The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 96: Chapter 96 - The Homecoming Queen and King

Mrs. Gonzalez lifted the envelope.

The room went loud before she even opened it.

People pushed closer to the platform. Phones went up. Angela grabbed Roxie’s arm hard enough to make her look over, and Karen stood on her other side with her arms crossed, eyes sharp on the stage like she could threaten the envelope into behaving.

Roxie tried to smile.

Her heart was pounding so hard she felt it in her throat.

The crown looked cheap. The sash looked cheap. The whole thing was a school dance with balloons, streamers, and teachers standing around with clipboards, but somehow Roxie wanted it.

She wanted her name.

She wanted to hear the room react.

She wanted to stand on that little platform in Mrs. Robinson’s borrowed Jovani dress and pretend every lie she had told tonight had turned real.

Mrs. Gonzalez unfolded the paper and smiled into the microphone.

”Your homecoming king is Zachary Prescott.”

The gym erupted.

The football players shouted first. Mason lifted both arms and yelled like he had personally won too. The Ravens near the platform started clapping and shoving Zac forward. Girls screamed. Phones tilted toward him. Someone started chanting his name, and the sound spread through the group near the stage.

Zac stepped onto the platform with an awkward smile, one hand running over the back of his neck before Mrs. Gonzalez handed him the sash.

Roxie clapped.

She made herself clap.

Zac looked good up there. Of course he did. Black suit, loosened tie, scrape near his jaw, that easy golden boy smile coming back because everyone expected it from him. He looked like the exact boy Briarwick wanted to crown.

He looked toward the crowd.

His eyes found Roxie.

For half a second, the smile on his face changed.

Her chest tightened.

Then Mrs. Gonzalez opened the second envelope.

”And your homecoming queen is...”

For one stupid second, Roxie let herself believe it. She watched her mouth closely waiting for her name.

Kendall Whitlock.”

The room exploded again.

Roxie’s hands kept clapping. Her chest tightened.

The sound felt far away.

Angela’s grip tightened around her arm. Karen went very still beside her.

Kendall’s friends screamed near the platform. A few cheerleaders clapped louder. Someone whistled. Kendall stepped forward in her white dress, smooth and bright under the lights, her silver chain catching at her waist with every step.

She smiled like she had known.

Maybe she had.

Mrs. Gonzalez placed the sash over her shoulder, then set the plastic crown carefully into her hair. Kendall laughed softly, pretty enough that the phone cameras loved it.

Roxie smiled.

She had practiced that kind of smile without knowing it. The kind that said she was happy for someone else. The kind that said losing had barely touched her. The kind that said she had never wanted the crown enough for it to hurt.

Even with the dress, the earrings, the sandals, the whole borrowed beautiful lie wrapped around her body, she had lost.

The thought stung sharper than she expected.

Angela leaned closer. ”Roxie.”

”I’m okay,” Roxie said quickly.

Karen looked at her. ”You look like you want to throw punch at the stage.”

”I’m smiling.”

”You are showing teeth.”

”I’d show you teeth if you don’t stop.”

”Sorry.”

Roxie lowered her hands and kept the smile in place anyway.

On the platform, Zac and Kendall stood side by side while Mrs. Gonzalez said something about school spirit and leadership. The words blurred. Roxie watched Kendall adjust the sash over her white dress, watched Zac accept his crown with a small laugh, watched people frame them together on their phone screens.

Zachary Prescott and Kendall Whitlock.

The names sounded right together when Mrs. Gonzalez said them.

That was the worst part.

Karen muttered under her breath, ”That must be awkward after the party.”

Roxie turned her head, wanting any excuse to stop looking at the stage. ”They look friendly to me.”

Karen glanced at Angela, then back at Zac. ”After he smashed her phone? Sure.”

Roxie’s stomach tightened.

Angela winced.

Roxie looked at her. ”What?”

Angela’s face shifted with regret. ”I heard something from Tessa.”

”Heard what?”

Angela hesitated, and that hesitation already told Roxie enough.

Karen clicked her tongue. ”Say it now. You already started.”

Angela lowered her voice. ”The Prescotts went to Kendall’s house after that incident.”

Roxie stared at her. ”His parents?”

Angela nodded slowly. ”Yeah. I think it was about the phone. Maybe the picture too. I’m not sure. Tessa said their parents talked.”

Roxie looked back at the stage.

Zac stood beside Kendall under the lights, crown on his head, sash across his chest, smiling because everyone was watching.

His parents went to Kendall’s house.

Zac had said nothing to her.

Did he go too? Did he sit there while Kendall’s parents talked about the phone? Did he apologize? Did everyone decide what happened after the party while Roxie stayed outside the story like some ugly part they could mention later?

Angela’s voice softened. ”It might just be a rumor.”

Karen muttered under her breath, ”Maybe they’re planning the wedding already.”

Angela’s head snapped toward her. ”Really? That’s what you conclude from that rumor?”

Karen lifted one shoulder, eyes still on the stage. ”His family went to her house, and now look at them.”

Roxie looked forward again.

Zac and Kendall stood close enough for every phone in the gym to frame them together.

Kendall’s white dress. Zac’s black suit. The crown. The sash. The cheering.

Karen’s mouth twisted. ”After all, they look friendly.”

Angela glared at her. ”Can you stop?”

Karen finally looked at Roxie. ”I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking.”

Roxie’s fingers tightened around her clutch.

That was the problem.

For once, Karen might be right.

Roxie watched Kendall smile up at him while Mrs. Gonzalez kept talking into the microphone.

Zac smiled back because the whole room expected him to.

Roxie’s stomach turned.

The whole gym clapped as Mrs. Gonzalez stepped back and gestured toward the dance floor. ”And now, our king and queen will share the homecoming dance.”

The lights shifted lower.

The DJ changed the music to something slower, soft enough that half the room made dramatic noises. Students cleared space near the center of the gym. Phones stayed raised.

Roxie’s mouth went dry.

Kendall stepped down first.

Zac followed.

He looked toward Roxie before he moved to the dance floor.

She saw it.

She hated that she saw it.

She hated that her body still reacted to it even while Kendall reached for his hand.

Zac’s jaw tightened, almost too quick for anyone else to catch. Then he turned to Kendall and took her hand.

The room cheered.

Roxie stood between Angela and Karen, hands curled around her clutch, and watched him place one hand at Kendall’s waist.

It was formal. Careful. Public.

That made it worse.

Kendall smiled up at him, her face soft in the lights, and Zac said something Roxie could not hear. Kendall laughed, small and polished. He smiled back because that was what a homecoming king did when the queen laughed during the dance.

Roxie felt heat rise behind her eyes.

She blinked it down fast.

This was the kind of girl who fit beside him.

The thought came before she could stop it.

Kendall in white. Kendall with a clean family name. Kendall whose parents received the Prescotts in their house. Kendall who could stand beside him under lights, cameras, teachers, and every student at Briarwick without anyone whispering that she was trouble.

Roxie looked down at the emerald dress.

A lie.

A beautiful one, but still a lie.

Angela touched her hand. ”Roxie.”

”I’m fine.”

Karen muttered, ”That word needs to be banned.”

Roxie ignored her and looked back at the dance floor.

Zac turned Kendall slowly. The white dress moved cleanly around her legs. The crown stayed steady in her hair. Phones followed them. People smiled. Teachers watched from the wall.

Roxie looked away.

The song continued.

Every second dragged.

Kendall looked graceful. Zac looked controlled. Together, they looked like something Briarwick had voted for without needing to think.

For the first time in a long time, Roxie felt jealous of Kendall.

Really jealous.

It was ugly and hot and humiliating.

She had envied girls before. Their clothes, their houses, their mothers who showed up sober and smiling, their ability to buy dresses weeks ahead instead of borrowing one from the woman who paid her to babysit.

This was different.

She envied Kendall’s place beside him.

That easy public place.

That safe place.

That place Roxie could only reach in shadows, behind bleachers, in bedrooms, in moments Zac touched her like she mattered and then walked back into a world where girls like Kendall could stand beside him without explanation.

The song ended.

The room clapped again.

Kendall stepped back from Zac with a smile. He lowered his hand from her waist and looked across the room before anyone could reach him.

At Roxie.

This time, she failed to look away.

His expression changed when he saw her face.

The crowd started moving again. The DJ announced another song. Students filled the open space, laughing and rushing back onto the floor. Kendall’s friends swarmed her at once, touching her sash, adjusting her crown, pulling her into pictures.

Zac barely looked at them.

He stepped off the dance floor.

Mason said something to him. Zac ignored it.

Dylan reached for his arm, speaking low near his ear. Zac shook his head once.

Then he started walking toward Roxie.