Page 1 of That Secret Something

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Part One: The Beginning

One

Ugly crying into my best friend Lily’s dress was not how I imagined my prom night would go. The worst thing? The night had barely even started.

“I’m gonna kill Kieran when I see him,” Lily raged, brushing a supportive hand over my hair. “He’s gonna wish he’d never been born!”

We were still in Lily’s living room, my poufy green dress stained with tears and snot as I bawled into her shoulder. The sparkly banners I’d spent weeks after school perfecting flashed in front of my eyes. What was supposed to be the best night ever—a phrase literally written across several of them—had already flopped before I’d got out of the door.

“It’s okay, Jess,” Lily said. “You can come with us two. Can’t she, Tyler?”

With blurry eyes, I turned to Tyler, Lily’s boyfriend.

He nodded, offering me a sympathetic smile, then took a swig from the flask in his breast pocket. “Sure.” He winced from the taste, and the sharp smell of the alcohol made me grimace before he tucked it away again.

“What’s going on in here?” The raspy voice drew our attention to the doorway, and heat flushed my face.

This night just got worse and worse.

Rebecca, Lily’s older and devastatingly hot sister, stood in the open archway, all long legs and dark features. I’d had a crush on her for years. Effortlessly cool, she’d played a starring role in my bi awakening years ago. It was a shame she was wholly unattainable, as per the unwritten rule of girl code: no friend’s mums, aunties or sisters, no matter how gorgeous they were.

Deep down, I knew Rebecca was light years out of my league anyway; we were practically opposites.

Lily wrapped her arm tighter around me. “Kieran’s stood Jess up,” she explained.

I winced. It sounded infinitely worse when someone else said it out loud. I reined in my sniffles and sneaked a glance at Rebecca.

Her long brown hair was tied back in a sleek ponytail, making even a simple navy polo and pair of black work trousers look sexy. At least she was leaving for work, so she wouldn’t witness my meltdown for much longer.

But her gaze on me was unwavering.

She took a step into the room. “I’m sorry, Jess. That sucks, but don’t let it ruin your night, yeah?”

She was so close I could smell her perfume, a masculine scent mixed with something fruity. Cherry, maybe.

I sniffed, unable to hold eye contact. “Thanks.” I didn’t even want to think about what fresh hell I looked like with my make-up stains down my face and my blonde hair dishevelled. The last thing I wanted was her to witness me looking like I’d just climbed out a sewer grate.

There was no surer way to shoot my chances with her in the face.

Not that anything could ever happen anyway, Jess.

“Where’s Mum and Dad?” Rebecca asked Lily.

“Gone to get the camper,” she said, rubbing my back like a baby.

At this rate, Lily might as well give me a bottle and put me to bed.

What had upset me most, though, was that tonight was supposed to be different. Was I upset that Kieran had stood me up? No, not really. Honestly, I didn’t even like Kieran that much. We were each other’s pity invites. For him, I was an easy choice. Too polite to say no, and with no other viable options to act as competition.

For me, he existed as a distraction. The aim was that when I turned up tonight, people wouldn’t see Jess, the quiet loser who was always in the corner reading. They’d see a different, confident me—one who could turn up at the prom with someone on her arm and who could dance the night away with her friends.

For once, I didn’t want to be the one in the corner. But maybe that was where I was destined to be. I’d been doing it for eighteen years; I could deal with it for one more night.

The thought sobered me, and I wiped my wet eyes with a tissue, thankful that at least I was wearing my contacts and not my glasses tonight. When my eyes refocused, I was surprised to see Rebecca still standing there, watching me.

She gave me a slow, heart-stopping smile. “Green is really your colour, Jess.”

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