Senior Year Box Set

“You forget that I know where you all live,” I warned as the DJ began the music for the King and Queen dance.

I walked to Pam and gave her a warm smile.

“Milady, may I have this dance?” I asked formally as I gave her a slight bow.

She curtsied back and took my hand.

As we walked out onto the floor, Johan, of all people, grabbed the mic.

“This won’t do,” he said, shaking his head. “We need some music for our farm boy.”

I began to laugh when I heard the opening refrain from She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.

Pam was a good sport and began to shimmy to the upbeat country song that implies his girl likes the singer’s tractor more than him. I grabbed her, and we started to two-step. Pam was a good dancer, so she followed my lead as we spun all over the dance floor.

When the song ended, Pam and I gave our subjects a royal wave and returned to our dates. Cassidy had grabbed me a water, which I was taking advantage of when Stacy snatched my crown off my head.

“We’ll just hang onto this until the recount is finished,” she teased and then leaned in close. “Thanks for being such a good sport. When we got the idea, everyone wanted in on it.”

“It was funny,” I admitted. “Thank you for putting this on tonight. You and your committee did a great job.”

“I’ll pass that on,” Stacy said.

As she walked away, Cassidy slid under my arm.

“That meant a lot to her.”

“I hope so because I meant it.”

She kissed my cheek and pulled me out onto the dance floor, where the DJ was playing a bunch of slow songs that weren’t country or western.

◊◊◊

I watched in amusement as Destiny draped herself all over Damion on the dance floor. They’d obviously both been drinking, and it was clear where this evening was headed for the two of them. In fact, I was afraid we might witness it live. I shot a quick video and sent it to Brook. I figured she would be amused at seeing her former frenemy making a fool of herself.

A minute later, Cassidy received a call. How did I know? Her phone rang in my pocket. Since she didn’t have anywhere to keep it, I’d been put in charge of it. I glanced down and saw it was Brook, so I handed it to my date.

“Yeah, he’s standing next to me,” Cassidy said, and then instead of handing me the phone back, she put it on speaker.

Miss Nosy Pants wanted to hear what we had to say.

“Before you tell me how sexy I look, I want to warn you that Cassidy put you on speaker. And, Destiny’s brother, Don, is listening,” I said before she trashed Destiny.

Cassidy’s whiskey-colored eyes suddenly flared golden, like they did when she planned to hurt someone. I’d better remember that she would side with Brook if we got into it.

I heard Brook take a deep breath, and she paused to think about what she wanted to say.

“David, you have to do something about this,” Brook ordered.

“So, what is it that takes this from Destiny’s usual psycho circus with optional admission to a new level? To the point where her crazy train running everyone down on the dance floor means I have to do something about it? Why don’t you have Don go pull her off her date?” I asked.

“Three reasons,” Brook shot back. “The first is Don is her brother, and she’ll never listen to him. Second, Damion knows you and won’t kick your ass. Finally, I’m asking you to.”

“We could’ve just skipped to the last one,” I complained.

“All I have to do is ask, and you’d do stuff for me?” Brook teased.

“I would, for you,” I said in all seriousness.

All of a sudden, I saw Cassidy’s mental gears turning. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she gave me the ‘who, me?’ look she got when she was up to something. I would lay a large amount of money on her calling my ex the next time she wanted something.

“Do you think Damion will take advantage of her?” Brook asked to get to the heart of the matter.

Frick! As much as Destiny and I didn’t get along—she was always pointing out how weird I was—that didn’t mean I wanted her to be taken advantage of. Even when she’d gotten drunk at State, she hadn’t been molested. They’d written on her face with a permanent marker, but she probably deserved that.

“Damion has always had that slick-as-goose-shit feel to him when it comes to his morals towards women. So, yeah, he wouldn’t hesitate,” I admitted.

Her brother suddenly looked pissed.

“Slow your roll, Don. This is a two-way-street type of situation. When it comes to men, your sister can find the only broken chair in a roomful,” I reminded him.

“I’ll have to remember that one; my dad will love it. He’s all but decided that he’ll have to lock her in the basement until she’s thirty,” Don shared.

I hated to confess it, but my little Carol might end up in the same boat if she did half the stuff Destiny had been up to.

All that aside, I didn’t want this situation to ruin Prom for anyone.

“I’ll go lure Destiny away from Damion if you take responsibility for her once I do,” I said to make a deal with Don.

“I could run her home,” he offered and then smiled as he envisioned what would happen to her when he dropped her off.