Sweet Harmony (17 page)

"I know you seem to be enjoying yourself, but if we don't head back now, we're going to be late for the dance," he said.

It couldn't have been nine o'clock already!

"Are you serious?" She checked her cell phone. It was eight forty-five. "Oh man. I guess we really do have to go."

Jaiden stood up and offered her his hand. It had become natural for her to take it.

"It's okay." Jaiden
squeezed her fingers. "I'll take you here again. Or you could just come anytime you want, since I've shared my secret with you."

"Why did you decide to
show me this place to begin with?" She knew that this wasn't just a building to him. It was his place of solace.

"Because
you've become somebody important to me." As Jaiden walked down the stairs, he stopped looking at her and stared at his feet. "I can't believe you've only been at the school for a couple of weeks. It feels like I've always known you."

"Thank you, Jaiden." It was all she could say. The awkward feeling was back, keeping her from getting a grip on appropriate thoughts.

"Annamarie…" Jaiden forced her to a stop on the third stair down. "I know I've said this before, but I like you a lot. Do you understand what I mean?"

This was too much. She couldn't deal with her own emotions, let alone Jaiden's. When his eyes
met hers, she wasn't sure what to say. He'd shared his feelings with her when asking her to the dance, but now he was beginning to expect more—and she wasn't sure she could give him that.

"We're going to be late," she said. "Can we talk about this later?"

Even though Jaiden's eyes clouded with disappointment, he nodded. He led her down the rest of the stairs. Once he took her out to the car, he held open the door for her. After she climbed inside, she stared out the window. Jaiden sat in the driver's seat and jammed the key in the ignition. The atmosphere was heavy.

Jaiden, why did you have to bring up your feelings again now?
We were having so much fun.
When Jaiden pulled into the parking lot of the school, she climbed out of the car without Jaiden opening the door for her. The guy leaned against the hood.

"You were supposed to wait for me," he said.

"I can open a door." She knew it was a nice gesture to have the door opened for her, but she didn't like to wait in the car. "Let's just focus on having fun now, okay?"

So basically, no more emotional splurges that leave me feeling like I'm drowning in discomfort…

"Okay." Jaiden nodded.

She walked up to Jaiden and threaded her arm through his.

When she walked to the school, she was aware of the glances being thrown her away. She ignored them all and was silent until they made it to the performance hall where the dance was held. After she stepped inside, she gasped.

The sight of the
large room stuffed full of glistering girls in puffy dresses was enough to drive even Jaiden's emotional words from her mind. The room wasn't as glamorous as anything she'd seen on TV, but it was still beautiful. A group of violinists from class played music for students to dance to. Streamers hung from the ceiling and cascaded over the whole room.

She bobbed on her toes. "This is so
exciting. Look how well everyone can dance."

"Do you like to dance?" He glanced at her.

She nodded.

Her mom and dad had dragged her kicking and screaming to ballroom dance classes.
Even as a ten-year-old, she'd liked the idea of kicking butt way more than she did the idea of gliding around the room like a butterfly. Still when she'd entered class and had gotten to twirl without being yelled at, she'd seen the merits of dancing. She hadn't had a real opportunity to do it in a long time.

"Dance with me." She led him in the direction of the dance floor.

For whatever reason, Jaiden started laughing.

"What's so funny?" She released
him.

"You have to do everything your way, don't you?" He
snorted.

"I suppose so." She decided to take that as a compliment. "So are you going to dance with me or aren't you?"

"Ms. Chadwick, I would love to dance with you." Jaiden nodded.

"Ugh. Please never call me Ms. Chadwick." She shivered.

"Why?"

"Because my tutor used to call me
that." She wrinkled her nose. "
Ms. Chadwick,
don't chew gum in class.
Ms. Chadwick,
don't punch Yuri.
Ms. Chadwick,
don't light your pants on fire."

"
You can light your pants on fire?" His eyes widened.

"You'd be surprised what you can do with a
loose thread and a lighter," she said.

The two of them reached the dance floor. Jaiden, still muttering about her pants, wrapped an arm around her waist. S
he grabbed his hand. It took the utmost concentration for her to follow, not to lead. That was the only problem she had with dancing. Still after a few minutes she'd become accustomed to Jaiden taking the reins and she shut her eyes as she relaxed. She took another step to the right—dancing was so fun—but was jolted from her position by someone grabbing her arm. Her eyes flew open.

It was Daniel with Allison by his side. When she looked into
Daniel's eyes, she saw a startling amount of frustration in him. When she'd traveled to Italy, she'd watch the blue waters of the ocean churn in a storm. His eyes were the exact same color as the water then. She wasn't afraid of him, though. In fact, the sight of him standing with beautiful Allison made her want to fight him head-on.
Keep calm,
she told herself.
I refuse to be jealous.
She buried her teeth into her bottom lip so hard the flesh ached.

The problem was Allison looked good with Daniel. Her black hair
trickled down to the small of her back. She wore a dress of dark red that hugged her slender but still curvy figure. Her eyes, like Daniel's, were a bright blue. This girl matched him, she realized. They fit together perfectly, golden Greek god paired with a celestial, dark-haired beauty. If the two of them had any children, they'd have immaculate features.

"W
hat's the matter with you?" Jaiden asked, elbowing her in the ribs.

She woke up. What was she thinking? This was Daniel. She should be glad this gorgeous girl was taking up
his time so he'd spend less of it harassing her.

"What's the big idea?" Annamarie asked, catching her stride. "We were in the middle of a dance
and you interrupted us."

"I thought I'd say hello to
Jay," Daniel said. "Unlike you, I have good manners."

"Then why did you grab my arm
and not his?" she asked.

Daniel looked flummoxed for a second, but then gained his
confidence again.

"Because
you were the closest thing to me." Daniel glared at her. "You didn't think I wanted to catch your attention, did you? It's not like I was going to stop you just to say you look beautiful or something."

Wait. What?
She was confused and still pissed off.

"Of course you wouldn't do that," she said. "Only a gentleman would call a lady beautiful. You aren't a gentleman. You're a slime ball."

"I may not be much of a gentleman, but you aren't much of a lady either," he said.

Allison was squirming in discomfort and
tugging on Daniel's shirt to get his attention.

"
I suppose not." Annamarie rolled her eyes. "But I've never wanted to be a lady anyway."

Allison gave Daniel's arm another tug.

"Will. You. Stop. Pulling. On. Me." Daniel turned and shot Allison the darkest glare she'd ever seen.

"Everybody's looking at us,"
Allison whispered.

It took
Annamarie a minute to realize that Allison was right. She'd been so immersed in the heated conversation that she hadn't noticed that almost every person in the room was looking at them. Probably they'd heard the verbal exchange too. Daniel shrugged it off.

"I don't care." He waved Allison away. "Go find a guy to dance with or something."

"But you're my date." Her beautiful blue eyes filled with tears.

"As you keep insi
sting on reminding me," he snapped with obvious annoyance.

The girl shook her head and stepped away, heading toward
the snack table. A group of male admirers were waiting to receive her. Daniel didn't care. He was already advancing on Annamarie again.

"Where were you guys tonight?" Daniel asked.

"What are you, my keeper?" She crossed her arms in defiance.

"It's
not good manners to be alone with a lady unchaperoned. I just wanted to make sure you're being responsible." Daniel's gaze flickered toward Jaiden now. The tension in the air was growing.

Just as she was
thinking up a snooty reply—she was determined to make her comeback a good one—Jaiden surprised her by interceding.

"That's enough, Dan," Jaiden said. "She's here with me. You're going to have to accept that."

"What do you mean?" Daniel focused on him instead. "I've already accepted that."

"You obviously haven't or else you wouldn't be grilling her right now like you have any say in
what she does," Jaiden said. "I want you to know I have every intention of continuing to date Annamarie after the dance."

She sucked in air. Did she get a say in this?
Who was he to say he was going to date her without even asking her first?

Even the band stopped playing now. When she and Daniel fought,
their words weren't laced with this kind of malice. The seething look Daniel gave Jaiden was enough to make her hair stand on end. The two were supposed to be best friends. She didn't like what was going on.

"Guys, stop it," she said.

Daniel held up a shaking fist, completely ignoring her attempt at interception. It looked like the guy was going to punch Jaiden.

"Okay, that's it!" Gavin roared, appearing from the right with a pretty blonde girl in a green dress. "
Stop fighting. This is ridiculous. I've never seen the two of you argue like this."

Maybe it was the sudden yell coming from a guy who seemed to be the quiet type, but even Daniel
didn't manage to give a nasty retort.

"
Dan, I want you to take a breather," Gavin said. "Jay, you're going to talk privately with me.
Now.
"

"Fine," Jaiden said.

Stubborn, Daniel didn't give a reply, but he allowed Jaiden to be led away. She didn't blame him. Gavin looked close to having a full head rotation.

Once the two of them were out of sigh
t, Daniel grabbed her arm again.

"Do you really want to date
Jaiden?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know," she said. "Can you give me a reason not to?"

The guy was staring at her in aggravation. It was the first time ever he seemed to be at a lack for words.

"I need a drink," he muttered, heading
in the direction of the punch bowl.

Everyone was looking at her and whispering. She should have known that would happen. The rumors that would spring up
because of this night would be legendary. Swallowing, she shook her head. Who cared what anybody thought about her? She needed air. This dance wasn't fun at all. She wished she'd never bought the stupid dress either.

She
left the performance hall. Voices carried from an empty classroom to her left. It was Jaiden and Gavin. She knew she should have kept walking, but eavesdropping was more tempting than a slice of triple chocolate cake.

"—you need to let this go, Jay," Gavin said.

"So you're on Dan's side in this?" Daniel snapped. "That figures."

"You're both my friends." Gavin sounded frustr
ated. "But you and I both know Dan likes Annamarie. She's good for him. He's stopped antagonizing the other guys and has been listening to the teachers. I don't know what it is, but he seems to be trying more because she's around."

"
And that means I have to give her up?" Jaiden asked. "I like her too."

"I know you do." Gavin sighed. "
You just don't
need
her like Dan does. If he continues on the road he's on, he's going to end up a tyrant just like his dad. That man is the most miserable, wretched being that's ever walked the earth. Do you want Dan to end up like him?"

"That's his own personal decision," Jaiden muttered.

"Jay…" Gavin groaned in exasperation.

"If you interfere with her and me, I'll never forgive you," Jaiden said.

"I never planned on interfering," Gavin said. "I just—"

Annamarie couldn't stand to hear anymore. She took off running down the hall with no real goal in mind. Her mind w
as spinning.
Gavin's words echoed in her head,
"But you and I both know Dan likes Annamarie."
No, this was too much. Jaiden liked her and Daniel did too? She was happy, depressed, and confused all at the same time. Not thinking about where she was going, she burst through a door and rushed into a foreign room.