Chapter Fourteen

We stuck to Anna's promise to send off the marketing material to Mr. Byers on Sunday evening for approval. We were given the go-ahead to start posting the content on Monday morning as well as hanging up all the posters, banners and flyers about the prom.

She made her sister drive us early to school when no one was around, and that was the only time during the entire day that was any semblance of peace.

In the bubbly haze of kissing Sabrina Jenkins, I'd forgotten about the fall out of posting those pictures of the potential prom queens online. It was way more intense than the aftermath of Maisie sending those tweets about me – which made sense because I wasn't at all popular.

That buzz paired with the excitement about prom made for a headache of a day. People came us to about ticket prices, I directed them to the nearest poster. Other people were excited that they didn't have to deal with two somewhat romantic occasions and were happy to save money.

To my surprise, before English literature began and when we were all waiting for the teacher to come in, Maisie sat beside me and handed me a rose made out of paper. "A rose for Cupid."

"Thanks." It was really pretty. "Guessing you like the theme?"

"It's awesome. Having people going around the school with bows and arrows before prom? It's genius. You'll raise so much money for the prom fund in a week." Maisie took out her notepad. "And donating the rest to the cat shelter? You're quite the catch, Sam."

"Honestly, Anna deserves most of the credit."

"Yeah, it's been a pretty eventful morning," she commented. "Anna even sneaked them pictures of her sister and Parker."

"She's a real one."

"We're in the same boat now."

My stomach dropped. "What?"

Maisie concentrated on doodling a heart on her notepad. "I told you before that I liked Parker. And even if you deny that you like Sabrina, we both know the truth. How can you not? You were the damsel in distress. It's a cliché for a reason. You must have liked her. You do like her, don't you?"

"How are you?" I asked, deciding not to comment on her somewhat accurate assumptions, gliding my thumb around the ridges of the rose.

"A little heartbroken. A lot heartbroken." Maisie crossed out the heart over and over again. "That's why I'm glad there are people like you and Anna organizing an awesome week of Valentine's. It'll be a nice distraction. I guess that's why the theme, the design and the ideas are so good because they're your distraction too."

"It's just a way to spend more time with Anna," I explained.

"Maybe I'm looking too much into it," she admitted. "Trying to find my own hurt in you. Projecting. That's the word."

"I'm here if you want to talk about it. Or anything."

"Talk about girls with the girl I went on a date with?" Maisie's pen stopped moving.

"Is that weird?"

"Probably." She grinned. "Who cares? I'm taking up your offer anyway. Even if you deflect or ignore my very accurate projections onto you."

I grinned back at her. "Cool."

"Oh and Sam, you have a little . . ." She pointed at her own neck, wearing this overly large Cheshire cat smile. "Hickey. Right there."

I rested my forehead against the table and breathed out loudly, making her giggle. Before she could poke fun at me or ask who was the person behind it, Mrs. Cunningham swooped into the room, apologizing for being late once again.

While Anna and I spent the morning plastering our Shoot Your Shot themed posters all around the school, Sabrina and Parker spent the same time putting their faces side by side, asking for their vote for prom queens. The correlation between prom and them was so well time. However, after English lit, there were two more faces pinned to the walls of the school. Gerald and Jack. Prom Kings. If there was any doubt that they were together before, there wasn't any now.

The competition between Kings and Queens had begun.

I'd gotten a text from Sabrina to meet her up on the roof before book club.

I hunted my shoulders, pushed the collars of my jacket up, and shoved my hands deep into my pockets as I headed to meet with Sabrina. It felt like the walk of shame, and we hadn't even done anything yet.

The air on top of the roof was crisp and cold. Sabrina was sat on the edge of the building, facing inward, and her eyebrows furrowed together.

When she noticed me, she immediately stood up, and evidence of her worry faded away. While her cheeks lifted, her biting onto her lip stopped from letting me see her smile. She rocked back and forth on her heels, looking at me as I approached, and my steps were slow and unsure. She was freaking out about the campaign. Maybe that's why she called me up here.

It wasn't fair, though. All day I'd been dying to kiss her again. It was an addiction, only fuelled when I saw her walking down the hallways of the school, coyly avoiding questions about Parker. She added more fuel to the fire with what she was wearing. She was wearing a blue denim jacket with a white top underneath, and it wasn't fashion-forward or extravagant, but she still managed to look like someone who should be strutting it down the runway.

Maybe she'd changed her mind. Maybe she thought about it some more—with the official start of her campaign she didn't need the extra stress—and then she kissed me. She backed me up until my back pressed against the wall of the door for to exit of the roof, then pinned my hands back behind my head.

"I've been wanting to do that all day," she breathed out against my lips and kissed shortly but enough to make me dizzy.

"Wow." I tried my best to tamper the giggle in my throat but it escape and I stood there, arms still pinned behind my back, mortified.

"Remember that response. That's the only response you should use when you're kissed by me."

"Okay, don't brag too much," I complained as she finally let my wrists go. We headed back to the edge of the roof to sit down. "Alright, you didn't text me to come up here to do that."

"What would you say if I did?"

"That you're a liar."

"But the idea is appreciated. Noted for the future." Sabrina wiggled her eyebrows and showed me her phone. "But we don't have enough time. Look at that. Gerald and Jack. Together. Who could have seen that coming?"

"Me. Literally me. I told you straight away."

"Anyway—" she cut me off and continued "—everyone knows that gay men are much more popular than gay women. Take literature for example. Men who like men like it. Women like it. A lot of women even fetishize it. And that's not including the many women who are healthily in fandoms that ship men together. It's everyone and anyone. Except for the homophobes."

"Sabrina we are talking about a teenage prom at a high school."

"Did you know that between Junior and Senior year, sixty percent of them are girls? Two percent are non-binary, and thirty-eight are male."

"Can't say I did."

"How many of them would love to see Gerald and Jack together? Men together and Kings? More than those interested in Parker and me."

But she wasn't taking into account one thing. "The guys. You're not thinking about them and their vote. They're just as bad for fetishizing. Then there are the normal dudes who just might like you two better than Gerald and Jack. Maybe the rest are not all that into shipping girls online though."

She nodded, not immediately dismissing me. "There are more girls in the two year groups. Between girls and boys, who are more likely to vote for something like a prom king or queen? Girls."

"Point taken. So . . . you need to offer something Jack and Gerald can't."

"Parker's doing the book club . . ."

"And you're going to throw another house party. This weekend coming. Then . . . Monday I can open the e-voting system, and it'll be a huge surge for you guys to put you ahead before Jack and Gerald even know what's happening. I guess the rest of your campaign efforts has to be done during Cupid's week."

"That depends . . . Will I have to take care of a drunk Sam again?"

I stood up and pointed to the exit to the roof. "Sober and drunk, Sam is not going to be there. You don't need me there, not really."

She trailed after me, taking steps forward as I took steps back. "Is there any way that I can convince you otherwise?"

Tapping my chin in thought, I said, "Hmm. No. Nothing comes to mind."

Sabrina caught up with me quite easily, grabbing both my hands and swung them lazily. "Are you sure?"

The confidence over my answer was already dropping. "Yes?"

She stared at me condescendingly before her lips came crashing down against mine, and it was a short kiss that left me wanting more when she pulled back. "Will you come to my party, Sam?"

"That isn't a fair tactic, and you know it. That was cheating."

"So, you're coming?"

"Yes, fine, whatever, I'm coming."

"Good," she said and dragged me by the hand down off the roof. "I'm going to ask you again, will I have to take care of drunk Sam?"

"No. God, it was embarrassing enough the first time."

She shrugged, opening the door for me. "I kind of like her."

I hopped down the first step and refused to look back at her. "I'm sure you did."

"She's a very forthcoming person."

"Uh-huh."

"Doesn't run or skate away from anyone."

"She's a steady and wobbly force."

"I suppose sober Sam isn't so bad."

I looked down, biting back a grin. "Alright, Sabrina."

Descending down the steps with Sabrina playfully blowing air into the back of my neck made me realize that I really needed to be careful. She always had a certain level of power of me, even when she didn't know it. Now she knew. The more I gave in to my desire, the more I'd want to keep her around, and that wasn't the deal we made. Our pinkie promise was sacred, and I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to mess that up.

Before I knew it, we were in book club, in the same classroom that held the gay-straight alliance and with most of them from the same club too. Almost immediately after our entrance together, Sabrina was taken off her feet and swirled around in a bear hug by Parker before getting a kiss smack on the mouth.

The lightheaded sensation from kissing Sabrina turned into a heavy cloud as I sat down beside Anna. She handed me the book that they picked out for the month – We Used to be Friends by Amy Spalding.

"You have that traumatized look on your face again," Anna pointed out quietly.

"Well . . ." I couldn't tell her it was because I was this close to throwing up because her sister kissed Parker. "We Used to be Friends. Is that a hint?"

"You're such a dumbass, Sam." Anna patted my cheek affectionally. "You and me, we're for life, remember?"

"Yeah." Shit. Guilt was surfacing. Crush it down. "How can I forget?"

"Silly, Sam."

Parker and Sabrina stood in the centre of the semi-circle with Parker's stood from behind, wrapping her arms around Sabrina's waist with her chin resting on Sabrina's shoulder. "Guys, we've got an announcement to make."

Sasha laughed. "Everyone knows that you're together already, Parker."

"Correction we have another announcement to make. Sabrina?"

"This weekend, as a thanks to Anna and Sam for putting together a brilliant theme for prom and the Cupid's week event leading up to it, we've decided to throw a party in their honour this Friday at my house."

Anna blinked and turned a deep shade of red as everyone cheered and repeatedly called out 'thanks' to us. "Wow. That's so . . . That's very sweet of the two of you."

I snorted, earning an elbow jab from Anna. When people turned to me expecting a response, I forced a smile. "I'll stay out of the pool this time."

After the laughs and cheers and initial excitement wore off from news of the party, the book club went on, and we spoke about the book that was assigned and having read none of it so far, I had no input to offer. I was left to sit there quietly as Sabrina and Parker sat next to each other, holding hands and smiling at one another.

That was it, after this party, I'd have no more input into their campaign.