstage. He was hopeful that one day I would want to be a rocker, just like both of my parents, and eventually be able to tour with him. It was a nice idea, but Jagger and Cannon were a duo, and that would mean touring with both of them.
Nothing about that sounded fun to me, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be a rocker. I loved classical music, and yeah, I liked to put my own twist on those classics and rock to them. But I had years to think about how to use my musical talents. I wanted to explore all my options, and Juilliard was the best place to do that.
Snickering reached my ears, and my stomach dropped, reminding me of how I’d felt right before my teacher had introduced me earlier. But this time, it wasn’t just Cannon’s evil laugh I heard. It was the boys from my music program mixed with a few female giggles too. Turning, I saw that two of the girls from the program were with the boys. All of them were bigger and older than me, but I’d spent the last few years learning right beside them.
When they saw me frowning at them, the two girls—Caitlyn and June—both gave that little head swish thing they thought made them look sassy and fierce, but really only made them look as if they had some sad medical problem that required extensive treatment and multiple medications. They both wanted to be singers, and their diva, drama-queen mommies were even more hopeful for their future in the music world than they were.
Their mothers could be really vocal and loud at times, and I felt embarrassed for them because of it. They had talent—I would admit that. No way would they have been in the summer program if they didn’t since everyone had to undergo multiple auditions. But talent was one thing. Attitude was another. And what I knew about the music world had taught me that their mean girl personas wouldn’t get them far with the people who could and would help their careers flourish.
People like Aunt Emmie.
Caitlyn and June both thought that I cared about their opinion of me, and so did the guys. But sadly for them, they didn’t matter to me. All I cared about was learning everything there was to know about playing the violin, excelling, and moving forward with the next chapter in my musical journey. If I made friends along the way, okay great. If I didn’t, that was just fine by me too.
Cannon dipped his head toward the girls, pulling their snarky gazes from me and back to him. They were both thirteen to his fourteen and stared up at him like he was an ice cream sundae with all their favorite toppings. That was something I understood all too well. Especially when he flashed those dimples. They had the power to mesmerize and captivate a person. It was a superpower he’d been blessed with that he used for nefarious purposes rather than for the greater good. I heard him whispering so I didn’t know what he said, but whatever it was had them all bursting out into a fit of giggles.
“Oh my god!” Caitlyn sneered loud enough to reach my ears. “That’s so sad, but I can totally see her being that desperate for attention.”
I gritted my teeth and turned my back on them. If they wanted to talk about me, they were more than welcome to. Nothing any of them could say could ever hurt me.
Except, no matter how much I told myself that, the truth was, it stung.
Jagger wasn’t paying them any attention. He was still animatedly telling me how much he’d loved the last part of my performance. A forced smile on my face, I nodded, but all I could hear was the laughter behind me and the occasional snide comment by one of my classmates. Their giggles and snickers were like nails on a chalkboard, and every time I heard Cannon join in, the sting turned to something…more.
It morphed into irritation, and then full-on anger, until all I could think about was the glitter Mia had given me earlier.
Sticking my hand into my skirt pocket, I pulled out the two vials and held on to them so tightly, my fingers quickly began to ache. Jagger, still lost in the exhilarating memory of the song I’d performed, didn’t notice when I started to back away. Unconsciously, he moved with me, still talking, still making me smile, even if it was forced because of how upset I became with each passing minute.
I could hear Cannon’s whispers a little clearer with each step I took. The process was slow, but no one seemed to notice how close I was getting. Not Caitlyn and June, who did that head swish thing every time I turned mine to glance at them, to gauge their reaction to my approach. Not Jagger, who had moved on from how great I’d been to how mediocre the person after me had been in comparison—that person having been June.
One more look over my shoulder told me I was close enough, and I nodded when Jagger paused to get my opinion on whatever he was saying.
“Hold that thought,” I told him as I uncapped both vials of glitter and turned around.
Cannon was right there. Just two feet away. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned, looking so smug and full of evil amusement. “Hey, Cannon,” I greeted cheerfully. “I just wanted to say thanks for coming.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously at my tone, and I smiled sweetly before lifting my fisted hand and slinging the glitter at him. It took him all of two seconds to register what I’d just done, and then suddenly, he was roaring with outrage, shouting about glitter being the devil’s herpes of craft supplies. He started swatting at the sparkly gold flakes in his hair, on his face, his neck, and all over his clothes.
I hadn’t been careful with the direction I’d flung the glitter, so some of it had gone over his shoulders to land on Caitlyn, June, and a few of the boys in the group. They all started shouting in indignation and moved toward me with anger flashing on their faces.
Jagger grabbed me and pulled me back just as I felt Mia, Shaw, and Violet join us. All three of them were laughing so hard, none of them could talk. But they surrounded me protectively because we all knew, when it came to me, Cannon was unpredictable. Not to mention, the others who had been not-so-innocent bystanders had gotten hit with the sparkly gold dust as well.
All their shouting caught our parents’ attention. “What is the matter with you, Cannon?” Uncle Axton demanded as he stomped over to his son as June’s and Caitlyn’s mothers started running their mouths.
“That little brat doused me in glitter!” he raged.
“Piper?” Mom reprimanded from behind me, glancing at everyone who was now sparkling with flecks of gold under the overhead lights. “Did you do this?”
“Yes,” I admitted unashamedly, rolling my eyes when June’s mom turned to glare at me. But when she opened her mouth, my mom held up her hand and gave her a look that told the other mom to keep her mouth closed for a moment.
To my amusement, but not my surprise, the woman clamped her mouth shut.
“Why?” Mom demanded.
I shrugged. I could have told her that Cannon had been doing what he did best and bullying me. That my classmates had been full of sour grapes and had been making fun of me with the boy who loved to torment me.
But I was better than that.
I was better than them.
Tattling was not something I did, not even on stupid jerkface Cannon Cage.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” I told her instead.
Her eyes got so huge at what she thought was me being insolent that I worried they might pop out of her head. “Grounded,” she growled in that low, scary voice of hers that always had the power to make Asher and me behave.
My smile was genuine as I looked up at her. “Okay.”
I’d take the grounding and anything else to go with it. Because Cannon and the others were still whining about the glitter. His dad kept rolling his eyes at him, not seeming to care in the slightest that glitter was what his son had been assaulted with. Meanwhile, the two diva mothers were even louder than Cannon.
“Don’t ground her, Aunt Gabs,” Mia urged, putting her hands on my shoulders in support. “I gave her the glitter.”
“No, she didn’t,” I argued, shooting my honorary sister a look that told her, Shaw, and Violet to keep quiet. “I brought it, knowing Cannon would be here.”
Mom’s eyes darted back and forth. From me to Mia. To me. To Shaw and Violet. Back to Mia. Finally, they settled on me and remained there. “Grounded. For the rest of the day.”
I blinked at her in surprise. “Only for today?”
“Yes,” she confirmed, her face still as angry as it had been moments before, only without her eyes trying to pop out of her head. “Apologize to Cannon and the others, then say your goodbyes to your aunts and uncles.”
“Fine.” I turned and took two steps in Cannon’s direction. Seeing me, he jerked back at least a foot, making his dad roll his hazel eyes yet again. “Cannon, I apologize for bathing you in glitter. Next time, I’ll try to contain myself when you’re acting like a stupid jerkface.”
I shifted my gaze to my classmates. Their mothers shut up and waited for my apology. “I’m sorry that you two are too stupid to understand that whatever he was telling you was most likely made up, and you’re too gullible to understand that he was using you to get back at me for whatever reason he tells himself he hates me for.”
“Piper!” Mom gritted out as the two moms gasped in outrage.
“No. She apologized,” Aunt Dallas said, eyeballing her son with a look that had even Shaw standing up a little straighter. “Luckily for him, Piper isn’t narcing on him. Also lucky for him, she only threw glitter this time and not her fists like she did at Hayat’s birthday party last year.” As she shifted her gaze, her blue eyes softened when they landed on me. “Piper, sweetheart, you did incredible tonight. We’re so proud of you. Hands down, the best thing I saw all day.”
“Thank you,” I murmured.
She gave me a hug then turned to her eldest child. “Dust yourself off and go get in the car. We will join you shortly.”
“I didn’t even do anything,” he complained, shooting me a glare as he stomped toward the exit.
I grinned and gave him a finger wave. “Thanks for coming. It’s always a pleasure to see you, jerkface.”
