Page 23 of Enemies to Prom Dates
Oddly enough, Gigi was probably one of those girls. She’d always been mature for her age, and like I told Locke earlier, she wasn’t so silly as to be easily seduced. Because of who our parents were, we’d both been exposed to more than most kids our age.
We’d attended parties with political royalty, Hollywood royalty and actual royalty. On the flip side, we’ve worked side-by-side at soup kitchens in the poorest neighborhoods in our state. We’d been sheltered from absolutely nothing and, because of that, I trusted Gi intrinsically not to be fooled by some upper classman looking to score.
What I didn’t trust was everyone else.
Beth stepped into my space. “Tell me about this list.”
I didn’t want to her sisters to hear it. I didn’t want them to know they’d been targeted. But I also didn’t want to leave them unprotected. Silly girls is what I’d called them. Maybe Beth was right. At fourteen, maybe they were allowed to be silly.
And innocent.
“Stay there, Gi. Ed, watch them.”
I grabbed Beth by her upper arm and took her with me deeper into the woods. Away from where others could hear us. I’d made enough of a scene for the night and didn’t want to add to the performance, but Beth needed to know the truth.
“It’s called the Freshman Bait List,” I said once we were alone. “There are certain freshman girls who’ve been targeted. People in school are taking bets on when they’ll lose their virginity.”
Beth sucked in a breath. “But they’re just freshmen.”
“You know it happens. To someone, nearly every year.”
“Yes,” she hissed. “But I didn’t know peoplebeton it. That’s disgusting. Treating a girl’s virginity like a sporting event.”
“It’s depraved. Your sisters. Mine. They’re not safe with the upperclassmen. I don’t care how long they’ve known Wick, they’re not safe with him either. Will you help me?”
“Help you do what?”
“Work with me. Protect them. We’re responsible for them, Beth. You know we are.”
She looked at me as if she was trying to see inside my brain.
“I don’t understand you,” she whispered. “Don’t pretend you suddenly care about my sisters. Only days ago you told me to keep them away from your precious sister, who, I might add, is also here tonight.”
“This isn’t just about your sisters, or Gigi. This is about protecting those who can’t protect themselves.”
Even in the dark I could see her expression change. Her face softened with what I imagined was a half-smile.
“And you think you can do that? Protect all the vulnerable freshman girls?”
“Someone has to try. Would you really have wanted your first time announced to the entire school along with the prize money that went along with it?”
“I haven’t…I mean, it doesn’t matter. What do think I can do?”
“We have to find whoever put the list together in the first place. That will be the person holding the book. At the very least the betting stops.”
Beth looked over her shoulder to the crowd where we could still hear her sisters giggling.
“They think it’s cool to have a junior as a boyfriend. They think it will make them popular. They don’t understand.”
“No,” I snorted. “Why would they? Right now, sex for them is just this thing they’ve heard about. A titillating idea. Elicit, dangerous, exciting. Or maybe they’ve already kissed someone and felt that punch to the gut and it’s something they want to explore.”
Beth touched her neck. “Yes. That gut punch.”
“But sex is different than an idea. It’s more than a simple feeling. It’s fucking. It’s having a man slip his hard cock deep inside your body. And pushing you, pushing you so hard that it hurts and feels good at the same time.”
I could hear her slight panting.
“You know what I mean. Right, Beth?”
