Bookishly Ever After (Ever After #1)(5)

“Because it’s a costume. Maeve is a redhead.” I tugged at my puny braid. “The heroines in practically every book always have long, thick hair that flows down their backs. Well, except for that one character in that knight book, but she cut off her braid so she could fight.”

Trixie just shook her head at me. “Okay, enough playing. Off with the dress so I can do some alterations.”

“Wait.” I lifted the skirts and picked my way across the room towards our full-length mirror. “I haven’t seen it yet.”

I stood in front of the mirror, taking in the dress with more than a little bit of awe. It really was as if Trixie had just pulled it out of the pages of Golden, down to the tiny gold ribbons tying my off-the-shoulder sleeves to the main dress. And instead of looking out of place on me, I looked like I belonged in something this pretty. I looked like Maeve. “The perks of having your own designer,” Trixie said, echoing my thoughts. “In a dress like this, you’re not allowed to hang out on the side of the dance floor like the nerd you are, you know.”

An image popped into my head of Kris showing up at the dance dressed in a green battle tunic just like Aedan’s. He’d come up beside me and, as if we were the only ones in the room, would sweep me into a waltz. I wouldn’t be invisible dressed like this. A shiver of anticipation rushed through my body and I smiled at the thought.

“Maybe,” I said, unable to tear my eyes away from the reflection. “Maybe not.”





3


I twirled, watching as the layers of sheer material wafted around me in a green cloud. “Trixie did a good job.” Em said, making her way through the school atrium doors. “Now, stop spinning before you hurt yourself.”

I stopped midturn and the skirts settled in a sigh around my legs. “It really is perfect. I feel just like Maeve in this.” I couldn’t help but swing my arms at my side as I walked so the sheer overskirts brushed my hands and rustled as if there was a breeze in the building. My hair shed glitter that dotted everything.

“Too bad nobody will have any clue who you’re supposed to be.” She tilted her pirate hat at me as we headed into the gym. “Nobody reads books.”

“When the movie comes out, all of you will wish you had thought of this.”

“Doubt it.” She reached over to straighten one of my gold torques. “But you look so pretty tonight. Like something out of a fairytale.” Satisfied with the torque, she fixed my hair so a bunch of it spilled over one shoulder.

“Thanks.”

“Pretty enough that maybe Jon will ask you to dance, drag you off to the locker rooms, start making out with you in the showers...” she said with a wink.

I shook my head. “Right. Only in Em-fantasyland.” We were early and they were just starting to set up the decorations. I craned my neck, checking to see if Kris was there yet. When I didn’t see him, I slumped slightly. “I wish I had half of your flirt-fu.”

She smiled back at me over her shoulder. “Since I come from cultures that gave the world Aphrodite and Oshun, it’s in my blood, you know? But I can totally teach you. Your sister made you a dress that makes you look like you actually have a little bit of cleavage,” I made a face at her, but she continued, “so use it. Lesson one, work the nonverbal with the verbal. Watch and learn.”

“Can’t wait, Yoda.” I watched Em make her way over to the DJ stand where Wilhelm, the cute foreign exchange student from Germany, seemed to be struggling with the speakers. She dropped onto his lap like she was already dating him and started pointing at the random cords in his hands.

“That girl is as subtle as a nuclear bomb.” I glanced up to find Dev standing right behind me. “You’re very…sparkly. What are you supposed to be?” he said, quirking a half smile.

I took in his jeans and white t-shirt with ‘Ghost’ stamped in faded letters across his chest. So perfectly Dev. One of my torques slid loose and I shoved it back up my arm. “Maeve from Golden.” He stared at me blankly and I added, “It’s a book.”

“Oh.”

“It’s really good. It’s been on the New York Times series bestseller list already for thirty weeks. And it’s going to be a movie.” In my head, I could practically hear Em telling me to stop right there, but I couldn’t help it. “It’s about a girl who falls in love with a leprechaun.”

His eyebrows rose. “A leprechaun? Like, the little Irish people leprechauns?”

Hearing him say it, leprechauns really did sound ridiculous. “Well, kind of. Only they’re not little, they’re warriors. And hot. And Maeve is supposed to use her powers to save the world but she’s almost found out by the evil fae…” My voice drifted off. “Uhm, it’s actually a lot cooler than that, I swear.”

“I’ll take your word for it. It’s a nice costume, whatever it is.”

“Thanks. Um, so’s yours.” I watched as he turned back to untangling strings of twinkle lights. “Need help?”

“Yeah. Just hold this for me.” He dumped a tangled ball in my hands and started walking with the untangled end to stretch the string of lights along the bleachers.

While he was walking, Em came up alongside me and poked me in the arm. “Arrrrgh, whatcha think you’re doin’, matey?” she said softly in the worst pirate accent on the planet.