Ashley gives me a small smile in the mirror. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“What do you mean?”
Ashley raises an eyebrow. “I’m really happy that you want to third-wheel with me and Steve, but I know that’s not exactly your first choice. Obviously, something happened. Is Carmen mad at you again?”
I nod. “I’m always disappointing her in one way or another. She wants me to be something and I just don’t.”
“Have you tried saying that to her?” Ashley asks.
I wrap another piece of hair around the barrel of the iron. “Well, no,” I admit.
“I think maybe you should. You guys are too good of friends to not talk it out, and if she doesn’t want to hear it…you don’t need a friend like that.”
I nod. “Giving your older sister advice. Who are you these days?”
Ashley smiles.
“Do you think it’s going to be weird for you tonight…you know, going to the dance, since last year…” She trails off.
I spin her around to face me. I remember Ashley when she was a little girl with skinned knees, applesauce in her pigtails, and colored marker all over her hands. But tonight, I’ll remember her looking absolutely beautiful.
“Yes, tonight is weird for me, but that’s why this is important. I don’t want it to be. That’s why I’m doing this even though all my friends are going to the dance without me. When I think of the Valentine’s Day Dance, I want to have new memories…so no pressure, but we have to have fun tonight.”
“We can do that.” She smiles. Then she squeezes my hand three times like she used to do.
* * *
The gym looks like it’s been hit with Cupid’s arrow. The walls and ceiling are covered in pink twinkling lights. The planner in me starts looking around, making a checklist of all the things I would’ve done differently, like put the flower wall on the far end of the gymnasium so the line doesn’t block the entrance as people come in. But it looks beautiful, and I feel a twinge of sadness, knowing that I had nothing to do with it.
The DJ has started playing music, but nobody wants to be first on the dance floor. On the far side of the basketball court is a flower wall donated by the florist next door. There’s a line for pictures.
“Oooh! We need one together,” Ashley says to Steve, grabbing his arm. He’s wearing a black suit with black Converses that actually look pretty good together. But as she turns with me we see Carmen and the rest of my friends get in the back of the line. They’re all wearing minidresses in shades of pink, with stilettos. I wonder if Carmen recruited one of them to get their nails done together.
Ashley follows the direction of my eyes. “Never mind. Let’s wait until the line isn’t as long.”
“Good idea.”
We turn around, and walking in with his date is Pete. The girl named Molly who he was apparently seeing before me has her arm locked in his. She’s wearing a red dress with mesh cutouts.
Stop staring, I tell myself. But it’s too late. Suddenly, I’ve locked eyes with Pete across the gym. He gives me a small smile, which in a way is comforting. We’re back to being exes. I just wish I could’ve come here with Andy. If I had, it wouldn’t matter that I’m not talking to any of my friends. Luckily, I have Ashley.
“Maybe we won’t run into anyone by the punch,” she suggests now, but as she says it Steve’s head jerks toward the DJ, who has started playing a slow song.
“I love this song!” Steve says. “Let’s dance.”
Ashley looks at the dance floor. “Nobody else is dancing yet.”
He shrugs. “So we’ll be the first.”
The way Ashley smiles lets me know this is the most romantic thing he’s ever said. She looks at me.
“Go!” I encourage her. “I have to go to the bathroom anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
I smile. “Yes, I’ll come third wheel after.”
“Okay!” she says. As Steve whisks her away to the dance floor, she turns around to mouth thank you.
I head to the bathroom, passing the punch table on the way. There’s a little sign that says love potion that makes me smile. It’s clever—I bet Sarah came up with it.
I’m relieved when I get to the bathroom. It’s early enough that there’s not a long line yet, and anybody that’s willing to stand in a long line is trying to get the first pictures at the flower wall. I take the opportunity to do a quick lipstick fix in the mirror. By the end of the dance it’ll be impossible to do.
As I’m putting my lipstick back in my bag, I hear familiar voices outside the bathroom door.
“I still can’t believe we got booed trying to cut the line.”
It’s Jess. Of course they tried to cut the line, I think as I sprint to the nearest stall.
“I said we shouldn’t do it,” I hear Katie say as the bathroom door opens. “You and Carmen insisted.”
From underneath the stall door I watch their heels head toward the bathroom mirror. If they see my nude heels, they don’t care because they keep talking.
“Yeah, well, now she’s mad like it’s all our fault,” Jess says.
“She’ll get over it. She’s just embarrassed Anthony was watching when it happened.”
“Does Carmen get over anything?” Her voice lowers. “She’s still mad about what Ella did last year. It’s obvious.”
What I did last year? What did I do?
“It’s also low-key hilarious that history is repeating itself. It’s like Carmen said. Freaking déjà vu. But Carmen better be careful. Pretty soon someone is going to tell Ella why she stopped being friends with us last year and became attached at the hip to that rando.”
My head starts to spin.
“Carmen would kill them. Everyone knows that. She’s never been meaner than when Ella ditched her for Sarah Chang.”
Ditched her for Sarah Chang? It takes everything in me to stop myself from gasping.
“In Ella’s defense, I don’t blame her,” Katie says. “Carmen’s so controlling. Who Ella is friends with. Who Ella dates. I mean, it still blows my mind that Ella broke up with Pete for that guy, but that’s beside the point.”
My head is spinning. I broke up with Pete for someone else? Is this who Sydney thought I was in love with? But if I was in love with someone, why would they have just disappeared after the accident? Why is everyone hiding him from me?