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“Oh, no!” Faith said. “There’s no sitting anything out on Guys Suck Day!”
She walked over to a cabinet on the far wall, opened it, and clicked on the stereo. A pounding dance beat filled the room, and Faith started to dance, kicking aside the throw pillows on the floor to make room. It was odd, watching her act so at-home in A
“Let’s go, Chloe. On your feet.” Faith took both Chloe’s hands and hauled her off the couch, almost tipping them both over from the effort.
“All right, all right!” Chloe said. She stepped from side to side carefully, and when Faith spun her around, she cracked a smile. “Hello? If I have to dance, you have to dance!” she shouted, pulling me into their circle.
“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes.
A
Hmm. Perhaps A
“Oh, yeah! Work it, ladies! Work it!” A
“So where’s Will tonight?” I asked.
“He wanted to do something, but I said cheering you up was more important,” Chloe told me, tucking her brown hair behind her ears.
“Chloe! You didn’t have to do that!” I said.
“Whatever. We’ll go out for di
Like Chloe had any sort of problems with money. But I guess Will was conscious of that stuff.
“Make love to the camera, girls. Make love!” A
“Sha
“Don’t make me show them your bad side,” Sha
Faith squealed and ducked her head as Sha
“This is actually kind of fun,” I commented, stuffing some more M&M’s in my mouth.
“Yeah. I’m not even thinking about all the things I don’t want to be thinking about,” Chloe replied as Sha
“Me neither,” I added.
Then we both just stopped. Because saying we weren’t thinking made us both start thinking.
“Let’s make A
“Most definitely,” Chloe agreed.
We turned and grabbed A
“Hey! This was your idea, remember?” I said with a laugh. “Dance, Goth Girl! Dance!”
“Okay, but you guys are so not prepared for the ferocity of my moves,” A
march
I can’t believe Ally and Jake actually broke up.
What? You’ve been saying all year that they should break up.
I know, but they got this far. Like, why break up now?
Totally. She should’ve at least stuck it out till the prom.
OMG, I know. You don’t just give up the chance to go to the prom with Jake Graydon. I don’t care what he did.
Or who.
ally
“You girls look so beautiful!”
My mother took a step back to admire as Qui
“Are you sure you want black?” Qui
“I’m going to brighten them up with some funky jewelry and maybe have you wear jewel-toned shoes,” my mother explained, reaching over to fluff my skirt.
Qui
“Of course it’s go
My mother shot me an admonishing look as Qui
Qui
“Honey?” my mom asked, smoothing my hair. “Are you okay?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” I asked, heading to another pink chair on the opposite side of the huge dressing room. When I dropped down, the skirt poofed up against the armrests like a black cloud. Classical violin music played through the speakers overhead, and the whole room smelled of lilacs and roses. I wondered if the people who worked here ever felt like they were going to OD on romance. “I’m fine, okay? I broke up with him. And it was, like, a month ago already.”
Actually, it had been three weeks and one day. A torturous three weeks and one day. Three weeks and a day of Jake walking past me in the halls without so much as a glance. Of watching him flirt with every underclassman blessed with two X chromosomes. A month of second-guessing myself, of thinking he looked happier without me, of wondering if I had somehow been the problem. So no, I was not okay. But it had been long enough that I felt like I should have been by now, so I kept pretending I was.
“I have an idea,” my mother said, perching on a stool next to the chair. “How about tonight you and I go out to di
“Really?” I said, brightening slightly.
“Yeah. You pick the restaurant. Anywhere you want.”
I smiled. I knew she was busy with work and wedding pla
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Aw, sweetie.” She kissed my temple and gave me a quick squeeze. “Everything’s go
My phone rang, and the seamstress returned to the dressing room with her clipboard. My mom got up and I grabbed my phone to answer it. A
“Hey,” I said, smoothing my skirt out. “What’s up?”
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” A
My already-tentative smile died. I sat up straight. “What?”
“The Evites to Jake’s birthday party just went out,” A
I swallowed hard. “Everyone except me.”
“Everyone except you, Chloe, and Will.”
I drooped back in my chair and stared. I didn’t even know what to feel. For the millionth time in the past month, my vision blurred. I picked at a string sticking out of the cushioned part of the armrest as the store’s soundtrack flipped to the classic wedding march.