Chapter
Forty-four
A
letter from the hot one…
Semester ended badly for everyone, as
semesters sometimes do.
Prom was overrated.
The girls went in a group because in the
end, Princesses stick together. Everything
about the dance was muted. Darcy and Ryan danced with Mackenzie and a few other
seniors, then spent the evening sulking and left early. There was no
after-party. Mackenzie hung with the Praise and Worshipfuls (she’d finally quit
the Princesses), but then left too. Paige and Shiloh left first, though. Rys
didn’t show. What a disaster!
“I’m so glad it wasn’t my junior prom,” Honey said.
“Me too,” I replied.
“Ours is going to be fab.” Honey assured me.
“Uh huh,” I agreed.
In
the end, Paige refused to accept the scholarship she won. She decided to take a
job with her sister instead that summer and re-apply for UCLA, rather than take,
Darcy’s fake charity.
Darcy’s grandfather refused to give him
his cattle ranch (until he was ‘emotionally stable’ and had finished college –
and maybe not even then.) His grandfather had read Mackenzie’s blog on the
internet where she outed their whole scam. Mr Darcy Senior was unimpressed by Darcy’s childish
and deceptive behavior and realized Darcy had a lot of growing up to do before
he ever had the responsibility of an entire cattle ranch.
Needless to say, by the end of junior
year, Paige and Darcy and Shiloh and Ryan were not speaking.
Then, on the last day of school, Paige
found a note attached to her locker, a few days after prom.
Darcy had written the letter just before
he’d left to go to the airport. He’d sealed it in an old-fashioned envelope,
like an historical document.
Who knew that maybe one day it would
be? (Wednesday)
Dear Paige (he
wrote – I know, because I was the one who found it. I gave it to Honey who gave
it to Paige after it fell onto the floor and was nearly swept up by the janitor
– you can thank me later…
I’m writing this down now because
I’m going back to Australia then I’m heading over to England where my great-aunt
and uncle live. My father wants me to sit the exams to attend Oxford and I
don’t know if I’m ever going to see you again. I didn’t want to leave without
saying a few things that you deserve to know.
First of all, you were
right, and I apologize for what happened between Ryan and Shiloh.
Paige
shook her head feeling suddenly vindicated. She wanted to tear up the note but
was too curious to do that, and read on…
Although I wasn’t entirely
responsible for separating your sister and my best friend, I could have used my
influence to convince Ryan that he should have asked Shiloh to go to prom with
him. I just didn’t think it was that important.
I honestly thought she’d turn him down.
Remember, I’d been around them both a fair
bit and I just always thought Ryan was more interested in Shiloh than she was
interested in him. Your sister is very reserved and although my own sister
comes across in a similar way, it was an honest mistake on my part. I wanted to
save Ryan the embarrassment of asking a girl who was indifferent to him. I am
sorry, as I said. It was my mistake and I only wish I had been more hesitant to
ask you – since I obviously have you and your sister mixed up as you are the
indifferent one.
Paige shook her head, exasperated; he
couldn’t even apologize without sounding arrogant!
