Prom Theme was the last of her worries, but it was the highlight of everyone else's conversations. She'd put in her vote for Under the Sea, which was as cliche as it got, but the other two options were just as bad: Old Hollywood and Carnival.

She sat in the Student Council room, sighing as Marnie Smith waved the jar of votes in her hand. "This is the moment we've all been waiting for!" She was theatrical, but Bee expected that from a drama student. Marnie had been involved in every school play and musical the school had to offer since middle school.

"Give me a drumroll please!" She crowed, waving the jar in her hand. The rest of the student council obliged, giving a loud drumroll. Marnie plucked out the total vote count. She opened it painfully slow, dramatically, and then she said: "Tada! It's Carnival!"

There was a unanimous cheer. Everyone immediately dived into talking about their ideas, and usually Bee would be excited, but she was too focused on last night's practice. Tonight, she had to bring it harder, had to show Oakland just how much she deserved to play on the team.

"What do you think, Bee? You're awfully quiet today."

Usually, she loved event planning. She rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. "Let me think about it. I'm not... feeling so good today. I promise I'll have more to say tomorrow."

Marnie gave her a pitying look. The whole school practically knew the whole drama with Bee and the baseball team. It was hard not to know, when Bee was the only female player on a boys team.

The rest of student council dug in, throwing out color schemes and ideas and all sorts of plans for prom. They seemed excited, even if they didn't personally vote for the idea, because student council was filled with people who enjoyed event planning, no matter the theme.

Bee rubbed her temples, then reached into her backpack to pull out her laptop. She opened it, typing in pinterest.com into the address bar. She wasn't in the mood, but being here, upset and angry, wasn't helping.

She immediately searched carnival prom, seeing the fancy popcorn archways and all the kissing booths. Honestly, the thought of a kissing booth made her cringe, but she knew plenty of people that would enjoy having it there.

She raised her hand, and amidst all the excited calling out from her classmates, Marnie called on her, clearly delighted to see Bee taking part.

"What if we set up carnival games and booths? So, we have it at the Nonantum resort, right? Well, we could have the booths set up outside, where we usually do mingling. Inside, we can do food and dancing. That way, people can do either or."

There was a big burst of chatter immediately, people jumping on the idea. "Oh-em-gee. I have so many ideas. What about a kissing booth? We could totally get Jefferson to run it. He's such a hottie."

More people began to warm up to the idea, and Bee kept going. "And we could do tickets. Maybe we start by giving out six at the door, and as a fundraiser, people can pre-purchase them? Maybe we do 2 tickets per booth?"

Others were nodding their heads, throwing out booth ideas. "A ring toss would be cool!" Someone said. Another added, "yeah, how about we do water gun race!"

The ideas were coming quicker now, and Marnie was jotting down the ideas as quickly as they came, filling up the whiteboard with booth and game ideas. It was quickly starting to feel real, like maybe they were putting on a real carnival.

"Who is going to run all these booths?" A girl in the front asked.

That was a good question, one Bee hadn't thought of yet. She pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth in thought. "Parent volunteers? Student volunteers? Honestly, I don't know. Teachers?"

Marnie shrugged. "We'll ask around. Now that we have a theme and some ideas, I think it's okay to wrap up for the day." She looked at the watch on her wrist, her eyes narrowing. "We still have a few minutes left of our open block before 4th period."
At that, Bee shot up and excused herself to the bathroom. Now that they started talking about prom, Bee was actually excited to plan. She was already thinking of ideas that they could do with the booths and the decorations. Planning had successfully taken her mind off of other things, like baseball, until she rounded the corner in the hallway and saw a group of Park School boys standing against the lockers.

They all were on the baseball team, or were trying to be, and they wore the same sweatshirt. It read PARK SCHOOL BASEBALL and it matched the baseball caps they were wearing. It looked like a protest of sorts.

Bee took a step back, deciding to find another bathroom, but she was caught red handed. She saw Oakland's cocky grin stretch across his face, and he tugged his hat low, hiding his eyes. For a moment, she felt ice cold fear rush down her spine. They all looked up to no good, like they were scheming about how to get placements on her team.

"Going somewhere, Beatrice?"

She didn't care how he figured out her real name. It wasn't a secret, but it was rare when someone called her by it, usually a formality at most. What she did care about was how he sounded like he was going to use it against her.

She jutt her chin out. "Why? Desperate to spend more time together?" It came out as a sneer, but inside, she felt frozen and full of unease. His hat was tugged low enough that she couldn't read the expression on his face, but she could see the glint in his teammates' eyes.

He slammed his locker closed and stepped towards her. "Is your hand sore?"

She flexed her hand, then tightened it into a fist. "Should it? Cause if that's what you were trying to do last night, you fell short." Lies, but she wasn't going to tell him the truth. "I bet that's not the first time you heard that sentence though, right? I bet every night you fall short."

A slow, easy grin covered his face as he sauntered closer. "Baby, I can show you just how much I exceed expectations. Just you and me, up against each other, fighting for dominance. I bet you're a biter, aren't you?" He chomped his teeth playfully in her face, and she acted uninterested, but his words made her feel hot all over. She felt it right below her tummy, and she hated it.

On the outside, she cocked her head. "Oh really? That's not what Jasmine Richards was saying last week."

Jasmine Richards had been gloating last week about her night spent with the best looking Park School boy around. Her words, not Bee's, and Bee hadn't really been listening. Of course, when Jasmine had been gushing about it in English, she only had good things to say. Oakland didn't need to know about that, though.

Oakland grinned. "Well, you aren't Jasmine, are you? Jasmine, to be honest, was a little bore in bed, if you know what I mean. You however, I bet you play dirty. Nothing good-girl about you in the sheets, is there, my little biter."

The words made Bee's face turn five shades of red, because she wouldn't know how she was in bed. She was as much of a virgin as any nun around. It was something she didn't like to admit, or really think about, because when it came to sex and pleasure, Bee knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not how to pleasure a man, and definitely not how to pleasure herself.

To Oakland, she winked. "A good lay never tells."

Oakland was close enough to her now that he could touch her. His hand immediately wrapped around her throat in a teasing way, tight enough to make her eyes widen, but not in any way abusive. He brought his face close to hers, the smile on his lips completely cunning. He spun them, pushing her against the lockers so she was trapped.

With his free hand, he slid his hat around. Suddenly nervous, she tried to swallow. "You aren't supposed to wear hats in school."

His grin was feral. "Oh, little Beatrice. I am going to destroy you. The spot on the team is mine. Your position is mine. And soon enough, you too will be mine. Completely mine. Just wait until I ruin you."

His words were not nice. No, they were threatening. But, she felt hot all over, especially down there, and she wanted to kiss him, which went against her hatred for him. This is some sort of anger-lust. That's all.

If he was going to play hard, so was she. She pushed herself on her tiptoes, close enough to kiss him. She kissed his jaw, and then bit it, soothing it over with a swipe of her tongue. The stubble was delicious against her lips. "Oh, Oakey, baby, it's the other way around. It's you who will be absolutely ruined, my park school boy." And then, before she could chicken out, she drew her knee to his crouch. It was immediately, and he let her go, doubling over in pain, letting out a shout.

She stepped around his body in a rush, waving at his friends. "See you tonight, lover boy."

She ran to the bathroom, not sure she was completely safe. She felt out of breath, and her chest burned, and she wondered just what had come over her. She never flirted. She never kissed boys, even on the jaw. And she certainly never kneed them.

She leaned against the stall door. What have I done? She knew tonight was going to be so much worse now. He was going to be thirsty for her blood, she was sure of it, but it had to be done. He needed to be reminded that this was her school and her team, and he wasn't going to play with her. She just needed to make sure her feelings were on the same page.