“I just want to go home,” I say again, not wanting Jonathan to know I was the one who saw him.
“Hey, there he is!”Danika exclaims, pointing behind us.
Collin stops.I close my eyes and reluctantly turn around.
“Jonathan!”Danika calls to him.Jonathan’s stalking across the lawn, away from the house toward a large false exterior that’s meant to look like a carriage house.It probably hides the staff cars and whatever they need to operate the house.
“Jonathan!”Collin bellows.He releases me.“Let me go get him.”
I grab his arm with both hands and pull him back.He eyes me curiously.“Looks like he’s in the middle of something.We should leave him alone.”
Jonathan swipes at his mouth.“Is he hurt?”
“What?”Danika asks, squinting.I didn’t realize I said it out loud.“What made you say that?”His back is to us now.
“We’ll see him tomorrow,” I tell them.“We should get going.My mother’s probably waking me before the sun to start getting ready for the party.”
Danika watches Jonathan for a moment longer as Collin and I head toward the car.She catches up to us and shoots me a curious glance that I purposefully ignore.
Chapter Thirteen
You’re so soft,” Darcy murmurs, petting the feathers running the length of my body.
“I won’t be able to sit the entire night,” I say, watching Danika strap on my gold sandals.“Or bend over.”
“Or pee,” Jaz says from behind me.She and Darcy burst out laughing.I sigh.True.
Danika stands and looks me over.“I know this wasn’t your first choice—”
“Or tenth,” I interject.
“But you do look stunning.”
“Like you belong on top of a Christmas tree,” Darcy adds gleefully, attempting to lift my mood.
I take in each of our reflections in my full-length mirror.My friends’ eyes dance with light and mischief.Layers of white chiffon drape to the floor around me.Exaggerated sheer bell sleeves fall off my shoulders and float around me like curls of smoke.Opalescent jewels cluster at the top of the fitted bodice, which tapers into a V at my pelvis.Folded white feathered wings hold me upright, attached to an elastic band cinched around my ribs beneath the dress.A subtle slit right to my thigh allows the layers to glide around me when I walk, revealing just a hint of leg—Danika’s handiwork with a pair of sharp shears.Hopefully, my mother will be too busy socializing to notice.
My skin glistens with whatever luminescent powder the makeup artist dabbed on my exposed skin and cheekbones.A band of white stretches across my nose and eyes like a mask.Dark lashes flutter in dramatic contrast, making my already-pale blue eyes look colorless, the only color a sheen of pink on my lips.
Next to me, Danika is my dramatic opposite in a skintight, shiny black vinyl bodysuit that covers every inch from neck to toe.Jeweled red horns protrude through her red-and-black striped, bobbed wig.Her dark blue eyes shimmer with smoky black shadow, and her pouty lips are slicked with red stain.A forked red leather tail sways behind her.She sets her sharpened red nails on her hips and smirks.She’s not exactly on point with the heavenly theme, but she’s made it her mission to rebel against rules and expectations since her transformation.
“We’re fricken sexy as hell.”
“Youall are.”I sulk.“I look…”
“Virginal,” Jaz spouts.They all laugh at this because they know it’s not true.Not that one time makes me scandalous.
Jaz is dressed in white as well, a gorgeous contrast to her dark skin.The haltered bodice plunges nearly to her navel, where a gold belt gathers the volume of satin fabric.The full skirt is slit on either side, her sculpted legs revealed with each step.The gold choker, with dangling chains, makes her look glamorous and powerful.She’s as tantalizing as the goddess of love herself with black braids trailing down her back and over her shoulders, a twist of braids atop her head.
And Darcy is enchanting in her cherubic baby-doll toga, the golden bow and arrows attached to her back with miniature rose-gold wings.Her short copper hair bounces in corkscrew curls.Gold shadow brings out her hazel eyes.She looks adorable with her rosy, freckled cheeks, yet still absolutely beautiful.
I run a hand down my waves, trying to tame the flyaways.My sides are twisted into a halo and pinned around my crown.The stylist did her best to smooth the unruly strands, but they are determined to make their own statement, like Danika’s whip, coiled around her arm.
“Sadie!”my mother exclaims with a gasp.I turn to find her in my doorway, a hand over her heart.Her shoulder bare in her shimmery silver toga.“You’re breathtaking.”
I smile.“You look beautiful, Mom.”
I’m not trying to be a brat.I mean, they did an incredible job, making me look like an angel.It’s just… no one really cared whatIwanted.How I wanted to dress.If I even wanted this theme for my eighteenth birthday.I was expected to go along with it graciously.Which makes me consider how many other concessions I’ve made in my life.
