Page 48 of Scarlett and the Fake Boyfriend (Scarlett #2)

Uncle James glared at Sophie. More of her stomach was showing.

And her dress was basically see-through.

It was the same color as her tan skin and had some black geometric designs on it that covered anything super inappropriate.

But still. And hers had a plunging neckline.

My neckline actually went to my neck. It was full coverage, minus a little of my stomach and the long slit for my leg. I tucked my leg back under my skirt.

“Well, you should change too. You can both borrow something from Penny’s closet. Back up the stairs. Now.”

“Mom’s boobs are practically out,” I said and pointed to the deep V of her dress. “Is that what you want me to wear?”

“Yeah, you’d look good in that too,” RJ said.

“Perv, you’re not helping,” Sophie said .

My dad turned to RJ. “Where the hell did you even come from, RJ? No one knocked on the door.”

RJ shrugged.

I had a feeling he’d come through the secret lair entrance.

“James,” Penny said firmly. “Scarlett didn’t say that very eloquently.” She gave me a hard stare. “But she’s right. She could find worse in my closet. And we both know it.”

“But you’re an adult !”

“They’re practically adults too.”

He shook his head. “Practically is a key word there. Her teachers will be there, Penny. This is entirely inappropriate.”

I was wondering if he was worried about one teacher in particular...

“James, it’s too late for them to both find new dresses.”

“They’ll have to go dressed as sluts,” Liam said.

“Liam!” my mom said. “You’re not helping.” She turned back to my dad. “We’ll be there the entire time watching them.”

Good Lord.

My dad took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

Axel walked over to us. “She can wear my varsity jacket tonight if you want, Uncle James.”

“Finally, someone else who sees reason. Great. Go grab it, Axel. I appreciate it.”

“I’m not wearing a jacket to homecoming!” I protested.

“James,” my mom said. “Everyone else there will be dressed similarly.”

“Well Scarlett isn’t like everyone else.”

“No, she’s not,” Axel agreed.

Axel!

“Because she wears a jacket to homecoming,” Liam said.

Liam!

My mom ignored them. “Just let the kids have fun. Nothing bad will happen under our watch. We’ll make sure of it.” She put her hand on his chest and stared into his eyes.

My dad slowly nodded. “You’re right, baby,” he said.

Gah. And...ew. My kiss thief called me that. But it was super hot coming from my kiss thief...

“I’m not letting you out of my sight tonight, pumpkin,” my dad said. “But get out of my sight for a few minutes right now, will you?”

“Mhm,” Sophie said and pulled me off the last step. “Geez,” she whispered to me. “Your dad is a total hard ass.”

“I know.”

“Well it is a little...revealing,” Axel said.

I glared at him.

“I think you look beautiful,” Jacob said.

Finally, someone who didn’t want me to be wearing an old newspaper like Aunt Brooklyn. Although that probably would have been more revealing... “Thank you.” I smiled up at him. “You found the matching color.” I touched his teal bow tie.

“I can’t take credit for that. My abuelo helped.”

“And the shoes!” I smiled. He was wearing teal dress shoes that somehow matched his bowtie. I’d never seen dress shoes that color before. They looked so cool .

“I had help finding those too.” He showed me the signature blue Odegaard sole. “But this was all me.” He grabbed a box off the coffee table and lifted the lid. There was a beautiful corsage inside with white and teal flowers and small diamonds scattered throughout.

I’d never gotten one of these before. But I’d always been jealous of the other girls that had them at the dances. The only solace I’d had over the years was that Axel never bought his dates one. Which made this feel like a big deal.

Jacob lifted it out of the box and slid it around my wrist. I was still wearing the bracelet his sister had made me. And it matched perfectly too.

Fate.

The word kept tumbling around in my head today.

“Where’s my corsage?” Sophie asked Axel.

He shrugged. “You could have gotten yourself one.”

“You’re a terrible date.”

He laughed. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me before.”

“And where is your crown?” Sophie asked. But she didn’t need an answer, because she spotted it on the coffee table. She grabbed it and put it on Axel’s head.

He immediately lifted it off.

“You have to wear it or I’ll look like an idiot, Axel.”

They started bickering.

“I’m really confused about how they won,” Liam whispered beside me.

“Huh?”

“RJ and I added over 200 votes to your name. You should have won by a landslide.”

“You guys stuffed the ballot box?” Jacob asked.

“Yeah,” RJ said.

I laughed even though it was a little embarrassing that I’d still lost. “I guess Sophie got a lot of votes.”

“Not 200,” RJ said. “There aren’t even 200 students in your grade. Shit, Liam, do you think we stuffed the wrong ballet box?”

“What else is there a vote for right now?” Liam asked.

RJ shrugged. “I have no idea. But there must be something else. We were drinking that night, I think. Actually, I barely remember anything about that night.”

I shook my head. They probably hadn’t done it at all. “Sophie deserved it.”

“Why didn’t you jerks try to stuff it for me too?” Jacob said. “That would have made Axel super jealous if Scarlett and I had won.”

“Don’t you think the poor guy is jealous enough?” RJ asked.

We watched as Axel swatted Sophie’s hand away that was holding the crown.

“I think he just didn’t want to win king for some reason,” I said.

“Because he wanted you to be his queen, Scar,” Liam said.

Yeah. Maybe.

“Are you all set for Operation All Eyes on Baby Doll?” RJ asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t think there’s much I have to do. You’re the ones that are going to be spying on me all night. Speaking of the kiss thief though.” I pulled out my phone. “Could you fix this so I can have face recognition without my glasses on?”

There was a knock on the door .

“That’s probably one of our dates,” Liam said.

RJ smiled. One of his smiles that meant he was up to no good. “I’ll fix it for you later.” He hurried off.

“Why did he just smile like that?” I asked.

“No idea,” Jacob said.

“Would you quit squirming!” Sophie yelled as she finally managed to put the crown on Axel’s head.

He rolled his eyes.

“You’re like an old married couple,” Jacob said with a laugh.

“Mr. Halifax is going to be a much better husband than you,” Sophie said. “Okay, let’s make a bet. Tonight Mr. Halifax is finally going to let loose.”

“Doubt that,” RJ said.

I turned around.

He had a beautiful blonde on his arm. Her dress was way more inappropriate than mine.

Her boobs were pouring out the front of it.

And her skirt was so short that if she twirled around you’d probably see her ass.

Her dress was close to the same color as mine.

And she was wearing matching thigh-high boots with it that just made the whole thing even more inappropriate.

Who was this girl? Did she even go to our school?

And where was my dad? He should have been shoving RJ’s date into my mother’s closet to change.

“Jacob!” she said and ran over to him. She threw her arms around him. “I didn’t know we were sharing a limo. It’s my lucky night, I guess.”

“Hey, Olivia,” Jacob said and hugged her back. “I didn’t know either.”

This was Olivia? The Olivia? The Olivia I was pretty sure Jacob was kind of still seeing right now? I pressed my lips together. No wonder he wasn’t that into me.

The two of them started laughing about something.

I waited for Jacob to introduce me, but he was lost in conversation with Olivia.

RJ walked over to me. “You’re welcome.”

“For what?”

“Bringing Olivia as my date.”

I stared at him. “You think I’m happy about this?”

“Yeah. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“Olivia isn’t my enemy,” I said.

“Isn’t she though?”

“How on earth did you get a junior to go with you to homecoming anyway?”

“Baby doll, anyone would be lucky to go to homecoming with yours truly.”

Mhm. I watched as Jacob’s eyes fell to Olivia’s cleavage for a moment before snapping back to her face. “She really is...top heavy.”

RJ laughed. “You have nothing to be jealous about there. You have your mom’s tits, baby doll.”

“Stop it.”

“What? The tits thing or...”

“All of it.”

“I was giving you a compliment. Speaking of which, when are you getting cameras in your new bedroom?”

I hit the back of his head.

“Ow.” He rubbed the spot.

“She really is hot,” Liam said.

“I hate both of you,” I said.

“Speaking of hot,” RJ said. “What the heck is that portrait of me in your secret lair?”

“ Our secret lair. And didn’t you pose for that? ”

RJ laughed. “No? You must have painted it from your imagination.”

“I didn’t paint it. Axel did.”

“Well that’s not nearly as flattering. I thought you painted me. Because you’re obsessed with this.” He gestured to himself.

“No. Why on earth would I paint you half naked?”

“Well, why would Axel?”

I sighed. “He said he did it at that painting class he took Gemma to. So you weren’t there?”

RJ laughed. “No. And there’s no way Axel painted that.”

“So who did?”

“Presumably someone who’s actually obsessed with me.” He stared at me.

“It wasn’t me, RJ!”

“Baby doll, no one would blame you.”

I sighed.

There was another knock on the door.

“That’ll be my date,” Liam said and walked off.

“Who did he end up asking?”

“I think his Russian girlfriend,” RJ said.

“I thought she wasn’t technically his girlfriend?”

“I mean...she is when she’s in the country. It would be super rude if he brought someone else when she was visiting.”

My cousin and my brother were so weird.

Liam walked in with a tall brunette on his arm. She was wearing a beautiful floor-length gown. It was a modest cut but super skin tight. And you could just tell that she was older than him. But I had no idea by how much.

“Everyone, this is Natalivanka,” Liam said.

Had he pronounced that right? That didn’t sound like a real name...