spoken to me since my birthday , and she was the one who would have given me the most shit if she saw me. Ef f that. A couple of the guys spotted me as I walked over. Everyone stopped playing. Y eah. This was a mistake. “Jake! Y ou came!” Ally shouted, her smile huge. Or maybe it wasn’ t. She jogged forward and stopped in front of me. “Hey .” “Hey.” Was I supposed to kiss her? Hug her? I wanted to, but not with everyone staring at us like this. “Hey, guys. Jake’ s on my team,” Ally said, turning to her friends. “What? No way ,” Chad said, palming the ball. Here we go. Out with the Crestie. “You’ve already got twelve,” Jessica Landry said. “He’ s on our team.” “But, dude, you have most of the guys,” Marshall Moss argued. He had dirt all up the side of his sweats and T -shirt. “Y our team is stacked.” “What, like guys are somehow better at this?” Ally joked. “Uh, yeah,” Marshall joked back. She shoved him and he shoved her back, laughing. Okay, so they weren’t throwing me out, but I did not like this crap between Ally and Marshall. “I’m on Ally’ s team. She invited me, so that’ s where I’m going,” I said. “Whatever ,” Chad said, tossing me the ball. “We’ll whoop your ass anyway .” “Yeah.” I laughed. “W e’ll see.” Ally grinned as we took the field together . “You came,” she said again. “You thought I wouldn’t?” Now that I was here with her, the idea that I’d almost bailed seemed impossible. “No. I’m just glad you did.” I smiled back. I was glad too. So, Chad’s team did whoop our asses, but it was fun. An hour later we were all dirty and sweaty and clamoring for our Gatorades and Snapples. Ally and I dropped down onto the rickety wooden bleachers and leaned back on our elbows as a few of the other guys messed around on the old jungle gym. “Having fun?” Ally asked me, tilting her face toward the sun. “Yeah.” All I could think about was where we could go after this. Where could I take her in the middle of the day so that I could kiss her?
“Apparently Cresties and Norms can get along,” she joked. I felt a twinge of apprehension in my chest and shifted my weight. Somehow this suddenly felt like a test. “Y eah. I guess so.” “Jake! Nice game.” Marshall walked over and slapped my hand. “Thanks,” I said. “So, I heard you’re going to the prom with Carrie Ann Sullivan ,” he said with a grin. “Nice.” I almost choked on my Gatorade. “What?” Ally blurted. I shot Marshall a look of serious, painful death. Ever so slowly, I capped my drink, put it down, and turned to look at Ally. My heart pretty much stopped. She looked like I’d just run over her mom with my Je ep. Crap. I already felt guilty for lying to her the other night when she’d brought up the Paddy B’ s thing. Now this. “You asked someone to the prom?” she said. “Oh. Oops. Sorry , man,” Marshall said, backing of f. Yeah, sure you are, buddy . “Why didn’ t you tell me?” Ally asked. “Can we talk about this somewhere else?” I said, getting up and tugging her away by her arm. She followed me over to a huge oak tree a few yards away from the bleachers. Ally leaned one hand against the trunk and looked down at the ground, kicking the dirt with her toe. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Are you serious?” she asked. “Ally, come on. It’ s not like we could go to the prom together ,” I said. “Right, because it’s okay for you to slum it with us Norms out here, but God forbid a Crestie take a Norm to the prom. The whole world might collapse in on itself,” she said sarcastically . “You know that’ s not what I meant,” I said. She shook her head, staring past me. “I just can’t believe you’re going with someone else.” “What’d you want me to do, stay home?” I asked, my face screwing up in disbelief. “That’s what I’m doing,” she shot back. Oh. Shit. “Well, I can’t. Everyone’ s going. And if I don’t go, it’s going to look—”
“Who cares how it looks?” she demanded. Then she stared at her feet again. “Do you, like, like this girl?” “No. I don’t even know her,” I r eplied quickly . This had to get me some points. “I only asked her because the Idiot T wins wanted me to.” “So, you’re taking some sophomore you don’t even know to the prom,” she said flatly . God. I couldn’ t get anything right in this conversation. “Why? Would it be better if I asked someone I already hooked up with?” I blurted. Ally’s jaw dropped. Y eah. That may have been the wrong thing to say . “I have to go,” she said, storming past me. Her pissed-off exit caught the attention of the guys, and some of them shot me looks. Great. Just great. Now they were going to kick my ass. Ally grabbed her duffel bag from the bottom bleacher and speed walked toward the parking lot. Marshall took off at a jog after her, and I was left there facing Chad and the rest of the guys, who were all standing by the bleachers with their chins out like they were ready to rumble. “Chicks,” I said dismissively They didn’t laugh. It was time for me to go. Over in the parking lot, Ally got on her bike and took off. Then Marshall got on his and took off after her. What the hell was going on with those two? “Thanks for the game,” I said. “I’ll see you around.” Then I walked toward them, forcing a couple of them to move sideways so I could get through, just so they’d know I wasn’t intimidated. But the whole way to the car I k ept waiting for one of them to jump me from behind or something. I didn’ t breathe until I was safely inside my Je ep. “Dammit,” I said under my breath as I started the engine. I slammed the heel of my hand into the steering wheel and sat back, unable to get the picture of Ally’s hurt face out of my mind. I knew it was a bad idea, coming here. It had just turned out to be a bad idea for reasons I hadn’t even considered.
Now that spring had officially sprung, I was on my bike every day after dinner, riding around town as the sun went down, enjoying the warmth. I felt like I’d been trapped in that teeny-tiny condo for months, and it was so good to get out and breathe. I loved the air this time of year, all moist and pungent with the scent of wet grass and new flowers and fresh mulch. Everywhere I rode people were mowing their lawns, lands caping crews were digging up old shrubs and putting in the new, kids were breaking out their baseball gloves and staging games in their yards. I couldn’ t believe how fast the year had gone by. Couldn’ t believe how differently it had turned out from how I had imagined. I popped the curb at the center of town and rode into Veterans’ Park by one of the side paths. Technical ly bikes and skateboards and scooters were not allowed in the park, but the rule was never really enforced unless there was a pack of kids ignoring it and making a lot of noise in the process. I rode over to the nearest bench and leaned my bike against the end. As I sat down to take a breather , the old-school gaslights that lined the path automatically flickered to life. What was I going to do about the prom? All I had to do was stop moving and the topic I’d been diligently avoiding popped into my head. I hadn’t talked to Jake since he’d told me— well, Marshall had told me—about Carrie Ann Sullivan. Hadn’t answered his texts or his calls. Had completely avoided him in the halls. Had even hidden from him in the stock room at CVS until Annie had buzzed me to tell me he had given up and gone home. For the past week it seemed like Jake and Carrie Ann were together everywhere, along with the Idiot Twins and their dates. And they were always giggling, flirting, making plans. It all made me want to throw somethi ng hard at them. It didn’t even matter which one of them it hit. I wanted all of them to suffer. By Friday Carrie Ann and her little friends were eating lunch with Jake and the Cresties at their table in the quad, and I had made one huge decision.