Pretty Wicked by Georgia le Carre Page A

asking me to this party. I’d never ever imagined you’d ever
even look at me let alone invite me to a party. This is the
happiest day of my life,’ she blurted out suddenly, and blushed at
her own daring.
    He frowned and then gazed at her as if
seeing her for the first time. In a daze he lifted his hand,
brushed it against the back of her ear, and pushed her hair to the
side, exposing her long throat.
    She shivered and tilted her chin upward and
saw through the canopy of leaves a sky brilliantly full of stars.
She couldn’t see them clearly without her glasses and they seemed
like tiny holes in the black sky through which brilliantly white
light was pouring. She returned her eyes to his face to find that
his eyes had left the smooth curve of her neck and were settled on
her mouth. For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her—his
face even moved toward her, and she worried about all the metal in
her mouth—but then his expression changed. He seemed almost shocked
by something.
    ‘ You’re beautiful,’ he
whispered softly.
    She blushed even more, and he stared at the
color flooding her face, and shook his head as if to clear it. He
turned his face away from her abruptly and stared ahead of him. A
muscle ticked furiously in his jaw. For many seconds he was silent
and she simply stared at him. She had never been out with a boy and
she didn’t know what to do or say.
    ‘ You know what?’ he said
finally. ‘Let’s not go to this party. Let’s just go to town and get
to know each other better over some burgers and Coke.’
    Her face crumpled with disappointment. She
had never been to a party before. Her life had been sheltered. It
was her parents and her books. She had no real friends. They had
only moved here two years ago and she was still treated like a
stranger in this tiny town of five thousand people. ‘You’ve changed
your mind,’ she said dully. ‘You’re ashamed of being seen with me
around your fine friends.’
    ‘ Of course not,’ he denied
hotly, but a flush of shame slashed across his
cheekbones.
    She shook her head sadly. ‘It’s all right,
you don’t have to explain.’
    ‘ Shit,’ he cursed under
his breath.
    ‘ I’m sorry,’ she said, and
bowed her head to hide from him.
    He turned to her and clutching her face in
both his hands lifted it and forced her to look at him. ‘Don’t be
sorry, Sky. It’s not you,’ he said fiercely.
    She brightened at that. ‘All right, we’ll go
into town instead. I’d rather have a burger and a Coke with you
than go to a party, anyway.’ And she smiled tremulously. The truth
was she didn’t mind not going to the party. Burger and Coke with
him would be a dream come true. It was silly of her to have
insisted. It was just her pride that had been hurt. She was not
beautiful. And that was that.
    He let go of her and looked down at his
hands for a moment. ‘Fine,’ he said flatly, ‘we’ll go in, but we’re
not staying. Five minutes and we’re out of there.’
    She grinned from ear to ear. He did not grin
back. He seemed almost fearful. He opened her car door and held his
hand to help her out of his car. She put her hand in his and felt
the warm power in it.
    He dropped her hand but they walked close to
each other. At the door he took a deep breath and looked at her.
She was gazing at him with shining eyes. He opened the door and
they stepped inside.
    She had never been to a party in such a fine
house and she looked around her in awe. Sky immediately recognized
some of the girls from school, the vampiric popular crowd who
derived their power by humiliating and ridiculing the lesser
endowed. She didn’t allow herself to think it, but they were the
golden girls who usually hung out with Miko, the ones with the
lithe, cheerleading bodies and flawlessly beautiful faces. One of
them was holding a clipboard and staring at her and looked like she
was about to come in their direction.
    Miko grabbed her hand and started to pull
her through the