Whenever-kobo (2 page)

“Welcome to Trallwyn,” the principal said, stepping forward.

I moved to his side and held out my hand. “Yes, welcome.”

Sean pressed his black man-purse into my fingers. “Thank you.” He strode off fast as if lingering in the Texas sun would melt him.

I checked out the surprisingly heavy murse. Black. Clean lines. It looked a lot like my own purse. Mine wasn’t made out of the same buttery leather, but still…Ew. I held the flowers at a distance and threw the strap over my shoulder. The principal glanced between the departing royal cousin and the limo. He pointed from me to the car, silently telling me to wait for the prince and went after Sean.

The prince got out last. Tall. Lean. Dark hair. He paused and drew off his shades. The crowd screamed. Stunning. Tragic Burberry male model gorgeous. Royalty. Prince Callum Morrigan Cétchathach. The Irish prince had arrived in Texas. He stepped forward, and the bodyguards moved in unison behind him. The prince handed his shades to one and walked directly to me. “Hiya.”

“Hi. I’m Hayley McLaren.” I held out the flowers, breathing in the fragrance one last time.

The prince eyed the bouquet and moved as if to take them, but the taller bodyguard jumped between us with his hands up. He took the yellow roses and shook his head. “No one touches his Highness.”

Oh. I let my hand drop. “Uh. Welcome to Trallwyn.” My last words were drowned out by a piercing shriek from a girl in line.

The shorter bodyguard tapped his earpiece. “We should move.”

We turned together and walked at a fast pace toward the glass entrance. Flashes went off and people called out greetings as we slipped through the doors into Trallwyn High’s cool interior. Two tables manned by a team of security guards blocked us from going further. They wore local, navy-blue deputy uniforms and had eyes that said they’d seen it all. Prince Callum and his two bodyguards went straight past them. I made to go by too and the security guard held up a hand to stop me. “Your purse, miss.”

“It’s not mine.” I held out Sean’s man-purse.

The prince leaned on a column and watched, not saying anything.

The security guard didn’t respond to my denial, just smiled a fake smile that didn’t show any teeth. He unzipped the top and with one hand on the base, he juggled the contents around. His gaze sharpened, and he lifted out a pack of cigarettes along with a stick of men’s extra-strength deodorant.

“Not mine,” I said.

His look said
sure
. His fellow security guard checked my student ID and logged the contents into a computer tablet. “Hayley McLaren. Liquids, gels or aerosols: One pack of cigs, one extra-strength sports stick.”

The guard dropped the deodorant back in the bag and tossed the cigarettes into a communal bin. “Not on school grounds.”

“Like I said. They aren’t mine.”

He ignored me again and dug deeper into the man-purse. He lifted out a small strip of condoms. He looked from me to Prince Callum, who watched us with a smirk. The security guard tossed the strip into the bin with the cigarettes. “Not on school grounds.”

I didn’t bother to correct him this time. The female security guard stepped forward with a hand-held metal detector. “Spread ‘em.”

Thank God I wore slacks. I widened my stance, and she swept the wand over my legs and then patted my arms.

The guard passed me back the bag. I went over to the prince and held it out. The smaller security guard intercepted, took the murse from me, and threw the strap over his head. It really did look like my purse. I made a mental note to ask Mom for a new one for Christmas. I liked things plain, but not man-purse plain.

I pointed across the commons to the entrance of the auditorium. “The stage is through there.” They followed me into the auditorium, and I paused at the top of the ramp. Rows of seats rose above and below us leading to the stage. Two tables had been set up front and center. My other competitors were already there and one of the bodyguards strode toward them.

I went to the water fountain mounted on the wall, leaned down and pulled one of the white paper cones from the dispenser. We were discouraged from using cups, but as a prince was in town, I knew it would be okay. “Drink before you hit the stage?”

Prince Callum nodded and waved his remaining bodyguard away.

The bodyguard stiffened. His mouth pinched but he did as the prince requested and trudged a few rows down. His gaze swept the room.

Water. I punched the button to fill the cup and hoped the water would be cooler than normal. The paper grew taut and filled quickly.

“Hayley!” The principal’s sharp voice came from the mezzanine. He jabbed his cane at the stage where Lisette stood removing large sleek glass bottles of water from her tote. He looked from her to the grey metal water fountain and rolled his eyes. “What are you doing?” He didn’t wait for me to answer, just went down the aisle, muttering the whole way.

Water overflowed onto my fingers, cool and wet. Heat filled my face, and I poured the cup out. Prince Callum’s hand closed over mine, leading it back under the water. The sensation was kind of a shock, his warm hand, the cool water. I guess people
did
touch the prince. This close, I could see the stormy grey-blue color of his eyes even in the dim lighting of the auditorium. His skin was pale, not the alabaster-pale color of mine, but a pale that came from living somewhere without Texas sunshine. A frown creased his forehead, and he stared at our fingers. The water flowed over them. Still, he didn’t move his hand. This wasn’t flirting. It was something else. He stepped closer, and I felt him behind me, taller, broader. I breathed in his cologne, rich, yummy.

“Thirty minutes, your Highness,” the bodyguard called.

Prince Callum stepped back, taking the cup away from me. “Cheers,” he said, and drained the cup in one go, the way that guys do. He crumpled the paper and tossed it in the bin.

“Two points,” I said.

He arched a dark eyebrow. “Two points for what?”

“Don’t they have basketball in Ireland?”

“Not like you do.” He nodded at the dispenser. “Another.”

Command much? I glanced toward his bodyguard. “Don’t you have to go?”

His jaw worked, and he snagged my hand, making it so we reached for a cup together. We put one back under the spout. He depressed the button, and the cup filled under our hands. When water reached the top, he lifted the cup to my mouth. The edge of the paper pressed against my bottom lip and I shook my head. “No way. I don’t drink out of the school water fountain.”

He blinked and drank it himself.

“Twenty-seven minutes until decathlon start, your Highness,” the bodyguard said, but didn’t move from his position.

Man that must get annoying. It was worse than mom getting us up for school.

The bodyguard tapped his earpiece. “In five minutes, the crowd can enter.”

That wouldn’t be pretty. Not if the freshman girls got here before we moved. I’d get crushed under their sneakers as they fought their way to the prince. “We better get down to the stage.”

Prince Callum nodded and followed me down the steps. I pointed to the empty seat on the end of the Trallwyn Prep table. “There you go.”

Prince Callum waited until I slid into my chair between Rhys and Austin before he took his own seat. Nice manners.

The crowd filtered in after that, filling the seats to capacity and lining the walls. We’d never had standing room only at any academic event I’d been to. Football games sold out. Baseball games sold out. Until today, academic events were watched only by loving parents. And usually the students from our school came to root for us. Today, my fellow THS students and the rest of the crowd focused on the Trallwyn Prep team. They grinned approvingly at Prince Callum. They wanted him to win.

Whatever. We had this. I wiggled back into the chair and forced a smile.

Austin shifted beside me and grabbed my gel pen. “I need something to write with.” He scribbled the odds of our winning on a blue notepad. Xs and Os appeared, and a few numbers. I hoped we were the Os because they were winning by seventy percent. From the way Austin’s fists were clenched, we were probably the Xs.

If we lost, it would be in front of the best-dressed crowd we’d ever had. Parents wore their Sunday best and the students looked like today was picture day. All of this for a prince. I leaned forward, resting my hands on the cool surface of the table and checked out Prince Callum. He appeared bored.

Lisette got up, toting her giant bag and came over. “I brought sparkling and still water. What’s your favorite?” Her accent was American, but the cadence of her voice was French. She placed the glass bottles on the table and put a crystal tumbler in front of each of us. No wonder her bag was so heavy.

Austin smiled at her. “You choose.”

Flirting with the enemy? I hoped Bliss, Austin’s skinny mean girlfriend, caught that. She was seated in the front row so it would be hard for her to miss.

Lisette undid the lid on the glass bottle and filled a tumbler for Austin. Fizzy bubbles sprayed through the water. She used tongs to add two cucumber slices and turned her grin on me. “How about you? Hayley, right?”

She said my name as if she hadn’t studied up on us as much as
we’d
researched them. “Still, please,” I said, taking the glass from her. “Thanks.” I took a sip and one of the green cucumber slices bobbed against my lip. The cucumbers were refreshing, if weird. We always had water at academic tournaments. The sliced cucumbers and crystal were new. Cucumbers were going in my brothers’ Kool-Aid tonight.

Lisette served Rhys last. His narrowed green eyes watched each of her moves with suspicion. I was glad he was alert, but please, Trallwyn Prep did not need to drug us to gain an advantage.

“Still or sparkling?” Lisette said.

Rhys didn’t respond. He was either flirting with her or playing a mind game.

“I’ll give you some of each, and you can see which you like better.” Lisette put a second tumbler in front of Rhys, making sure not to bump his chemistry vials. She poured for him.

Rhys was borderline rude and got an extra treat. Girls always did that kind of thing for him. I didn’t favor bad boys myself.

Lisette tilted her head so her blonde curls fell over her shoulder as she waited.

“Thanks,” Rhys said. Keeping his gaze on her, he tossed the still water back. Lisette’s big brown eyes widened like she’d caught a marlin instead of a minnow. She flushed and moved back to her own table.

Rhys left the sparkling water untouched.

Austin elbowed me. “The judges are here. Are you smiling at them?”

As team lead, he’d been throwing out tips all week. I didn’t appreciate it. I knew what to do.

I nodded, forced a grin, and turned to the judging table. The judges consisted of two men and one woman. They sat in a special section that had a table, lamps and a microphone. Though they faced the stage straight on, their heads turned slightly so their gazes rested on our competition, Trallwyn Prep.

“Good,” Austin said. “You have a pretty mouth with a nice curve. It should get us a point.” His tone was objective and made me want to thump him.

“Yeah, she’s pretty when she’s not nipping at people.” Rhys took his gaze off my mouth and checked out the judges too. He snorted. “Their judicial careers will be unstoppable with our trailer park and suburbanite families in their debt.”

Valid point.

Austin put his shoulders back, his jock physique taking up even more space. “Play to the crowd. Offer them what they want so they’ll support us.”

The crowd wanted us to lose and Trallwyn Prep to win. I searched for my parents and tow-headed twin brothers but didn’t see them. They’d be here. They never missed an event. They were probably sitting outside, finishing off some god-awful burgers and fries.

I clasped my senior ring between my thumb and index finger and rubbed the letters
THS
until the motion calmed me. Breathe. I couldn’t own my own mega-conglomerate one day if I couldn’t handle a small public speech, and my speech was awesome, amazing.

A large group of photographers wearing huge photo lenses around their necks along with some news crew who had cameras on their shoulders came in next, taking up the front center row.

My breathing increased, and my heart rate picked up. Calm down. I took another drink of chilled water, noting the heavy crystal and wishing I had a small square of dark chocolate to go with it. Mom said sugar calmed the nerves. I hadn’t been nervous until those industrial cameras showed up. This event might make more than the local five o’clock news. I dropped my hand and dried my palm on the side seam of my dark slacks, grateful the modesty panel prevented the crowd from seeing the gesture.

So what if a prince was on their team? He was an Irish no-throne prince. The whole royal institution existed as more of a tourist attraction and tax burden than anything else. I leaned forward again to check out the visiting tax burden. Seated on the end, he was in the middle of the stage, easy for everyone to spot. Dark hair, pale skin, nice jaw. His gaze caught mine. Ooh. Deep. Intense. I winked, and he lost his bored expression. Man, he was cute. No, cute wasn’t the right word, not with those classic good looks.

An acidic smell wafted from the test tubes in front of Rhys. I blinked and broke eye contact with the prince. I didn’t want to sneeze in front of him or the judges, not without a tissue.

Rhys shook a tube between his thumb and forefinger. The smell intensified until it burned my nostrils: a lemon-pine cleaner scent times ten. A small cloud appeared over the top and the activity in the tube threatened to be more than Rhys intended. I breathed shallowly and scooted toward Austin until my shoulder hit his.

Austin examined my face, his eyes knowing. “You going to pass out?”

“Shut up.” I waved the air, stirring up some fresh oxygen. Just because I’d passed out at a speech before, didn’t mean I’d do it again. “I’ve got this. My speech is way better than Rhys’s stinky project.” I didn’t know if that was true, but if Austin sensed weakness, he’d coach harder and really screw me up.

Rhys ignored my comments and poured chemicals from one beaker to another. Lastly, he squeezed a jelly-like substance from a dropper into the larger center cylinder. The liquid turned blue, and a bigger cloud hovered over the lip. A soapy, window-cleaner scent emerged, like how our old SUV smelled after Dad drove it through the car wash.