“I am absolutely not feeling you,” she said, walking away. “The answer is no.”
“Come on,” Cam said, following. The halls were a chaos of students at their lockers getting ready for the day, tossing in books, putting on lip gloss, and gossiping about prom. “What if I can get us backstage?”
Cam doubted there was a backstage at this gig, but he’d pull whatever strings needed pulling if Lilith would say yes.
“Did somebody say ‘backstage’?” came a sibilant voice. “I’ve got passes to whatever backstage you want.”
Lilith and Cam stopped and turned. Behind them, in the middle of the hallway, stood a boy with auburn hair and a smirk on his square, almost handsome face. He wore distressed jeans, an argyle-printed T-shirt with subtle gray skulls inside its diamonds, and a thin gold chain around his neck. In one hand he held a tablet.
Lucifer wasn’t supposed to be here. This wasn’t part of their bet.
“Who are you?” Lilith asked.
“I’m Luc,” Lucifer said. “I’m with King Media. We’ve partnered with Trumbull Prep to put on the best prom this school has ever seen. I’m the intern, but I think they might take me on full-time—”
“I’m not going to prom,” Lilith said drily. “You’re wasting your time.”
“But you are interested in music, right?” Lucifer asked.
“How’d you know that?” Lilith asked.
Luc smiled. “You just have that look.” He tapped a password into his tablet and pulled up an electronic sign-up sheet. “I’m facilitating the student sign-up for the Battle of the Bands.” He glanced at Cam. “You gonna sign up, bro?”
“Isn’t this beneath even you?” Cam asked.
“Oh, Cam,” Luc said, “if you refuse to do things that are beneath you, you’ll never get much accomplished in this world.”
Lilith studied Cam. “You know this guy?”
“We’re old friends,” Luc said. “But where are my manners?” He extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Lilith.”
“You know my name?” Lilith stared at Luc with a look of equal parts wonder and disgust. Cam knew the perverse appeal of the devil. It was what kept Lucifer’s ranks overflowing.
“What else could your name be?” Luc asked. “Or…King Media does its research,” he added with a smile as Lilith awkwardly shook his hand.
Cam tensed. This wasn’t fair. He had two weeks to get Lilith to fall in love with him. He didn’t have time for Lucifer’s interference.
“What are you doing here?” Cam asked Lucifer, unable to hide the venom in his voice.
“Let’s just say I wasn’t being challenged enough,” Luc said. “Then I landed this internship with King Media—”
“I have no idea what that means,” Cam said.
Luc’s smirk deepened. “Any questions or concerns about prom and the Battle of the Bands go through me. I want the students here to get to know me, to see me as a friend, not an authority figure. By the time prom rolls around, we’ll all feel like besties.”
The intercom clicked on, filling the hall with even more noise. “Good morning, Bulls!”
Luc pointed a finger at the ceiling. “You two should really listen to this announcement.”
“At six o’clock this evening,” Tarkenton said, “there will be an open mic in the cafeteria. It’s open to all, but mandatory for students in Mr. Davidson’s poetry class.”
Lilith groaned. “I’d rather die than read some dreary poem in public,” she said, miserable. “But Mr. Davidson’s class is the only one I’m passing—and I’m only barely doing that.”
“You heard Tarkenton,” Cam said to Lilith. “Open mic. You don’t have to read a poem—you could sing one. We could make tonight Revenge’s first gig.”
“We’re not doing anything, because we don’t have a band,” Lilith said.
By now the hallways had mostly emptied out. In another minute, they’d be late for class. But Cam felt glued to the ground: He was close enough to smell her skin, and it made him dizzy with desire. “Screw homeroom,” he said. “Let’s sneak out right now and go practice.”
Long ago, in Canaan, music had connected Lilith and Cam; Cam needed it to perform its magic a second time, here, in Crossroads. If they could just perform together, the chemistry between them would break down Lilith’s defenses for long enough for him to win her heart again. He knew it would. And if he had to attend a high school prom to play with her again, so be it.
“I, for one, would love to hear you sing, Lilith,” Luc chimed in.
“Stay out of this,” Cam said. “Don’t you have somewhere to go? Freshmen to corrupt or something?”
“Sure,” Luc said. “But not before I add Lilith to my list.” He held the tablet out to her again, waiting until she keyed in her email address. Then he flipped its cover closed and headed for the door. “Later, loser,” he called to Cam. “And, Lilith, you’ll be hearing from me.”