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They were all there for me, a gesture so sweet and unexpected that I couldn't help but laugh in delight. Even Dane, who claimed to despise dances, had endured it all for my sake. I kissed each of them briefly so as not to scandalize my aunt—or even Leah and Aiden, who were sharing the limo with us—and made a mental note to thank them all more thoroughly the second we could be alone.
There was no awkwardness as we all rode together to the dance. Our big limo joke was to pretend like Dane wasn’t just non-conformist and too cool for something as cheesy as a homecoming dance, but that he actually had a strange phobia of dancing. We all dissolved into laughter each time the joke came up, the camaraderie between us all successfully demolishing Dane’s stoic outer walls.
“You dorks are lucky I’m cool with being seen with you,” Dane joked, but he was smiling, bright and friendly, by the time we pulled up to Coldwater High.
Having been to fancy Worthington Academy dances in the past, I didn’t expect a lot from a public school gym. But it looked surprisingly lovely, and I was sucked into the magic regardless, the large room adorned with fairy lights and vibrant decorations, buzzing with the beats of music as we all entered together. Leah and Aiden split off to do their own thing almost immediately, which suited the rest of us fine.
Though I walked in on just Xander’s arm, as we’d discussed originally, the other guys trailed behind me, and our matching outfits told everyone the truth about our relationship. We certainly caused a stir, whispers and stares following us like a trail of glitter. But I didn't care. I reveled in the dance, taking turns with each of my guys on the floor. Let our classmates call this what they wanted to. I was happy with our unconventional, still-unlabeled relationship, and no one could take it away from us.
About halfway through the night, at least by my skewed estimation, a well-liked faculty member took the stage at the end of the gymnasium. After some brief mic feedback that had us all plugging our ears, he cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone.
“Ladies, gentlemen, distinguished guests,” his voice boomed. “It’s just about time to announce this year’s homecoming court!”
Our classmates hooted and hollered, excited to see who had won the second most important popularity contest after prom court. Xander, Dane, and I exchanged a look. All together, we said, “Bryce will win,” and then we laughed at our prediction. Sure enough, Bryce was at the other end of the room, chatting with one of his dozens of adoring fans after the big homecoming game win. Now that he’d dropped the bullying, or at least heavily reduced it with help from his supportive friends and maybe-girlfriend, he was living out the perfect, popular high school jock role he was meant to have.
“Don’t forget to get in your final votes, everyone! The ballots will be counted and the winners decided by ten o’clock, sharp!”
Beyond supporting Bryce, I had no real interest in homecoming court, so during this announcement I strolled away to the refreshment table, grabbing myself a can of soda. Leah came up to me then, her eyes a little panicked behind the bejeweled glasses she’d worn for the occasion, which she’d deemed her “fancy frames”. She gave me a tight smile.
“You… wouldn’t happen to have a tampon, would you?” Leah asked me as quietly as she could manage in the loud room.
“Um, I don’t think so,” I said, double-checking the small clutch I’d brought just in case. I shook my head, shrugging in apology. While she was glancing around the room, looking for someone else she could ask, both our brains were working overtime. I felt like I was forgetting something, but what?
“Oh!” Leah exclaimed, relief coloring her tone. She was looking at her phone screen with a period-tracking app pulled up. “Oh, my gosh, duh. I was worried I forgot I was supposed to start my period, but I just realized I counted wrong. I’m supposed to startnextweek. Thank God.”
Her face fell, a rapid descent into worry, when she looked at me. I heard her next words as if through a tunnel. “Jade? You okay?”
Well, that was a big question. And the answer depended on one little answer I suddenly needed to know. Sensing my distress, Leah rushed me away from the dance floor, a good friend through and through.
She let me panic for a long few minutes, trying to calm my nonsensical rants as I looked at my phone and counted, recounted, recounted again. My own period app gave me no relief from the terror, and there was only one thing that would.
Within minutes, Leah and I were rushing out of the school, sneaking through an often-overlooked side exit Dane had shown me. We didn’t have a car, since we’d started this seemingly perfect night in a limo, but there was a gas station just around the corner from Coldwater, and we had bigger problems to worry about than high heel-induced blisters right now. We’d walk. Run, if we had to.
“Don’t panic, Jade,” Leah told me in a reassuring tone as we half-sprinted, trying to avoid craggy spots in the sidewalk with our shoes. “We’re gonna get you a test, and then you’ll know, and everything is gonna be fine, okay?”
“Right,” I echoed hollowly. I didn’t have the capacity to try harder to sound normal right now. My mind was too busy spiraling about when I’d last had my period, swirling with the uncertainty of what awaited me on the other side of a store-bought pregnancy test.
31
DANE
Inoticed Jade's absence from the dance like a missing note in a song, a dissonance that unsettled me. The pulsating lights and rhythmic beats of the music faded into the background as I scanned the crowded gymnasium. Panic gripped me as I searched for the fiery red hair that usually stood out like a beacon, finding only flashes of red dresses, no golden yellow in sight.
“Where the hell did she go?” I grumbled to myself, starting to cross the room in search of my friends. I spotted Bryce first, right up by the stage.
He’d been crowned homecoming king, of course, and that was how I first noticed our girl was missing. Jade would want to laugh about how we’d all been right, would want to cheer Bryce on as he accepted the crown with his usual lighthearted flair. But when I looked to make a joke to her, she wasn’t by my side. Xander’s, either. And soon, I’d scanned the room with my eyes enough times to know she wasn’t anywhere in this godforsaken gymnasium.
In the aftermath of his crowning ceremony, Bryce was engulfed by well-wishers and admirers, mostly girls who didn’tcatch his attention at all. Even the objectively-hot cheerleader who had been crowned as his queen might as well have been invisible for all he noticed her. Maybe I was just projecting my own stress, but even in the midst of celebration, I caught a glimpse of a fleeting concern in Bryce's eyes. An unspoken question hung between us, a silent acknowledgment that something was wrong. Someonewas missing.
I found Xander engrossed in a conversation with a chaperone about recommendation letters for Harvard. Precious seconds ticked away as I waited for him to finish kissing up, and finally, I was able to pull him away.
“What’s the deal, Dane?” Xander asked at first, but I cut off his question.
“Dude, I have no idea where Jade went. She’s gone.”
The moment I mentioned Jade's disappearance, Xander's focused expression faltered.
“Gone? Are you sure she’s not just… in the bathroom?”
