Red(37)

The hash marks were gone, and the names of the top five girls and boys were written in pink dry-erase marker. Georgia Kellerman was in the top five, of course, as was Holly Lancaster, last year’s Miss Scarlet runner-up. Emily Dutton, a senior in the dance troupe, had snagged the third slot. Felicity was thrilled to see that Haylie’s name was fourth on the list.

The fifth name was Gabby’s.

It didn’t seem possible. There had never been a brunette on the prom court before. Maybe someone else had been cheating, too? But no one on the prom committee would throw the vote in Gabby’s favor. All the blondes and brunettes in the school must have banded together and voted for her while the many redheads on the ballot split the redhead vote. Madison was staring at the board, dumbstruck and furious that a brunette had beaten her out. Felicity quietly gathered her things and slipped away before Madison remembered that Gabby’s presence on the ballot was her fault.

The hallways were absolute chaos at the end of the day as everyone swarmed the main office. Felicity’s locker was in the opposite direction, and she had to use her heavy backpack as a battering ram to push her way through the crowd. In addition to the tears and screams of joy that always accompanied a prom court announcement, Gabby’s name sailed around on an undercurrent of incredulous whispers. Felicity was mortified when she heard her own name in the same sentence as her adversary’s again and again. She ducked her head and kept walking, hoping nobody would notice her and start asking impossible questions. Ivy’s swim meet didn’t start for another hour, but she headed to the pool early to hide from the rumor mill.

Ivy spotted Felicity in the bleachers as soon as she emerged from the locker room. She jogged up the tiled stairs, adjusting her SHS Rubies swim cap. “Hey,” she called. “I’m glad you made it.”

“Do you know if Haylie’s coming?”

Ivy started doing lunges and windmilling her arms. “I think so. I want to congratulate her on making the prom court. She’s going to be insanely happy. Sorry you didn’t make it, though. At least Bitchzilla Banks didn’t either.”

Felicity shrugged. “Whatever, it’s totally fine. I don’t care at all. I voted for Haylie.”

“Good. Me too.” Ivy smiled. To Felicity’s great relief, she didn’t mention Gabby.

“What are you swimming today?”

“Just freestyle, one hundred, and four hundred. Coach is putting Grace in for butterfly, but she’s going to regret it. Bethany Chase from St. Sebastian is going to kick her ass.”

“Good luck, Ives. You’re going to do great.”

“Thanks. See you after.” Ivy jogged back down the stairs, positioned her goggles, and did a perfect, splashless dive into the pool for some warm-up laps.

Ivy was already up on her starting block when Haylie slid onto the bleachers next to Felicity. Her cheeks were pink, and she was breathing hard, as if she’d been running. “Hey,” she said. “The dance troupe meeting went late. I didn’t miss Ivy, did I?”

Felicity’s eyes swept over her friend, looking for signs of anger or resentment. But Haylie just looked like Haylie. “No, she’s just starting now. That’s her in lane three.”

The starting tone sounded, and Ivy launched into the water. Felicity and Haylie both leapt to their feet, screaming and jumping up and down as Ivy streaked through the water. She flip-turned at the far end and sped back toward her starting point. With all the splashing, it was hard to tell who was in the lead, but there wasn’t much time for suspense—the race was over in less than two minutes. Ivy took first place by half a second. As she hopped out of the water and pumped her fist, Haylie jumped on Felicity for a victory hug, and Felicity squeezed her back, her heart expanding.

But after a few seconds, Haylie abruptly let go and sank back down onto her seat. She seemed to have just remembered that they hadn’t spoken in three days. “So, I guess we should talk,” she said.

“Yeah, probably.”

To her surprise, instead of berating her, Haylie said, “Vanessa told me you were campaigning for me this morning.”

“Yeah. I really wanted you to be on the prom court.”

“You didn’t have to do that. It was nice of you.”

“I did it because I wanted to, Hays, not ’cause I had to. You deserve it more than I do. I’m super excited that you made it. You beat out tons of seniors.”

Haylie gave her a shy grin. “I’m really excited, too. But it sucks that you won’t be up there with me.”

“It’s fine. I seriously don’t care that much. I voted for you.”

“Really? You did?”

“Really.”

“So … you’re not mad at me?”

“No. God, of course not. You’re the one who should be pissed at me. Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know, but I was sure I’d done something wrong, and that’s why you didn’t nominate me.” Haylie nervously twisted the delicate gold ring she wore on her middle finger. “I still think it’s weird that you won’t tell me what’s going on. I mean, you’re obviously not trying to shoot me down like I thought, but I don’t get what you are trying to do.”

“I know. It’s complicated.”

“Ivy says you’re in trouble.”