My hands shook picking up my tea, putting me in danger of the hot treat dropping on my lap. I needed to get out of here. Mom and Dad would understand.
“Mom?” I reached for her under the table. “Mom, we have to go.”
“Go? Darling, please, we’ve discussed this.” She patted my hand and put it back on my lap. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“You don’t understand,” I said through gritted teeth. “Something happened. Carter Knight and Nathan Prince are here.”
She turned away, suddenly finding her napkin so interesting as she folded and refolded it. “I know.”
“You know? Oh my gosh. Did you know they would be here?”
“Darling, you refused to read the information packet with the participant list. I did not.” The dame’s nose rose higher and higher in the air. Primness was bleaching into her speech. She got like this whenever she did something wrong and was determined to pretend otherwise. “I took it out of the trash and put it on your desk twice.”
I put my cup down harder than necessary. “The third time I set it on fire and kicked the ashes in the pool.”
“Do not make a scene, dear.”
“I’m not making a scene. I’m asking my mom why she didn’t tell me two guys who made my life hell would be here tonight and be staying at the cove.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Mother’s nose was higher than ever. “Those two will mind their business this summer and you’ll mind yours. You won’t have anything to do with them.”
“They’ll be hard to avoid on a private island.” I kept my tone even with difficulty. “Mom, don’t you see now that I can’t go. You can’t hate me so much you’d force me to spend the summer being tortured by them.”
She dropped her chin, facing me. “It is precisely because we love you that we’re sending you to the cove. I’d never allow boys like that to get in the way of your future, and neither will you.”
“Mom—”
“That is enough, Belle. I’m tired of arguing about this. If you push the matter further, you’ll have your father to deal with.”
I shoved the chair back with a loud, ear-ringing screech. Flinging my napkin down, I turned my back on her and marched off.
“Belle? Belle? Belle!” She raised her voice to a light exclamation for most people, but a scream for the dame.
Our community may have thought this was the best way to ensure a strong pedigree and lasting wealth, but until last year, I thought my parents and I agreed they were a bunch of snobby twits.
I don’t know what to believe anymore. All I know is I’m still sore from Preston’s little game, and she wants me to believe those guys won’t come up with new, fun ways to get to me when we’re all trapped on the same island together.
I’m not going. She can throw me at Dad but he’ll get the picture when Friday comes and the air’s been let out of the tires and our pilot suddenly wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to anywhere that’s not here.
“—son would like to say a few words.”
“Thank you, Mother.”
I paused inches from the door to the terrace. There was no reason I should’ve. His voice didn’t hold power over me anymore. But still, I stopped. And even worse, I turned.
“I’m not going to hold up much more of your night,” Preston began. “After speeches, Mom opens up the bar, and with impending marriages bearing down on us, I’m sure most of you are looking to get drunk.”
I spun to leave.
“I came up here to tell you,” Preston got out in a rush, “the story about how I met Cinderella.”
If he meant to stop my retreat. It worked.
“One day, a not-very-good day, I escaped to one of my favorite places. There was a girl there—so beautiful and sad because she ran from her life and only made it as far as the garden. That girl didn’t believe her fairy godmother was coming to save her.”
Slowly, I twisted and those golden orbs trapped me again.
“I wanted to be her knight in shining armor. To tell her that she didn’t need magic or fairies. I was right here.” Preston took the mic off the stand. He spoke to everyone but looked only at me. “But Cinderella didn’t want me to be her knight. What she truly needed was the strength to change her life and someone to believe that she could.”
Mrs. Desai approached her son, likely to cut short his seemingly pointless story. She squeezed his shoulder and got no response. Following his line of sight, she landed on me.
“I walked out of her life hoping I’d see her again, but deep down knowing fate didn’t give second chances. I gave up on finding Cinderella, and then one night... she was there.”
“Preston.” Mrs. Desai came through the speaker. As did her subtle hint to wrap it up.
He continued like she hadn’t spoken. “Out of nowhere, she appeared to remind me that if I wanted something, I had to get off my ass and take it. One time was luck. Two times is a miracle, and a third chance doesn’t happen unless you make your own fate.
“I know most of you guys,” Preston said. “I’ve watched you moon over the same girl for four years, or walked in on you in the broom closet with the guy from third period.”
“Preston,” Mrs. Desai hissed over a mix of titters and cleared throats.
“If you’re looking for advice from me, here it is. Forget that we’re young and this whole marriage/Hunger Games thing we’re doing on a secluded island is old-fashioned and weird as hell. If there’s a girl or guy there that you see even the possibility of a future with, then go for it. Don’t hold back. Don’t cross your fingers wishing for a second, third, or fourth chance.”
My swallow lodged around the lump in my throat. His speech burrowed deep, seeking my walls, and sounding the trumpet to bring them crumbling down.
“Cinderella will walk off that island with someone else.” Preston took a step like he was going to climb off the stage and come to me. “Unless you give her a reason to choose you.”
The audience burst into applause, and I took off. Not to the garden that did a terrible job of providing me sanctuary.
No. The click-clacks of my heels echoed in my ears. Their cheers were fading and Preston was growing closer. Bigger. Less beautiful as his swollen nose came into sharp focus. I didn’t know what I planned to do, and neither did Preston. He stiffened as I stomped on the stage, but my raised arm wasn’t preparing to deliver another blow.
“Lovely speech, Preston. Mind if I have a go?”
“Belle, after this, let me explain—”
“No.” I ripped the mic out of his grip and spun on the guests. “How about it, everyone? One more round of applause for Preston.”
They complied, whooping it up for their friend and golden boy.
“You really liked that speech?” I cocked my head. “You bought that story about meeting some random girl by chance and pining because he couldn’t be her knight in shining armor?”
The cheers died a slow death.
“Dear, speeches are over. Please, take your—” Rosalie made a grab for the mic and I swiftly ducked her.
“Preston says to forget that we’re young and most of us haven’t hit our twenties yet. We should forget this tradition is almost one hundred years old and that the world has moved on from passing women from their fathers to their brothers, and then off to their husbands, so they always have a man on the end of their leash, keeping them in line.”