Hate Me

“Do you think the dancers could all throw glitter at her?”

“Where will she be sitting?”

“Believe it or not, Whitney offered to help. A

“Wow. That’s cool of her. And that’s perfect. What are you doing to do?”

He smiles and tells us his plan.

Will you?

French

Aiden and A

When I get back, I start brainstorming proposal ideas. Something involving the girls. Something cute.

I doodle on my paper.

Will 

You 

Marry 

Me

?

Lets se marier

Veux-tu m'epouser?

Aiden leans over my shoulder. “Dreaming about asking me already?”

“I thought you were asking me, Mr. Eiffel Tower.”

He gives me an adorable grin. “That’s right. So what are you doing?”

“Remember the ring designs?”

“Yeah.”

“Now, I’m helping with proposal ideas.”

“Come up with anything?”

“A few,” I say as the bell rings and it’s a

“I heard you have new costumes for today,” Aiden says, holding my hand as we walk to the field house.

“We do. Hidden under this warm-up is a nice, skimpy little outfit.”

“My favorite kind,” he says with a naughty grin.

“Are you doing any shirtless cheerleading skits I need to be aware of?”

“Nope. I’ll just be standing out there with the team. Cheering you on.”

“So you’ll be cheering on the people who are cheering you on?”

“More like I’ll be cheering about how hot you look.”

“You might not even like it.”

He laughs. “I’ll let you know after the pep rally. Speaking of which, don’t you need to come to my room and wish me good luck before I leave?”

“You already have a permanent clover. No reason to draw one on you any more.”

“Fine. Maybe it’s just an excuse to kiss you.”

When we get to the field house, I give him a quick kiss and then rush into the dance locker room and strip down to my gold sequined bustier, little black shorts with Cougars scrolled across my butt, and pull on the sparkly gold fingerless gloves we’re wearing today in place of our pompoms.

We watch as the cheerleaders start the rally.

Peyton peeks her head out the door of our locker room, which leads straight into the gym. “The cheerleaders are wearing their warm-up suits. We’re going to look so much hotter. And I am in love with these gloves. All right, girls, listen up. After our dance, we’re going to help Jake Worth with his Formal proposal. I expect you to all be very excited about this. Immediately following our dance, Jake will walk out onto the floor, we’ll follow him, and then . . .” Peyton tells us the rest.

She peeks out the door again. “We’re almost up. I want you to pretend this is the competition. Big smiles. Focused performance. Show them how awesome our new routine is.”

We hear our music start playing and all run out onto the basketball court.

There are lots of whistles and screams due to our costumes alone, but as we do the routine, the students really get into it. The music is super upbeat and fun, and the routine itself contains more hip-hop than usual.

When we’re done, we run off the court, grab the bags of glitter waiting for us, then line up, forming a pathway for Jake to walk straight up to A

Jake walks onto the court wearing his full prince costume.

Bryce accompanies him with a horn, playing a fanfare to a

Everyone thinks this is part of the pep rally. The begi

Jake waves to the crowd and walks through our walkway. We all curtsy as he walks by.

He stands directly in front of A

Jake pretends to look through the crowd while Bryce narrates from a note card. “The Prince looked far and wide for the most beautiful girl in the land to be his date for the ball. Women lined up in town after town, hoping to become his princess. But it wasn’t until the prince laid eyes on her that he knew she was the one.”

Jake drops down on one knee in front of A

A

But A

Jake stands up, pulling A

Everyone claps and cheers.

Jake holds out his elbow for her, like a proper prince would, leading her back through our human walkway. As they walk by, we toss glitter into the air.

The pep rally resumes, with Dawson and the coach speaking. I hadn’t realized he was the basketball team captain, too. The cheerleaders do another cheer. I glance off to the side of the gym and spy Jake and A

I’m so happy for her. Especially after the way Ace treated her.

When the rally is over, I bound over and hug her.

“Can you believe he did that?” she asks me, not letting go of Jake.

“Yes, I can believe it. He’s a real life prince.”

Jake laughs. “So not true. I just wanted her to feel like a princess. And this is just the begi

“That sounds really fun,” I say.

“But after the dance, you’re on your own.”

“The night is sounding better and better,” Aiden says, walking up behind me.

I give A

“Wasn’t that so cool?” I ask him, once we’re in his dorm.

He makes a little frown. “Do you wish I did something more public when I asked you?”

I pull him onto his bed with me. “Absolutely not. Just because I think it was awesome for A

I get a blazing smile, then a deep kiss, which turns into a hot make-out session that almost makes him miss his bus to the basketball game.

The Rock Star. 

6pm

It’s another long dance practice.

We get a break for di

“You’re going to kill me before the competition,” I tell Peyton.

“Oh, stop being such a baby. You know as well as I do that we need the extra practice.”

“I know, but I’ve had cramps for the last two days. I may die.”

She laughs. “I’d suggest some ibuprofen.”

“You’re heartless,” I say with a laugh. “So, will the competition be fun?”

“It’s fun. Stressful. Particularly the team competitions. The small group ones are better. You don’t have as many people to worry about screwing up. Do you have a minute? I have something I want you to listen to.”

She’s starting to blush and giggle and I know it probably has to do with Damian. “Sure.”

“It’s from my favorite person in California.”