Billionaires Don’t Fall For Awkward Girls by Emma Dalton

Chapter Sixteen

Jasmine and I have been practicing like crazy for the dance competition. The qualifiers are only a week away, so I don’t have a lot of time. But that’s not going to hold me back.

“One, two, three, and turn,” Jasmine instructs. I twirl a bit too many times and get so dizzy I need to grab onto the wall for support.

“Darn it. If I wasn’t so uncoordinated…”

She places her hand on my back, rubbing small circles. “You’re fine. Just take a deep breath and let’s continue.”

I follow her instructions, working hard to follow the steps and not make a fool of myself. I need to be perfect.

“You’re getting better,” Jasmine tells me as we take a water break.

I wipe my mouth after guzzling down half the bottle. “But am I good enough?”

She grins. “You will be.”

I wish I shared her confidence. “I’ve been practicing a lot in my room.” Pushing past my exhaustion. After school and work and dance, my body is so dead there’s not a lot of time for practice. But I push myself. My family desperately needs that money.

“That’s great.” She squeezes my arm, bending close. “If you tell anyone I told you this I’ll deny it, but I hope you win.”

My stomach gets all warm and fuzzy. “Really?”

“You’re my favorite student here.”

“No way!”

She laughs. “It’s the truth. And that choreography? It’s killer. You’re very talented.”

My body grows even warmer. “Thanks. It means a lot for you to say that. I just wish I’d be the judges’ favorite too.”

She pats my arm. “You will be.”

I’m not so sure. The competition is steep, and there’s only one winner. The odds are not in my favor.

We practice for another forty-five minutes before it’s time for me to go home. Jasmine wishes me good luck before I leave. I take the bus home, leaning my head on the window and shutting my eyes, picturing myself winning the competition. Presenting that twenty grand to my parents. Watching their eyes pool with tears as they hug the life out of me.

When my eyes open, I notice they sting. Am I crying?

I guess I’m so desperate to win that money for my parents. It’s like the only thing in my life, other than school, that I’m focusing on.

The bus reaches my stop and I get off, walking the short distance to my house. I drop my bag on the kitchen table, inhaling the yummy aroma that is Mom’s food.

There’s some noise from my parents’ bedroom and when I head there, I find Mom struggling to put on her shoes.

“Mom? Aren’t you supposed to be at the Reyes’s?”

She frantically looks at the time. “I should have been there half an hour ago. I took a nap after I got home from school and lost track of time.”

I take in her flushed cheeks, tired eyes, and the sweat on her forehead, and my eyes widen. “Mom, are you feeling okay?” I place my hand on her forehead. “You’re burning up!”

She pulls away from me. “It’s just a slight headache. I’ll take some pills and be okay.”

I take her hands. “No, you can’t overwork yourself like this. You need to rest.” The thought of losing her...

She glances at the clock again. “I have to go to the Reyes’s.”

My grip on her hand is firm. “Call in sick.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t do that, sweetie. We…” She puffs out her cheeks. “We depend on that money. I can’t afford to miss it.”

My insides sear with pain for her. For us. “But you’re so sick you can hardly move. You need to stay in bed and drink lots of fluids.”

“The Reyes’s are expecting me…”

“Then I’ll go.”

Her eyes widen. “What? Sweetie, you need to focus on school and on dance.”

“That’s not important.” I haven’t told either of my parents about the competition because I don’t want to get their hopes up. But right now, I need to save my mom’s job.

Mom searches my eyes. “Are you sure? You must be so tired. And you have homework.”

“It’s fine. Call the Reyes’s and ask them if it’s okay that I come.”

She’s so nervous and worried that her fingers keep making mistakes as she taps on her phone.

I get changed in my room as she talks to Mrs. Reyes, who from what I can hear is more than happy to have me take over for my mom. She knows that there’s no one else quite like her. When Mom does a job, she does it well.

Back in her bedroom, I pull her blanket aside and persuade her to get into bed. “I wish I could stay with you. Will you be okay here by yourself? Dad won’t be home for hours and who knows how long I’ll take.”

She gives me a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine. You be safe, okay? I hate the thought of you on the bus so late at night.” Her eyes flash with even more worry.

I rub her arm. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me. You focus on getting better.”

She nods slowly. “Call me the second you get there.”

I pull the blanket to her chin, then kiss her cheek. “Okay. See you later.”

The Reyes’s live in the next town over, Silverton, so it takes over an hour for the bus to transport me there. I don’t know much about them, only that they’re wealthy and pay Mom good money to clean their mansion.

At my stop, I climb off and walk the seven blocks to the Reyes’s. Their mansion is huge, but not as large as the one in the center of Edenbury, the one that belongs to the Knights.

I walk up the stairs to the front door and ring the bell. No more than a few seconds pass before a man Dad’s age opens the door. Maybe he’s the butler.

“Yes?”

“I’m Danielle Wood, Vivian’s daughter? Here to clean the house.”

He scans me from top to bottom, then widens the door. I enter and glance around. The floors are made from marble, the place adorned with fancy furniture and paintings of different landscapes.

The butler escorts me to the closet stacked with cleaning supplies and tells me to start with the bedrooms on the first floor. I thank him, but before I get to work, I call Mom to tell her I’ve arrived and ask her how she’s feeling.

“A little better,” she tells me, though her voice is weak.

“Make sure to get enough rest, okay? Don’t worry about me.”

She laughs lightly. “I’ll always worry about you. Call me when you’re on break.”

I promise I will, then hang up and start cleaning. The rooms are pretty much clean anyway, but I make sure to do a good job.

A little while later, I find myself in the living room, dusting the china closet filled with so much stuff. I have no idea how they managed to squeeze it all inside.

“Hello,” a voice says from behind me. Turning around, I see a woman a little older than Mom and a girl my age, maybe younger. She’s wearing a uniform from a school I don’t recognize.

“Hi. You must be Mrs. Reyes.”

Smiling, she moves closer to me, holding out her hand. “Please, call me Lucinda.” She gestures to her daughter. “This is Gabriella—Gabby. You must be Vivian’s daughter. Danielle, is it?”

“Dani. I’m sorry my mom couldn’t make it. She’s not feeling well.”

Lucinda waves her hand. “That’s all right, dear. I wish her a speedy recovery.”

I smile. “Thanks.”

She nods and walks off. Gabby grins pleasantly before following her mom. I resume dusting, overhearing Lucinda discussing the dinner menu with the chef in the kitchen.

As I reach for china to clean, my hand knocks into the nearby vase and it drops to the floor, shattering into little pieces. The sound is so loud, like it’s got a mic attached to it.

I gasp, my hands shooting to my mouth as I stare at the little pieces. Oh, no! What have I done? Mom will for sure lose her job now! That vase looked very expensive.

“Hun, are you all ri—?” Lucinda’s eyes widen as she takes in the broken vase on the floor. Gabby rushes in after her.

“I’m so s-sorry!” I stammer. “I was just dusting that china and my hand knocked into the vase and the next second it was on the floor.” My body quakes as tears pool in my eyes.

“Oh, please don’t cry, dear.” Lucinda heads over to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “It was an accident.”

The tears just grow stronger and roll down my cheeks. “Are you sure? Please don’t dock my mom’s pay.”

She shakes her head, bending close to whisper, “Honestly? I was thinking of getting rid of that ugly thing. But it was my husband’s great-great grandmother’s and has been in the family for generations.”

My eyes grow big as I stare down at the broken vase. “For generations? So it’s like a family heirloom,” I moan. I destroyed this family’s heirloom.

Lucinda shakes her head again, squeezing my shoulder as if trying to calm me down.

“More like a family loser-loom,” Gabby says with a laugh. “We all hated that thing.”

I swipe my sleeve over my eyes. “So you’re not upset?” I ask.

“Not in the slightest,” Lucinda reassures me.

“Good thing you didn’t break that one.” Gabby nods to another vase in the china closet. “That one was Mom’s grandma’s and she loves it.”

Her mom gives her a look. “Oh, you hush now. Accidents happen and we can’t cry over broken china, no matter how much sentimental value they have.”

I smile, feeling much better than I did a few minutes ago. No wonder Mom loves this job. These people are great.

Lucinda pats my arm. “I’ll have someone clean the glass. How about a drink? You haven’t taken a break yet, have you?”

“No.”

She tsks before leading me to the kitchen, where she instructs me to sit down at the table and fills a glass of water for me. Gabby sits down across from me. Her white uniform shirt is tucked out from the skirt and the top button is undone. Her brown hair, which was tied into a ponytail when I first met her, spills down her back.

Lucinda puts down the glass before me and rubs my arm before leaving the room, telling me to take as much time as I need.

“Your mother is so nice,” I tell Gabby. “So understanding. Another boss would probably fire me on the spot.”

She lifts a brow. “Really? Over stupid china that no one even cares about anymore?”

I nod. “My mom once worked at a house where the woman got upset over the littlest things. Like my mom accidentally mixed two cleaning products and it was like the world came to an end.”

We both laugh. I take a sip of water, enjoying the cool liquid.

Gabby watches as I take out my phone to check on Mom. She reassures me that she’s fine. She’s catching up on some TV shows from months ago.

“Your mom talks about you all the time,” Gabby tells me after I hang up. “Feels like I know you without even knowing you, you know?”

“Um…I guess.”

She studies me. “You go to Edenbury High, right? What’s it like to go to public school?”

My eyebrows furrow. “I don’t know. I haven’t gone to any other school. You go to private school?”

She groans, rolling her eyes. “An all-girls private school.”

I laugh. “It can’t be that bad. You’re not distracted with boys.”

She groans again. “But I want to be distracted. Like badly. Going to school with girls makes me want to choke to death.” She rolls her eyes again. “Are you a freshman?”

“Junior.”

“I’m a freshman. I begged my mom to let me enroll in Edenbury, but she wouldn’t hear it. I think she doesn’t trust me.” She giggles. “Or maybe she wants me to be around our circles.” She makes a face. “I hate rich people.”

“But you’re rich.”

She makes that face again. “True, but I’m not interested in the BS that goes along with it. Always looking your best, always making sure to uphold the family’s reputation, blah, blah blah.”

I laugh. “You’re funny. But it must be nice to have everything you want. To not worry if you can pay your rent on time or have food on the table.” My cheeks blaze when I realize what just came out of my mouth.

She shakes her head. “I bet you’re free to love whoever you want.”

I lift a brow. “Huh?”

She bends close to whisper, “Some rich people marry just to improve their standing in society or to make alliances and merge companies.”

“Really? I’ve seen that on TV, but never in real life.”

She leans back. “I know a guy—he’s a family friend—who’s forced to marry someone because their families want to merge their empires.”

“Wow. That’s crazy. So backward.”

She nods, shrugging like that’s how it is. “The guy goes to your school. You know Easton Knight?”

My jaw practically reaches the floor. “Easton Knight? He’s in my history class.”

“He’s pretty much engaged.” She shrugs again.

I hold up my hand. “Wait a second. He’s engaged?”

“Not officially or anything, but he and an heiress will get married one day and form a huge empire. Her family owns a very successful tech company and his dad created Spill It!, so if they merge, they’ll be, like, unstoppable.”

I just gape at her, unable to wrap my mind around it. Easton Knight…engaged? “Does he…I mean, do they love each other?”

She laughs like that’s the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard. “Of course not. They don’t marry for love. It’s a business deal and that’s that.”

“But that’s horrible. What kind of life is that?”

She shrugs again. “I guess they could fall in love one day, but that’s rare. My parents don’t want me or my twin brother Carlos to live such a life.”

I fall back in my seat, thinking back to the guy who gave my mom such sweet and warm smiles. Who stood up for her to those stupid girls.

“Who’s the girl? Does she go to your school?” I ask.

“Bianca Burrell. She lives on the other side of Silverton, and yeah, she goes to my school.” She makes a sour face.

This town is full of rich people, so it’s not surprising that they go to the same school. The Knights are the only rich family in Edenbury, and I’m curious why he goes to my school instead of a rich boarding school.

“I’m guessing you don’t like her?” I ask with a light laugh.

She rolls her eyes. “What gave it away? I stay away from her like the plague.”

I’m about to ask more about this girl, but the butler peers into the room. “I’m afraid it’s time to return to work.”

I leap to my feet. “I’m so sorry. We got carried away.”

He nods. “No problem, but please finish up.”

I cringe. “That was so unprofessional of me.”

Gabby just chuckles. “Relax. No one’s going to kill you or fire your mom. She’s the best cleaner we’ve ever had.” She bends close. “One woman took three hours to clean one room. Another made more of a mess than cleaning up.” She snickers. “We love your mom. I hope she feels better soon.”

“Thanks.”

As I continue cleaning, all I think about is what Gabby told me about Easton. I just can’t fathom such a thing. But what do I know about his world?