Elite (Empire High, #2)

by Ivy Smoak

Matthew Caldwell loved me. For just a second, my heart didn’t feel so broken.

“I’ll never hurt your heart. You’re my forever, Brooklyn.”

“Oh my God, what is wrong with me?” “Not a single thing.”

But I knew Matt’s promises weren’t guaranteed. He promised me all sorts of things in the darkness of night. But in the light of day? I wasn’t sure he meant a word of it.

I didn’t need a soft mattress or nice things. All I needed was a home where I was loved. And this would never be it.

Who wears shoes to dinner? The first answer that popped into my head was Nazis.

He walked over to the door but then stopped and turned around. “For the record, a guy who doesn’t stick up for you isn’t someone who’s worth your time.”

“Your mom liked syrup on her eggs too.” I looked up at him. “Yeah. She did.” I wasn’t sure why it surprised me that he knew that. Clearly he did know her. My mom never made it sound like a one-night stand or anything. I was pretty sure she’d been in love with him. Had he felt that too?

I felt so small. And that was the whole problem. Something about being with Matt always made me feel small. At least when we were around other people.

I get that you didn’t want Isabella to know we were dating. But even strangers can be kind. And I don’t want to be with someone who isn’t.”

“You look so much like her.” “My mom?” His smile was so sad. “I loved her. But she never would have fit into this world. I know you don’t want to be here. I know all this isn’t you. But please try. Please be patient with my wife and Isabella. I don’t want to lose you too. You’re all I have left of her.”

He stood up and grabbed the newspaper. But before he walked off, he peeled away the page with the crossword puzzle and handed it to me.

Then the sophomore float started to go by and I could barely breathe. Matt was standing in the middle of it, still in his football gear but without the helmet. A few of his teammates were on either side of him. He was holding a microphone in his hand and staring right at me. Music started blaring through the speakers of the stadium. It was a You’re An American Reject song that I knew pretty well called My Dirty Little Secret.

“What is happening?” Kennedy asked right before Matt lifted the mic to his mouth. She gasped. “Oh my God he’s going to sing to you.” “No he’s not.” “This one’s for all the beautiful ladies out there!” Matt yelled into the microphone. “See,” I said, but my voice was so weak I doubted Kennedy heard it. Had he really moved on that quickly? Hadn’t I? I swallowed hard. I hadn’t. That was the whole problem. “Just kidding,” Matt said. “This one’s for my girl. Brooklyn Sanders in the house!”

“I’ve never wasted a second on you!” Matt sang as Coach Carter lunged for one of his legs. “Shit,” Matt said as he ran into one of his backup dancers. I was pretty sure he mumbled it, but it was into a microphone so it was really freaking loud. I started laughing harder than I had in a really long time. This was freaking amazing.

I didn’t want their life. I wanted a little house in Delaware with a yellow kitchen.

“I loved your mom because she was everything I could never have. She didn’t care what people thought of her. She was beautiful inside and out. She was honest. She was…happy.”

Mr. Pruitt walked up the stairs, stopping one step below me. “She kept it all these years?” He reached out and touched the fabric. It barely seemed like he was looking at me. It was more like he was looking through me. “You knew my mom used to wear this?” He smiled. “I bought it for her.” His hand fell from my shoulder strap. She kept it all these years. “You look just as gorgeous as she did.”

James Hunter was not a very nice boy.

James had kissed me. If all those rumors were true about her being betrothed to James, I’d just touched what was hers. I’d crossed the line.

“Well you should read between the lines.” “There’s probably knives between the lines.”