Cade opened an envelope, Oscar style, and made a show of pulling out the thick card inside. The whole room held their breath as he butterfingered it.
I suddenly just wanted the night over. I was tired. My feet hurt in these shoes, and there was a definite cold draft coming from the ice sculpture.
“Ladies and gentlemen, your homecoming king and queen are Jennica and Terrance!” He clapped, hitting the mic and then corrected.
Music swelled and Jennica and Terrance received their crowns and applause. Terrance held up his clasped hands, shaking them like he’d just won a jousting competition. Jennica demurely accepted her sparkling tiara. Even though her dress was knee length, she lifted it slightly as she walked, playing the part of a real princess. Man, that woman loved to act.
Terrance just acted like an idiot. He ran around the semicircle, slapping hands with his buddies.
Cade pulled the mic close again. “We’ll have the traditional royal dance.”
The song changed to a slow one. Jennica stood in the middle of the dance floor while Terrance horsed around with his friends. She smiled as several measures went by, but it was forced.
Finally, she walked over and tapped Terrance on the shoulder. We were too far away to hear what she said—the music was loud. But I could easily see Terrance’s face cloud. He glanced at his buddies and then shook his head. She threw her arm toward Cade, and I made up their dialogue in my head.
You can’t leave me out there!
I’m just chillin’ with my bros. Chill.
If you wanted to spend so much time with your bros, you should have asked them to the dance.
Students gathered closer, not wanting to miss a word.
I glanced at Kevin. His eyes were hard, but he wasn’t looking at Jennica; he was glaring at Terrance. “He’s so disrespectful,” he growled out.
I put my hand on his arm to keep him from charging over there. Terrance wouldn’t hesitate to hit him, and I felt a need to protect my date.
Both Jennica and Terrance threw their arms in the air and stormed in different directions. I watched Terrance because he was making a straight line to John. Now I was torn. Did I run over and listen in, or stay here and keep Kevin from doing something stupid?
I hesitated just a moment too long, and Terrance made it to John and Nicole. Nicole stood in front of John, her arms out. As much as I hated to give her credit for it, at least she was loyal.
Terrance reached his hand out to Nicole. He said a lot, but I couldn’t hear over the darn music. You’d think someone would think to shut it off.
Suddenly, Nicole launched herself at Terrance, kissing him like he was water and she’d been in a desert for a year. Terrance held her up with one arm and used the other to shake John’s hand.
I laughed right out loud. The whole thing was ridiculous.
Nicole didn’t take her lips off Terrance as he penguin-walked them over to the bleachers and sat down with her in his lap. They were oblivious to everyone and everything else.
I turned away before I could make eye contact with John. I didn’t think I could take it if he had an ounce of sadness in his beautiful green eyes.
Turned out, it wasn’t John I had to worry about being sad. Kevin’s gaze followed Jennica as she wove through the crowd, her crown glinting. He longed for her with all of his soul.
“Go.” I nudged him in her direction.
“What?”
“Go. She’ll need someone to talk to.”
“But …” He ran his hand through his hair as he strained to see her through the crowd.
I laughed. “Hurry. Before you lose her.”
I’d intended the double meaning, and he caught both and took off with a hasty “thanks” thrown over his shoulder.
I wandered to the punch bowl, parched.
“So …” John’s deep and chocolatey voice was a balm to my drama-battered heart. “Having a good time?”
I snorted a laugh as I spun around to see him.
He drank me in, from my horrible pinchy toes to the fancy braid that worked as a headband for my long and loose curls. “You are … you take my breath away.” He clutched his chest.
“Stop it.” I swatted at him and grinned.
He rubbed his chin. “Where’s Kevin?”
My phone dinged. “Hang on. I promised Mom a couple pics from the dance—she’s probably just reminding me …” I trailed off as I read the text from Kevin. “Well, it seems I need a ride home.”
I turned the phone around and showed him the message. Kevin explained that Jennica was too upset to stay at the dance, and he was taking her out for ice cream to cheer her up. He hoped that was okay, but since I lived on campus, he wasn’t worried about giving me a ride back.
“So much for chivalry,” I joked as I tucked my phone away.
“No. It should have been the two of them all along. I was just a stand-in.” And I was really okay with that. In order to have a great night, there needed to be chemistry and Kevin, and I didn’t have any.
John smiled mischievously, and my heart flipped over. “Well, if you don’t have a date …” He stepped closer, and my breath hitched. “… and I don’t have a date …” He put his hands on my hips. “Maybe we should … date.”
I stepped closer, putting my feet between his. “Sounds like a logical conclusion.” I reached up and laced my fingers into the hair at the back of his head. It was soft and smelled of manly things. I took a deep breath.
Someone tapped my shoulder, and I turned around, ready to tell them they were interrupting a moment. Except it was Mr. Hubert. Poor guy had chaperone duty tonight.
“I wanted to tell you two I’m nominating you for the TACS award.”
I sagged into John. It was a good thing he was there to hold me up.
“But you’ll need more data to back up the fact that your algorithm works.”
I nodded numbly. He was? We would? I was going to compete against the nation’s top programmers. This was unreal.
“I asked the committee. As long as you don’t charge for the app, you can unroll it at other high schools and collect data.”
“Sweet.” John offered him a fist bump.
“But the best news is that the day after you win—” He winked at me. “—you can start charging. You two may very well make a lot of money.”
“That would be epic.” John beamed.
“Thanks,” I barely managed to get out before Mr. Hubert wandered off to break up the couples kissing on the bleachers. Nicole was not going to be happy. I was ecstatic.
John hugged me and lifted me off my feet. “I have great news.”
“Tell me.” I laughed as he set me down.
“I’m moving into the dorms.” He threw his arms out to the side and then wrapped them quickly around me again.
“What? When?”
“Right after fall break. I sat my mom down and told her I wanted out of the mommy blog.”
“Really?” I thought of all the tiny little clues that he wasn’t happy being at home.
“I didn’t tell anyone. I love my family, but they wanted to set me up to take over for them, and I don’t want it.”
“Won’t they be disappointed?”
“Naw.” He grinned. “My sisters love it. They’ve been planning a sister blog for years based on their Magnificent Mondays. This will give them a chance to present it to my parents.”
“So it’s a win-win.”
He paused, looking deeply into my eyes and sending goose bumps over my bare shoulders. “It’s a chance to be me and the freedom to be with the girl I’ve fallen in love with.”
My heart soared.
He ran his hands down my arms and grabbed my fingers, tugging them up to his chest. Resting his forehead against mine, he said, “Adelle, I love the way your mind works. I love watching you solve a problem and eat gummy bears and run around the track and take up a whole table in the library. Will you be my girlfriend?”
I smiled as big as the ice dragon. I’d thought this was going to be my year of excellence. That I’d take the world by storm and prove I was just like my mom. Instead, I’d found out that I was pretty cool as me. What I liked about John was that he liked me too.
“I’d love to.” I winked.
He sealed the deal with a kiss. I melted into him and was swept away. Well, until Mr. Hubert broke us apart.
We spent the rest of the dance in each other’s arms, and when it was over, he took me out for ice cream with gummy bears on top.
It was perfect.
The school year has just begun and there are many more romances on the way.
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Now Available from Bestselling and Award-Winning Author Lucy McConnell
Read on to discover more sweet romances from
bestselling author Lucy McConnell.
Sweet Water High
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Her Marriage Pact with the Billionaire
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The Snow Valley Series
Welcome to Snow Valley, Montana, where romance is always in season.
Her Rock Star’s Forbidden Kisses
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For a small town in Up-state New York, Echo Ridge has a great big heart.
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Collections
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About the Author
Lucy McConnell has always been a reader and a writer. She writes fantasy, clean romance, Christian romance, historical fiction, and cookbooks under the name Christina Dymock.
When she’s not writing, you can find her volunteering at the elementary school or the church; shuttling kids to baseball, soccer, basketball, or rodeo, depending on the time of year; skiing with her family; wake boarding; cycling; or curled up with a good book.
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