Jake drops down on one knee in front of Annie. He takes her hand and says, “Will you go to Winter Formal with me?”

Annie’s eyes are the size of saucers. Whitney nudges her shoulder and whispers, “Stand up.”

But Annie doesn’t. She just stares into Jake’s eyes and nods.

Jake stands up, pulling Annie with him and addresses the crowd, “She said yes!”

Everyone claps and cheers.

Jake holds out his elbow for her, like a proper prince would, leading her back through our human walkway. As they walk by, we toss glitter into the air.

The pep rally resumes, with Dawson and the coach speaking. I hadn’t realized he was the basketball team captain, too. The cheerleaders do another cheer. I glance off to the side of the gym and spy Jake and Annie kissing.

I’m so happy for her. Especially after the way Ace treated her.

When the rally is over, I bound over and hug her.

“Can you believe he did that?” she asks me, not letting go of Jake.

“Yes, I can believe it. He’s a real life prince.”

Jake laughs. “So not true. I just wanted her to feel like a princess. And this is just the beginning. We’re talking five-star restaurant, limo, dance, hotel suite. Only the best for my girl. And before you ask, Monroe, you and Aiden are invited to join us. I got reservations for all of us and a party bus for before the dance.”

“That sounds really fun,” I say.

“But after the dance, you’re on your own.”

“The night is sounding better and better,” Aiden says, walking up behind me.

I give Annie a quick hug and then follow Aiden to his room.

“Wasn’t that so cool?” I ask him, once we’re in his dorm.

He makes a little frown. “Do you wish I did something more public when I asked you?”

I pull him onto his bed with me. “Absolutely not. Just because I think it was awesome for Annie, doesn’t mean I wish it was me. The way you asked me—the way you do everything—is so incredibly perfect and thoughtful. I would never change a thing.”

I get a blazing smile, then a deep kiss, which turns into a hot make-out session that almost makes him miss his bus to the basketball game.

The Rock Star.

6pm

It’s another long dance practice.

We get a break for dinner, but then have to come right back to practice until ten.

“You’re going to kill me before the competition,” I tell Peyton.

“Oh, stop being such a baby. You know as well as I do that we need the extra practice.”

“I know, but I’ve had cramps for the last two days. I may die.”

She laughs. “I’d suggest some ibuprofen.”

“You’re heartless,” I say with a laugh. “So, will the competition be fun?”

“It’s fun. Stressful. Particularly the team competitions. The small group ones are better. You don’t have as many people to worry about screwing up. Do you have a minute? I have something I want you to listen to.”

She’s starting to blush and giggle and I know it probably has to do with Damian. “Sure.”

“It’s from my favorite person in California.”

“Your dad?” I tease.

She gets her phone out of her locker and hands me an earbud. We each put one in our ear.

I hear Damian being interviewed on a radio show.

He answers a few questions about the band.

His famous dad.

Then:

“We hear you’ve been doing a lot of writing lately. How do you find your inspiration?”

“Well, there's this girl I met recently, and she fills my heart with music.”

“So, tell us about this girl. She must be pretty special.”

“Oh, no, Ryan. I’m keeping her all to myself.”

“Would you like to give her a shout-out, then?”

“Yeah, she’d love that. Pepper, you inspire me, baby. I love you.”

Peyton’s eyes are glistening with tears but she has the kind of beaming smile her brother gets when he’s really happy.

“This is crazy,” she says. “And the fact that he wants to keep it a secret is crazy too.”

“He’s just trying to protect you.”

“Oh, I know. And I’m happy about that. At first, my head kept telling me that guys only want to keep relationships a secret when they have other girlfriends or aren’t really that into you. But when I listen to my heart, I know it’s in my best interest. His life is getting more and more crazy as their songs keep climbing up the charts. They have two songs on the Billboard Top 100 this week.”

“I know. I’m so proud of him. I think once you get out of high school and go to California then you can go public with it.”

“I’m thinking about doing something crazy.”

“Like what?”

“Transferring out there to finish school. I only need one more class to graduate.”

“What does Damian think about that?”

“He thinks I should finish here,” she says with a pout.

“Well, having a diploma from Eastbrooke is more impressive than getting a GED. And Damian didn’t get to go through a senior year or graduate. I’m sure he doesn’t want you to miss out on all that.”

“He can’t come to Winter Formal with me, but he did promise to come to Prom.”

“When is Prom?”

“Late April.”

I close my eyes for a second to block out the vision I just had of Aiden taking someone else to Prom.

“So, I’m assuming you’re Pepper?”

“Yeah.”

“Why Pepper?”

“You know when we went to town and shopped? There was a store that had all these ceramic figurines, but when you picked them up they split apart—they were salt and pepper shakers. Damian joked that it looked like salt and pepper were having sex. Then he said, I’m salt and you’re pepper and pushed them back together. He was being silly. But then after we did it, he laughed and started calling me Pepper.”

“That’s cute. Do you call him Salt?”

“No,” she says, blushing.

“You’re blushing. What do you call him?”

She rolls her eyes and smiles. “It’s silly, but when we had sex, it was so unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was hot perfection. And so different than it’s been with anyone else. When you do it with someone you’re in love with you have both the emotional and physical connection.” She smiles again and then laughs as she says, “I was teasing him, telling him that he might not be a rock star yet, but that his— you know what—was. So I guess I named his penis. Now even he refers to it as The Rock Star.”

“Oh my gosh. What is it with guys and their penises? You’d swear it was bigger than them.”

“They are pretty proud of them!” she laughs.

“He said he loves you.”

“He told me that before we left the island.”

“Didn’t that seem a little soon?”

“Not really, considering that we’re getting married in a few weeks.”

My eyes get huge. “You're what?!”

She laughs out loud. “Ha. Gotcha!”

“Ohmigawd. You about gave me a heart attack.”

“What's wrong? You don't want me to marry him?”

“I’m fine with you marrying him. Just not yet.”

Not until I’ve dealt with Vincent.

I’d die if something happened to either Damian or Peyton because of me.

The secret party.

10pm

Same routine as last night.

Katie and I immediately drop onto our beds, exhausted.

“Hey, did you get texted the name of your dorm Secret Santa?” she asks, looking up from her phone.

“Let me look.” I check my phone. “I did. I know it’s supposed to be a secret, but who did you get?”

“I got Sabrina.”

“Cool. I got Molly.”

“When we get a break, we’ll have to go buy candy and stuff for them while we’re in New York.”

“Yeah. So, we need something for every day next week and then we give them their bigger gift at Winter Formal, right?”

She nods. “Don’t you think that will be fun?”

“I think it will be very—”

She interrupts me. “Did you get the text about a secret party tonight?”

I scroll to a text from Dallas.

Dallas: Stockton’s. 12:30. We’re going to party and say screw this secret Santa bullshit. Like any of us guys want to hide candy for other dudes. We’re doing Naughty Santas. Drawing’s tonight.

I look up at Katie. “Yeah, I did. That sounds fun, huh?”

“Naughty Santa sounds like something the guys thought up.”

I laugh with her. “It does.”

We take quick showers, set our alarms, and get a little sleep.

At 12:30, we go to the meet-up place Katie’s message indicated. Aiden greets me with a kiss, then throws pillowcases over most people’s heads and leads them to the party room.

Once they all get over the shock of the room and do shots, Riley and Dallas share the Naughty Secret Santa rules.

“So, the rules are: you will draw a member of the opposite sex. You will buy them fun, sexy, smutty gifts that they would be ashamed to show their mothers. One gift a day. Sometime during Winter Formal, you will give your last gift in person and reveal who you are,” Dallas explains.

“And you’re not to tell anyone who you get,” Riley emphasizes. “We want it to be a complete surprise.”

“All right. I’m writing down the girls’ names,” Dallas says. “We’ve got Maggie, Keatyn, Annie, Kassidy, Ariela, and Katie.” He tears each name apart, folds it in half, and drops it into the stocking hat Riley holds out.

He takes it around the room, letting the guys draw.

Then they do the same with the boys.

I smile when I draw Riley. He’ll be fun to shop for.

Dallas hands out shots then says seriously, “Memorize your names. Down your shots. Put the names back into the hat.”

We all sit on the beanbags, smoke a little, and I ask Aiden to tell me more about his game. He texted me some, but was busy studying for French.

“They were a really good team. Won state last year. But I don’t want to talk about that. I think you owe me a whole bunch of dances.”

He pops his phone into a speaker, hits a dance mix, pulls me close, and grinds against me.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7TH

Eager to sell.

9am

The dance team is up early once again, only this time we’re taking the train into the city for our competition.

I check my email, finding a message from Grandpa.

-All is well. We have representatives meeting with two of the investors this week. Both seem eager to sell.

I write back:

-That’s so awesome! I hope they do! Thank you, Grandpa. You’re amazing!

Then I email Tommy, giving him the idea that I’ve been kicking around for his proposal.

He replies immediately.

-That’s perfect. She’ll love it! Love having the girls involved. Hey, any chance you could do a screen test this Friday in NYC at 2:30?

-I’m headed to NYC right now for a dance competition. I absolutely will be there. Text me the address on Friday.

-Will do.

Naughty puppy.

Noon

My mom calls me as I’m getting settled in my hotel room. Maggie went to get downstairs to get some snacks, so she couldn’t have called at a better time.

“Mom! Hi! How are you? Are you all settled?”

“We are. Besides Malibu, this is my favorite place in the world. Plenty of room for the girls to play and no cameras anywhere. We've been to the beach, the market, everywhere, and no one even notices us. And the food is to die for. I've had croissants and coffee every morning and not once thought about the calories.”

I want to cry, I’m so happy.

“I’m so glad, Mom.”

“How are you?”

“I’m good.”

“Remember that game we used to play at dinner after your dad died. We were both so sad, but we tried to find something good that happened each day?”

“The sweet and the suck?”

“Yeah. If I was there with you now, what would you tell me?”

“The sweet is that Aiden asked me to Winter Formal. The suck is that I’m lying to him, and I feel bad about it.”

“Sweetie, you can’t help it.”

“I trust him. I would tell him in a heartbeat. I’m just afraid of putting him in danger. Did you hear about what B got?”

“Yes. It sounds just like the photo I got of Tommy. It was horrific.”

“Mom, when you met Tommy, how was your personal life?”

“Hmm. My career was great. You and I were doing well. But . . . I missed being with someone. Having someone take care of me sometimes. Being a single parent isn’t easy.”

“I was kind of a brat, wasn’t I?”

“You were never a brat. You’ve just always known exactly what you want.”

“What happened to me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think it was high school. I got sucked into fitting in.”

“When you were used to standing out.”

“Yeah. I’m doing better with all that. I feel like I’m me again, if that makes sense. Oh, and guess what? Grandpa is helping me with the hostile takeover.”

“He told me. He’s pretty excited about it.”