So Into You [The Jane Austen Academy Series #2] (12 page)

Ellie’s jaw dropped. "We could be asking you to rob a bank."

Tran paused the game and rose to stand, his shirt shifting with the movement and revealing a sliver of tattoo across his belly. "I doubt it’ll be that fun. But maybe you’ll surprise me."

Before Ellie could respond, he leisurely reached out and rested a heavy arm over her shoulders. "Let’s go."

He pulled her against his side and swung around, taking her with him.

"Er . . . okay," she said, her face practically smushed against his shoulder and none too comfortably. They began a leisurely walk across the quad.

"So . . ." she said, trying for small talk, "how’s your year so far?"

"Predictable. Want to make it more interesting?"

"Huh?" she said—just as she noticed Edward and Lucy walking across the quad. Tran tugged her tighter, dropping his tattooed arm to her waist.

Edward saw them and stumbled, his toe catching in the grass, and he took a header to the ground. Lucy tried to catch him but they crashed together. She laughed, tossing her head back, then leaned down to kiss him.

Ellie felt her throat clog tight.

"I wouldn’t have predicted that." Tran looked down at her with a sympathetic smile.

"Am I so obvious?" Ellie groaned.

"You say that like it’s a bad thing."

"My life is over." Ellie tried to pull away, but he gently held her tight.

"Stay tight," he said. "Don’t look spooked."

"Is my pathetic love life a show for you?"

"No," Tran promised. He rubbed his knuckles on top of her head until she smiled and playfully pushed him away. "Hang in there. You’re gonna be all right, Ellie."

* * *

"Did you drug him?" Knight kicked back on his bed, grabbed a book from the floor, and glared at Tran over its pages.

"Just with her intoxicating good looks," Tran joked. He held his arms at his sides. Ellie pulled the measuring tape against his arm as Emma’s diagram instructed.

"Ah yes, those," Knight said. "Potent, indeed."

Ellie laughed as she scribbled Tran’s measurements. Knight and Tran were being nice—and friendly—and a little flirtatious—but somehow she didn’t get the sense that they were interested. What was it about Edward’s attention that had seemed so different?

"Hey, come back to us." Tran snapped his fingers in front of her face.

Ellie blinked. "Sorry." She glanced back down at Emma’s list and pulled the measuring tape around Tran’s waist. He lifted his arms, showing another peek of tattoo where his abs dipped below the waistline of his pants.

"What’s going on in that beachy blonde head?" Tran asked.

Knight peeked back up from behind his book.

"Nothing," Ellie said quickly. "I’m just trying to figure out Emma’s handwriting."

"Do I look as gullible as Edward?" Tran asked.

Ellie blushed furiously. "I was thinking that you guys . . . you know, you’re cool."

"Stating the obvious," Tran said.

"Which you should feel free to do," Knight added.

Ellie rolled her eyes and wrapped the measuring tape tighter around Tran’s waist so he grunted, then she moved to his left leg. "But despite that, I’m not into you guys at all, and I don’t think you’re into me. So I was just wondering why . . . sometimes it can seem that way and sometimes it doesn’t."

Tran let out a breath, for the first time looking at her seriously. "You feel like you imagined the whole thing, right?"

"Yes!" Ellie said. "Yes! I almost feel crazy."

"You’re not crazy," Tran said.

"To be fair, Tran’s not licensed to diagnose that," Knight said.

Ellie threw Knight a glare, but he only laughed and went back to his book.

"I don’t know what it is—why it’s different," Ellie said.

"It’s in the eyes," Tran said.

Ellie glanced up to meet his gaze. It was dark, serious—but he was right. Looking at him, there was nothing there. No sizzle. Not the same way it felt when Edward looked at her.

"You can feel the difference, can’t you?" Tran said.

Ellie nodded. The question was—did Edward feel it, too?

Chapter Seven

"I look ridiculous," Ellie said.

"We look ridiculous," Knight added as the four squeezed together to admire themselves in the skinny full-length mirror on Emma’s side of the room.

The skintight black leggings disappeared into even tighter black knee-high boots. The matching sleeveless tops were rimmed with shiny silver sparkles. The outfits were too tight, too revealing, and too self-conscious. But it wasn’t half as crazy as their makeup and hair.

"My head itches." Tran scratched the shaggy, shoulder-length black wig.

"You’ve all had your whine quota," Emma announced. "One each—that’s it."

Ellie opened her mouth wide, caught Emma’s raised brow, and pursed her lips shut. The white pancake makeup stayed put, as did the cat whiskers at her nose and the black spots painted over her eyes.

Emma had a black star painted over her right eye.

"At least you don’t have spikes coming out of your face," Tran said. He raised his eyebrows up and down so the black bat-wing design appeared to flap.

"Oh yeah, these silver radar antennas around my shoulders are much better," Knight said.

"Over quota," Emma warned.

"We . . . match," Ellie said helpfully.

"Yeah, we all look equally crazy," Tran retorted.

Emma gasped. "How have none of you heard of KISS?"

"I’m behind on my History Channel," Knight said.

"If Emma designed it," Ellie said confidentially, "then it’s the best costume. That much I know."

"Thank you," Emma said, bumping her hip.

"It’s weird not to see you as blondes," Knight tousled Emma’s black wig.

"Yeah, you’re the Blondies," Tran said.

Ellie swallowed—Edward was the one who had given them that nickname. But tonight was not about Edward. "Tonight," she said, "we’re KISS and we’re gonna win this thing."

"One thousand dollars," Emma said. "And we get Ellie for a while longer."

"What do we get?" Knight asked.

"Yeah," Tran teased. "What’s in this for us?"

"The pleasure of my company," Emma said.

"Weak!" Tran said.

"Sold." Knight grinned at Emma. Ellie got the feeling that despite the white-caked makeup and black stripes on his face, there were real feelings behind what he was saying. But Emma just grinned back and began fluffing everyone’s wigs.

If Emma hadn’t picked up on any signals, then they must not be there.

* * *

They walked into the gymnasium—although balloon factory was probably a better term. Every spare inch of space was covered in silver and blue balloons. One entire wall shimmered with a sea of balloons undulating like a dragon’s tail to the dance beat pumping from the speakers.

"Kat knows how to throw a party," Emma said.

"Don’t say that in front of Anne," Ellie warned.

Kat was belting out a song in the karaoke arena while Fanny clapped from the sidelines—dressed as the two members of The White Stripes in all-white jeans and tees with dark eye makeup. Kat even had on a shaggy black wig like Jack White.

"Seems like we’re not the only ones who know about Bergie’s taste," Emma said grimly.

A passing boy frowned at the four of them. "Are you . . . Marilyn Manson?" he asked.

"We’re KISS," Emma informed him. She smiled at Ellie, although with all the makeup it only looked eerie and creepy. "Remember, we only need to impress the judges, not anyone else."

"I trust you," Ellie said. And she did. Emma always knew everything—especially when it came to people.

"Ellie!"

Ellie craned her neck at the sound of Lizzie’s cry behind her.

"Ellie, is that you? And Emma—and oh my God—Knight and Tran?" Lizzie’s eyes grew wider and wider as she swept the quartet. Ellie noted her adorable muslin gown—the same dress she’d worn to the Jane Austen–themed welcome back dance last month.

"You do know the theme is rock stars, right?" Emma asked.

Dante stepped beside Lizzie, resplendent in his Jane Austen–themed dance outfit from last month, too, and slipped his arm around her waist.

"Phoning in the costumes, are we?" Emma looked them over. "I recognize a repeat when I see it."

"We are classic rock," Lizzie explained sheepishly. "Very . . . very classic."

"Translation—we were too busy doing other things to find costumes," Dante said, dipping his head to press a kiss to Lizzie’s collarbone.

"Not that," Lizzie said, her eyes widening. "We were not doing that. What happened was Bergie dragged me into her office. Accused me of breaking into her cottage! Said she could tell. So she kept me there all day interrogating me. Dante and I had to find last-minute costumes."

"What did you say to her?" Ellie asked, trying not to look at Emma.

"I told her if I had broken into the cottage—not
her
cottage, by the way—I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to leave evidence behind."

"Hey!" Emma blurted.

Lizzie frowned. "Was it you?"

"Long story, tell you later," Ellie mumbled. Because directly behind them, Edward and Lucy turned into view. They were both dressed as Lady Gaga—Edward in a dress of faux-meat over sneakers and Lucy in the infamous dress of clear plastic bubbles.

"Gaga duet!" Tran said. "Nice!"

"Do you like it?" Lucy asked nervously. "It’s not too much? See, Edward, I said it was too much. But he’d already made the costumes—both of them—before I even came so I wanted to wear them, but still—too much, right?"

"It’s not too much." Edward rubbed her shoulders encouragingly.

"It’s pretty perfect," Ellie admitted. "That’s so great you made both of them already."

"Why did you need two costumes?" Tran asked, looking between the meat dress and the bubble dress.

"You know," Edward said, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing nervously at Ellie. "One for the road."

"Wasn’t Gaga’s hair blonde when she wore the bubble dress?" Lizzie asked coldly, with a glare at Lucy’s black hair and blue streak, before she dragged Dante away toward the refreshments table.

"Yeah, this costume would be much better on a blonde," Emma added. "Come on, Ellie. Let’s hit the dance floor. Boys—we could use some drinks, please."

She turned away from Lucy with a flounce. Ellie felt a blush somewhere beneath all the caked-on makeup as she avoided Edward’s eyes and turned to follow, swallowing any guilt about ignoring them. They even had to dress as the same person—showing how much they were joined at the hip.

"I don’t like her," Emma announced as she swayed to the music, her black wig shaking like a dog’s tail with every move. "She’s a—"

"She’s never done anything to us," Ellie interrupted.

"You see," Emma said, shaking her head. "That’s why we’re going to win. Because good things should happen to you. You’re just such a good person."

Only Ellie didn’t feel like a good person—because inside, deep down, she hated Lucy even though she knew she shouldn’t. Ellie rolled her eyes and gave Emma a gentle shove on her shoulder.

Emma teetered on her heels and went crashing sideways with an
oomph
. As she fell, her arms pinwheeled wildly and she grabbed a fistful of Ellie’s wig, accidentally yanking her along.

Ellie squealed as she was upended and landed hard on her hip against the floor. Emma guffawed, loud, long shaking laughs.

"Dogpile!" Tran fisted his hands toward the sky. He faked a dramatic leap on top of them and landed across their legs. Ellie only laughed harder as Knight joined in—only he was holding two cups of punch, which sloshed everywhere.

"No," Emma gasped, laughing again. "Don’t spill on the costumes!"

"Cuz metal rock stars are known for clean costumes," Knight said.

Ellie’s shoulders shook with giggles and she had to clutch her stomach because it ached from laughing so hard.

* * *

"We are a shoo-in," Emma said.

She had dragged Ellie into the bathroom after an hour of dancing with Anne to "touch up" the costume makeup, and they were now surveying the crowd from the corner of the gymnasium.

Knight’s and Tran’s black, shaggy wigs were easy to spot on the dance floor as they swayed to the slow melody with girls—seniors—in their arms.

Lizzie and Dante were nowhere to be found—which made Ellie think they could be found in Dante’s room. Rick and Anne were on opposite ends of the gymnasium, both having foregone costumes for their usual clothes, and they were doing a fantastic job of pretending not to look at each other.