Page 72 of Enemies to Prom Dates
“Yes.”
“What am I missing?” Heath asked, looking between Ed and I.
“Fitz brought Beth to Chas’s party.”
“Oh shit!” Health exploded. “You two are official now?”
“We’re notofficiallyanything. We showed up at a party together. That’s it.”
I said this even though I didn’t mean it. Taking her to the party was crossing a line, and I knew it. There were societal norms in this school and if you showed up at a party with a girl, it was assumed you two were together.
I wanted that assumption. Now that I’d let myself acknowledge what I felt for her, I craved it. I wanted to plant the Darcy flag on Bennet’s ass and let everyone know she was mine. But I hadn’t thought about the consequences.
“I made her a target,” I said. It was the realization I’d come to just now while taking a shower. She hadn’t been on the list before; she was now. After the party. That wasn’t a coincidence.
Given I’d hit Wick pretty hard, it only made sense he would add Beth’s name to list. This couldn’t be anything other than revenge and only proved my theory that he was behind the list all along.
“What are you going to do?” Heath asked.
I considered everything Locke said. That it was beyond Wick’s capabilities, that there had to be some mastermind involved, but I knew from physics class the shortest distance between any two points was a straight line.
Wick was the first person to mention the list to me. Wick went after Gigi. I broke Wick’s nose. Wick was now going after Beth.
Simple and logical.
“Breaking his nose wasn’t enough of a deterrent apparently,” I muttered.
“Really?” Heath said, arching his brow. “Because you should see his face. It’s pretty fucked up. Although I hear he is garnering a lot of female sympathy.”
“Look, Fitz, I know how you feel about him…” Ed began.
“He gave my sister booze and drugs! He didn’t know what the fuck the pill was and still he encouraged her to take it. Now he thinks he’s going to humiliate Beth. As if either one of us would participate in this game. He has to be stopped.”
“How?” Ed asked. “What are you going to do? You’re lucky he didn’t call the cops after you broke his nose. Maybe somewhere in his conscience he knew he deserved it, but if you continue to push him, it could backfire. You’re Fitz Darcy. You have a reputation you have to maintain, more than anyone else in this school. And part of that reputation is remaining squeaky clean. You said it. As long as you and Beth are…discreet, no one has to know anything.”
“Ha,” Heath laughed. “You’re going to fuck the impenetrable fortress that is Elizabeth Bennet. Too bad I can’t watch.”
I snarled at Heath enough so that he raised his hands and backed off.
“You don’t say her name,” I barked. “Neither of you.”
Ed titled his head, bemused. “Look, Fitz I know she’s not a trophy for you.”
“You don’t know what she is to me. So leave it. Beth Bennet is not a topic for discussion unless you hear or see someone threatening her in anyway. Got it?”
Ed nodded and, after a time, Heath also nodded.
Now came the hard part. I had to tell Beth.
Or maybe not. Maybe there was another way.
16
Tuesday
Beth
Walking down the crowded hallways between first and second period I realized I was holding my breath. Thankfully, no one could possibly know how I nervous I was. For the hundredth time since Friday night, I tried to convince myself there was no reason to be anxious.
