Rebel Belle

Chapter 32

I ONLY thought I’d taken Cotillion practice seriously before. Now that I knew what the night was really about, I was nearly fanatical in getting everything right.

That Thursday afternoon, Saylor was MIA at Cotillion practice. She hadn’t said where she would be, only that she needed me to be in charge. So I walked up and down the stairs of Magnolia House and did my very best not to imagine myself lying dead on them. Like I’d told David that afternoon, Blythe and Saylor had both said that boy Oracles could see what could happen, not necessarily what would. Of course I could die the night of Cotillion. We’d always known that. But I wasn’t going to, because that night was going to go off perfectly, no matter how many times I had to correct the girls’ placement. Where they were standing was important since Saylor and I were trying to create an easy exit should stuff go badly.

But the third time I snapped, “Move three steps to your left, Mary Beth!” she whirled on me.

“Oh my God, Harper, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to pick on me just because I sat next to your boyfriend at a movie.”

It was almost like the air had been sucked out of the room. Or maybe that was from everyone trying not to gasp all at once. Ryan and I hadn’t talked about Mary Beth and the movies, or David and the jacket. I think both of us were willing that entire evening away. He’d come over a couple of evenings, and we’d sat in the entertainment room my dad had set up in the basement, watching movies and occasionally kissing, but things still felt fragile and awkward between us. Nine more days, I kept reminding myself. Nine more days, and all of this is over.

But now here was Mary Beth, throwing it in my face. Bee moved closer. “You sat where with who?” We were practicing in our dresses today, and Bee looked like a seriously pissed-off bride as she stomped to my side. “You went to the movies with Ryan?” she asked Mary Beth.

Bee was one of the sweetest people I knew, but she was also super scary when she got angry. It didn’t help that she was over six feet tall in her heels.

Mary Beth went a little pale. “No!” she bleated. “I-I sat next to him after Harper ran out to hook up with David Stark.”

Now everyone did gasp, and David, who was in his usual spot, slouching behind a paperback book, sat up.

Bee turned confused eyes on me. “You and David . . .” She trailed off, and I looked around, wondering where the hell Saylor had gotten off to.

“No,” I told Bee. “I ran into him. Literally.” Pitching my voice lower, I added, “And you know why I’ve been spending time with David.”

She nodded, but didn’t look particularly reassured. From his spot in the corner, David called, “The only hooking up Harper did was with a pint of crab bisque. She ran into me, I spilled soup, and then I gave her my jacket. Like a gentleman. That’s all there was.”

He pulled his feet up onto his chair, propping the heels of his Converse on the edge of the seat, and disappeared behind his book again. But Mary Beth only narrowed her eyes at him and then turned back to me.

“Whatever. Everyone knows that you and David have been flirting since, like, third grade, and all those mean articles are his way of pulling your freaking pigtails. And you have Ryan Bradshaw for a boyfriend, and it’s like you don’t even care!”

The other girls were all circling around us now, like this was some bizarre game of Duck-Duck-Goose, and I could feel my face flaming. The only thing I hated more than a scene was people getting involved in my personal stuff, and this was both.

“You don’t know anything about me and Ryan,” I told Mary Beth, trying to keep my voice calm.

“I know that all he is to you is another . . . achievement.” Mary Beth seemed close to tears now, her voice tight and squeaky. “Look at the way you treated him Saturday night. You just ran out of the theater. No explanation, no apology. And then you show up two hours later wearing David’s jacket?”

My hands were shaking, and I realized I was balling them into fists. Afraid I’d wrinkle my gloves, I yanked them off, trying not to pop any of the buttons as I did. “I saw someone I needed to talk to. And I don’t have to explain myself to you, Mary Beth.”

“Who did you need to talk to that badly?” She was only a few inches taller than me, but Mary Beth drew herself up to her full height. Her hands were clenched in front of her, gloves wrinkling.

Bee was at my elbow now, her brows drawn together, confusion and suspicion obvious on her face.

“Just this girl,” I said, hating the words the second they were out of my mouth. Why hadn’t I thought of an excuse? Something that sounded the least bit plausible?

Maybe it was because I was tired of making excuses. Tired of lying to everyone about everything. Even Bee, who I’d let in closest of all, still didn’t have any idea about what was really going on.

“It was a scholarship chick,” David piped up from his corner. He was standing up now, shoving the book in his back pocket. “Harper and I are up for the same scholarship, and I’m gonna be honest, I was trying my best to suck up. Pres—Harper here ran out to talk to her, too. Hence spilling the soup.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Now can we please stop being crazy and get back to prancing around a mansion in wedding dresses?”

Next to me, I felt Bee relax a little. It was a plausible story, and at that moment, I could’ve kissed David. Well, no, not really. I was in no way thinking about kissing David Stark.

That seemed to put an end to it, and I was about to tell the girls to start from the top again. But before I could, Mary Beth pressed her lips together. It was like I could actually feel her steeling herself for what she was going to say next. “You’re exactly like your sister, Harper.” The words came out fast, almost like she was afraid to say them. “You act like you’re perfect, but inside, you’re totally screwed up.”

I’d been punched and stabbed and slammed into a bathroom wall. None of that hurt nearly as bad as Mary Beth’s words. I felt them everywhere, rattling my teeth, pounding into my bones. I half expected to look down and find myself covered with bruises.

I felt an arm go around my shoulders. Bee’s fingers dug into the exposed skin of my upper arm. “Mary Beth,” she said, her voice shaking a little, “I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you, but that was so out of line.”

“Seriously,” Abigail and Amanda muttered together. They wore identical frowns, two pairs of brown eyes glaring.

“In fact,” Bee continued, pulling me closer, “I think you should leave now.”

“Happily,” Mary Beth said, kicking off her heels and pulling a pair of sneakers out from under the little sofa by the door.

“Are you okay?” Bee asked once she was gone, and I made myself smile, even though I could feel how shaky it was.

“Fine,” I told her. “Mary Beth has had a thing for Ryan for a million years, and she’s jealous. It’s . . . it’s no big deal.”

Bee wrapped me in a quick hug, her collarbone pressing against my chin. “It is a big deal. Everything she said was so freaking offensive. The stuff about your sister, and David . . .”

She trailed off. Over her shoulder, I could see David, his face concerned, lips thin. I hadn’t run out on Ryan to go “hook up” with David, but hadn’t there been . . . something? Wasn’t that nearly as bad as if I had kissed him?

“And you and Ryan are good, right?” Bee pulled back, a slight crease between her brows.

“We’re great,” I said, and David suddenly turned away, pulling his book out of his back pocket. The stairs rose behind him, and all I could think was, He saw me dead there. I needed to get out of this dress. I needed to get out of Magnolia House.

“I think I’m gonna go ahead and go home,” I told the girls.

Most of them nodded sympathetically, but I saw a gleam in some eyes. Of course. Harper Jane Price was about to have a nervous breakdown in front of them. Who wouldn’t want to see that?

“Let me drive you,” David said, but I shook my head even as Bee glared at him and said, “I’ll drive her.”

“I can drive myself,” I told them, and when they both went to protest, I help up my hand. “Promise. I . . . need a break.”

I think Bee would’ve kept arguing, but I told her I would text her as soon as I got home and headed for the door before she had a chance.

I got behind the wheel of my car, meaning to head home. But when I got to the turn for my house, I went left instead of right. There was someone I needed to talk to.