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"Do you want us to come?" asked Jessica.
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I shook my head. "I'll be right back."
The hallway was quiet and empty. I trailed my hand along the elaborate chair rail, enjoying how
my heels sank into the soft carpet.
It was the first thing I'd enjoyed all night.
Jessica and Madison couldn't have been more wrong: Kathryn and Co
She'd been born to be prom queen. And he'd been born to be prom king. That they were fulfilling
their destinies was undeniable.
Equally undeniable was how little jealousy I felt.
The only thing I felt was relief. Total and complete relief. I didn't want to go to the Hamptons
and watch Co
liked kissing Co
And most of all, I didn't want to talk about basketball. Not now. And not for a long, long time.
The season was over. It was time to get a real life.
As I approached the corner, I heard a girl's voice. She wasn't yelling, exactly, but she was
definitely pissed off.
"... believe it when you say that."
I turned the corner. Sam and Jane were in the hallway, halfway between me and the bathroom.
He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, and she was sitting on a low sofa across from
him.
"Jane," he said, "you're not listening to me."
I stopped in my tracks. Even though my overhearing
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them was a total accident, I felt sneaky, as though I'd been spying. As quickly and silently as
possible, I slipped around the corner and walked back in the direction I'd come from.
Kathryn and Co
their crowns it was still easy to spot them. Her arms were around his shoulders, and she had the
fingers of one hand buried in his hair. I went over to them and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, Red," he said. "How are ya'?"
"I think I'm go
Co
"Yeah, I just don't think I have it in me to go to the Hamptons." Kathryn didn't bother concealing the fact that she was listening, nor did she try to hide the Cheshire-cat smile my a
elicited.
"Sure, Red," he said as they swayed back and forth to the music. "No worries."
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the cheek, wondering if he'd even notice that
someone else would be saying I am when he asked, Who's my girl?
"See ya, Co
"Yeah," he said, still dancing with Kathryn. "See ya."
Crossing the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, I realized that
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at school on Monday everything would be the way it had been before Co
already see Jessica and Madison ru
girlfriend to bother with his old one. For a second I felt sad, thinking about how lonely lunch was
going to be. But then I remembered-- di
didn't have to sit alone in the cafeteria if I didn't want to, I could just go to the studio and work
on my landscape. So maybe everything was going to be okay. Maybe in the end it was better to
have an a
Just before I pulled the door open, I felt a hand on my back. I turned around, Co
already on my lips.
"Co
"Hey," I said.
"I just ..." He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I just have to ..." He looked at me, looked away, looked back at me. "I ..." He laughed. "I can't believe I'm doing this." He put his hand up to his glasses and took them off. "This is going to be way easier if you're blurry." I had a second to notice how dark his eyes were before he looked away again. "Look, I know this is
going to sound crazy, but the thing is, I like
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you." He laughed at what he'd just said. "I know that's an incredibly seventh-grade way of
putting it, and I know you have a boyfriend, and I had a girlfriend up until a few minutes ago.
And I know this is totally the wrong moment for everything I'm saying, but it's been on my mind
for weeks, and now I'm about to leave, and if I don't say it tonight, I'm never going to get up the
guts to say it again. So. I like you. And if you ever want to dump your current Prince Charming, I
hope you'll consider letting me interview for the position." WHAT? "Sam, I--"
He popped his glasses back on his face and took a step toward the door. "Okay," he said. "Now that I have thoroughly embarrassed myself, I'm going to let you return to your fairy-tale life." He
made an elaborate bow and turned to go.
"Sam, wait!" I practically had to run to catch up with him. The heel of my shoe caught on the
carpet, and I would have fallen if he hadn't grabbed me.
"Whoa," he said, holding me by the elbow. "Careful."
"Sam?" I said, looking into his eyes.
"Lucy?" he said, looking straight back at me.
I took a deep breath. "Sam, let's blow this fairy tale."
He laughed uncertainly, then stopped when he saw the expression on my face. "Seriously?" he
asked.
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"Seriously," I said.
But as we turned to go, I realized there was one more thing I needed to do. Just because I was
sure they were going to start ignoring me big-time on Monday didn't mean it was okay to leave
without saying good-bye.
"Could you give me a second?"
"Sure," said Sam. "I'll meet you by the door."
I looked around, finally spotting them on the dance floor. As soon as she saw me, Madison
grabbed my arm. "Hey," she said, "where were you? You weren't in the bathroom."
"Are you okay?" asked Jessica. "Co
"No, he's not," I said. "I think he really likes her."
"Are you crazy?" Jessica took both my hands in hers. "He likes you."
"The thing is, Jessica, he doesn't even know me." I let go of her hands since I knew the next
sentence out of my mouth would probably make her want to let go of mine. "And anyway, it
doesn't matter because I don't really like him."
Jessica's eyes grew enormous, and Madison clutched her hands to her chest. "You don't?" they
asked in unison.
"Then, who do you like?" asked Jessica.
"I like ..." Without my meaning them to, my
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eyes found Sam standing by the door. He waved at me.
Jessica saw. "You like Sam Wolff? No way.''''
I gave her a tiny smile. "Way," I said.
Jessica considered what I'd said. "But doesn't he just stare at you and not say anything? How can
you know you like him?"
I laughed. "He doesn't not say anything."
And then, like a character in a comic strip who suddenly gets an illuminated lightbulb over her
head, Jessica shouted, "Oh, I know! It's because you're both into art and stuff." She nodded to