IMAGINE THIS: Sidekicks

Last week I introduced you to Claire from FAERY UNEXPECTED. This week, I’d like you to meet Claire’s best friend, Lexie! Yep. It’s true. Sidekicks have lives and loves too, and LEXIE’S CHOICE gives us a glimpse into Lexie’s world … heavily influenced though it may be by Claire 😀

Hope you enjoy this opening to Lexie’s moment in the spotlight 😀

MY BEST FRIEND is a faery princess. No. Really. Claire is the descendent of a long-ago faery princess who defied her father and married a mortal. And Claire, lucky girl, is the end of the line, so to speak. Hard as it is to believe, on her fifteenth birthday, she inherited a dragon and began her transformation. It took a couple of months and a lot of drama, but when it was over, she was a real, live faery princess…with an attitude.

Claire has never been a pushover, and the mere fact that her blood had betrayed her didn’t mean she was going to meekly accept the king of Faery’s authority over her. Just because the guy was a king and her many-times-removed-great-grandfather did not mean she would be an obedient little princess. No sir. Not my best bud, Claire!

Since she’s not a docile little faery, she worked a deal to stay in the mortal realm during the school year and broke the unexpected news to me and her parents. Can you believe that king guy’s nerve? He actually thought he could just steal Claire away with no explanation and give her parents a booby prize in return…twins!

I’ve already got twin brothers. I can tell you, they’re no prize.

But, this story isn’t about Claire. Not really. It’s about me. The Best Friend. The Sidekick. Yeah. Sidekicks have lives too, and I like mine just fine, thank you very much. At least, most of the time…

I leaned my forehead against the cool metal of my locker and sighed. “I still can’t believe Brent asked me to prom.” Brent Rodgers, my boyfriend, was so much more in Claire’s league than mine, but early on he’d chosen me. After we discovered Claire’s faery princess status, he’d been relieved, but I still wondered from time to time if Claire’s erstwhile dragon, Roddy, hadn’t put a hex on him. I mean seriously, who in their right mind would choose me over Claire? Especially a hunky, captain-of-the-football team, straight-A kinda guy like Brent?

Claire slammed her locker shut and rolled her eyes at me. “Like he was going to ask anyone else. Honestly, Lexie. You two have been an item forever!”

She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the front door and freedom from high school drudgery. “This is so cool. You and Brent. Me and Roddy. The four of us going to prom together.” She squeezed my arm and beamed an angelic smile. “Just like we dreamed when we were kids!”

I smiled back at her; I couldn’t help it. Her excitement was infectious. But that didn’t cure the gnawing in the pit of my stomach. We’d almost reached her car before she noticed my silent brooding.

“What?” she asked. “You’re not seriously worried about Brent. The guy’s been crazy about you for years. So spill. Why so depressed?”

I leaned against her cherry red Mustang convertible and expelled a long sigh. “It’s the same old story. I can’t afford a nice dress. Boring, I know.”

The economy, in general, sucked in our little southwest Washington town, but my family’s finances were in the crapper. Dad had been laid off two years ago and hadn’t found another job. Mom had snagged a part-time secretarial position, but it paid peanuts. By some miracle, Dad was still collecting unemployment and since he was home, my preschool sister, Candy, had managed to avoid day-care. My fifteen-year-old twin brothers and I all had after-school jobs to help with clothes and food money, but there was no way our limited budget would stretch to pay for the kind of prom dress I drooled over.

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