2
SABRINA
High School—Senior Year—Prom
“And the winner is…of course, Sabrina King! Our new Prom Queen!”
I tried to act like I was surprised. I gasped. I put my hands on my cheeks. I shook my head as if in disbelief. The reality was that I’d known I was going to win. I was the richest, prettiest, and most popular girl in school these days. Something that had taken years, but I’d finally done it.
In my designer gown and seven-hundred-dollar shoes, I went up on the stage that had been set up in the gym for this purpose. I stood in front of the senior class while Mrs. Rugger, the vice principal who had called my name, put a ridiculously cheesy crown on top of my head.
Everyone was clapping and screaming. I was waving back to everyone.
David, my date for the evening was high-fiving his friends. He probably thought he was getting lucky tonight. He was so not getting lucky tonight.
Because I had a plan.
A four-year plan that was going to culminate tonight.
Finally, Garrett Pine was back in Dusty Creek.
He’d gotten a degree in criminology and was now working for the sheriff’s department. I had seen him the other day on the street and my heart almost stopped. Then I’d quickly hidden around the corner of a building so he wouldn’t see me.
Not that he might recognize me. I was a long way away from the fourteen-year-old fat girl he’d saved from being bullied.
That day when I’d spied on him and Caroline I had been so angry I started running. And I kept running. And any other time I was angry I ran, which was a lot. And it was crazy, because the more I ran, the more weight I lost.
The more weight I lost, the more people wanted to be my friend. Wanted to make out with me. Wanted to have sex with me.
The more weight I lost, the more my mother wanted to hang out with me. Go shopping with me.
Was I the only person who understood how superficial that was?
Being thin didn’t make you cool. It didn’t make you nice or kind or a good friend. It was like all these people in my life just saw me as a body.
Fat, don’t like her. Thin, like her.
They wanted a Barbie doll. So, in a lot of ways, that’s what I became. Kind of this character everyone expected me to be, which kept the real me, the awkward fat girl, tucked inside where nobody could see her.
But here was what I didn’t do. I didn’t judge other girls for the way they looked. I wasniceto everyone. I made sure no one bullied anyone around me. Ever. If they wanted to be considered one of my posse, they had to be cool to everyone.
So people liked me. The nerds and the jocks. The beautiful and the not so beautiful. The honor students and the special-needs kids. All of them. Because I knew the secret. How a person looked said nothing about who that person was. But how a person looked could mean everything when it came to how they were treated by others.
No, I hadn’t wanted Garrett to see me that day on the street. That seemed too insignificant. Our meeting, when it came, had to be an event.
It had to be shocking. It had to be impactful. I had to look my absolute best because I knew there was power in that, especially over guys. Tonight’s outfit was perfect. When he saw me he would see the sexy black strapless dress, the killer high-heeled sandals, my thick dark hair that I had paid to have blown out so it was long and shiny down my back. My makeup, also professionally done, to highlight my cheekbones and dark brown eyes. I knew my way around a makeup kit, but tonight it had to be perfect.
It wasn’t as if I could invite him to go to the prom with me. He was a college graduate. He would think that was lame. Which meant I had to do something else. Given that he was working as a deputy sheriff, I figured it would get his attention if a crime was committed.
Not a real crime, of course. A fake crime. I was looking for some drama, but nothing too crazy. Just something that might lure Garrett to the school where he would see me again for the first time.
Startle him a little. Shake him loose from his perception of me as a kid. I wanted him to see the woman I was. The person I had grown into, even though part of it was a farce. He didn’t need to know that right away.
I walked through the crowd of my fellow juniors and seniors. Smiling, kissing cheeks, laughing at how silly the crown was. Showing off my shoes, which everyone wanted to see. I danced with David, but when he tried to grab my ass I pulled his hand up around my back.
David was okay, but he knew we were just here as friends. I had been totally up front with him about that when he asked me. Because the whole time I knew I had this plan.
I made excuses about heading to the ladies’ room and instead found a trash can into which I dropped (sorry, Hank) my very expensive diamond pendant necklace. The plan was to retrieve it, but I didn’t want to put it somewhere obvious. As long as I recovered if from the trash before Monday morning it would be fine.
