Page 24 of Evil King

“Yes, thank you, my lovely and wonderful best friend. I love you so much,” I replied.

“So when are you gonna take it to the next level?” Avery asked. “I mean, it’s cool that you guys are so tight, but obviously there’s chemistry there.”

I sighed. “There really is. It’s like these past four years never happened, and we’re picking up where we left off, but…”

Avery groaned as she opened her locker. “No buts.”

“There is a but,” I said. “It’s that I have a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, a shitty one,” Avery responded. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that you and Deon are the better match. I know Colette sold you all that bullshit about not throwing away the benefits of The Royal Court, and blah, blah, blah, but The Royal Court is really just a glorified social club. At the end of the day, you should do what makes you happy, and that’s going for it with Deon.”

I couldn’t deny that thinking about getting to be with Deon gave me butterflies in my stomach. There was so much we never got to do when he disappeared, and it’d be really amazing to seize the opportunity to do those things, but breaking up with Nathan just seemed like so much drama, and I was hoping to get through my senior year without much of that.

“Nathan would make a huge stink if I tried to break up with him right now. I don’t know.” I grabbed the couple of books I needed from my locker and then shut it. “Besides, I’d have to step down from The Royal Court, too, and I don’t want to lose you and Alistair.”

Avery slammed her locker shut and glared at me. “You think we’d stop hanging out with you just because you weren’t the queen anymore? I’m offended. Seriously.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I wouldn’t want to drag you guys down with me,” I said. “It’s not like you’d have much of a choice.”

“We always have choices, Cherri. Ali and I, we love you. We’re always going to be by your side. Nathan’s just a guy. He can’tforceus to do anything.” She put her hands on my shoulders. “Right now, you’re at a fork in the road, and you could continue down this very vapid path with this artificial relationship and this title that doesn’t really mean anything,oryou could break up with Nathan, go for Deon, not ever lose Ali and me, and be happy.” She pulled away after that and shrugged. “But, it’s up to you.”

I couldn’t drag those thoughts from my brain, no matter how hard I tried. The idea that I could have my best friends, be with Deon, not have to deal with the stress of holding up The Royal Court,andnever have to talk to Nathan again? There was no way I could lose in that scenario. Maybe Nathan would be a brat about it and make my life a little difficult, but if I had my friends and a boyfriend who actuallyloved me, I could get through it.

Right?

Not much of what I learned throughout the day took hold. I was way too distracted. To make matters worse, Deon decided to send me our first ever text, a simple, “You look amazing, today,” with a winking emoji and a heart. Just getting a text from Deon sent my heart into overdrive, and considering the fact that Nathan gave me about as much excitement as watching paint dry, there was a clear choice. The real question then became, how would I go about it? Should I step down first, then break up with Nathan? Should I break up with him first and hope that his kicking me out fulfills the temper tantrum he’d throw about it?

I walked out of the last class of the day, still not entirely sure how to deal with the problem I’d been presented with. For a really long time, I’d sacrificed my happiness in the interest of something else, but now I had a real chance to go for something I wanted, so why shouldn’t I?

“Cherri!” I looked over my shoulder, and Brayden was rushing toward me. I nearly threw up at how much he looked exactly like a mini Nathan, down to his restyled hair to match. Last I’d spoken to Nathan, he and Kyle were planning on being twins for the day, so Brayden most likely decided to dress on his own as Nathan and pass it off as a twin thing. “How’s your day been?”

It was difficult not to puke. “It’s gone pretty well. Um, is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” He put his hands on his hips. “Are you excited for the party tomorrow?”

Shit.

I’d totally forgotten about the party. Every year, the final day of Spirit Week was Spirit Day. All the students dress up in the school colors to show their school pride. There was a huge pep rally, endorsed and hosted by Nathan’s dad, Connor, and then after school, everyone showed up at the school’s first home football game to support the team. The school always hosted a homecoming dance after that, but Nathan always invited our entire school to a party at his house, which he called Anti-Spirit, and everyone would wear all black or white. It doubled as a birthday party for Nathan, as the day always fell on or near his birthday.

Breaking up with him before the Anti-Spirit party would be a huge mistake.

“Yeah, it should be fun,” I responded.

“Cool. Cool. Cool.” Brayden nodded his head and continued to idle by me. Given that Brayden was Nathan’s mini-me and a general skeeze, I didn’t like him a whole lot. We almost never spoke when Nathan wasn’t around.

“What’s up, Brayden?” I asked. “Did you need something, because if not, I’m gonna go.” Leaving school always had the added benefit of knowing I could head home and talk to Deon.

“No, just wanted to chat,” Brayden replied.

“Okay. Well, see you later, then.” I turned to head back toward my locker, but Brayden reached out and grabbed me. “What?”

“Uh. Are you gonna dress up for Spirit Day tomorrow?” he asked.

“Brayden, what the hell is going on?”

“We don’t talk a lot. I just wanted to get to know you.”

I winced. “Okay. Well, no offense, but I don’t. So I’m gonna go.”

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