Page 42 of Royal Desire

She shrugs her backpack up one shoulder and puts her other hand on her hip. “I don’t need anyone to walk me home.”

“B-but, I was going to walk you home,” Hollis stutters. We’ve been in school together since kindergarten—I know he does not have a stutter. Yeah, Hollis is on edge. He knows he’s stepping into my territory.

We’re in all honors classes together. If anyone in this school is vying with me for the top grade point average, it’s Hollis. Not only does he like drama club, but the teachers salivate over him during speeches and presentations. I used to think he was cool, but not anymore now that he’s vying for the spot I want to be in with Ruby.

What I wouldn’t give to pummel him at football practice.

The entire drama club scatters other than him. Ruby sighs. “Hollis is going to walk me home.”

“We need to talk.” That’s not a lie. I want to know why she’s given me the cold shoulder for the last week and a half. “Then we can do homework.”

Her upper lip twists into a scowl. “But you haven’t showered. You stink.”

“I’ll shower at your house. I’ve done it a million times.” I smile wide. Take that, Hollis. He only wishes he could be naked in Ruby’s shower and using Ruby’s shampoo that smells like strawberries so he can smell like her for the rest of the day.

Hollis, my new nemesis, turns to Ruby. “Maybe another time. I’ll see you tomorrow at rehearsal.”

Ruby tries to reach out for him but misses. “Wait. We were in the middle of talking about the dance next week.”

That’s what this is about. I had a feeling.

The eighth grade Sadie Hawkins Fall dance. Lame. Who makes an entire event where the girls have to ask the guys? First of all, a school dance is lame, but putting rules on who can ask whom?

I’ve been asked by eleven girls, and I turned every single one down. Two of them cried, and one of the criers begged me to just think on it. It was annoying as hell, and I had to euro step her into the boy’s bathroom to get away. I’ve been ducking and weaving her ever since.

If Ruby doesn’t get her shit together soon, I’ll be forced to keep breaking hearts across Winslet. It will be no one’s fault but her own.

Hollis hums as he speaks. “Hmmm, that’s okay. See you tomorrow. Um ... you, too, Payne.”

My smile widens. “Good luck on the honors lit test. We’ll see who sets the curve.”

Hollis grumbles under his breath as he wanders off looking like a rejected puppy.

I barely feel it when Ruby puts a hand to my chest and tries to give me a shove. I don’t budge. “Why did you do that?”

I shrug a shoulder. “You were about to ask him to the dance. I’m keeping you from making a huge mistake.”

“Hollis is nice. There’s no mistake to be made.”

I motion to myself up and down. “I can be nice.”

She drops her backpack to the ground and stomps her foot on the cracked sidewalk. “What you just did was not at all nice, Payne. Not a single, tiny bit of niceness. In fact, I’m going to tell your mother.”

“You really think my mom will care if I am being nice? I’m shocked you think that’s any kind of threat.”

“True.” She shakes her head before a sly smile takes over her face with a bright idea. “Fine. I’ll tell Grandma.”

“Don’t you dare.” My stomach drops. If she knows anything, it’s that I care what Ms. Sinclair thinks about me more than my own parents.

She smiles smugly. “I might, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

I bend to pick up her backpack and sling it over my shoulder with mine before I turn toward her house. She finally gets with the program and has to double-time it to catch up with me. “You won’t tell your grandma because you don’t want her to think badly of me. Because deep down, you know I’m nice.”

She finally falls in beside me and we turn to walk down the treelined street. Ruby lives in town and can walk anywhere she wants. Mom usually sends her driver for me after practice when I call that I’m ready. “Then you need to be nice to my friends. I’m nice to your friends.”

I throw her a glance. “My friends are cool.”

“And this is why you’re not nice,” she mutters.