Page 101 of The Forever Crew (Adamson All-Boys Academy 3)
“You’re not the best at this, are you?” I whisper, leaning my head against his chest and breathing in his scent. He smells like temptation, but temptation that’s been given into, indulged. The spicy mix of his cologne is twisted up in his own unique scent, something indescribable but irreplaceable. Between the feel and smell of him, the strings of rose lights lit up with gold bulbs, and the sway of our bodies, I feel dizzy. But in a good way.
“I’m not a dancer, not like Church,” he says as I lean back and look up into his face. “And, apparently, neither are you.” I slap him in the chest with a palm, and he flashes one of his naughty grins at me. “We could take lessons together though. Bet you’d like that, huh?”
“Bet you’d like that,” I retort, and he shrugs, dressed in a charcoal gray suit and purple tie that makes his eyes seem even more vibrant than usual.
“Bet I would. I’m certifiably obsessed with you, Chuck-let.”
He holds up my hand and encourages me to do a quick spin as the music comes to an end, and my father gets onstage to make an introductory speech. Typical Archie. He lives for speeches and assemblies and award ceremonies. Pretty sure that when he realized he couldn’t attend them anymore, he decided to become a headmaster so he could host them.
Spencer and I take our seats just before the servers come around and take our dinner orders. Dinner orders. Like we’re at a restaurant or something. There are only a few choices on the menu, but damn, it’s all swanky stuff.
“Why am I so surprised by all of this when we’re the ones that planned it?” I ask, tapping a fork against my lips. There’s not a girl at that party who doesn’t walk by and look at me sitting at a table full of hot dudes without some sort of reaction.
“Because you’re a shitty assistant, and you never pay attention?” Micah asks, but he softens the blow of his words with a grin. The twins are wearing different colored suits tonight—Micah in red and Tobias in black—and I have to say, they make a very pretty picture together.
“I am a shitty assistant, aren’t I?” I ask, grinning as a server pours sparkling apple cider into our glasses. I’d love a little champagne right about now, but … I glance over to find dad standing at the edge of the room, entertaining a few of his favorite students. Eventually, someone’ll spike the punch. Happens at every high school event I’ve ever been to.
“You really, truly are,” Tobias says as I grab some of the sparkly little stars that are spread across the surface of the table and flick them at him. “But we liked having you there.”
“Definitely a prettier sight at that desk than Ross was,” Ranger says, his suit a deep blue that’s almost black. It suits his sapphire eyes and razored rock star hair. He sits with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes scanning the room for trouble. And by trouble, I definitely mean Mark. Or Selena. Or Gareth. Or Aster.
Ugh. Too many villains to keep track of.
“You’re not trying to look into cult stuff right now, are you?” I ask, giving him a harsh stare that he returns with narrowed eyes. I point at him, and his mouth twists to the side in a guilty smile. “You are! No more. No more detective stuff. This is our senior prom, and we only ever get one of these, and I didn’t go last year at all because I was in Santa Cruz—”
“Okay,” Ranger says, leaning forward and putting his hand across mine. “I’ve got you, Charlotte.”
“We could all use a break, I think,” Church agrees, pulling a flask out of his suit jacket and offering it surreptitiously to me under the table. I flick a glance in dad’s direction as I unscrew the cap, swigging some of it, and then passing it to Spencer. “And now that we know that Mr. Dave and Nathan are working on the problem, we have our solution.”
“I can’t wait to see those psychos get put in prison,” I say, looking up at a paper star lantern above my head. Now, I totally remember procuring these babies for the prom. They remind me of that night on the roof, and I just can’t seem to help myself. I’m a hopeless romantic.
“Or in the ground,” Ranger suggests, but even though Micah snorts, it’s very clearly not a joke.
Our food comes, and I have to say, it’s off the charts good. I ordered some sort of phyllo wrapped chicken thing with a salad and a twice baked potato, eating until I’m stuffed, and I feel like my magic fairy dress might very well burst open at the seams.
