The Hidden - Jessica Verday [76]
I squinted, and stared back, positive that I’d seen him somewhere before. He looked so familiar.
But the memory wouldn’t come to me.
“I have to get to school,” I whispered to Kristen. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be thinking about you. I miss you. And I love you.”
I laid my hand on the top of the stone, but when I looked up again, the man was gone.
Chapter Twenty
THE HOLLOW BALL
It was toward evening that Ichabod arrived at the castle of Heer Van Tassel, which he found thronged with the pride and flower of the adjacent country.
—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
I made last-minute plans with Beth and Ben for the Hollow Ball right after the bell rang for last period. “Are we doing the limo at seven or seven thirty tonight?” Ben asked. “I have to let the driver know.”
“Seven thirty,” I answered. Beth nodded her agreement.
“Your dress is red, right?” Ben said.
“How did you—”
“I told him,” Beth said. “Yeah, it’s red,” she confirmed.
“I’ll stick with a red bow tie, then, and I’ll be there around seven thirty to pick you up. I’ll be wearing my sexay suit.” Ben wiggled his eyebrows at us before turning to walk away.
Beth laughed, and I rolled my eyes at him. But I couldn’t help a small smile either.
“Are you going to the salon with me?” Beth asked as soon as he was gone. “My aunt works there and she does hair and makeup. I can totally get her to squeeze you in.”
“Yeah, sure, I guess.” Hair, makeup, the dress … it all seemed like such a process to go through.
Beth squealed. “Awesome! Drop your books off, then, and let’s go, girl! Time is wasting, and we have to get beautiful.”
Caspian was nowhere to be found as I made my way to my locker, so I sent him a quick Gng 2 do hair w/ Beth text.
A few seconds later his text came through. Ok, have a great time.
I turned to Beth with a forced smile. This is fun, I told myself as we headed outdoors. Just go and have fun with your friend.
I tried to keep my thoughts, and my expression, happy as we drove to the salon. But even with nonstop laughter from all the other senior girls around us getting ready too, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking that this was it. This was the last chance I was going to have to spend time with Beth and Ben. The Revs wouldn’t have been sticking around all this time if it wasn’t going to be soon. If the day I was supposed to die wasn’t almost here.
As false eyelashes were applied to my eyelids, and my nails were buffed, trimmed, and painted, it became harder and harder to keep the smile on my face.
“Hair up, or down?” Beth’s aunt, Lucinda, asked.
I didn’t answer quickly enough, and Beth poked my arm.
“What do you think?” I asked her.
“If you want sexy, I’d suggest up.” Her smile turned mischievous. “And if the date goes really well, you can always let it down later.”
“What about half up, half down?” I said. I didn’t really want sexy for Ben. That just felt … weird. “Could we pull the one side back and maybe put a flower in?”
“Oooh, a red rose. Yes, that’s it,” Lucinda said. “With your coloring it will be beautiful.”
Beth was in the next chair over, getting her dark hair piled high and talking to Lucinda’s right-hand man about Grant. “Nice,” she said, pausing to eye me up as Lucinda got to work. “Good choice.”
“Thanks.” I smiled back at her.
When we were finally finished, Beth dropped me off at home. Caspian was upstairs, sitting in my desk chair. He was reading a book, so I entered my room quietly so I wouldn’t disturb him.
“Hey, Astrid,” he said.
My special name made my heart trip, and I went over to him. Even after all this time, my first instinct when I saw him was to try to put my arms around him. “Hi,” I said back shyly.
He gazed up at me. “You look beautiful.”
“Thanks.” My cheeks were on fire.
“Tonight’s the big night, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Will you be careful?”
“I will. Cacey said she and Uri will be there, so don’t worry about Vincent. Besides,