I was going to that damn prom. And I was going to look hotter than Carrie Ann Sullivan could ever hope to look. And Jake was going to regret not asking me. All I needed was a date. I leaned back against the bench and shoved my sweaty hair behind my ears, my heart rate returning to normal. I was just about to get up and pedal home when Marshall rode his bike into the park from the far corner. I lifted a hand in a wave and sat back to wait. We’d bumped into each other a couple of times on our rides—u sually he was on his way back from Chad’s or riding around with one of his friends—but this time he was alone and he didn’t look to be in a rush. “Hey, Ally. Thought you might be here,” he said, his bike chain clicking as he stopped in front of me. He was wearing a gray hoodie and blue basketball shorts, sweat beaded his hairline, and his cheeks were ruddy from exertion. “What’re you up to?” I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at him. The sky was turning pink overhead, and a few birds chirped in the flowering trees. The idea hit me in a rush. Marshall was cute. And nice. And definitely tall enough to not be dwarfed by me in the pictures. “Are you going to the prom?” I asked. He removed his hands from his handlebars and tucked then under his arms. “Um, yeah, I guess.” “Got a date?” I asked. “Nope.” “Anyone you’re dying to go with?” I asked. His brow knitted and he laughed. “Um, nope.” “Then, do you want to go together?” I asked. “As friends?” He looked down at me for a moment, considering. Not that I thought he would jump at the chance to squire me around in a tux or anything, but was it really that dif ficult a question? “You know what? Forget it,” I said, embarrassed. I got up and grabbed my bike. “It was a stupid idea.” His hand closed around my wrist. “No, wait. Sorry. I was just processing.” He released me and tucked his hands away again. “Sure. That sounds cool. Let’ s . . . go to the prom.” “Yeah?” I said happily . “Yeah.”
We grinned at one another as the sky rapidly darkened around us. “Cool.” Huh. That had been a lot easier than I’d thought. Just like that, I had a date. Not the one I wanted or the one I’d been daydreaming about. Not a romantic date, but a date. And it was going to be fun. Really. Lots and lots of fun.
m a y
Did you hear? $lly 5 yan’ s going to the Sr om with 0 arshall 0 oss. See now those two make sense. +e’ s cute they’r e Eoth Muniors and Easket Eall gods. Sense. Please tell me you’r e not still u Sset that -ake *raydon asked that so Shomor e. %ut she’ s a total Eraindead $nd she’ s not even Sr etty . %ut she is known for her . . . talents. &ome on. That cannot Ee the only r eason he asked her . Why not? Does -ake *raydon have some hidden de Sths all of a sudden? +e’ s a slut she’ s a slut. That makes sense. , tho ught he was Eetter than that. Wasn’ t ther e some rumor that he and $lly wer e like a thing? Please. She is way too good for him. Seriously . , f he’d gone ther e , might have r econsider ed the hidden de Sths. %ut he didn’ t go ther e. 1 o he did not. $nd he didn’ t go here either .
1 o. +e did not. Sigh.
The prom was even lamer than predicted. The theme, first of all, was Twilight , voted on by the mousy losers on the prom committee who apparently thought they couldn’ t get any unless they got it from a dead guy All the decorations were black and red. There were movie posters of some pale, scrawny dude staring out from every corner. The DJ sucked, the food was lame, and there were chaperones everywhere. Carrie Ann, who had practically jumped my bones when I’d asked her to come with me, had spent the entire pr eprom party at my house downing wine coolers after not eating all day so she could look hot in her dress—which she told everyone at the party. Now she was on the dance floor with her friends and the Idiot Twins while I sat at our table, watching. Good times. Meanwhi le, Ally was here with Marshall Moss, who she was obviously going to hook up with later. They’d barely stopped touching each other all night. Even now, they were out in the middle of the dance floor dancing to some Black Eyed Peas song. No reason to be touchin g for a fast song, but they were. Holding hands while they bounced around with their friends. She looked happy. Which made me want to punch someone. Preferably Marshall Moss. “Hey, Jake! Having fun?” Chloe perched on the chair next to mine. Ally had just thrown her arm around Marshall’ s neck. I tore my eyes away. Chloe looked at me knowingly. She was wearing a short white dress that was half-angelic, half-sexpo t. Low cut, but not form fitting. I bet every guy in the room had thought about tearing it off once or twice. But that was the point of a dress like that, right? “You like her , don’t you?” she said. I swallowed, busted. My knee-jerk reaction was to deny, deny, deny, but then I decided, screw it. I was too pissed off to care anymore. “How’d you know?”