Red(43)

Felicity stared at her mom. “What?”

“There’s nothing more important than keeping your secret. If this gets out, it’ll destroy our whole family’s reputation. But if you do what she wants, everything stays under wraps.”

Felicity couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She pulled her hand away. “But … she’s destroying my life, Mom. Aren’t you going to help me?”

“Baby, I am helping you! I only want what’s best for you. I know it seems like Gabby’s ruining your life, but everything will get so much worse if you give her a reason to expose you. In the long run, it doesn’t matter who you nominate for prom queen or whether you have a date to one dance. But if your secret gets out, nobody will ever respect you again. You’ll get thrown out of the pageant before you even have a chance at that prize money. I could even lose my job—you know how the mayor feels about arties. And then how would I support you? I’m just trying to give you the safe, happy life you deserve, but you have to do your part. And for now, that means following Gabby’s instructions.”

Felicity felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. “For how long? Forever?”

“Nothing lasts forever. It’ll only be a year before Gabby goes to college somewhere else and forgets all about you. And then everything will go back to normal.”

A year? There was no way she could survive this for a year—she’d hardly been able to get through a few weeks. “But there must be another way,” she choked. “Some way we can fight her.”

Ginger shook her head sadly. “I understand why you want that, but you can’t antagonize her. It’s way too dangerous when she holds your entire future in her hands like this. I need you to be strong and find a way to make this work. It’s your job to protect all of us. Can you do that?”

Felicity wanted to burst into tears again, to throw things, to scream, You’re my mother! You’re supposed to love me! Why won’t you help me? But she knew that was useless. Her mom did love her—of course she did. But she loved the daughter she’d created, the popular redhead and pageant hopeful. She wasn’t about to let the strawberry-blond daughter she’d been given get in the way.

“Felicity? Can you do that?”

Felicity nodded, knowing there was no other answer.

“That’s my brave girl.”

Ginger reached out and pulled her daughter into a hug. Her arms were warm and strong, but for the first time, Felicity found no comfort in her embrace. Asking for help had been a huge mistake. Nobody was ever going to help her.

She would have to handle this alone.





12


     SATURDAY, MAY 22


The prom committee spent all of Saturday preparing the gym for its night of glory. Felicity and Kendall hung their painted cityscape backdrop and artfully draped the bleachers in red fabric. Topher perched atop an A-frame ladder on a rolling base and hung strings of paper lanterns, belting out “The Red, Red Rose of Love” as Cassie wheeled him from place to place. Savannah helped the yearbook photographers with their photo booth, and the rest of the girls set up clusters of small tables and chairs around the perimeter of the room. Madison spent the entire morning ordering everyone around, unwilling to touch anything in case she chipped her manicure.

Felicity couldn’t concentrate at all. She hadn’t been able to focus on much of anything since the painful conversation she’d had with her mom three days ago. Plus, she still hadn’t told Haylie and Ivy that she no longer had a prom date, and that secret had been weighing on her as well. Of course, they’d discover what was going on soon enough, when she showed up to dinner alone. And the rest of the school would see Brent walk into this very room with Gabby on his arm just a few short hours later.

“Felicity!” Kendall was waving a hand in front of her face.

“What? Sorry, I was thinking about something else.”

“Obviously.” Kendall gave the fabric over the bleachers a final tug. “I was just going to say that I thought this looked good. What do you think? Should we go get the streetlamps from the drama room?”

“Yeah, sure. It looks great.”

“So, what are you guys doing before prom?” Kendall asked as they walked down the hall. “Jeremy and I are going to that French bistro on Thorne Street. We had to make the reservation back in January. They have this thing called a croque monsieur. French food is so classy.”

“That’ll be great,” Felicity said, trying to sound enthusiastic. She’d had the croque monsieur at that bistro, and she couldn’t figure out how it was supposed to be different from a regular grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich. “I’m going to Mamma Leoni’s with Haylie and Ivy and their dates.”

“Oooh, I love Mamma Leoni’s! Have you had the pesto tortellini? It’s totally to die for.”

As Kendall wrestled the first streetlamp onto the dolly, Felicity’s phone beeped.

HAYLIE: how’s it going? u ok to do photos @ my house before dinner?

Everything was running smoothly in the gym, and the prom committee would probably be done setting up in two or three hours. But what was the point of taking photos without Brent? Felicity didn’t need her fifth-wheel status documented for everyone on RedNet to see.

FELICITY: running a little behind. not sure I’ll make it for photos. meet you at the restaurant.