After her father's tragic passing, Nora Davis is forced behind the scenes, nothing more than a stepping stone for others in their journey to stardom. When an opportunity presents itself, Nora, trapped under her stepmother's heel, takes it as her cha...
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Felicity scoffed, "I knew it. He's not coming and you're a dirty liar."
"Would you relax?" Nora said, still scratching lyrics onto her notes. "It's only a few minutes past the hour. Give him some time."
Her stepsister crossed her arms, her cleavage peeking delicately from under the sky blue long sleeve v-neck she wore. "Eli Leonger is hardly ever late. He's even at school on time."
Nora raised an eyebrow but still did not glance up, "I'm somewhat frightened you know that."
"Oh grow up, Nora! You're about to have the most popular boy in our school—heck, maybe our country—in our home and you don't even care. You're wearing sweats!"
She was wearing joggers (not sweats) and a Daxton Cavenaugh tee. Not that it mattered. She wasn't out to impress Eli Leonger anyway. Once this project was over, he'd go back to ignoring her. So why try?
Nora put her mechanical pencil down. "These are joggers. And what about Ian?"
"Ian?"
She pursed her lips. How could Felicity be borderline obsessed with Eli and not even know who Ian is? If you asked her, she'd have preferred Ian come over. Not his brother. "Ian Leonger. He's popular."
Felicity scrunched up her nose. "Ian's a Sophomore. Eli is a Senior," she said as if the two statements alone explained it.
"So?"
Felicity shook her head and snapped her bubblegum loudly. "I'm not going to waste my breath explaining it to you."
Nora rolled her eyes. There was no explanation. Both Eli and Ian were popular, yes, and arguably the most popular in school, but being well known should not give one more weight than the other in the contest of likability. What if Eli was a raging asshole? Did his popularity negate that?
No, Nora told herself, he'd still be a raging asshole.
The doorbell chimed.
Felicity sat up straighter, her eyes wide. When Nora didn't move, she said, "Well? Don't keep him waiting!"
Nora rolled her eyes again and briefly wondered if it was true eyes could get stuck that way. The mental image of her answering the door with her eyes all googly made her laugh.
She was still laughing as she opened the door, the winter wind snapping immediately at her cheeks. "Hey," she greeted Eli.
Eli's lips curved into a rather attractive half-smile. "Hey." He pointed to the burly, sweater-wearing guy right behind him. "Do you mind if Markos does a sweep first of the house? It's protocol."
Nora opened the door further, "sure. No problem."
Once they were inside, Markos disappeared to do a quick scope of the main floor. Nora watched him go with a frown.
