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I shake my head. “If only I could pay you back,” I say.
Ethan gives me a wry smile and shrugs his shoulders. “You’re welcome to try,” he says.
I know it’s a lost cause.
Once the bills are paid, we all stand and return to the limo waiting for us outside.
Ethan’s friends are fun and we laugh a lot as the driver takes us downtown.
“Hey, Emma, do you want to join our mission tomorrow night?” one of the guys asks.
“What?”
“Call of Duty,” he says. “We need another player.”
“Sure,” I say, smiling.
“You’re the best, Em!” he gives me a high-five.
A few minutes later, we pull in front of the state capitol building. I step from the limo and stare up at the huge structure. I’ve always wanted to come here and go on a tour or something. I can’t wait to see the inside. A small breeze blows and I shiver a little, both from excitement and the chill. Ethan wraps his arms around me from behind.
“I’ll keep you warm,” he whispers in a husky voice.
I laugh.
“Come on guys!” his friends call to us. We walk across the red, brick pathway and stop beside a large statue. Of course, the guys all pose beside it, their faces looking serious, mimicking the men made of bronze. We take several pictures before moving forward.
We step into the large structure and stare around us. Huge columns run from floor to ceiling. The decorations reflect our school colors of black and silver. An archway is made out of black and silver balloons near one of the columns. A photographer is taking pictures beneath it. On the far side of the room is a makeshift stage. The platform has three steps leading up to it. There’s a microphone in the center, with a small table on one side. On the table are two sparkling, silver crowns. The Cubic Zirconia diamonds twinkle beneath the lights. My heart pounds against my chest. Thankfully Ethan distracts me.
“Let’s do a group picture first,” he says.
Ethan leads us all over to the photographer. Then he whispers something in the photographer’s ear and the large, balding man with a bowtie nods. I can see the mischievous glint in Ethan’s eye, which makes me very nervous. What does he have planned now?
“You stand here in the center,” he says, pulling me forward. “You’re our prom queen.” He then positions everyoneelse around my feet, bowing in my direction. He positions himself kneeling beside me, kissing my hand. I can’t believe they’re all playing along with this! And they seem to be enjoying themselves too. I thought these were some of Taylor’s closest friends? Shouldn’t they be pretending to bow down to her? I feel completely mortified.
“Wait, guys. No, let’s just stand and do something simple, like smile,” I plead.
“No, come on, Emma! This is way more fun. We’ll take serious, couple pictures after.”
“Come on, Prom Queen, act royal,” Ethan says, tugging on my hand.
I lift my chin a little and stare ahead, not looking at the camera or any of my royal subjects. I want to smile and I can feel a laugh creeping into my cheeks, but I stay stone still. When the cameraman says we’re done, we all burst into laughter at the same time, as if everyone was holding it in. One of the girls leans in to me.
“I’m a Ravenclaw, too,” she says, smiling.
I smile back at her. Then Ethan takes my hand in his and we stand at the back of our group to wait for our individual pictures. We watch all the other couples go before us. I smile.
“What?” Ethan asks.
“I never had the desire to come to a dance before. But this is really fun.”
Ethan’s eyes light up. “I told you I would make tonight fun,” he says.
“I know.”
“It’s a good thing I won you over. Imagine how bored you’d be right now with one of those other guys.”
I nudge him with my elbow. “Oh, stop.”
