Page 2 (1/2)

PROLOGUE

ROMANCE, IN EMMALINE'S OPINION, MADE BEING A WOMAN special Romance made every woman beautiful, and every randly as a queen, because her heart was treasured

Flowers, candlelight, long walks in the ht on a sigh Dancing in the ht of roine it, the scent of su out of the open s of a ballroo silver, like in the movies The way her heart would beat (the way it beat now as she iined it)

She longed to dance in the arden

She was eleven

Because she could see so clearly how it should be -would be - she described the scene, every detail, to her best friends

When they had sleepovers, they talked and talked for hours about everything, and listened toas they wanted, even all night Though none of theed to Yet

When they had a sleepover at Parker's, they were allowed to sit or play on the terrace outside her bedroo, her favorite time there, she loved to stand on the bedrooreen froardener had cut it that day

Mrs Grady, the housekeeper, would bring the cookies and milk Or sometimes cupcakes And Mrs Broould come in now and then to see what they were up to

But mostly, it was just the four of them

"When I' in New York, I won't have time for roreen from a lime Kool Aid treatht red

"But you have to have romance," Emma insisted

"Uh-uh " With her tongue caught in her teeth, Laurel tirelessly twined another section of Mac's hair into a long, thin braid "I' to be like my aunt Jennifer She tells e, and she doesn't need a man to be cooes to parties with Madonna My dad says she's a ballbuster So I'o to parties with Madonna "

"As if " Mac snorted The quick tug on the braid only uess ro as it doesn't make you stupid Rouess it's both It's like, how can she get romance and money at the same time "

"That's not really ro as she said it "I think ros for each other because you're in love I ere old enough to be in love "

Eood "

"We should kiss a boy and see what it's like "

Everyone stopped to stare at Parker She lay belly-down on her bed, watching her friends play Hair Salon "We should pick a boy and get him to kiss us We're almost twelve We need to try it and see if we like it "

Laurel narrowed her eyes "Like an experiment?"