All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(49)

‘That’s awful,’ Scarlet said.

‘I know.’

‘It is awful,’ Scarlet continued. ‘But I don’t actually see why it matters.’

‘It’s his family,’ I said, ‘and family matters more than anything.’

‘Yes, but it’s Win’s family, so if he wants to piss off his father, that should be his choice, don’t you think?’ Scarlet asked.

‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘But when you think about it, it’s not as if I’m going to marry Win or like I’m even in love with him, so what’s the point? There are millions and billions of people in the world to get with, so why bother with the one whose father is very powerful and dead set against me?’

Scarlet considered this statement. ‘Because it might be fun. And it might make you happy. So, what’s the harm if it probably won’t last anyway?’ Scarlet kissed me on the cheek.

As I mentioned about one hundred pages ago, Scarlet was a romantic. Daddy used to say that calling a person a romantic was just another way of saying he or she acted without regard for consequences.

‘Scarlet, I can’t,’ I said. ‘I wish I could, but I can’t. I have to think about Natty and Nana and Leo. Imagine if Charles Delacroix decided to retaliate against me.’

‘Retaliate! That’s ridiculous and paranoid!’

‘Maybe, maybe not. Win’s father struck me as . . . Well, I guess you’d call it ambitious. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility that he could call the authorities on my family to get me out of the picture.’

‘You sound crazy, Annie,’ Scarlet said. ‘There’s no way that would ever happen.’

‘Listen, I’ll tell you one scenario I thought of. Charles Delacroix knows that Natty and I don’t have a real legal guardian at the moment. Nana’s not good. She’s really lost it, Scar. Leo is . . . Leo is what he is. What if Mr Delacroix called Child Protection Services on us? What if I ended up back at Liberty or someplace like it, only forever? And Natty could end up there, too! My point is, Win’s just not worth it to me.’

Scarlet’s eyes filled with tears.

‘Why are you crying?’ I asked.

Scarlet waved her hand in front of her face in a manner that struck me as almost comical. ‘The way that boy looks at you! And he doesn’t even know why you’re . . . I wish I could tell him.’

‘Scarlet, don’t go getting any ideas.’

‘I would never betray your trust. Never!’ Scarlet sniffed. ‘It’s so tragic.’

‘It’s not tragic,’ I assured her. ‘This is nothing. Tragedy is when someone ends up dead. Everything else is just a bump in the road.’ For the record, that was something Daddy used to say, but I’m pretty sure Shakespeare would have agreed, too.

X I I. i relent; make an adequate witch

DESPITE THE FACT that neither of us had dates, Scarlet wanted to go to the Fall Formal and so we did. I would have preferred not to but, as Daddy might have said, that was the price of friendship.

The theme of the dance was ‘Great Romances’, or some such nonsense. There were projections of supposedly great couples from the past on the walls of the gym. Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Hermione and Ron, Bonnie and Clyde, etc. I don’t think any of them met a particularly good end, but I suspect this was an irony that entirely bypassed the event’s organizers.

I was not surprised to discover that Win was there with Alison Wheeler. Though Alison and I were not friends, there was no animosity between us and we had gone to school together for years. She was pretty verging on very pretty, with a willowy frame and long red hair out of a storybook. It showed good taste on his part, and I was glad to see he had gotten over me so quickly. No one else had asked me to the Fall Formal, by the way. I suppose they were justifiably worried about ending up like Gable Arsley.

Toward the middle of the night, Win’s band set up to perform. (They were only to play during the DJ’s break.) I asked Scarlet if she wanted to leave.

‘No, that would be rude,’ she said. ‘He’s still our friend so let’s listen to at least one of his songs and then we can go.’

They started with a cover of a really old song called ‘You Really Got a Hold on Me’. Win had a deep, husky singing voice, and he played guitar well, too.

‘He’s good,’ Scarlet said.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Do you want to go now?’ she asked. ‘I waved to him so I know he saw that we stayed.’

I shook my head.

The nameless ‘band’ did a couple of original songs, and I liked those even better than the cover. The lyrics were clever and even poetic. Win was talented. There was no doubt about that.

I found myself very much wishing that we had left. It would have been easier not to have known that Win was talented.

They played a fifth and final song. It was a ballad, but not too sappy. I thought Win might have looked at me, but then he made a lot of eye contact with everyone. He seemed entirely comfortable onstage.

The band took their bows, and the DJ came back on to spin a couple more songs. I was glad that it was over. I felt hot and ill. I needed to get outside for some fresh air.

‘Let’s go,’ I said to Scarlet.

At that moment, one of the boys from the play asked Scarlet to dance. I didn’t want to be mean so I told her I would wait.