AllFreeNovel
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“If you end the competition now, you’ll kill the hype. I say ride it out for a while. Plus, if I keep posting pics and vids of us together, then it will only help with your nomination. I bet with my help, we can get rid of that vom queen meme. It’ll be old news.”
“You make some valid points,” I say, nodding. “I’ll definitely consider it.”
Ethan holds out his fist and I bump it with my own. I close the video and set my phone on my leg. Yeah, I definitely won’t be sharing that conversation with anyone.
“Where are we going exactly?” I ask
“Taylor’s,” he says.
My stomach lurches. “Taylor Cole?”
“Yeah, is that…okay?” he asks.
I try and plaster a smile on my face, but I’ve never been great at faking emotions.
“Her parents just finished their new movie room. She has all leather couches and recliners on different platforms and a huge projector, the size of one whole wall. Is something wrong?” he asks.
“It’s just that, well, she doesn’t really like me much. I’m not sure she wants me at her house.”
Ethan brushes it off. “It’ll be fine,” he says.
I can’t decide if his naïveté is cute or annoying. Either way, my palms are sweating and my tongue might be swelling. I didn’t know that was possible.
We have to drive through a tall, iron gate and then up a long winding driveway before we can see her front door. Taylor’s house is huge.
“Wow,” I say.
“Yeah, it’s a nice place.”
“What exactly are we doing?” I ask.
“We’re here to Netflix and chill,” he says.
My heart stops. I watch as Ethan gets out of the car and waves for me to follow him. I slowly step out of the car and shuffle my feet towards the house. What have I gotten myself into?
I’m staring up at the huge windows when the front door swings open. “Hi Ethan, come in,” Taylor says in her honey-sweet voice. Then she stops dead. “What isshedoing here?” Her honey quickly goes from sweet to rancid.
Ethan comes up beside me and drapes his long arm over my shoulder. “I invited her, Taylor,” he says. “Now play nice.”
Taylor forces a tight smile on her perfect face. “Hi, Emma,” she says, through gritted teeth. “Come on in. Everyone’s inside.”
I have no idea who everyone is. But after that welcome, I’m not sure I want to find out. The idea of turning around and running the other direction seems very appealing right now.
Ethan keeps his arm protectively around me as Taylor guides us through a maze of hallways and rooms. We make our way down some stairs. I can hear the laughter before we come to the room. Taylor makes a grand entrance.
“Ethan is here, the party can start now. Oh, and he brought Emma too.” Even with her back to me, I can tell she made a face after saying my name. Everyone turns to look at us. Most say hi to Ethan. A couple of the guys give him high-fives. My name is more or less mumbled out of their mouths. Ethan finds a spot on a loveseat two rows up. He keeps his arm firmly around me as we sit.
It’s fascinating to watch Ethan and his friends. No one wants me here, that’s perfectly clear. But he is their leader. It appears no one argues with the leader. I glance around. Most of the kids I recognize from school. I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with any of them though. I recognize Adika, who was also nominated for prom queen. Her long black hair, runslike silk down the length of her back. I wonder if she wakes up every morning looking that perfect, or if she has a team of forest animals who dress her. I also recognize two other guys who are nominees for prom king. One of them is Henry Cho, whose party I ruined. Cool. He doesn’t say anything, but he glares at me from across the room.
“Who is going to do the honors tonight?” Taylor asks, holding up a pair of dice.
I’m not sure what the dice are for, but my heartbeat quickens and my palms begin to sweat.
“It’s a game we made up,” Ethan says. He points to the Netflix menu that begins appearing on the large, blank wall in front of us.
“We take turns rolling a couple dice. The first number is how many rows we go down. The second number is how many shows we move to the right.”
“Okay,” I say. “Sounds fun.”
