C - I didn’t want Fitz to see me in a dress when I was going to be the least best-looking girl on stage.
“Fitz and I will be in matching tuxes. We put together this little comedy skit. It should work.”
“Hmm.”
I knew my sister’s hmms. She was thinking about saying something that had the potential to upset me. So she was giving me advance warning with a hmmm.
“What? Just say it.”
“You and Fitz.”
“Me and Fitz what?”
“You’ve been spending time together…”
“I rehearsed a skit at his house one night.”
“He threatened Wick on your behalf…”
“That was more about Wick than it was about me.” At least that’s what I’d concluded at the time.
This haseverythingto do with you.
I was pretending I didn’t hear that part. I was also not telling my sister how he slapped me on the ass or that I liked it.
“I’m just saying,” Star said, her voice rising an octave as she did. “For two people who supposedly hate each other…”
“Stop doing that thing. That singsong voice thing. I don’t hate Fitz,” I admitted.
Isomething’dFitz.
Like. Too weak.
Attraction. Too simple.
Envy. Too muddy.
It was…something.
“You’re really okay with what happened?” Star asked me, and I was grateful to move on to a different subject.
“Yes. Those people don’t scare me, Star. If anything, I consider them pathetic. Trapped in their close-minded circle where everything is a competition between beauty and wealth. Beauty that will eventually fade and the wealth they didn’t earn, but their parents did. I’ll do the event Sunday night, give a big fuck you to all of them and move on.”
“Okay. Once again, my hero.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t a hero. Just a high-school student trying to navigate some tricky political waters.
Because of, wait for it, a fashion show.
* * *
Auditorium
Sunday Night
“It’s going well,”Fitz said low into my ear. We were off stage, just beyond the curtain. A group of senior girls were walking back and forth currently modeling bikinis. I was surprised Fitz had the wherewithal to form coherent sentences. Those were really skimpy bikinis.
“If you mean by going well nobody’s dropped pig’s blood on me yet, then yes,” I replied.
