She was standing too close, her face a twisted, hateful version of her sister’s as her fingernails dug into my arm. I tried to pull free, but the terror had made me shaky, and her grip was tight.
“You should leave,” she spat. “No one wants you here, you filthy liar.”
“Hey.” Miles was pushing his way through the crowd, back toward me. “Back off.”
“She’s the one who needs to back off,” Tara shot back. “She’s the one causing trouble.”
“Uh, maybe I’m missing something, because I’m blind and all.” Denny was suddenly at my other shoulder. “But that’s really not how this seems.”
“I can’t believe you all would defend her,” Tara said. “After everything my sister has done for you? For her? How can you let her get away with this?”
“Get away with what?” Amber demanded. Now she’d joined us, too. “Talking about Sarah? You weren’t there, Tara. Neither of us were. You don’t know what happened, either.”
“You too, Amber? What about Sarah?”
“What about you let go of Lee,” Miles said, his voice low and more menacing than I’d heard it in years.
Tara growled and tossed my arm away from her. I stumbled back, still startled and trembling as Miles caught me, placing a hand on my shoulder to keep me steady. To keep me grounded.
“It should’ve been you that died in the bathroom that day, Lee,” Tara said, before storming off, red dress whipping around her like flames.
“I can’t believe she just said that,” Amber gasped. “That’s awful.”
“You okay?” Miles murmured.
I nodded. “I’ll be fine. Just startled. Thanks, you guys.”
“Don’t let her ruin your night,” Denny said. “Come on. I’ve got to prove to Miles that I’m the better dance partner.”
“Why’s it gotta be a competition with you?”
“You’re only asking me that because you know I’m the obvious winner.”
One of the teachers chaperoning the dance volunteered to hold on to Glitter while Denny and Amber danced. After a few minutes, my nerves had mostly settled, but my heart was still racing for a completely different reason.
Miles had his hands on my waist, and my arms were around his neck. Neither of us are dancers, so we mostly just stood in one place and swayed along to the music. The DJ (also known as Mrs. Keebler, our English teacher) seemed to have a soft spot for country love songs. I wished she’d play something faster. Something that wouldn’t make it so easy to lean into Miles and rest my head on his shoulder.
“Dunno if I said it earlier, but you look beautiful,” Miles said.
“Thanks,” I said, hating the blush I felt crawling up my neck. “You don’t clean up bad yourself. Though, the orange …”
“Worth it for the way it made you laugh.”
“I regret not following through on our clashing colors idea,” I said. “Can you imagine if I showed up in, like … lime green?”
He smiled. “That would have been great. But nah. I like this one.” He hesitated a moment. “Lee, I gotta ask something.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling wary.
“I was thinking … how’d you feel about some company on your drive to California?”
“You want to go with me?”
“Just for the drive. Maybe stay a weekend and fly back.” His shoulders shrugged beneath my hands. “Not like I got plans after graduation. Honestly never thought I’d make it this far. But I got a little money saved and … I don’t know. Grandma thinks I should look into vocational school—like for welding or something—but I’ve been thinking of maybe going to community college for a couple years, maybe transferring, majoring in history … if any bigger school will have me. Anyway, thought maybe a road trip would be a good chance to figure some stuff out. If you’d be up for the company.”
“I’d love that,” I said, unable and unwilling to fight the grin that—almost painfully—stretched my cheeks.
“Yeah?”
