Getting over your first crush seems impossible - especially when he's the star of the world's biggest movie franchise.
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Jess Wheeler is happily single and perfectly content with her simple life in Hemlock Landing, South Carolina, where all she kn...
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"That shit was clearly rigged," Teresa says the moment that we reconvene with Kayley, her voice trembling with righteous anger. "Your costume was one thousand percent the best one up there. Everyone loved it!"
"Thanks, Teresa," Kayley says. I can tell when she's putting on a brave front, and this is definitely one of those times. I don't blame her at all for being disappointed, because Teresa is right. The judging panel was clearly rigged so that Reya won the dinner with Bay: for what reason, though, I'm still trying to figure out. There's definitely something suspicious going on, and it all smells like Vivian Connor.
"Look on the bright side, though," I say, trying to do the big sister thing and salvage the situation. "You already had dinner with Bay, and he's literally staying in your house. You've already won."
"That's true," Kayley says, perking up. "And you still have the photo op to look forward to!" Teresa adds.
"Hey, nerd!" Suddenly, someone walks up behind Kayley and shoves into her - hard – from behind. She stumbles into me, and there's a horrifying riiiip sound as her hand-made storm clouds tear free of her costume and land on the ground. I look up, outraged, to find another girl about Kayley's age with pin-straight blonde hair and mean eyes. She's dressed in a half-assed Gaia costume that her mother probably bought at Target.
"What the hell?" Teresa gasps.
"My costume!" Kayley crouches to salvage whatever is still intact. Her hair has slipped out of its careful updo, unfurling around her face like another untameable cloud.
"Aww, did you stay up all night making that?" The girl flips her hair. "You can't tell."
"Hey, what is the problem with you?" I spit, and I am seeing red.
"Just leave it," Kayley hisses.
I ignore her. "That is my sister! What makes you think you can treat people like that?" "Leave it!" Kayley says again.
"No problem here," the girl says, raising her hands as if she's free of sin. "Some people just need a reminder that Bay Connor doesn't belong to them. And that he deserves a certain kind of woman."
"Certainly not a fourteen-year-old." The blonde girl spins around, her mouth flopping open in a shocked expression that would be hilarious outside of this situation. Because in the midst of the chaos, she didn't notice her idol approaching us through the crowd. He regards her with a set jaw and cold eyes. "And definitely not a bully."
"Bay," the girl breathes, the word coming out as half of a squeak. "I–I wasn't...I didn't..." Nearly in tears, she turns and runs away towards the girls' bathroom. If she had a tail, it would definitely be between her legs.
"Unbelievable. Middle-schoolers really are the worst, aren't they?" Bay shakes his head and grabs Kayley's hand, concerned. "Are you okay? Did she push you?"
