The Wrong Path

Chapter Twelve





“You look beautiful, sweetie.”

Annabelle smiled happily at her mother’s compliment, twirling around on the stairs to show off her dress. The strapless satin gown was black on top, tight and formfitting until it hit her waist, where it joined seamlessly with white satin fabric and flooded down to her ankles. She balanced carefully on the strappy stiletto heels her mother had loaned her as she fixed the diamond drop earrings and necklace—another loan from her mother. She had never felt so pretty before, and as she caught sight of herself in the mirror, she was astonished at her reflection. She really did look lovely, like she was glowing inside.

She consented to a hundred pictures before the doorbell rang. She rushed to answer it, pulling open the door to reveal Trevor on her front porch. He looked stunningly handsome in a black and white tuxedo, and she found herself smiling just at the sight of him.

“Wow,” Trevor breathed, staring at her. “You look... beautiful.”

She blushed. “Thank you. You look great.”

He quickly held up a clear box, a white corsage clearly visible inside. “Here,” he said, flashing an embarrassed grin as he handed it to her. “Before I forget it.”

She smiled and took the box, opening it and sliding the corsage of white roses onto her left wrist. “How’s your arm?” she asked, noting how close he held his right arm to his body.

He smiled weakly. “It’s okay. I’m sorry we can’t dance, though.”

She shook her head immediately. “It’s okay. Don’t even think about it. What did the doctor say?”

“To keep it as still as possible. It’s just a sprain, so it should be fine soon.” He held out his left arm and she looped hers through it, allowing him to lead her out of the house. A sudden outcry of catcalls made her stop short and she looked up, bursting into laughter at the sight before her. Claire and Claudia stood in the moon roof of the black limo parked in front of her house, and all of the limo’s windows were rolled down, revealing her friend’s staring, cheering faces.

“You look gorgeous, dahling!” Claire called at her. “Simply gorgeous!” She pounded the top of the limo. “Now get in this thing and let’s get going! I wanna party!”

She laughed and nodded, climbing in as Trevor held the door open for her. The limo was crammed with their friends and acquaintances, all jostling each other as glasses of champagne were passed around. Annabelle continued passing glasses until Zach opened a fresh bottle, and even then she checked her glass as discreetly as she could. She might have been naïve, but she wasn’t stupid. She had already learned her lesson.

“To the most beautiful people in the school,” Claire declared, raising her glass. Loud catcalls and cheers filled the limo. Annabelle laughed weakly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. There were a lot of beautiful people in their school—more than just the few that could squeeze into the limo. “And to our amazing football team for pounding Lincoln into the ground!”

The cheers grew thunderous, and then everyone downed their champagne. As they drove to the marina there was loud chatter and even louder music. Annabelle lost herself in the frenzy, singing hysterically with her friends and yelling to be heard over the noise.

As they pulled up to the twinkling lights of the marina, the music from the country club’s ballroom audible even as they climbed out of the limo, Annabelle felt a sense of giddiness overtake her. Students stepped aside as the group made their way down the gold-flecked stone path, and for a moment it was like she was seeing everything from the outside—the mass of beautiful students making their entrance into the crystal-decorated venue.

They headed straight for the picture line so they could have their pictures taken before they started dancing and ruined their hair and makeup. She and Trevor took a couple together, but then they took pictures as a group, first all of the girls followed by one of all of the guys, then one as a whole group. As she squeezed in-between Claire and Mary, Trevor behind her, she realized the whole event felt strangely surreal. She knew when the pictures came back the girls would all crowd around them and gush about how gorgeous each other looked, but in reality they would all just be staring at themselves. And somehow, when the flash went off, her smile felt plastic and fake.

When they were done taking pictures they crowded around a table near the dance floor, half of the group getting up to go dance while the others remained seated. Annabelle mentally shook herself, trying to get rid of the thoughts in her head. This was Homecoming, and she was supposed to be having the time of her life.

So what was wrong with her?

Why did she feel almost like she was someone else?

“You should go dance,” Trevor shouted in her ear, to be heard over the music.

Annabelle smiled and started to shake her head, but Claire suddenly jumped up and grabbed her hand. “Let’s dance!” Claire begged. “You can be my dance partner.”

Annabelle shot an apologetic look at Trevor, but he laughed and nodded, waving her away with his left hand. She allowed Claire to lead her to the dance floor, where they were promptly surrounded by the other girls. Annabelle tried to push everything else out of her mind, forcing herself to concentrate on having fun as she and Claire spun each other around, laughing and singing along with the music.

When her feet were ready to start bleeding, she laughingly excused herself despite the protests that she stay. She made her way to the refreshment table, carefully selecting two empty cups before ladling some punch into them. She turned to make her way back to their table, the cups in her hands, and stopped short at the sight before her.

Standing there, looking impossibly gorgeous in a black and white tuxedo with a dark red vest, was Will.

For several seconds Annabelle couldn’t actually make herself believe that it was really Will. And then she recognized Ebony standing beside him, looking elegant and gothic in a dark crimson dress with crushed black velvet pieces. A squeal of disbelief and delight escaped her lips and she all-but dropped the drinks onto the table, rushing over to the couple.

“You look beautiful!” Annabelle cried, flinging her arms around Ebony’s neck in a tight hug.

Ebony laughed out loud. “Thanks,” she said, grinning as Annabelle stepped back. “I had to bribe Will to bring me. Some guy, huh?”

Annabelle looked up at him. He really was stunning in his tuxedo, his silky dark hair falling around his face, and couldn’t help grinning back. “Some guy,” she agreed happily. “You look amazing.”

He offered a cocky smile. “Of course I do. I told you I could pull off a tux, didn’t I?”

She laughed. “You did. You were absolutely right.” Suddenly realizing that she was staring, she tore her eyes away from him to look down at Ebony, who was smiling at her. “Did you guys come alone? Or were you able to bribe the rest of your friends into coming, too?”

“They’re here,” Ebony assured her, then frowned as she looked around. “I just don’t know where exactly…”

“Well hell-o gorgeous.”

Annabelle felt her heart plummet into her stomach at the flirtatious, seductive tone. Stricken, she turned slowly to look back at Claire, who had suddenly materialized on her right side with Claudia, her eyes hungrily taking in Will.

“Now I get what you see in him, Annabelle,” Claire teased, elbowing her lightly in the side. Annabelle gaped at her in horror as Claire looked back up at Will. “You pull off sexy effortlessly,” Claire told him, running a perfectly manicured French nail along his lapel.

Annabelle wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or throw up. What did Claire mean that now she got it? Annabelle had never talked about Will with any of her friends. She didn’t even talk about Will to Trevor. How could Claire know that she and Will were friends? And besides that, Claire wouldn’t go after Will, would she? She wasn’t good enough for him. Ebony was the only one who deserved wonderful, kind, exciting, sweet Will. A montage of memories flooded her mind: Will smiling and laughing down at her, looking at her with his gentle, calm expression, and before knew what she was doing, her hand shot out and snatched Claire’s wrist, pulling her hand off of Will.

“Come on, sweetheart!” Annabelle insisted, in the sweetest voice she had ever mustered. “I want to dance! Let’s leave these two love birds alone!”

Claire’s eyes flashed with anger, but she couldn’t argue with the tone in Annabelle’s voice without causing a scene and they both knew it. “Of course!” she agreed, then shot a flirtatious look back at Will. “Save me a dance!” she called back at him.

Annabelle could have broken her wrist.

When they finally rejoined the others at the table, it took almost all of her effort to keep Claire from running off to go find Will. And when she wasn’t trying to stop Claire, she was trying to shut up Claudia, who wouldn’t stop talking about how hot Will looked. Between all of that she tried to pay attention to Trevor, who just sat there with a large grin, laughing with the others.

She was pretty sure she had never been more exhausted in her life.

Finally, when Claire and Claudia went to use the bathroom, Annabelle allowed herself a moment to relax. She stood and hurried to the refreshment table to retrieve the drinks she had wanted over an hour earlier. As she cut her way through the crowd, she felt her shoulders start to slump but immediately straightened them, forcing herself to keep it together. She only had to endure it for a little longer. On Monday Will would go back to his normal way of dressing that her friends detested, and she wouldn’t have to worry about them trying to seduce him anymore.

As she reached for a cup of punch, a hand caught her wrist. Startled, she turned to her right, and despite everything felt a grin appear as she looked up into Will’s dancing dark eyes.

“You should thank me,” she told him. “I’ve spent almost all night trying to keep Claudia and Claire away from you and Ebony so you two could have a good time.”

“Will a dance serve as enough gratitude?” he asked, even as his fingers slid in-between hers and tugged lightly. She didn’t answer as she allowed him to lead her out onto the dance floor, a slow song drifting through the speakers as they found a spot buried in the middle of a group of students. Her body tingled weightlessly as he gently pulled her toward him, sliding his arms around her as she almost instinctually wrapped her arms around him.

She smiled nervously up at him through the thick, heavy air between them. “Are you having a good time?”

“Mmm hmm.”

She felt herself grin, her grip on him tightening. “So… it’s not as bad as you thought?” she teased.

“Oh, it’s plenty bad. But mostly because girls I don’t know keep coming up to me and asking if I’m new, then freaking out when they recognize me.” He rolled his eyes to show his irritation, and she laughed.

“Well you do clean up surprisingly well,” she offered, giggling.

“Thanks!” he mock-protested, and she laughed again.

“You’re welcome!” she declared. She hesitated, trying to see the tables outside the dance floor through the people surrounding them. “How is Ebony handling all of the attention you’re getting?”

Will laughed shortly. “She’s having a great time. Keeps trying to make me go.”

That caught her attention. “What?” she asked, bewildered. “Your girlfriend wants you to dance with other girls?”

“Ebony’s not my girlfriend,” he said, and suddenly she was dipped backwards.

Wait. What? He pulled her back up, but instead of dancing, they both just stood there, staring at each other, still posed as if they were going to dance. Annabelle’s mind raced as she tried to recall all of their conversations about Ebony and everything that Ebony had ever said to her. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that neither of them had ever said they were dating. She had just assumed they were because of how they acted.

And they were unusually friendly with each other, weren’t they? Annabelle had seen Ebony kiss Will several times on the cheek, and she had even been sitting between his legs. They had to be more than friends.

“Friends with benefits?” she finally asked.

He arched an eyebrow in response. “Not my thing.”

The music had sped up, but she barely registered it. Finally, she heard herself ask, “Why?”

His eyes didn’t leave hers. And then Annabelle’s arm was being tugged off of Will’s shoulder, practically ripping her out of his arms. She gasped at the sudden loss of contact and forcefulness of the yank, stunned when she came face-to-face with Claire and Claudia.

“Don’t hog the sexy boy all to yourself, Annabelle,” Claire objected, her tone barely covering up her anger. “How selfish of you!” She slid in-between Annabelle and Will. “My turn!” she declared, throwing her arms around Will’s neck.

Annabelle stumbled away, making her way back to the table. At her face, Trevor straightened, his smile dying instantly. He stood. “What’s wrong?” he asked, leaning toward her.

She shook her head and forced a smile. “Nothing. I-I was dancing with Will and I think I overheated.”

He looked surprised. “Will? My brother? He’s here?”

She sucked in a breath. Hadn’t he been listening when Claudia had been talking about how sexy his brother was? Sure, the dance was loud, and he had been talking to the other football players about the game the night before, but how could he have missed Claudia ranting and raving about how Will had been hiding his gorgeous self all this time?

“Yeah,” she confirmed finally. “He came with his friends. He’s dancing with Claire right now.”

“My brother?” Trevor repeated incredulously.

Annabelle almost wanted to punch him. “Is it okay if we get some air?” she asked, nodding to the dock that stretched out along the water.

“Of course,” he agreed immediately, and she instantly felt bad for being angry with him. He led her around the dance floor and out the double doors, a blast of cool air washing over her as soon as they stepped outside. She walked straight to the railing, leaning against it as she tried to calm her whirling thoughts.

“I wonder why he’s here,” Trevor mussed quietly. Annabelle looked over at him, but he was staring with wonder into the ballroom. “I don’t even think my mom knew he was coming. He’s never gone to a dance before.”

“Ebony said she bribed him,” Annabelle offered.

Trevor still looked perplexed. “Ebony tries to bribe him every dance. Whenever she comes over she tells my mom about how he keeps turning her down.”

Annabelle stared at his profile, then back out to the dark surface of the water, her mind stunned into silence. Was it what she had said to him? Had he come because she had called him on his fears, and he came to prove he could conquer them?

She had to turn her back to Trevor to keep him from seeing the tears brewing in her eyes. Will—stunning, remarkable Will—had faced his demons head on, and now he was being begged by them to dance. It was almost comical.

And her? What had she done to fight dressing up to be someone else for a night? Nothing. Not a thing. She had even felt like someone else while they had been taking pictures. She was always pretending to be someone else. That was her entire life. It was what she did to be accepted; to have friends. That was who she was.

Wasn’t it?

She suddenly thought of yelling at Will in his car, the two of them glaring furiously at each other. She thought of crumbling in his arms in the hallway at school. Of clinging to his waist and laughing hysterically as they drove around on the ATV, getting covered in dirt from head to toe. Of resting in his arms in her room after the carnival, feeling safe and peaceful for the first time in days.

Something inside of her snapped.

That was the real her. The one who thought it was fun to get dirty. The one who didn’t care about someone’s social circles. The one who wanted to laugh and have fun without worrying about saying or doing the right thing all the time.

And if Will was going to wear a tuxedo for a night and face his fears, she could take off her mask for a night and face hers.

She turned to Trevor abruptly, catching him off-guard. “Do you want to go say hi?” she asked, fully intending to go sit with Will and Ebony whether Trevor came or not.

He blinked, startled, but he nodded. She led the way back in and paused, scanning the room for either of her friends. She finally spotted Ebony at a table in the corner of the room, surrounded by friends. In the darkest corner of the room slouched Will, looking like he was trying not to jump out of his seat and make a run for it.

She strode straight for their table, feeling Trevor at her heels. As they walked up, everyone at the table shifted and straightened, their eyes darting between Trevor and Will. Will straightened as well, his dark eyes flashing at the sight of his brother.

Annabelle, working purely on adrenaline, pulled an empty chair over to Ebony’s side, reached down, slipped off her high heels, and dropped them onto the middle of the table.

“Those things hurt like a bitch,” she announced.

She wasn’t sure who was the most surprised: Trevor, Ebony, Will, the others who only knew her by reputation, or herself.

And then Ebony’s lips closed and lifted into a smile. She reached over and picked up one of the heels, eyeing it. “I bet,” she drawled, then looked up at Annabelle with a deep grin and dancing eyes. “They are really cute, though.”

“They’re my mom’s,” she laughed, stretching out her cramped toes. She looked back at Will. “I see you escaped Claire and Claudia.”

He was smiling with an unreadable expression, but he leaned forward. “It was rough. They’ve got claws, you know.”

She thought about all the times Claire had grabbed her. “Oh, I know,” she agreed dryly. She looked up at Trevor, who seemed bewildered and lost. “Sit,” she insisted.

He hesitated, as if he wanted to ask her if she was okay, but he slowly pulled a chair over and sat down. He cast a look over at Will. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight,” he said finally. “Mom will be happy. Did you take any pictures?”

“Oh, I’m on that!” Ebony declared, rising quickly and producing a camera from the purse she had dangling around her wrist. “Both of you stand up. Get together.”

Will shot her a murderous look, remaining seated even as Trevor stood slowly from his seat. He still looked unsteady, as if he was unsure about what was going on.

When it became clear that Will wasn’t going to get up, Annabelle laughed, standing herself. She walked around the table to where he sat, taking his warm, familiar hands in hers to pull him to his feet. He rose reluctantly, shooting her a pained expression that made her giggle. Without her heels he towered over her, and for a moment she was surprised at how normal it felt to be like this with Will.

She released his hands quickly and forced a smile to cover up her sudden uneasiness. “Come on,” she insisted. “Think of how happy your mom will be.”

She stood next to Ebony as Will and Trevor stood shoulder-to-shoulder, not quite touching each other. Trevor smiled broadly in a practiced picture smile, but Will glared at Ebony behind the camera.

“Smile, Will!” Ebony called out to him.

“No.”

“Smile!”

“If you’ve got to do this, take the picture already.”

“Not until you smile. Until then, you and your brother can just hang out together all night.”

“Oooh, good one,” Annabelle told her, turning to her.

“Thank you,” Ebony returned pleasantly.

Will stared at the two of them, and suddenly his eyes fell closed and he smiled slightly, shaking his head. Then he opened his eyes and smiled.

Ebony was quick with her trigger finger. She managed to get two pictures before Will’s smile died and he dropped back into his chair.

“Here, lemme take some,” Annabelle requested, reaching for the camera in Ebony’s hand. Ebony hurried to Will’s side, leaning behind him and smiling prettily while Will just gave her a look that said, “Please kill me.” Annabelle laughed and took the picture, staring at the back of the digital screen as it refreshed for the next shot. When the image came back in, she felt her smile die. Ebony’s lips were pressed against Will’s cheek, her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. Will was rolling his eyes, looking exasperated. Annabelle forced herself to smile and took the shot. “Cute!” she declared, then turned the camera on the rest of the table.

She laughed at what hams they were—almost as much as her friends. She had taken almost twenty pictures before Ebony took the camera back and pulled Will to his feet.

“C’mon,” Ebony pleaded, when Will started to protest. “So I can hang it in my locker and say to myself, ‘Here’s my fantastic new friend, and the guy who is the reason we met!’” She deliberately turned to Trevor, who was frowning slightly. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Trevor shook his head, looking lost and out of place. “No… Of course not.”

Ebony smiled pleasantly and faced Annabelle and Will. “Good. Now come on, put your arms around each other and smile.”

Annabelle had never been as uncomfortable as she was in that moment. Her right arm just seemed to know where to fit around Will’s waist, and his left arm fell naturally around her shoulders as they smiled for Ebony’s camera. Anyone watching them should have thought it was peculiar how comfortable they were with one another, including Annabelle’s boyfriend—Will’s older brother—who sat to Annabelle’s left, a witness to the whole thing.

“Attention everyone!” came an announcement through the speakers. “We’re about to announce your Homecoming court, as voted on by the students!”

Cheers went up through the crowd. A mixture of relief and disappointment went through Annabelle as she and Will released each other. She reached out to take her shoes off of the table and slid them back on, catching sight of Ebony and her friends making mock throw-up faces. She knew she should be insulted, but somehow it only made her laugh. She squeezed Ebony’s hand in goodbye, then followed Trevor to the middle of the dance floor, where their friends had clustered together. She almost laughed at the sight. There was probably going to be a rather large gap in the middle of the floor in just a few minutes.

Annabelle was right. As the grade’s chosen royalty was announced, the space in the middle of the floor continued to grow larger. She stepped back as they started to announce junior royalty, to allow Claire to pass through, when the voice that came through the speakers said, “Junior Homecoming Princess… Annabelle Priestly!”

She stood rooted to the ground, even as cheers went up around her. Her smile felt frozen on her face as she slowly turned to face Claire, confused. She could see the vehemence in her friend’s eyes, but Claire, ever the showman, squealed and threw her arms around her in a hug.

She stumbled up to the stage, still confused, and couldn’t even bring herself to smile as she looked out into the blinding stage lights and sea of students. Fearing the worst, she looked up to see if there was a bucket of red paint on one of the rafters above her head, but there was nothing. She bowed her head for them to crown her, then accepted the robe and bouquet of flowers, slipping her arm through Zach’s. She curtsied and he bowed to the loud cheers, and then they moved to the back with the freshman and sophomore royalty to wait for the King and Queen of the senior class.

All Annabelle could do was look down at Claire, who was staring up at her with dark, burning fury.

Naturally, Trevor was the Homecoming King, and Claudia the Homecoming Queen. Annabelle joined the others in her applause, but she felt too numb to cheer. She couldn’t get Claire’s face out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried.

She was Homecoming Princess?

How had that happened?

Who on earth had voted for her?

As soon as the mandatory dance with Zach was over, she hurried to her table with her bouquet of flowers and started dismantling it with trembling fingers.

“What are you doing?” Erin asked, shocked.

“I don’t deserve this,” Annabelle told her, shaking her head. “Claire should have been Homecoming Princess, not—“

“Oh, Annabelle, I’m not surprised at all that you won,” Claire said, appearing at her right with Claudia. Her eyes were cold, but her tone light. “After the fiasco at the party, everyone knows your name. It’s only natural that they would vote for you.”

It would have been easier if Claire had slapped her. She forced a smile and shrugged, feeling tears in her eyes. “I’m sure you’re right. It just doesn’t make sense. I don’t know anybody.” She tugged one of the flowers out of the bouquet and handed it to Claire. “Here.” Claire took it slowly, and around the table, Annabelle passed out flowers to the rest of the girls, who were all staring at her in surprise.

When she was done, she looked back at Claire, still shaking. Her friend’s expression was cool, but it looked like some of her anger had faded.

For the rest of the night, Annabelle stayed at Trevor’s side. When it was finally time to go home, she couldn’t bring herself to join in the festivities with everyone else, so she pretended to be tired and burrowed her face in Trevor’s shoulder. Finally, mercifully, the limo stopped in front of the houses and they climbed out, waving goodbye to their friends. Trevor walked her to her door and when he started to lean down to kiss her goodnight, she quickly dodged him and bid him goodnight, hurrying into the silent house. She knew it was cruel, but she couldn’t think about kissing Trevor. Not after everything that had happened that night. She just wanted to go upstairs and take off her dress and climb into bed.

She had just finished pulling out the bobby pins from her hair when she heard the soft tap on her window. Her heart skipped into her throat as she jumped to her feet, practically diving for the curtains. She threw them apart, an ache forming in her chest at the sight of Will looking back at her. She opened the window quickly, stepping back to allow him entrance.

As soon as his feet touched the ground she flung herself into his arms, sobbing.

He held her tightly, gently guiding her to the bed. They sat together on the edge of it, Annabelle sobbing into his vest. The thought of her makeup ruining his white shirt made her finally pull away, burying her face in her hands. She felt his hand lightly fall away from her back.

“So she didn’t take it well,” Will drawled.

“She’s going to turn everyone against me,” Annabelle whispered brokenly. “She’s going to make it so no one talks to me ever again. She’s—“

“Powerless. Your entire class voted for you, Belle. That means they know you. They like you. You’re not going to be alone. Even if she tries something, it’s not going to work. They chose you over her. And she’s probably kicking herself for putting you on display at the big game the day before Homecoming. She’s just taking it out on you.”

Despite it all, she felt her heart seize. Even though she knew Will had been at the football game the night before, she hadn’t thought about Will seeing the cheer. She hadn’t thought about him being there for Claire to so publicly declare that she was Trevor’s girlfriend. After Trevor getting hurt, and at the sight of Will, she had all-but forgotten about it. And yet somehow, the thought of Will being there for that bothered her more than she could put into words, for reasons she couldn’t begin to express.

“Besides,” he went on lightly. “Not being part of the in crowd isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It opens your weekends right up to do other things.”

She laughed weakly. “Other things?” she repeated. She didn’t know any other things. She only knew going out with her friends to the mall, or partying at someone’s house. It was all she had done since she had made friends.

But… that wasn’t really true, was it? She and Will had gone out and done things. Will had shown her so much more than just partying and watching her friends get drunk and do stupid things to make the others laugh. Will was full of these “other things.”

He smiled slightly. “Things you really want to do.” He tapped her lightly on the forehead. “Think about it. I’m sure you could come up with something.”

She couldn’t resist smiling. No matter how bad things seemed, Will was always able to cheer her up and somehow make them seem almost… trivial. He had some uncanny ability to make every bad thing go away—to make her look forward to the future. She didn’t know how he did it, but she was impossibly grateful to him.

“I don’t know,” she drawled, already feeling better, “you’re kind of the one who always comes up with the crazy plans. I just keep coming along for the ride.”

He grinned. “Tell you what, Belle. As soon as you come up with a crazy plan, I’ll let you drive.”

She laughed out loud, surprised to feel happiness bubbling up inside of her. “Is that a promise?” she teased.

“I’ll even show you how to put the roof down.”

She grinned. “Deal.”