Elite (Empire High, #2)(71)

“Yes, sir.”

He laughed too. But then slapped the back of my hand when I fidgeted again.

“This room isn’t nearly as bad as the rest of the house,” Kennedy said. “I love the color. Everything is so light and airy now that the smell of pee is gone. It reminds me of this beach house I went to when I was a kid.”

“Mr. Pruitt picked out the color,” I said.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Interesting. I guess his wife decorated the rest of the apartment? Who knew he was such a bright and cheery guy?”

Justin laughed and then silently scolded himself for some imperfection I couldn’t see on my nails.

“My mom loved yellow,” I said. “And he remembered.”

“That’s sweet.” Kennedy reached up to touch one of her rollers.

“Don’t you dare touch that,” Justin said. “It needs time to set.” He screwed the cap back on the silver nail polish. “Now what to do with your hair,” he said to me and shoved the sparkling water back into my hand.

I didn’t really have any suggestions for him. I’d never had my hair done before.

He continued to stare at me for a few more seconds before he snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. It’s going to be fantabulous. You’re going to love it.” His voice went up about 12 octaves and his eyes rolled back into his head when he said love it.

He seemed to be selling it pretty hard. But I trusted his judgment. The clothes he’d helped pick out had looked good on me. He knew what he was doing. He was going to plan weddings one day. So he could surely handle a hairdo.

Kennedy lifted her camera, being careful not to mess up her nails, and snapped a picture of me. “This is seriously the best day ever. I don’t want to ever forget it. Can you get one of us together?” she asked Justin and handed him the camera.

“Promise you won’t touch your hair again?” he asked.

She nodded.

He took the camera from her. “Say cheese,” he said.

I smiled as big as I could. Kennedy was right. I didn’t want to forget today either. We’d basically gotten a spa day without leaving my room. Plus Kennedy was allowed to visit whenever she wanted now.

“What happened to your new cell phone?” she asked as she took the camera back from Justin.

“It’s in my dresser.”

“Why?”

“Because it was annoying.”

She laughed and walked over to the dresser. “Why was it annoying? It has so many new features that mine doesn’t.” She pulled it out and turned it back on. It immediately started buzzing in her hand. “Whoa.”

“What?”

“You have so many missed calls and text from Matt.” She squealed and started reading the texts to me:



“Brooklyn please just let me explain,” she said in a deep voice.

“I never slept with Rachel. I swear to God.”

“You can’t shut me out too.”



I swallowed down the lump in my throat. None of the Untouchables had been seen together all week. I was pretty sure their friendship had burst into flames just like Matt and my relationship. Probably around the same time that James put his fist through a window. Matt had lost everything. And I knew what that felt like.

Kennedy scrolled down. “There’s like a bajillion messages here, Brooklyn. How could you ignore all of these? Oh my God, they get even better.” She continued reading:



“I’ll do anything to get you back. Just say the word.”

“Meet me downstairs. Please.”

“Mr. Pruitt won’t let me up anymore because our relationship contract has a discrepancy. What the hell is he even talking about?”

“I’m sorry I made you look like a fool at lunch by not telling you the truth. I should have told you. But nothing happened between me and Rachel. Isabella jumped to a wild conclusion. And she was holding it over my head. You know that I’m worried about James. You know that this would hurt him. I don’t understand why you don’t believe me.”

“I’d never lie to you, Brooklyn. Never.”

“Will it help if I make a fool of myself?”



Kennedy looked up from the phone. “He made a fool of himself for you, Brooklyn. Even though he didn’t know if it would work because you were ghosting him. It’s so romantic.” She pressed the phone against her chest with a sigh.

“What did he do?” Justin asked as he started messing with my hair.

“To make me mad? Or to try to win me back?”

“I got the gist of the mad part. He hooked up with someone else while you were together.”

“No, not while we were together. Before we were together.”

Justin lowered his round brush. “So why are you mad at him exactly? He can’t undo his past.”

“Because he didn’t tell me about it.” And he hurt his friend who he swore he was trying to protect. The only thing Matt had been protecting was himself.

“Did you tell him about all of your past relationships?” He propped the brush on his hip like he was going to hit me with it.

“No. But I’ve never been in a relationship before. There was nothing to tell.”