A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy) by Cara Lockwood Page B

talk to him.”
    “Now?” Hana asked, surprised as she watched me stand. “But lunch…”
    “Was pretty gruesome, anyway. I’ll catch you later, okay?” I grabbed my backpack and was already on my feet. Hana shrugged as I headed for the door. I found Heathcliff walking—stumbling, rather—down the east walkway to the library.
    “Heathcliff!” I called when I was close enough. “Heathcliff!” But, he didn’t turn around. He just kept going, like he couldn’t hear me or didn’t want to. He turned the corner, and in a few more seconds, I’d followed him, down the shadowy place between the library and the adjoining science building. As I turned the corner, I stopped dead in my tracks.
    Heathcliff was there. And so was… Parker Rodham?
    I stopped at the corner, using the corner of the library as a shield, trying to figure out what Heathcliff was doing talking to Parker Rodham. Heathcliff hated Parker. He was the only one I knew who liked Parker even less than I did.
    Heathcliff had his back to me, and all I could see was Parker’s face occasionally, when Heathcliff shifted enough for me to see past his broad shoulders. She was actually laughing at something he said. She was flipping her ponytail around like she might even be flirting.
    I expected to see an argument or at least anger—on Parker’s part or Heathcliff’s—but from what I could see they seemed almost… friendly. Parker’s face broke out into a smile and she laughed again. She even puffed out her chest a little bit like she does when Ryan Kent, or another eligible boy, is around. It took me a few seconds to realize just what I was seeing. Could it be possible? Was Parker flirting with Heathcliff?
    I ducked back and watched as Parker laid a casual hand on his forearm and laughed again, tossing her blond hair.
    Yep, definitely flirting.
    Officially, this was the strangest thing I’d ever seen at Bard Academy and my English Lit teacher was the ghost of Ernest Hemingway.
    I blinked a couple of times and just barely resisted the urge to pinch myself. This could not be real. I was not witnessing Parker Rodham flirting with my Heathcliff. 
    Parker glanced up. I ducked behind the building, trying to hide, but even I knew I was a split second too late. Parker had seen me. The game was up.
    “Hello!” she called to me. “We’re over here!”
    Parker had seen me watching her flirt with my boyfriend and now she was calling me over to have a closer look? Clearly, I had fallen into a wormhole into another dimension where Parker had lost her mind and I wasn’t far behind.
    I peeked around the corner and found her staring at me, hand on her hip. Heathcliff was looking at me too, and nothing on his face told me he realized he’d been doing anything unusual. He seemed perfectly calm, like I’d just caught him at the cafeteria in line to get milk.
    “We’re over here,” Parker said, as if she were expecting me. “I told you, I’d do it.”
    Heathcliff smiled at me, glad to see me, and not at all uncomfortable by the fact he was two feet from the girl he knew I couldn’t stand. Something was rotten in Denmark.
    And I don’t mean figuratively.
    Literally, something smelled awful. As I took a step closer and soon figured out that the stink was coming from Heathcliff. This morning, he’d smelled perfect—just like himself. Now, he carried with him the odor of stale beer.
    “Uh… What was that?” I asked Parker. I was too distracted by Heathcliff’s smell and by his rumpled clothes. He looked like he’d spent the last couple of hours since I saw him at a frat party.
    “What else?” Parker echoed. “I found him for you.” Parker’s white smile grew bigger. I didn’t detect the usual sarcasm in her voice. I had no idea what was going on, but a voice inside my head told me to play along until I figured out what was happening. Parker was suddenly chummy with Heathcliff and me? Something was up, and I had to figure out what it was.
    She was