“Hey,” she says, but those shutters behind her eyes are still closed.
“Hey, Hope. Hey, Farshid.”
Hope nods, but Farshid doesn’t react. He hasn’t even looked at you.
Annoyance bubbles in your stomach, but this isn’t about him, this is about Mariana.
“Uh, I wondered if you wanted to dance?” you ask. “Mariana, I mean.”
But Mariana glances past you, toward the wall where you’d left Brody and Reggie. Her lips press together as she looks back at you.
“No, thank you,” she says softly.
“Oh.” Now you wish you’d never come up here. You wish you would sweat so much it would carve a hole in the gym floor the way a river carves a canyon. That way you could disappear into it and never have to show your face again.
You should leave. She said no. She doesn’t owe you anything. You know that.
But you can’t stop yourself blurting out, “Why?”
“I’d hate to leave you withblue ballsagain,” she says, and your face explodes in flames.
Farshid makes a little choking sound, and you hate him for that. You hate him for everything.
You want to wind back time and stop yourself from ever coming to this dance in the first place.
Instead you retreat, hands stuffed into your pockets to keep your arms from swinging.
“Struck out again?” Brody asks.
“You said you were gonna help me.”
“You looked like you had it under control. Sorry.”
“Yeah. Well.” What could Brody have done anyway?
“Don’t worry about that—” Reggie says a horrible word. Every part of you turns to ice. No, steam. No, ice.
“Don’t call her that,” you spit.
Reggie raises his hands. “Just saying, my guy.”
“I’m not your guy.” You turn on your heel and head for the doors. You wonder if you can get your mom to come get you. Or your dad. Or beg Marshall to leave early, but that’s a losing proposition. You spotted him dancing super close with Lex earlier.
Brody grabs your arm, pulling you up short, but he lets go right away.
“What was that?”
“Reggie’s a jerk.” You grind your jaw. He’s more than a jerk, but you can’t say what you really think of him, not with chaperones in earshot. “He never even paid me that twenty dollars.”
Brody laughs. “That was last semester. Forgive and forget.”
Forgive? He never even said he was sorry. He never took accountability.
“Come on, man. You said we’d go stag together. You can’t ditch me now.” Brody bites his lower lip.
He’s right. You can’t ditch him.
“Fine. I’ll stay. But we’re ditching Reggie. Deal?”
