Page 35 of The Promposal

“Now, Tori, it’s time for the final heart.” The host paused, as if he were actually on television and was creating dramatic tension for the upcoming commercial break. “Will you take this piece of Alan’s heart and go to prom with him?”

Then the four evening gown women turned, and each one wore a letter on her back that spelled outPROM.

“Yes, yes, I will!”

The crowd started applauding as Tori threw her arms around Alan. Then he turned her and dipped her, kissing her soundly. More cheering and catcalling.

Ugh. Some people should get a room.

In Iceland. Or Greenland. Whichever one of those was always cold and would force people to stay inside so I didn’t have to see them.

Ella told me she had an appointment with the guidance counselor, something about submitting her current transcripts to UCLA. She said she’d see me later.

I walked slowly to my first class. If Jake was here at school already, there was no way he could have missed Alan’s promposal. There was no way he could have missed any of them. He couldn’t claim ignorance. Not only were they happening all around us, but they were being shared on every social media platform. Daily. Promposals were literally everywhere. Like ants at a picnic.

And yet he still hadn’t asked.

I spotted Trent’s black, spiky fauxhawk in the hallway. A rush of anger followed by indignation that he’d dare to show his face rippled through me.

Surprisingly, I discovered that I was kind of tired of being angry at him. Like Jake had said, my anger was only hurting me. Me being mad did not affect Trent.

I mean, except for when I hit him.

Maybe Jake had also been right about the whole apologizing thing making me feel better. What if it also made me not feel so mad and churned up anymore?

There was only one way to find out.

I followed Trent until he stopped at that same alcove I’d found him in last week. He pulled out another book and ignored everyone around him. The bell rang, and I waited, just out of his eye line. I was getting pretty good at this whole stalking people without them knowing it thing.

I wasn’t sure if that was something to be proud of.

As I suspected, Trent didn’t go to class. After the hall had emptied, I approached him.

He glanced up at me and scowled. There was a faint purple bruise on his jaw, and I felt even guiltier. “Here to finish the job?”

“Tempting, but no.” I took in a big breath. Admitting I’d been wrong was not something I was known for. “I’m actually here to apologize.”

Trent’s eyebrows popped straight up his forehead in surprise. “Are you serious?”

“As a punch to the face.” He scowled, and I rushed on. “Er, sorry. Too soon? But what I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have hit you, and again, I’m sorry. That’s not how you treat a friend.”

At that, he let out a little guffaw. “You and I were never really friends, and we’re not friends now.” That felt like a crushing blow to my chest. Did he really think we were never friends? I had relied on him for so long. Was I that easy to dismiss and forget?

Despite me trying to move on and be the bigger person, him trying to hurt me stoked up the rage beast currently simmering in my chest. “You’re the one who cut everybody off, not the other way around. But maybe you’re right. No friend of mine could ever have done to Ella what you did.”

“Yeah, well, no friend of mine would ever ditch me just because some jock deigned to date her.”

I didn’t know whatdeignedmet, but I caught that he was insulting me and accusing me of ignoring him. Some part of me wondered if he was right. I couldn’t remember the last conversation he and I’d had. I had been very wrapped up in Jake. Maybe I had neglected Trent before he found out about the end of his parents’ marriage.

But it wasn’t as if I could go back in time and undo what had already been done. It was sad to think that Trent used to be there in my life, so significant and important, and then he wasn’t.

Even if I hadn’t been a good friend to him, I could still be a good sister to Ella. “She didn’t break up with you. Somebody else sent you that text.”

“Yeah, she mentioned that last night when we talked. But whatever. It doesn’t matter now.”

I tried to hide my surprise. Um, that was fairly significant information she hadn’t shared with me yet. Why hadn’t Ella told me about her chat with Trent?

He got up from his seat, putting his book into his backpack. I probably should have let him go, but my curiosity was killing me. Had the fake text prompted all this? Or was that just an easy lie for Ella to believe? “How long have you been dating Bronte?”

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