“I thought you were mad at me,” he said.
To his amazement, Lilith reached for his hand. Her fingers were cool and strong, calloused at the tips where she strummed her guitar. “There are more important things to worry about,” she said.
Cam seized his chance and stepped closer, yearning to move his hand to her hair. He knew how it would feel: damp and gloriously soft, just as it had been in Canaan when she lay in his arms by the riverbank after a swim, her hair splayed against his bare chest.
“What could be more important than your trust?” he asked.
Lilith tilted her head toward Cam. A dreamy look came into her eyes, replacing the suspicion he’d grown accustomed to in this Hell. Her lips parted. Cam held his breath—
“So, kids…” Jean Rah appeared before them and raised his green plastic sunglasses. “Do we have a band, or what?”
Lilith stepped back and tugged down the hem of her shorts. She looked embarrassed, like someone coming out of hypnosis who couldn’t remember what had happened a moment before.
Cam knew Jean meant well, but right at that moment he could have hit him.
“I assume that since you two are speaking,” Jean continued, seeing the look in Cam’s eyes, “you’ve made up and we can once again—”
“We were just working on that,” Lilith said.
“Work faster,” Jean said, and snapped his fingers. “We have an important matter to discuss re prom.” He nudged Lilith. “Have you asked him yet?”
“Asked me what?” Cam said.
“To prom,” Jean said.
Lilith’s face started turning many shades of red as Cam’s eyebrows shot up. He’d been waiting for a far more romantic moment to ask her to prom. Was she actually planning to ask him?
“Of course,” he blurted out. “I’d love to.”
Jean winced. “No, man, that was a joke. Sorry. I thought you’d laugh. Thought you’d both laugh—”
Cam gulped. “Hilarious.”
“I don’t need a date to play a song with my band,” Lilith said. “So everybody just chill.”
“Yeah, Prom King,” Jean said, laughing. “Chill.”
Cam shoved him into a locker. “Thanks, man.”
“But I was wondering, Cam,” Lilith said, twirling a lock of her red hair, “if you’d consider rejoining the band.” She glanced at Jean. “There. That’s it. Okay?”
“Okay,” Cam said, knowing better than to question what had made her change her mind. “Of course. I’d love to.”
Jean placed one arm on Cam’s shoulder, the other on Lilith’s. “Now that that’s settled, we can get down to business,” he said. “Meet me in the parking lot right after school. We’re going on a field trip.”
“Destination where?” Cam asked. Whatever Jean’s plans involved, Cam liked the idea of getting off Trumbull’s campus with Lilith.
“Shopping for prom, the Battle of the Bands, aka our debut performance.” Jean tapped the face of his watch. “It’s six days away and we have no look.”
“Jean, I sit next to Kimi in poetry,” Lilith said. “I know about the cranberry satin cummerbund you special ordered to match her prom dress.”
Cam burst out laughing.
“You shut up, and you shut up,” Jean said, pointing at each of them. “Yes, I will be wearing a cranberry satin cummerbund for a portion of prom.” He shook his head ruefully. “But not when Revenge performs. For that, we need to pull out all the stops.”
Lilith looked down at her jean shorts. “I was just gonna wear—”
“We cannot wear our everyday clothes onstage!” Jean said, more serious than Cam had ever seen him. “We don’t want our audience to look at us like they do now.”
Cam cleared his throat and glanced down at his boots. Was Jean suggesting he not wear them onstage? Unfortunately, he didn’t have much choice. He looked around the hall at the kids hurrying to class. “I’m not sure they see us at all.”
Jean rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. You don’t want that guy Luc to see you onstage and think of you sitting in detention, do you?”
“Probably not,” Cam admitted, though he knew no costume would disguise him from Lucifer.
“He needs to think you’re from another world,” Jean continued.
“We’re only playing one song,” Lilith said. “Seems like a waste for aliens to come all the way from outer space just to play one song.”
“Rock is about waste,” Jean said. “Wasted time, wasted youth, wasted talent, wasted money.”
Cam wondered where Lilith’s apprehension about the new look was coming from; then he realized: She probably couldn’t afford anything new. But that shouldn’t stop her from finding something special. He would figure out a way to help her.
“Jean’s right,” Cam said to Lilith. “We need a unified look. Just not a pricey one. I can’t afford a lot at the moment.”