Chapter Ten Delaney

Chapter Ten

Delaney

Three Years Ago

Delaney watched Declan like it was her job.

Not Declan—call me Prime, babe! she could hear him whining in her head. Delaney refused. It was a stupid name. Everything about Declan was admittedly a bit stupid, but he was the first moderately hot guy to ask her out, and his whole platform was a major bonus. Plus, he was carefree, flirty, and fun. She liked that about him. But he was being carefree, flirty, and fun with a lot of girls tonight.

Especially Eden.

Delaney loved her, loathed her, wanted her, and wanted to be her, all at the same time. Eden was the definition of a frenemy. Some days more the friend, others more the enemy. Tonight edged toward the latter, but last month Eden had been there for her in a pinch. She'd lent Delaney her PR girl, Felicity, when Delaney had unintentionally gone semiviral.

That was how this town worked: You do something for me, I do something for you. Or the nicer word for it: networking. Hell, that was why Wyatt's older brother, Blaine, was on the other side of the patio with an iPhone in a Steadicam rig filming Declan's "pilot" for free.

And Delaney wasn't immune to the allure of fame. She spent a good minute attempting to make eye contact with Blaine across the pool. Finally, she had a lock on her target. So Delaney smiled—not too big, not too small, a bit sexy—and waved. Blaine waved back. She posed like a supermodel on a runway. Blaine focused his camera sights on her, salacious grin just visible behind the rig. Hook, line, and sinker. With any luck, she'd be featured heavily in Declan's pilot.

Tired of acting, Delaney scoured the patio for a familiar face, or in Willa's case, flame-red hair towering above the rest. Willa was boring lately. Seemed to think getting new friends in high school was a crime. But she was normal, and sometimes that was what Delaney craved.

She spotted her friend by the food spread in animated conversation with Liam. His cousin Noah was going to town on some carrots and ranch on a vegetable tray. It really harshed the vibe having a kid here, but he was with Liam, so Delaney could forgive it.

Delaney shoved in between them, fingering the baby-soft arm of Liam's creamy sea-blue sweater. "Wow, is that Dior?" Delaney asked, plucking the first designer she could think of from the air.

Adorably, Liam demurred. "This? Oh, I don't know, my mum gave it to me." He had the slightest lilt to the way he spoke, probably from his Aussie mom. Or mum, as he said it. Delaney found it sexy AF.

Wyatt joined their makeshift conversation circle and guffawed like a donkey. "Dude, that's so sad. Your mommy dressed you?"

"Designers send her a lot of things," Liam said. From anyone else, it would have been a brag, but he made it sound humble. "I'm clueless about style, so I don't mind when she picks out an outfit for me."

"I love it," Willa butted in. Delaney pointed between the deep raspberry of Willa's cheap romper and Liam's sea-colored designer sweater. "You two totally clash."

"I guess." Willa threw Delaney a look—annoyance, confusion; she couldn't tell—then took a bite of a cheese wedge from her small plate. "This party is Gouda, isn't it?"

Delaney's soul left her body on Willa's behalf. That girl always went for wordplay when she was nervous. But then Liam laughed—really laughed! What the hell?

"I don't get it." Wyatt frowned, and before Willa could jump in to explain the joke, Delaney steered things back to her and Liam.

"Anyway, it's so nice to meet you in person finally. Virtual's, like, the worst, right?"

That got Liam's attention, and Delaney's belly fluttered at the joy of it. She loved to work people like magic.

"Yes," he agreed. "It's been so hard starting a new school without really getting to meet everyone. Even Scouts has beenonline."

"It sucks," Noah piped up, having exhausted the baby-carrot supply. "My teachers are so boring."

"Even me?" Willa said in an exaggerated fashion, like she was Mary Poppins or something.

"You're not a teacher," he countered. "And you're actually cool. What experiment are we going to do next?"

"I'm still noodling on that," Willa said, tapping the side of her head and giving a conspiratorial wink. "But for now, what do you say we go tear up the dance floor?"

The kid lit up like Christmas morning, and Willa whisked him off to join the Cupid Shuffle. Delaney turned back to Liam, but he was already in motion. "Count me in! I love this one!" he exclaimed, and ran off to join them. And then there were two.

Wyatt pulled a vape from his pocket, took a puff, then offered it in Delaney's direction.

"Want some?"

"You brought a weed vape?"

"I brought more than that." Wyatt waggled his eyebrows. "Well, technically Blaine did."

"No thanks." Delaney liked to remain in control as much as possible. Drugs made her unpredictable.

The song changed to some hip-pop thing, and Delaney watched as Eden dragged Declan onto the dance floor. Soon she was twerking on him.

"You're hot when you're mad."

Delaney startled at Wyatt's warm breath in her ear.

"Gross," she said back. Wyatt pretended to be hurt, then shrugged. "Eden's just having fun," Delaney deflected. "She's my friend, so I'm not worried."

"But she is single, right?" Wyatt devoured the view.

"Yes, but you're not her type." Delaney barely refrained from much crueler specificity.

Wyatt let his attention drift over to Liam and Willa, and Delaney followed suit. Liam had actual dance chops. He was leading, spinning Willa around, fancy footwork, the whole nine yards. And Willa was matching him.

"What about her? They hooking up?" Wyatt asked.

"Willa and Liam? No. No way. Willa's never had a boyfriend. I think that's why she's been so weird about Declan and me. She really wants one."

Wyatt and Willa would be cute, Delaney mused. Their names even kind of matched. That would be very convenient, a solution to the way Willa really didn't fit in with Delaney's new friend group. She'd only invited her to this party because Delaney's mom had insisted. Willa's mom had called hers or something, said Willa was feeling left behind.

"Wow, thanks for the info." Wyatt and his goofy-ass smile made their way right over to the dance floor to cut in, and Willa was too polite to decline. Delaney was about to go have a turn with Liam, when Camille slammed into her side.

"There you are! Come here, come here!"

Camille dragged Delaney over to the bar, where Eden was waiting, breathless and giggling.

"I can't believe she actually showed!" Camille gasped.

"This is going to be good. You have the stuff?" Eden's stare shot past the dance floor, across the patio. Delaney followed her gaze, eyes landing on a familiar face she couldn't quite place.

Camille reached into the pocket of her jeans for something. She bit her lip. "You're sure this is going to work?"

"Oh, totally, it'll be an awesome prank."

"Who are we pranking?" Delaney asked, sure to keep her tone light and fun. She didn't want to seem either nosy or judgmental.

"Piper Giambruno," Eden said, like Delaney was a moron. There she was, tentatively snagging a cheddar cube from the food table. Delaney had never seen Piper dolled up at school. Her dark brown hair was smoothed into a sleek high pony, and her eyelids sparkled with glitter.

"My god." Camille practically choked with laughter. "She's in competition hair and makeup. That's so sad."

In contrast, Camille's dark blond hair was down, teased into finger waves, not a speck of body or face glitter to be found. The antithesis of her gymnastics persona, which Delaney had seen many times over the years. On nights out like this, Camille liked to rebel against the tomboy stereotypes that competitive athletes were saddled with. Piper was less assured in her personal party style.

"So what's the prank?" Delaney asked. Camille and Eden exchanged a look between them, the kind that made Delaney's stomach turn over. Evidence of conversations she'd been excluded from, of the widening chasm between Delaney and Camille: the awkwardification of their friendship trio.

Eden waved her off. "Declan told us over lunch, but it's better if you don't know, for deniability reasons. Don't worry about it. It'll be some explosive television, though, that's for sure." She and Camille cracked into giggles again.

So this was for Declan's footage—Eden's way of ingratiating herself with Delaney's boyfriend. The fight was on. Delaney put on her game face, razor-sharp canines exposed, and laughed along with them.