# Chapter 3: Prom Dresses, Drawn Curtains, and the Girl Who Couldn't Choose
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review Chapter 3 of *When the truth unravels read online*. And believe me—this chapter is not the light prom-night fluff it pretends to be. It sparkles on the surface, but beneath all that sequins and makeup there is grief, guilt, and a friendship holding on by its fingernails.
The chapter opens with Ket tossing a dress onto Ro’s desk and hopping onto her bed like a cat who owns the whole room. “What’s wrong with you, Eeyore?” she asks, and Ro, wrapped in her usual quiet gloom, answers “Nothing.” But Ket knows better. She always does. And when Ro insists she isn’t going to be a “mopey bitch” all night, the truth sits in the room with them, unspoken and heavy.
Then Ket asks to see the dress. Ro pulls the plastic sheeting off the hanger, and even though she was bracing herself, Ket gasps. For just a moment, Ro suppresses a smile. She might not have been stoked about prom—that’s an understatement—but she is secretly, deeply in love with her choice: a floor-length emerald gown with a plunging back, bought using her mom’s credit card. Four hundred dollars. Her mom paid. Well, mostly.
Ket is floored. “Holy balls, Ro, this is incredible! How much was it?”
Ro shrugs. “$400. My mom paid.”
But when Ket points out how stingy her mom can be, Ro’s smile fades. “She’s only stingy when she thinks my dad should be paying.” Sort of true. The real story is that her mom is going to have a meltdown when she sees the statement—but she’ll still scream at Ro’s dad about it, loudly claiming, “I bought Rosie’s prom dress!” It’s one of those quiet, bitter truths about family that Ro has learned to live with.
Ket shows off her own dress, a sequined rose gold mini with cap sleeves and a plunging neckline. Ro oohs and ahhs because it suits Ket perfectly. Everything suits Ket. She shaved half her head freshman year and still managed to look hot. Ro, meanwhile, has been stuck in the same jeans-and-glasses uniform since she was twelve. Most people think she’s a tomboy. But the truth? Ro loves fashion. She’s just too afraid to try.
And suddenly, staring at her beautiful emerald gown, doubt sets in. She must have been accidentally high when she picked it out. She doesn’t have what it takes to pull it off. Well, except for the surfboard chest. She definitely has that in spades.
Ket disappears into the bathroom with her makeup bag, leaving Ro alone for a moment. Ro drifts to the window and peeks behind the curtain. Her view looks down into Teddy’s window. But Teddy’s curtains are drawn, just as they have been for two months.
Two months.
There is something aching in that detail. Ro never planned to go to prom. Not really. But when one of your oldest friends—who also tried to kill herself—wants to go to prom, there’s nothing you can say to get out of that gig. You show up. You put on the dress. You smile. But your heart aches for the friend whose curtains stay closed.
Ro thinks about Teddy, and the reader finally sees the shape of that bond. Teddy lives with his grandparents because his parents are even more messed up than hers—a drug-addicted mother, a father who started a new family without him. Ro and Teddy were co-conspirators in loneliness. Both dreamed of escaping: Ro would write, Teddy would play guitar. When Ro couldn’t sleep, she’d call him, and they’d whisper until dawn.
Back when they were younger, people teased Teddy for being gay because of his name and because he always hung around four girls. He didn’t help himself when he started painting his nails black and wearing eyeliner. But over time, Teddy grew taller, stronger, and his grandparents put him in CrossFit. Suddenly, he was too muscled to bully. Just left alone. Ro and Teddy made excellent loners together.
Ket’s voice pulls Ro back. “Ro? Seriously, what’s the deal?”
Ro collapses onto her back beside Ket. “Nothing.”
“Teddy?” Ket asks.
Ro shrugs. Good old Ket has a pretty face for every occasion, but Ro isn’t in the mood to talk. Before the silence can turn into an interrogation, the doorbell rings. Will yells from downstairs for Ro to get it, but Ro yells back that she’s changing.
Jenna and Elin pound up the stairs carrying bags of snacks—sour vegan gummy bears, Hot Tamales, Pringles, and sugar-free Red Bull. They all cram into the bathroom, which belongs technically to Ro’s mom and Will, not that Will’s space matters much. Jenna plugs in her iPod; Elin lays out snacks. Ro grabs a Red Bull.
Ket mentions how the girls’ prom night sounded stupid at first, but now she loves it. This prom group date thing was Jenna’s idea. As soon as Elin came back to school—a faded, watercolor version of her former self—Jenna pulled the girls aside and insisted they all go to prom together. No dates. Only Jenna has a boyfriend. Ket hasn’t accepted an invite yet. Jenna says it’ll be good for Elin, and Elin seems to love the idea. But Ro? Deep down, she would rather order takeout and read *A Storm of Swords*. She suspects Jenna insisted on driving just so Ro can’t pretend to be sick and go home.
Ket is still talking, all bright energy, teasing Jenna about giving up the chance to dance with Miles. “Rawr,” she says. But Jenna’s mouth goes thin. Something is off there. The mood shifts. Ket mentions her mother might lay down the law because of her calc midterm, but she got out of it by claiming she has no date and is going with her girlfriends for a wholesome prom night. Jenna softens, offering to tutor Ket. Ket grins and refuses, joking that she values their friendship too much to subject Jenna to teaching her math.
Jenna rolls her eyes, and Ro feels a lecture coming on. She clears her throat. “Help me do my makeup?” she asks Ket.
But then Elin grabs Ket’s hand and drags her away to help with her dress first. Jenna warns Elin to change last so she won’t get makeup on her dress, but the two are already gone, laughter trailing behind them.
This is where the chapter pulls the rug out from under us.
**BEFORE** **Elin Angstrom** **August 25, 7:15 AM**
The air shifts. We are no longer in the girlie, chaotic prom-night bathroom. We are inside Elin’s head, with Elin’s alarm clock, and Elin’s panic.
Elin is wearing only jeans and a bra when she hears Rosie’s car honk outside. She doesn’t have to look out the window to know it’s Rosie; the Isuzu’s horn sounds like a dying cow, unmistakable.
But Elin isn’t ready.
_Pick a shirt. Just pick a shirt._
Piles of clothes sit on her bed, but she can’t decide. Navy plaid button-up? Sheer coral blouse over a cami? Violet tunic with white embroidery? Once upon a time, Elin showed up to the first day of school looking like a golden Barbie, her blonde hair falling in wavy waterfalls down her back, her outfit picked out a week in advance. She was effortless. She was perfect.
But this year is different. She spent most of the summer indoors. Her skin is winter-white, her freckles are missing, and her damp hair is drying into frizzy cowlicks. She should have woken up earlier. She knows that. But her body felt queasy and crampy, so she kept hitting the snooze button until her mother finally knocked on her door.
And now Rosie is honking, and Elin is stuck in front of a mountain of clothes, unsure who she even is anymore.
That’s where Chapter 3 leaves us—caught between the glittering present of prom night and the fragile, quiet morning before everything went wrong.
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**Reader’s Impressions & Star Rating:**
This chapter hit me right in the chest. On the surface, it’s a fun, messy pre-prom girls’ night. But underneath is so much emotional weight: the absent Teddy behind drawn curtains, Elin’s faded face, the careful way everyone walks around each other’s wounds. I love how the writing captures small, genuine details—like the $400 dress quietly bought on a mother’s credit card, or the way Ro still checks Teddy’s window hoping he’ll appear. That kind of quiet longing is painfully real. The sudden flashback to Elin’s panic over choosing a shirt on the first day of school is brilliantly disorienting. It gives us a girl falling apart in slow motion, trying to appear normal when her whole world has gone pale. Honestly, this chapter made my heart heavy and my throat tight.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars
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**Next Chapter Prediction:**
I think the next chapter will pull us deeper into Elin’s “BEFORE” timeline—probably revealing exactly why she spent her summer hidden away and what triggered her breakdown. At the same time, I suspect we’ll return to prom night and watch the cracks deepen: Teddy won’t come back easily, Jenna’s forced cheerfulness might crack, and Elin might do something that reveals just how fragile her recovery really is. The truth is starting to unravel, thread by thread, and I don’t think anyone—especially Ro—is ready for what’s coming.
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