Chapter
Thirty-one
Another
hottie
Paige smiled, determined to enjoy herself
as Rys Wickam arrived and walked straight over to her. By this time, Shiloh had
been offered a drink by the host himself.
Ryan Bingley smiled widely when he noticed Shiloh
arrive. This was his chance to ask her out properly, but he wanted to play it
cool. He knew it was important to get it right.
Mackenzie rapped on her glass with a spoon.
“Attention guests, it’s time to change into your formal attire.”
Paige looked exasperated but relieved as
she went into the bathroom to put her new shimmery ice blue summer dress on.
All of these costume changes were ridiculous but she’d promised her sister
she’d enjoy herself and she had to admit the Bingley mansion was some kind of
fun.
Ryan contemplated how to speak to Shiloh,
again. He’d considered taking notes from his much cooler friend, Darcy, who
always had girls ringing him at all hours of the day and night. But Darcy had jumped the fence to go and get
changed at Mackenzie’s insistence. He seemed to be under the thumb there. Ryan
knew Darcy and Mackenzie would never be a real couple. He just hoped Mackenzie
realized that. Of course Mackenzie was getting fame (being attached to Darcy on
the web had doubled her Twitter followers in just a few days) in return but
Ryan was concerned Mackenzie had deeper reasons for offering to be Darcy’s
pretend girlfriend for a month – the month that would incorporate the school
debate class trip to Oxford for an entire week. Of course, only those rich
enough or smart enough could go. Just the winners of the district competition
would be paid for outright, the rest would have to raise the funds.
Still, he wanted to enjoy himself tonight.
If he could just convince Shiloh to dance with him to his favorite rap song,
that would be a start. Then he noticed Amadeus was jumping up and down, out of
time to the music, very enthusiastically.
Paige was left to smile and chat and even
dance with Rys, who’d arrived with two girls on his arms but only had eyes for
one – Paige.
Come to think of it, Rys’s entrance was
when Darcy had left.
Wednesday and I were decorating cupcakes in between dancing when
we noticed this. I think Wednesday is
going to re-claim being the narrator of this story soon, although she says I’ve
done such a good job she’ll only take over when I’m ready… We stood in a corner
like freshman wallflowers but at least our feet tapped in time to the music.
We noticed everything as Mackenzie brought us over a plate of food and
told us how good we were being (like pets!) Wednesday giggled after she left
when I told her all about her ‘arrangement’ with Darcy.
“I’m not surprised,” Wednesday said. “All along he’s been into Paige but
she won’t give him the time of day. Hello. Strategy. Men are so clueless.”
“Agreed,” I replied tapping those words into my cell under the glittery
rhinestone shimmer that stated my name: HONEY WOODHOUSE. The ‘grown up’ conversation
continued…
