Saint

24

“I’m serious, Mallory. You need to report that shit.”

I shake my head at Loni and sigh. “I’d rather just forget about the whole thing. I still made the team, so it’s not that big of a deal anyway.”

She stares at me with wide eyes. “Not that big of a deal? She poisoned you! You know eye drops can kill you, right?”

I do know, but I also know there’s little point in reporting Laurel to the administration for what she did. They’d probably just give her a pat on the wrist and send her on her way.

“Look, it all worked out, so I don’t want to stretch this whole ordeal out any longer than necessary, okay?” I make my eyes big and stare at her with a puppy dog face.

She arches a brow. “You know that doesn’t work on me, right? I’m a cat person, remember?”

“Well I do now,” I grumble.

She chuckles and I grin as we walk in the campus’ large mailroom. We always check our mail together after lunch, and every once in a while, I’ll get a little something from Carley that makes the little ritual extra special. Loni and I split up long enough to go to our respective mailboxes, and I dial in my combination and open it to find an orange slip of paper. That means I have a package waiting for me in the back.

What did Carley send me this time?

I hurry to the little window and counter where I present my paper to the student worker. They take it and disappear for a moment, only to return with a big, fancy black box with a silver bow wrapped around it.

“Ooh, what’s that?” Loni asks, startling me. She’s snuck up beside me without me realizing it and is bending her head so close to the box, her curls sweep over it.

“No clue,” I murmur. There’s no card to speak of, but maybe it’s inside.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” She claps her hands in excitement and grins like a little kid on their first visit to Chuck E. Cheese. “Let’s go take a peek at what’s inside!”

When we reach my room, I don’t waste any time. Undoing the big bow, I push it to the side and raise the lid off the box. Loni and I both gasp at what we find inside.

It’s a dress.

A gorgeous dress.

A gorgeous purple dress.

“Holy shit, babe,” Loni breaths. “Who the hell sent you this?”

I’ve got a pretty good idea of who. With gentle fingers, I pick up the dress and let it unfold as I take it out of the box. It’s got a short skirt, with a defined bodice, cinched waist, and no straps. I hold up in front of myself as I turn to the mirror. The skirt is double-layered, and there’s a cute little bow that would rest just below my boobs. It’s cute and elegant without being too flashy, and just the right amount of sexy.

“Ooooooh, I see what this is for,” Loni suddenly says.

I turn, and she’s lifting a matching purple mask from the bottom of the box. She gives me a sly look.

“Someone wants you to look real good for the dance.”

I shake my head. “This is—” I take a deep breath and run my hand through my hair, moving my head to either side again. “This is too much. I’m not even going…”

“Hell no!” Loni cries, pointing her finger at me. “You do not get a beautiful dress and mask as gifts and then not show up to the dance wearing them. That’s just rude!”

I roll my eyes at her dramatics, but a part of me thinks she might be right. It’d be such waste not to wear it.

“Is there a card?” I ask, peeking toward the box. “Who sent me this?”

She digs around in the tissue paper but comes up with nothing. “Some mystery guy, I guess.”

I don’t think it’s so much of a mystery. I’m pretty certain this is from Saint and is just a sneaky, underhanded ploy to get me to go to the dance.

To my own surprise, however, it’s a ploy that just might work.

My day takes another odd twist when I run into Laurel out on campus again. I spot her in the distance, and turn, intent on avoiding her, but she follows after me like some crazed stalker.

“Hey! Mallory! Stop fucking walking!”

I freeze because I’m pretty sure she won’t stop until I do. Slowly, I face her again, and my rage spikes hot and hard as I stare into her eyes.

“What the hell do you want?” I demand. “Here to poison me again?”

Her face is twisted into a scowl. She looks about as happy to be talking to me as I am to be talking to her.

Folding her arms over her big fake boobs, she snaps, “I’m sorry for what I did the other day, okay?”

I’m so shocked, I’m certain I’ve misheard her. There’s no way Laurel would be apologizing to me. No goddamn way.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” she sneers. “I’m not saying it again.”

I hold up my hands. “Fine, whatever. Doesn’t seem that sincere, but let’s just move the hell on already.”

I give her my back, intent on putting as much distance between the two of us as possible, when her next words hit me like a bullwhip.

“You know when Saint’s obsession with you wears off, you’ll go back to being a nobody, right?”

Why couldn’t she have just let me walk away?

I glance back at her and make a face. “Guess what, Laurel? I’m just as much a nobody today as I was the first day I arrived at this school. You’re the somebody he got bored with and dumped.”

Her shriek of indignation follows me as I walk away from her without a backwards glance, and goddamn, does that feel good.

The night of the masquerade ball, I’m still hesitant to attend. Loni and Henry, determined to get me over my anxiety, show up to my dorm room with a bottle of tequila and some limes.

“Pregame bitch!” she shouts, fluffing the layers of her poofy cocktail dress, as they storm my personal space.

Henry pours us all shots, and soon, I’m feeling a whole lot better about the evening to come. I’m feeling hot in my gorgeous little dress, and the mask makes me feel a little naughty.

Maybe that’s the tequila, actually.

When we’re all three good and tipsy, we make our way from my room to the campus’ ballroom—yes, I attend a school with a ballroom. It’s already filling up with the entire school, and everyone’s dressed up like this is the Oscars or something.

Henry, Loni, and I walk into the ballroom arm-in-arm. I gasp when I see the decorations. Of course, I helped put them up, but that was in the light of day without the full effects on display.

“Damn, Loni.” I grin. “Y’all really outdid yourself for this one.”

“You’re so cute when you say that. Y’all.” Loni gazes around, looking pleased, as she should. “It does look spectacular, though, doesn’t it?”

We make our way further inside, and I can’t help but gaze around for any sign of Saint. Will he like my dress? He should, since he picked it out for me. That thought makes me shiver, and I’m suddenly very horny as well as tipsy. Saint hasn’t come to my room since the night Laurel poisoned me, and I’m aching for him.

God, what the hell has he done to me?

Finally, my eyes land on a tall blonde guy standing on the edge of the dancefloor. His mask is so similar to mine, I’ve no doubt in my mind that it’s Saint. We lock eyes from across the room, and he raises his hand to summon me over with a crook of his finger.

I hesitate a moment because I’m not sure I’m ready for a public display with him. Yet, he looks so tempting and mysterious all dressed up and masked like that, I’m having a hard time resisting him.