Winter White (29 page)

“Hey, Mira,” Taylor said, walking over to her. He was wearing a black suit and a skinny reddish-pink tie. He looked ready for an espionage mission, or maybe a cologne ad. “You look… nice.”

“I look ridiculous.” She shrugged. She wasn’t sure how to act in front of him. They’d only been broken up for forty-eight hours and already he had a date. She, on the other hand, had only missed him once, when she’d thought about coming alone tonight. “Blame it on the party girl.”

He nodded. “Same goes for my date.” They looked at the dance floor, where Millie was doing her best to impress Savannah with major arm movements. She waved to Taylor. “Savannah set us up,” Taylor said sheepishly. “She thinks Millie’s perfect for me.”

Taylor performed best when he was with a crowd, Mira realized. That was what Mira had fallen for in the first place—the guy who was the life of the party. He wanted a girlfriend who looked pretty, was happy to cheer him on at games, and kept her mouth shut. For a while, Mira was happy to do that, but now she wanted more. She deserved a relationship that was more filling than candy. Maybe Millie was good for Taylor, but even if she was perfect, Mira’s best friend shouldn’t have hooked up her ex with a new girl so soon.

“Will you excuse me?” she said to Taylor. “I need to speak to Savannah.” Mira walked into the middle of the girls’ dance lesson and stood in front of Savannah. With their coordinated outfits, the girls looked like a pop group.

“Leaving so soon?” Savannah drawled, playing with her chunky gold necklace.

“No, I need to talk to you,” Mira told her. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“We can talk over here,” Savannah told her, and led Mira to a corner full of oversize floor pillows. “We were just about to play your favorite game.”

“Savannah, I need to tell you what happened,” Mira said.

“Games first,” Savannah scolded, plopping down and stretching out her long legs. “You can go first.” Savannah’s harem filled in around her.

Mira wasn’t thrilled about an audience. “This is important. We should talk in private.”

“No,” Savannah said, getting comfortable and propping up some pillows. “Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of the girls. But first you have to play. Truth or dare?”

Mira was so frustrated she wanted to scream, but if Savannah insisted on games, Mira would play them. Dare was a terrible option. Savannah would probably make her streak Main Street or sing off-key at the party. That’s what happened when they played this game in eighth grade. Everything about this night was turning out to be juvenile, and Mira just wanted it to end. Were Savannah and her friends really this quick to turn on her when they didn’t know the whole story? “Truth,” Mira decided.

Savannah smiled viciously. “True or false: You’ve been helping Izzie behind my back.”

Mira gave her a look. “False. Did you really think she wouldn’t find out that we had all the stores blacklist her?”

“How did she know about the DJ?” Savannah played with the pillow tassels and Mira froze. “I only told you about him on Thursday, and strangely enough he called me last night to say Izzie turned him down flat.” Mira’s face paled. “I guess you’ve made your choice. You picked Harborside over your own best friend. I hope your daddy’s campaign doesn’t suffer for that.”

“Savannah, I…” Mira twisted her ring around and around.

“I can’t believe you tried to hook Brayden up with Izzie,” Savannah said, her eyes penetrating as a dart. “Did you really think Brayden would pick her over me?” She shook her head, her curls bouncing madly. “You can call her a Monroe, and teach her to walk like a Monroe, but that girl will never be anything like us.” Lea and Lauren couldn’t stop smirking while Millie stood by looking uncomfortable.

“You’re wrong,” Mira said. “Why don’t you ask your boyfriend why he was hanging out with Izzie? I had nothing to do with it. If you would just listen—”

“Please return to your tables,” the DJ announced. “The first course is being served.”

“I’m bored,” Savannah said, and put her hands out to Lea and Lauren to be helped up. She glared at Mira. “And I’m bored with you. Why don’t you go back to the kiddie table, where you belong? Better yet, maybe you could be of use and provide some entertainment?” Mira didn’t understand what Savannah meant, but she heard the girls laugh as they walked away.

The DJ’s voice came over the mic again. “And now, Savannah’s friend Mira Monroe would like to honor Savannah with a spotlight slow dance to her other favorite Disney song.” Then he started to play “Beauty and the Beast.”

Oh no.
She had to get out of there quick, but before she even made it a few feet, a spotlight zoned in on her. She heard people laugh.

It was a low blow, even for Savannah. Mira could barely see because of the glaring blue spotlight, but she knew all eyes were on her. Taylor was probably watching the whole thing with his arm around Millie, and Savannah was probably making Lea and Lauren video Mira’s mortification to post on YouTube. She felt like a deer in headlights. She knew she couldn’t stand there, but she didn’t have the nerve to run across the room, either.

“Looks like you could use a dance partner.”

This was an Arabian-themed party so she wouldn’t be surprised if she were seeing a mirage.

“Kellen? What are you doing here?” Mira had never seen him in a suit before, but he could be her date at one of her dad’s fund-raisers anytime.

“Filling up on churros,” he deadpanned. “You look like you’re having fun, too.” He squinted in the bright blue light. “Guess I chose the right time to show up, huh?” He held his hands out to her. “Ready to waltz?”

“Well, look who had the nerve to show up.” Taylor strode over as Millie hurried behind him anxiously. He bumped Kellen lightly, to Mira’s surprise. “You’re not welcome here.”

“Funny, my invitation would seem to say otherwise,” Kellen told him, shielding his eyes to actually see Taylor. “You really want to do this in front of an audience?”

Taylor looked around at the crowd waiting for Mira to dance. The song was half-over and they were still all standing there. The DJ thankfully sensed something was up and quickly invited the room to join Mira on the dance floor. As Savannah’s aunts and uncles crowded around them, Taylor used the cover to lay into Mira. “So this is why you dumped me? For him?” he asked coldly as Kyle and Ryan appeared at his side. “Scholarship boy?”

“What are you talking about?” Mira snapped, sandwiching herself between them.

Taylor looked at his friends and then at Kellen. “You mean you didn’t tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Mira asked, getting more upset by the second. What was going on tonight? She glanced at Kellen, whose face was tight.

“Did you know your precious art geek here is the Ingrams’ scholarship student?” Taylor told Mira smugly.

Mira was at a loss for words. There were only fifty scholarship students at Emerald Prep and the majority of them went to school on one of the wealthier families’ dimes. It was almost an unwritten contest to see which family funded the most students. EP got to say they opened their doors to the underprivileged, and the family got a tax write-off. It was a win-win situation. She looked at Kellen, feeling conflicted. “But…”

“But what?” Kellen asked. “I don’t
look
like a scholarship student? Is that what you were going to say?”

“No!” But she
was
thinking it. Mira had assumed that she and Kellen were the same. They got along so well and liked the same things, and he knew so much about art history. Was she really that shallow to think a scholarship changed that?
Yes
, a small voice said,
because you judged Izzie the same way.

“Way to continue your downward spiral, Mira,” Taylor told her. “First you screw over Savannah and now me. Great company you chose to hang out with instead of your real friends.”

“Friends? One fight with Savannah and no one will even talk to me!” Mira reminded him.

“Hey, man, let’s go,” Kyle said, putting a hand on Taylor’s arm. “Savannah doesn’t want you to get blood on the dance floor. You made your point. Just let it go.”

“You’re right.” Taylor gave Mira a nasty look. “These two deserve each other. Come on, Millie.”

Mira and Kellen stared at each other as people danced around them. “I’m going to get out of here,” Kellen told her, but Mira grabbed his arm.

“Wait! I… Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked quietly.

“Because it shouldn’t make a difference,” Kellen said, and he was right. Mira’s heart began to pound to the beat as she watched him walk away. She saw Savannah laughing and started to feel enraged. She was not making the same mistake again. She ran up to the DJ booth. “Hey! I need a do-over. Can you put another slow song on for me?”

The DJ looked at her strangely. “Sure. You’re on in forty-five seconds.”

She nodded and then pushed her way through the crowded dance floor to find Kellen. He was saying good-night to Savannah’s parents. “Wait,” she interrupted rudely. “You still owe me a dance.”

“Mira,” Kellen said with a sigh.

“You already offered,” Mira reminded him, “and a gentleman never goes back on his word, does he, Mr. Ingram?”

“She’s right, young man,” Mr. Ingram said as Mrs. Ingram eyed her peculiarly. “Never deny a pretty girl a dance.”

“And now Mira Monroe would like to take the dance floor again for a spotlight dance in honor of Savannah’s sweet sixteen,” the DJ said. Savannah’s head whipped around as Mira led a reluctant Kellen back onto the dance floor.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, sounding tired as she grabbed his hands and put them in the proper position to waltz. “Breaking up with the quarterback, hanging with the art geeks, dancing with me. They’re only going to be harder on you, you know. I’d hate to see your EP royalty privileges revoked.”

“I don’t care,” Mira told him. “You’re a good guy, Kellen—too good for this crowd—and I want people to know we’re friends.” She looked down. “I’m sorry for the way I acted back there.”

Kellen smiled just a little. “You choked. It happens,” he said, and pulled her into a twirl.

“Where did you learn how to dance like this?” Mira asked.

“They teach all the scholarship students how to dance. It’s an EP entrance requirement.” His green eyes sparkled. “I’m kidding. My mom runs a dance studio.”

“She taught you well,” Mira said, watching their feet move quickly across the floor. “Think you can dance us out of here after this? I’ve had enough fun for one night.”

“With pleasure,” he said. The song was almost over, and Kellen slyly started steering them toward the ballroom doors.

Mira looked over his shoulder and watched Savannah’s table spin by. There was a crowd near it and she could see people holding up camera phones. They were the same people she usually called her friends. What did it say about them that the minute Savannah told them to drop her, they did? Kellen held out his hand to spin her again. She twirled around, forgetting for a minute where she was and what this dance really stood for.

For the first time ever, she didn’t care what Savannah, or anyone at EP for that matter, thought. As they spun closer to the ballroom door and the song ended, Mira made a quick pit stop. She searched the gift table till she spotted the blue Tiffany gift box she brought. She could think of a lot of people who deserved this gift more than Savannah did, including herself.

Twenty-Two

Mira walked into the Butterflies meeting and took a seat by the window, as far from everyone else as she could get.

Izzie couldn’t help but think of the irony. Here she was, sitting with her new friends Violet and Nicole, and Mira, the Queen Bee’s former number two, had been exiled. Everyone at EP was talking about Mira’s fall from grace over the weekend. Taylor had dumped Mira (or she’d dumped him—that part was still murky), she had somehow betrayed Savannah, and Savannah had humiliated her at her sweet-sixteen party in retaliation. Now Mira sat alone and stared out the window morosely.

“Oh, how the mighty fall.” Violet chewed on her pencil and stared at Mira. “I know she’s your cousin and all, but I am so glad to see her get taken down a peg.”

She looks nervous
, Izzie thought, noticing how Mira tapped her fingers on her paisley notebook. It was almost as if she couldn’t wait to leave the meeting, and being a Butterfly was one of Mira’s favorite things. Or so Izzie had thought.

“Mira was getting as bad as Savannah,” Nicole agreed. “It’s nice to see at least one of them get what was coming to them.” Nicole was pretty bitter about the situation, too. She had blisters from walking around EC in flip-flops yesterday while the three of them tried unsuccessfully to find party caterers.

Izzie couldn’t blame her friends for how they were feeling, especially when she felt the same way. She should have known Savannah would try to sabotage the Butterflies’ plans—it was stupid of her not to see it coming—but to find out that Mira had been in on it, too, was the final nail in the coffin for their relationship. What was Mira thinking? Her own father was making a campaign push at the Falling into You Fest. If the event went up in smoke, Lucas would have both their heads.
Let Mira sink herself
, Izzie thought. She was going to make this party work for Grams’s sake, no matter what Savannah threw at her. And Savannah would arrive at the meeting with guns blazing.