Tempted by Cecily von Ziegesar Read Free Book Online Page A

Callie was nowhere near where she needed to be to last much longer at the Monster Mash Bash. There was still no sign of Easy, her upsweep was collapsing, and her insides were scraped raw with disappointment. She peered over a crowd that had formed around a trio of seniors dressed as the Powerpuff Girls, trying to spot Benny, who had promised she’d find more alcohol. As the party dragged on, the partygoers had one by one dropped their costume accessories—Callie had put her choker in her raincoat pocket when it started to itch, and was holding her baby blue gloves in her hands—and so the Prescott Faculty Club was starting to look like your run-of-the-mill Hamptons party, or, in Callie’s case, Hilton Head: girls in pretty, tight-fitting clothes, and guys admiring them.
    Angelica Pardee climbed up onstage, her Dorothy skirt and petticoats puffed out around her. She tapped the mic, sending a wave of feedback through the ballroom. She waited until the groans and snickers died down and the room was relatively quiet. “In thirty minutes, we’ll be tallying up the votes for best costume, so please be sure to hand in your ballots!”
    Callie rolled her eyes. She’d heard dozens of people oohing and ahhing about how hot Jenny looked, and how she was definitely going to win best costume. She spotted Jenny now, over by the DJ stand, looking luminous in a white dress with an elegantly deep-cut back. She certainly looked good, but Callie wasn’t really in the mood to see her petite roommate up on stage in all her glory, not after a disappointing night of waiting desperately for Easy to show up. Jenny was a constant reminder of Callie’s faults, of the mistake that had driven Easy away. Every night when she and Jenny got into bed in silence across the room from each other, all Callie could think was,
People who aren’t speaking to me: two.
    Callie shook her head, deciding it was time to go home. She started walking toward the coatroom, then paused. She spied Easy’s mop of dark curls in the doorway to the ballroom and quickly moved in his direction, the glass slippers making any sort of elegant sashay impossible. She’d settle for not tripping.
    Easy, however, wasn’t so lucky. Right after walking through the door, he tripped, stumbling over an abandoned witch’s broom. He caught his balance at the last minute. As Callie pushed through the crowd, eager to reach him, she saw that the broom was only part of the problem. His eyes were glassyas he scanned the room, and she could tell he was trashed. He squinted, his eyes adjusting to the dimness.
    Callie touched her messy updo, wondering if it still looked okay. She tried to meet Easy’s eyes, hoping he’d notice her and she’d be like a beacon of light in an otherwise foggy sea. But he didn’t see her until she was practically standing on top of him.
    “Hey,” she said, resisting the urge to throw her arms around him and feel the warmth of his body against hers. Easy’s outfit looked like some sort of slacker cowboy costume—he’d paired his dirty Levi’s with his clunky Doc Martens, and one of his flannel shirts that looked as if one more run through the washer would make it disintegrate. She longed to rub her cheek against the soft fabric.
    “Nice costume.” Easy’s words sounded thick on his tongue. He barely glanced at her, choosing instead to focus on the mesh of cobwebs strung over the doorway.
    Callie curtsied. “Thanks.”
    “What are you supposed to be?” he asked, still not looking at her.
    “Cinderella, dummy,” Callie answered playfully. She sensed Easy was in one of his moods and desperately wanted to turn the tide—but at least he was talking to her. That had to be a good sign.
    “Well, you
are
a princess,” Easy answered, his eyes wandering around the room. He sighed heavily, a long, boozy breath that fogged the air.
    “Cinderella’s not really a princess,” Callie corrected him, realizing her mistake right away. Easy seemed to be