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“Good job, Prom Queen.”
I laugh softly. “But I’m not the prom queen,” I say. “I didn’t win.”
“You’ll always be my prom queen,” he says.
Ethan guides me out onto the dance floor. We dance beside Tessa, who has her head resting on Dylan’s shoulder. Ethan bumps into them and we all share a laugh. I hug Tessa. “Congratulations,” I say. “You deserve it.” She squeezes my hand. “You do, too,” she says. Dylan takes her back into his arms and Ethan slaps him on the back.
“Atta boy,” he says.
Dylan laughs.
We begin dancing again but are soon interrupted by my parents. Mom pulls me into a tight hug and Dad hugs from the other side, making an Emma sandwich. Ethan hugs Mom from the other side. I guess he felt left out. Mom’s tinkling laughter makes us all pull apart.
“We are so proud of you,” she says.
Dad puts a hand on my shoulder and nods.
“But I didn’t win,” I say.
Mom shakes her head. “Winning isn’t everything,” she says. “But I’ve watched you grow from a shy little girl into a beautiful young woman.”
“I know we’ve given you a hard time,” Dad says. “And we’ve tried to push you. Maybe a bit too much at times. But we really just wanted you to reach your full potential.”
“By being prom queen?” I ask.
“No,” Mom says. “Well, not exactly. We wanted to push you out of your shell a little. We wanted you to know you could do hard things. Scary things. New things. Think of all you’ve accomplished these last few weeks.”
She’s right. I don’t like being pushed, but between my parents and Ethan, I’ve overcome obstacles, come out of my shell a little bit, and tried a slew of things I never thought I’d do. Maybe my parents aren’t as bad as I thought they were.
“I promise I’ll do better at letting you be you,” Mom says. “And I’ll stop trying to make you be more like me. I don’t want you to be me. The way you’ve handled the obstacles that have been thrown at you has proven you’re beautiful and smart and perfect the way you are. In fact, I’ve learned this year that I need to be more like you. I’ve watched the way you help your classmates when they need it. Even the ones who aren’t the nicest to you. I need to be more like that.”
I’m completely speechless. My eyes feel moistened by their words. “Thank you,” I finally whisper.
Mom squeezes my hand and Dad begins pulling her away. “We won’t cramp your style anymore. You guys have fun,” he says.
“We love you, honey,” Mom calls.
I take in a deep breath. “That was weird,” I say.
“They weren’t wrong,” Ethan says. “You’ve transformed the last three weeks. You’re not the same girl who let people walk all over you and wouldn’t even have an opinion about a radio station,” he says.
I smile. “You’ve helped with that.”
“Only a little.”
I see Jaron dancing with another girl and try to wave. He quickly turns the other way and disappears again into the crowd. My stomach drops.
“It’s okay,” Ethan says. “He’s a big boy. He’ll get over it.”
“But I feel awful. I didn’t mean to hurt him.” I start to follow in the direction Jaron disappeared, but Ethan grabs my arm to stop me. I turn to face him.
“He needs some space,” Ethan says.
“But I…”
Ethan nods. “I know. You have a heart of gold and you feel bad. But trust me, you broke both his heart and his pride. The worst thing you could do is go over there right now. Give him some space. I’m sure you guys can be friends again. Just not yet.”
I sigh. “But I want to fix it.”
