Page 1 of Once Upon a Beast

Prologue

Long Island New York

Ten years ago

“Your dress is beautiful, Ara. It’s the perfect color and style for you. Where did you get it?” Layla asked.

Layla and Ara had met in camp over five years ago and had immediately become best friends. Ara lived in New York City while Layla lived in Long Island, but that didn’t stop them from seeing each other as much as they could or talking on the phone. Layla had spent many weekends in New York with Ara. It helped that her father had frequent business in the city and allowed Layla to tag along.

“I got lucky and found it in the back of a store in the mall. I think the salesperson was even surprised they had it. I knew when I saw it, it was going to be the dress. When I tried it on, it was. I can’t wait to wear it next month.”

“Did you talk to Bash? Is he going to take you?” Layla asked, mentioning Ara’s on again off again boyfriend who lived in California.

“Of course not, the man is dead to me. He couldn’t even find the time to call me the other day when I told him he needed to. If he can’t follow basic instructions, then what’s the point in being with him? Plus, Stephen Collier asked me to go, so I’m going to go with him.”

“I thought you didn’t like him?” Layla asked.

“What can I say, he grew on me. We have analytical geometry together and he asked me to help him with some homework. We got talking and well, he ended up asking me to prom. It was so cute; I couldn’t say no.”

“Plus, you hadn’t heard from Bash and you want to go.” Layla knew that as much as Ara wanted to go to prom with Bash, she wasn’t going to wait around for him to ask her. It was something Ara had been looking forward to since she started high school. She wasn’t going to let her long-distance boyfriend ruin that for her.

“Yes. So, what about you? Are you going? Did Nic ask you? Did you find a dress?”

“That would be a no on all counts,” Layla said.

“What? Why not? You have to go to prom!”

“It’s not as big of a deal for me as it is for you. Plus, I don’t have anyone to go with.”

“What about Nic? I bet if you were to tell him you wanted to go, he would totally take you,” Ara suggested.

“Not going to happen. That isn’t how it’s done. You won’t even do that with Bash.”

“I might have suggested very strongly and hinted that it was coming up and that he needed to come out to take me. There are ways of doing it without actually doing it. Do you want some suggestions?”

“No. Nic and I are friends, nothing more.”

“What better person to go to prom with than a friend?” Ara said.

Layla laughed. “Really? Is that what you and Stephen are doing? Are you going as friends?”

“Not at the moment, but if things change with Bash, then I might have to.”

“Does Stephen know that?”

“Yes. I’ve been honest with him. It was what helped make a connection. He was going through a bad break-up too.”

“So, are you using each other to make your significant others jealous?” Layla asked.

“Something like that. You might do the same thing with Nic.”

Layla shook her head and closed her eyes. In a moment of desperation, she had admitted to Ara that she thought that Nic, one of her oldest and dearest friends, was cute. He might have given her some looks that made her think that he was interested in her but he never did anything about it. Layla was sure it was all in her head. They had been friends since they were kids. Their fathers were close and she saw Nic all the time. She couldn’t imagine living with the embarrassment if she were to ask Nic to prom and he said no.

“No. We’re friends. We’ve always been friends and that’s what we will always be,” Layla said.

“Well, if you want, I could find someone at my school to take you to prom or better yet you could go to mine. How fun would that be?”

“It would be wonderful to go to the dance with you, but you don’t have to find me a date. I’m perfectly fine staying at home. The dance isn’t important to me.”