Bookishly Ever After (Ever After #1)(25)
I hugged my notebook tighter. “Fiction is the best kind of reality.”
“No, reality is the best kind of reality.”
“Can one of you help me out?” The voice came from behind us and I turned around to see Dev pulling on his marching hat, its orange feather drooping over the edge of the red column of silliness. “I can’t get this stupid braid untwisted without taking off the jacket.”
Em took my notebook out of my arms and shoved me at Dev. “Go, put your research to use.”
Because we were standing right in front of Dev, I held back my urge to run and, instead, tried becoming Marissa when she flirt-fixed Dan’s tie at the dance.
“Let me get that for you,” I quoted straight from that scene, and stepped half a step closer than necessary. But, as much as I tried to go even remotely flirty while straightening out the gold braid hanging off his epaulets, I couldn’t stop giggling. Our school’s over-the-top red uniform with its rows of brass buttons made Dev look like a reject from the Steadfast Tin Soldier fairy tale, down to the elastic squishing Dev’s ears to his head. “There,” I said, still echoing Marissa’s words, if not her tone. “Better.” I stepped back and pretended to check if the braids were even and, in perfect imitation of Marissa, bit my lip and tilted my head while studying him.
Biting my lip hurt, and I had to fight not to cringe.
Dev looked up from checking his braid and frowned the moment he saw my face. “Are you okay? Are you bleeding?”
I covered my embarrassment up with another giggle, trying to hide my mouth by holding my hand in front of it in a cutesy way, like Min in Cityedge whenever she laughed. “No, I’m fine.”
Dev opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Osoba yelled out over the noise in the room. “Line up!” All the marchers snapped to attention, hurrying into freakishly straight lines while us nonmarchers watched in amusement.
“Gotta go.” He grinned and waved his clarinet at me as he hurried in the direction of the other clarinets. “Thanks, Phoebe.”
“So,” Em said, handing me back my book and zipping up her coat, “was giggling uncontrollably like a middle schooler at a boy band meet-and-greet a part of whatever book you were trying to copy?”
“Yes,” I said, wiping at my lip and trying to pull together my dignity. I crammed my red-and-orange beret on my head and tilted my chin up in the air as I headed out the side door back to the stadium with all the other nonmarchers. “All part of the plan.”
15
“I can’t believe you dragged me away from my one day off to come here.” I half-spoke, half yawned. I had been up until four am finishing This Side of Darkness and it was way too early to tolerate the mall.
Em pulled me through the mall doors and headed for the escalator. “Grace and Leia said they’ll meet us at the bookstore,” she dangled that last word over her shoulder with a grin. “You need some time away from that notebook and I need coffee, so we figured this would be a good compromise.”
I had a to-be-read pile about as tall as me back home, but I’d never say no to a bookstore. “I like your compromise.”
“And then I was thinking we could catch the matinee for that movie based off Fallen Leaves, Fallen Hearts.” Em said, winning me over in one mention of our favorite K-drama. “I can’t wait to see Han Min-Su being his hot, cute self in English.”
“Let me guess, you’re going with me instead of Wil because you’re afraid he’ll get jealous of your celebrity crush?” I asked jokingly.
Em waved her hand dismissively as she stepped off the escalator. “Nah, I just want to spend some quality girl time with my best friend.” She scrunched her nose at me and added, “Well, my best friend and Han Min-Su.”
I froze. I had friends and better friends, but no one in sixteen years had ever called me a best friend. It was weird and awesome at the same time. My cheeks stretched almost painfully into one of the biggest grins of my life. I paused awkwardly, unsure of what to say without sounding incredibly uncool, then, to cover up the pause, grabbed her arm and practically started dragging her towards the bookstore. Time to change the subject. “Speaking of hot guys, Kris said hi to me the other day.”
“Alert the media,” Em said, twirling her finger in the air. “Dev. You need to focus on Dev. How many times do I have to tell you that Kris is a tool?” She pursed her lips like she’d just bitten into a lemon. “You know what he said in homeroom the other day? He said band and theatre suck up resources we could use for ‘better’ things. That guy is such an ass and I can’t believe you think he poops gold.”
I ignored her rant—Em was only biased against Kris because he wasn’t Jon or Dev or any of the other guys she’d picked out for me. “I bet you heard that out of context. Kris is definitely into supporting the arts. His best friend’s in the theatre club,” I reminded her.
“I bet you’re wrong and need to admit I’m right. You should listen to my wise advice and give up on him.”
“Whatever.”
As we walked into the bookstore, Em grabbed a book off the new release display with a picture of a hot guy. “Who’s your favorite book guy?”
“That’s a weird question,” I said, making a beeline for the new YA releases bookshelf. “Um, it’s hard to choose.”