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Ally laughed too. She rested her elbow on the armrest and her temple on her hand and looked over at me. I suddenly felt like some awkward dork with bad breath and no clue.
“What’re we doing?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” My fingers curled around the wheel so tightly, they hurt.
“Jake—”
There it was. That same tone she’d had outside the church. Like I was pitiful and she was about to let me down easy. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t hear that right now. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth.
“Will you go to the prom with me?” I asked.
The moment of silence that followed was the longest moment of my life. The crickets chirped outside. Something surfaced in the lake, then went under again, leaving ripples that went on forever, making the paper lanterns bounce and sway.
“I thought you had a date for the prom already,” she said.
I blinked. “What? No. Who?”
She lifted her shoulders, looking out the window. “I don’t know. Some sophomore? That’s what I heard.”
“Yeah, well, don’t believe everything you hear,” I said. I cleared my throat. Pressed my right hand against my thigh. “Do you have a date already?”
I held my breath until it felt like my lungs would burst.
“No,” she said slowly. She looked down at her hands, picking at her painted nails. She almost never had painted nails. “I wasn’t pla
“So go with me.” I turned in my seat. “Come on. Remember last summer? We used to talk about it all the time. How we’d make up for last year this year?”
Last year I’d screwed up by asking someone my friends wanted me to ask, and Ally had gone with Marshall Moss. It had been one of the most pointless nights of my life. And torturous, watching her flirt and dance with that dude like he was the only guy there.
“Come on, Ally. Just say yes.” I pleaded. “I’ll make everything up to you, I swear.”
Ally’s hands dropped into her lap and she sighed. That sigh took the air right out of me. She was going to say no. This was it. This was where she let me down easy. This was the real end.
Then she looked up at me and bit her lip. “Can I think about it?”
Think about it? Was she kidding? Like this wasn’t torture enough, now she was going to drag it out? My neck burned. Here I was, basically begging her, and that was her response?
But then I looked into her face and instantly cooled off. Of course she wanted to think about it. I was her asshole ex-boyfriend. What did I think I’d done to deserve a quick “yes”? Stage one scene from one stupid old movie, which wasn’t even my idea? Not enough. Clearly there was more work to be done.
“Sure,” I said, my heart heavy. How was I going to fix this? What was I going to do? “Yeah. Just … let me know.”
ally
My birthday. This was my eighteenth birthday. Was I doing something fabulous, like hanging out at a day spa with Sha
Yes. Yes I was.
I shifted in my seat and let out a sigh. My father was fifteen minutes late and hadn’t called. I wondered if he was going to stand me up. That would just be the icing on the cake. Pun very much intended.
“I wonder what Mom and Dad are doing right now,” Qui
She’d started doing that lately. Calling my mom “Mom.” It was just weird.
“Probably sipping wine, watching the sunset over the beach, being totally, disgustingly, in love,” I said flatly.
They had called earlier that day to wish me a happy birthday and tell me they were bringing me back a killer surprise when they got home. But I didn’t even care about presents. I just missed my mom. I’d kept her on the line for way too long, talking about nothing, just because I didn’t want to hang up.
“Wow. Someone forgot to take her happy pills this morning,” Qui
“Hey, my dad’s not made of money like some people,” I shot back.
Qui
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied, sinking into the couch.
“You never know, you know,” Qui
I rolled my eyes at her. “I think you take too many happy pills.”
She was opening her mouth to retort when the doorbell rang. I grabbed my bag as I jumped off the couch. “See ya!”
“Have fun!” she shouted after me.
I ran through the kitchen, down the hall, and through the foyer, psyched to finally be getting out of the house. But when I flung the door open, it wasn’t my dad standing there. It was three people in ski masks. Sha
“What’re you guys—”
“No talking!” Sha
“You guys. What’re you doing? My dad’s go
“I said, shut up!” Sha
I sighed as someone ducked me into the backseat of the car. “But my dad—”
“Shut up or you won’t get your present,” Faith ordered as a couple of car doors slammed.
I rolled my eyes under the pillowcase as the three of them started to whisper, but suddenly I couldn’t stop smiling. Whatever these three crazies had in mind, I was in. Maybe Qui
ally
At first I tried to keep track of where the car was headed by counting turns, but it took about five minutes for me to get completely confused. I attempted a few questions, but Faith, Sha
Finally, the car skidded to a stop, tires squeaking. I was thrown forward, then back, and I felt my neck crack.
“Oops! Sorry!” Faith said, killing the engine. “Girls, get the prisoner.”
I waited for the door to open next to me and put my foot out onto asphalt. There was no street noise—no honking or voices or random music playing—so we were definitely not in the city. Two of my friends took my arms and steered me around. We walked up an incline and then made a right. Suddenly I could hear voices. Lots and lots of voices. And music being played from speakers that sounded like they were everywhere. Had they taken me to some kind of outdoor concert? And if so, were people disturbed by the sight of a girl with a bag over her head?
“Where the hell are we?” I whispered.
Then we stopped. Someone whipped the pillowcase off and a thousand voices shouted, “Surprise!”
I blinked in confusion, trying to focus. We were standing under one of the baskets on my basketball court. Well, Jake’s basketball court. We were in Jake’s backyard, which used to be my backyard. And pretty much every one of my friends from school was crowded onto the court under a big white tent. David’s band was set up in one corner, and a huge spread of food was placed along the opposite side of the court from the bleachers. A