Page 53 of Mafiosa
‘This is obviously a joke,’ he said. ‘Thisisa joke, yes?’
‘What? No.’
His lips parted in surprise.Don’t look at his lips.‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Why?’ I asked, a familiar flash of irritation taking hold of me. ‘Is the idea of me in a dress at a dance really so shocking to you?’
He tilted his head to one side. ‘You’re actually serious.’
‘No, duh,’ I snapped.
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘No way.’
‘I wasn’t asking you,’ I pointed out.
‘Well, you’re going to listen to me.’
I grabbed the doorframe. ‘Exsqueeze me?’
He came closer, undaunted. ‘I said there’s no way you’re going out at night unattended to a dance while we’re in the middle of an active blood war.’
My fingers tightened on the doorframe. ‘Do you want me to do normal things or do you want me to shoot guns? Make up your damn mind, you yo-yo.’
He glared at me. ‘You’re not going to that dance whileDonata has hersoldatiout looking for you. She’s put a bounty on all of our heads, and I guarantee you, as a former Marino, yours is the highest.’
If he was trying to scare me into submission, it was working, but I was definitely not going to let him see that. ‘I go to school, don’t I? You’ve always been so insistent about that.’
‘That’s different. It’s the middle of the day, full of witnesses, and we bring you here and pick you up.’
‘There’ll be witnesses at the dance,’ I pointed out. I never imagined I’d be fighting this hard to actually attend the stupid dance, but now I really wanted to go, just to prove to him he couldn’t control me. ‘And I’m going with Millie and Crispin, so it’s not like I’ll be on my own anyway.’
‘And what exactly is a Crispin?’ Luca sounded like he could taste the word in his mouth and didn’t like it one bit.
I rolled my eyes. ‘A Crispin is aperson, Luca. He’s Millie’s boyfriend. And the dance is being supervised in the gym. It’s perfectly safe. It’s the same as going to school.’
‘No, it’s not.’
‘Yeah, well.’ I shrugged my bag on to my shoulder. ‘Whatever.’
‘You’re not going, Sophie. I’m serious.’
‘We’ll see.’ I shut the door and flounced up the steps, feeling his glare on the back of my neck.
My phone buzzed.
It’s not happening.
I rolled my eyes. It was so happening. Otherwise Donata Marino would have to get in line behind Millie for my head ona plate. There was no logic in Luca keeping me from the school dance if he was prepared to make me go to school every day. The two were basically the same thing, and it’s not like Donata had the timetable for Cedar Hill High’s social events. Still. Best not cause an all-out civil war with Luca over it. A well-placed emoji should smooth things over. A giggling monkey? No. Too frivolous. Dancing Señorita lady? A definite contender, but perhaps a bit too taunt-y. Something that says ‘I’m not going to listen to you in this instance, but let’s just move on and not be mad about it, OK?’
I don’t respect your authority, remember?
I made my way along the deserted corridors. I was definitely late. Another ping back.
You are such a brat.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I stalled outside my biology class and sent back one more text.
Try and stop me.
