lit, strobe lights flashing, dozens of heads bobbing around in a sorry excuse
for dancing. Over the music it was all screeches, squeals, laughter .
“So. You ready for this?” she asked.
I reached for her hand. It fit perfectly inside mine. “Ready .”
She grinned, and we walked inside. Together . Over our heads was a huge
arc of black, pink, and silver balloons. The party had a fifties theme, which
was Shannen’ s mother’s idea. Vintage record albums dangled from the
ceiling, there was a huge, illuminated jukebox behind the DJ, and all the
waiters and waitresses were dressed in leather jackets or poodle skirts.
“Hey. The music didn’t come to a screeching stop,” Ally said, pretending
to be confused.
“Yeah, and no one’ s staring at us,” I r eplied, playing along.
“Wanna dance?” she asked.
“Not even a little bit,” I said.
She wiped her brow . “Good. Let’ s get something to drink.”
I squeezed her hand as we walked down the st eps and around the dance
floor. I really liked this girl. Really a lot.
“Ally! Hey!”
Chloe appeared out of nowhere wearing a pink dress with a long skirt.
Hammond was right behind her , wearing a pink tie of course.
“You look amazing! Love the dress.”
Ally smiled. “Thanks. I like yours, too.”
I greeted Hammond with a hand slap. Chloe hooked her arm through
Ally’s and tugged her toward the bar. According to the old-school soda-
shop signage, they were serving smoothies, milkshakes, and sodas. Unlike
Mr. Appleby , Shannen’ s mom wasn’ t about to be serving us alcohol.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” Chloe said. “This whole rivalry thing was
getting exhausting, no?”
Ally’s brow creased. I bet she was wondering how Chloe could just act
like it was okay to forget about the pranks and the yearlong cold shoulder .
But that was Chloe. She never wanted to talk about anything unpleasant. I’d
tried to explain to Ally about the conversation I’d had with Chloe at the
prom—about how Chloe had never wanted to ke ep her out—but I think it
came out all wrong. It was hard to tell her without letting her know I’d been
talking about how much I liked her . And without making Shannen look bad.
“I mean, it’s not your fault, what your father did,” Chloe said, placing her
tiny purse on the bar. “I just want the whole thing to be over so we can all
be friends again.”
Ally glanced at Hammond, who looked away. My skin heated and I
loosened my tie a bit. No one knew that I knew about the two of them, and
for the millionth time, I wished I didn’ t.
“What’ll ya have?” James Dean, aka the bartender , asked.
“Two milkshakes. Strawberry ,” Chloe ordered. “Still your favorite?” she
asked Ally .
“Yeah.” She looked uncomfortable. I was going to have to get her away
from Chloe and Hammond soon.
“Don’t worry about us,” Hammond joked. “W e’ll take care of ourselves.”
“Like the ind ependent men you are?” Chloe r eplied with a smile.
“I’ll have a Coke,” I told James Dean as he left the milkshakes under the
mixer.
“Sprite,” Hammond put in.
Once we all had our drinks, Chloe lifted hers in a toast.
“So, Ally , what do you think? Friends again?”
Ally glanced at Hammond. He sipped soda through his straw and
pretended not to notice.
“Sure,” Ally said. “Friends.”
We all lifted our glasses and clinked. When Chloe came away with a pink
milk moustache, Ally smiled, and I knew she was finally relaxing. It made
me relax too.
Until I saw Shannen staring us down from across the dance floor, all
smoldery in a slate gray dress and major eye makeup. What was she
thinking? And why did she look so pissed of f?
It was going well. Really, really well. Chloe barely left my side all night,
which meant Hammond was there too, but he and I mostly ignored each
other. Shannen had invited Jessica and some of the other girls from the
basketball team, so whenever Chloe hit the dance floor I still had people
other than Jake to talk to. Aside from a few glares from Crestie girls—I
wasn’t sure whether the glares were because I was there or because I was
there with Jake, but I didn’ t care—no one seemed to notice me.
Exc ept Jake. Jake noticed me a lot. His hand was always in mine or on
my back. Once he even sort of tickled his fingers across my neck and over
my shoulder before giving me a squeeze. Every time he touched me I felt
gorgeous and like I was the only girl in the room. Nothing else that had
happened for the past ten months mattered at all. Jake and I were together .
But every now and then, I’d look at Chloe and feel a twist of guilt in my
stomach. She was being so nice tonight. And acting relieved. As if this was
the night she’d been waiting for as much as I had. What was she going to do
if she ever found out what I’d done?
I decided to try not to think about it tonight. Tonight was supposed to be
fun—a new beginning. There was always tomorrow for worrying
obsessively .
Finally, after what seemed like an hour at the table making small talk and
munching on appetizers, the DJ flipped on a slow song. Jake leaned back in
his chair and eyed me tentatively .
“You wanna?”
I felt a pleasant stirring throughout my chest and all the way down to my
toes.
“Sure.”
We got up, and he followed me to the dance floor. Everyone was either
pairing off or vacating the area. I saw Shannen dancing with Josh Schwartz
over by the DJ, and gave her a quick wave. She smiled back and lifted her
hand from behind Josh’s neck. I hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to her