Pride

Why her?”

Kane smiled cryptically.

“Why not?”

The most memorable moment in my life was the time when I…

Growing up in a small town, I always believed that someday I would…

If there’s one thing I know in life, it’s that I…

Pathetic!

Beth slumped against the wall of the kitchen, ignoring the sticky grease patches that quickly dampened her polyester uniform. Her college applications were due in a couple weeks, and if she wanted to make up for her horrible SAT scores… She shivered at the memory of filling in all those tiny bubbles as tears spattered against the test booklet. It was bad enough Adam had broken up with her without any warning, had accused her of cheating on him, had tossed her away without a second thought-but she could never forgive him for doing it all the night before the SATs. If he were trying to ruin her life, he’d made a pretty damn good start.

No, if she didn’t come up with an amazing application essay, something that would blow the mind of any admissions officer who read it, she could kiss her future goodbye.

“Manning! Table seven’s still waiting for their food!” her manager called. One of the other waitresses, blowing past on her way back to the main dining area, shot her a dirty look: You may think you’re better than us, it said. You’re wrong.

Without college, she’d have a future, all right-a long and unprosperous life of flipping burgers at the Nifty Fifties diner, smiling pathetically at all her former classmates as they breezed through on spring break before heading back to their real lives in the real world. Not like she had any time to deal with her applications, the magic ticket to a new life-she was working double shifts to pay for this ski trip that Kane was insisting on, and every spare minute was spent at home, babysitting her little brothers. Leave it to me to get busier over winter break, she thought bitterly.

Beth stood up and tried to muster enough energy to face her customers, still furiously writing and rewriting in her head.

I’m a boring girl from a boring town, but I make a mean burger and fries…

“Waitress! We’ve been waiting for our food forever!”

Beth looked over to table seven-and almost turned on her heel and fled back to the kitchen. Spending her vacation at the diner, mopping up spilled milk shakes, ducking grease spatter, and taking orders from every surly, hygienically challenged customer who walked through the door, was bad enough. This was worse. It was what she hated most about this job: taking orders from her friends.

Scratch that-her former friends.

Christie, Nikki, Marcy, and Darcy were all dating guys from the basketball team. Which guys? Beth could never keep track-sometimes, she wondered if they could, either.

Before she’d started dating Adam, back when she was just another faceless nobody, they’d refused to acknowledge her existence. Oh, they knew her name, all right-the Haven High seniors had been trapped in one building or another together since kindergarten. There were no strangers in a small town. But you would never have known it, not from the blank stares when she crossed their path, from the way they looked right through her, as if she didn’t exist. As if she were nothing.

Then she’d started dating Adam-captain of the basketball team (and every other team that mattered), perennial homecoming king, Haven High’s golden boy-and suddenly, the Nikkis and the Christies of the world had welcomed her with open arms. More than that, they’d begged her to join them.

Come to Christie’s sleepover party and home spa day!

Hang with us at Nikki’s for tanning and iced Frappacinos!

Let’s all buy this super-cute pink scarf-and then wear them on the same day!

And so, despite her overstuffed schedule, despite never trusting them or her newfound status, she’d given in. Any free time she’d had that didn’t go to the newspaper or to the diner or to her family or to Adam-and granted, after all that, there wasn’t much left-went to the girls. It had been fun; it had also been, as she now realized, a mistake. A big one.

For as far as they knew, she’d cheated on Adam, broken his heart. So in their eyes, he was still Prince Charming, while she’d been transformed into the wicked witch.

She’d been a stranger, she’d become a friend-now, apparently, she was the enemy.

“Waitress!” Nikki called, waving her over. “Is there a problem? We’re starving.”

You know my name, Beth retorted-silently. Aloud, she said only, “It’ll be here as soon as possible, Nikki.” Through gritted teeth.

“It better be,” Nikki growled.

“Or what?” The words slipped out before Beth could stop herself.

“What did you say?” Nikki asked with incredulity. She turned to her left. “Christie, is it just me, or is the waitress being rather rude?”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t be rude, Nikki,” Christie responded in a voice oozing with false goodwill. “Since she knows that then we’d simply have no choice but to complain to the manager.”

“You’re right. I’m sure I must have misheard,” Nikki conceded. “You can go now, waitress,” she said haughtily, flicking Beth away like a speck of dirt on her white pants. “Just bring us the food when it’s ready-and try not to cheat us on the bill. If you can help yourself.”

Beth forced a smile and walked away with a steady step. Maybe, if she pretended hard enough that the mockery didn’t bother her, it would stop. Or, at the very least, her feigned indifference might eventually transform itself into something real. But for now, it was all still an act-and the show wasn’t over yet. She was only steps away when she heard Marcy’s intentionally loud complaint: “I just don’t know what’s wrong with the service these days.”

In spite of herself, Beth hesitated, and turned around.

“Well, you know what my mother always says,” Nikki replied, glaring directly at Beth. “These days, it’s impossible to find good help.”

Beth wanted to crawl into a dark hole. She wanted to quit her job, run home, hide under the covers, and wait there until graduation. But instead, she just strode across the restaurant to take her next order, figuring that, at the very least, her shift couldn’t get any worse.

Wrong again.

“Hi, beautiful.”

Kane peeked his head out from behind a menu and smiled up at her. Surprise.

Beth nibbled on the inside of her lip and hoped he wouldn’t notice the tears that had formed at the edges of her eyes. She hated for him to see her like this-in uniform, serving people, being humiliated. Had he seen her with Nikki and crew? Had he heard?

“What are you doing here?” she asked, masking her distress with annoyance.

“I heard the place has the cutest waitresses in town,” he deadpanned, grabbing her hand and twining her fingers through his own. “Thought I’d come check it out.”

“So what’s the verdict?” Beth asked, flushing.

“Jury’s still out,” he said, rising to give her a kiss. “But maybe you’d like to offer a bribe that would tip the scales?”

Beth wriggled out of his grasp.

“Kane, stop,” she protested, backing away. She didn’t want him near her. Not with grease patches dotting her shirt, not when she smelled like coleslaw and onion rings. “I asked you not to come here when I’m working,” she snapped. “It’s distracting.”

“Your wish is my command-I’m out of here,” Kane promised, a knowing smile fixed on his face. “I just wanted to give you this.”

He handed her a small box, elegantly wrapped in light silver paper. Beth didn’t know what to say.

“It’s not my birthday, and-”

“I just saw it and thought of you,” he explained, resting a hand on her lower back. “Open it.”

Slightly flushed, Beth carefully pulled off the wrapping paper and lifted the lid of the box. Inside lay a beautiful sky blue scarf. It was exactly the same shade as her eyes.