Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(65)

The next day, in the hall outside Proper Decorum, Rhianna gestured for Bryn to come speak with her.

“What’s up?” Bryn asked, ignoring Jaxon who stood scowling a few feet away.

“I’m sure you’re aware of the Valentine’s Day dance.”

“Yes, I saw the poster.” Bryn crossed her fingers for luck and hoped this was going where she wanted it.

“I’ve been speaking with some of the females in our dorm, and we all need new dresses.”

Bryn didn’t think “need” was the correct term, but whatever.

“I made a few calls, and we arranged for several of the boutiques in Dragon’s Bluff to bring their inventory to campus this weekend.”

“That’s great.” One thought plagued her. “Did you ask any normal stores to bring dresses?”

Rhianna tilted her head to the side. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

Crap. “I’m not sure if the girls from different Clans can afford to pay boutique prices rather than regular store prices.”

Rhianna laughed, which seemed sort of rude and totally unlike Rhianna, and then she noticed Jaxon shaking his head at her like she was an idiot.

“What?” Bryn snapped.

“The difference between the boutiques and the stores on Main Street isn’t necessarily the price,” Rhianna said. “I mean there are some higher end items, but the real difference is the level of service.”

“Oh.” Bryn frowned. “You mean the way the saleslady fawns all over you and brings clothes to the dressing room instead of letting you pick things out on your own?”

Rhianna nodded.

Now she felt sort of stupid. In the human world, boutiques were expensive and trendy and out of reach for normal income families. Here, boutiques were snobby in the way they waited on you, but the prices were the same. That seemed oddly civilized. “What if a girl from another Clan went to one of the boutiques? Would the saleslady act the same?”

“Someone from another Clan wouldn’t be let in the door,” Jaxon said. “It’s a service offered only to the Blues.”

And the Blues were back to being the insufferable elite she knew them to be. Bryn opened her mouth to speak and decided she didn’t want to start this argument because it was a no-win situation, but she couldn’t let it go. “That’s a whole level of absurd I don’t want to get into right now.”

Jaxon opened his mouth to speak but Rhianna cut him off before he uttered a syllable. “Please tell your friends and spread the word that we’ll have dresses and dressing rooms set up in the Ballroom C at the theater building Friday night.”

“Thanks. I’ll pass the information along.”





Chapter Nineteen


Bryn sorted through dresses on one of the two-dozen circular racks set up in the ballroom, waiting for something to catch her eye. Too short, too frilly, too sparkly, too revealing, too—

“I like that one.” Valmont pointed at the dress she’d passed because the V-neck would come down to somewhere around her navel.

“Not going to happen.” Bryn kept flipping. Too boring. Too ruffly. Too beige. And then she found it. A midnight-blue sheath dress with a silver choker-type collar. “This is my dress.”

Valmont eyed the garment critically. Then he reached over and touched the side of the dress where the thigh high slit was located. “Works for me.”

“You’re such a guy.” Bryn elbowed him.

“Guilty.” He grinned, and his dimple appeared.

Kiss him, her subconscious screamed. But they were in public, so she couldn’t do that. Which sucked.

“Look what I found.” Ivy bounded toward Bryn holding a strawberry-red strapless dress.

“I love it.” Bryn glanced around. “We need to find an open dressing room.”

Small canvas tent-like structures had been set up all along one wall of the ballroom. Girls stood in line waiting for an open room. “I guess we play pick-a-line.”

Ivy pointed to the closest one. “They’re all about the same.”

As they waited in line, Bryn checked out the dresses the other girls had chosen. She was grateful to see she liked her selection the best. Once they made it into the dressing room, Bryn changed as quickly as possible. The idea that the temporary dressing room could collapse and the entire room would see her standing there in her green bra decorated with pink flamingos made her cringe.

Ivy modeled her dress for Bryn. “What do you think?”

“That color is amazing on you.” With Ivy’s pale skin and dark hair, she looked like a fairy tale princess. Bryn finished fastening her dress and checked the mirror. “I swear, I still expect to see striped hair when I look in the mirror. This blond person staring back at me with the one red streak doesn’t seem right.”

“But the dress is amazing,” Ivy said. “Should we show the guys?”

“I don’t know. There were a lot of girls in line behind us.”

“You’re right.” Ivy changed out of her dress and back into her clothes. “Plus, this way there’s still a little mystery.”

When they emerged from the dressing room in their normal clothing, Valmont frowned. “Didn’t it fit?”

“It did.”