The Girl in the Love Song (Lost Boys 1)

A small shockwave went through the crowd that morphed with agonizing slowness into cheers.

I gasped. “Oh shit. Oh no. Poor Evelyn.”

Shiloh’s eyebrows shot up, and she turned to me. “Queen Vi…?”

“What? No. No way. Julia or Caitlin,” I said as Evelyn plastered on a tight smile and made her way from the cheerleader bench to accept her coronet.

Shiloh smirked. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

“And now, your Homecoming King,” Layla said and paused for effect.

The football players jostled and teased River, who brushed it all off with lazy amusement.

“River Whitmore!”

The gym erupted in cheers, and I added my voice to the crowd.

“Not a surprise. But I’m still in shock for Evelyn…holy shit.”

“Uh huh,” Shiloh muttered. “You got your speech ready?”

“Oh, stop.”

“And now…” Layla said, quieting the crowd. “It is my pleasure to announce that your Santa Cruz Central Homecoming Queen is…”

The gym went silent, holding its breath. Frankie Dowd shouted into the quiet, “Your mom!”

Laughter followed and a stern shake of Principal Hayes’ head. Layla waited until she had our attention again.

“Violet McNamara!”

I sat stunned, while my friends cheered and clapped and urged me to go down and claim my crown.

“This is nuts,” I hissed to Shiloh.

She heaved a dramatic sigh. “Being right all the time is so exhausting.”

A little laugh burst out of me but was smothered when I saw the devastation on Evelyn’s face; she wanted it far more than I did. I hadn’t truly wanted it at all, I realized, and now that I had it, I had no idea what to do.

I climbed over legs to get to the stairs, then made my way down to the court. River grinned at me, a silly faux red velvet and gold plastic crown on his head. Layla placed a smaller version on mine, while I sent Evelyn an apologetic smile. She quickly looked away, her own smile wide and joyless, as she clapped with the rest of the school.

I leaned into River. “How did this happen?”

“Democracy in action. You got the most votes, plain and simple.” His confident smile slipped, and he cleared his throat. “Kind of works out perfect, right? Since we’re going to the dance together.”

“Right. Except…are we still

going together?”

“Yeah, sorry I haven’t called or anything. Just been busy with practice and games. And…stuff at home.”

“No, of course. I’m sorry. I should have thought of that.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” he said quickly, talking under the cover of Layla reading off a list of the Homecoming Court’s accomplishments that helped land us up there. “I still should have called you. Or texted.”

“I’m not sitting by the phone or anything,” I added, then cringed. “God, that came out all wrong. What I mean is, I’m also busy with studying half the time anyway…”

“I haven’t even seen you at my place.”