“Morning, Chanel!”
“Iloveyour lipstick shade—where did you get it?”
“Chanel, are you free next weekend for—”
“Oh my god, did you see?” Rainie Lam asks excitedly, dropping into the seat beside me. She runs a hand through her long hair, which she’s recently dyed a honey brown that looks almost blond beneath the classroom lights, and opens up her laptop to a school email.
“See what?” I ask, squinting to read the text loaded on her screen.
We would like tocongratulate our prom king and queen candidates....
My pulse skips. I’d been so caught up in last night’s events that I’d managed to completely forget about prom nominations. I don’t have to scroll very far to see the results; my photo is listed first. Copied straight from my Instagram. I’m sitting in my favorite French restaurant in Shanghai, the one that looks out at the Bund, my hair curled, my crimson dress fitted snugly around my bare shoulders.
I smile wider than I have all morning. Yes, I’d expected to be nominated, but it’s nice to have the confirmation. It means I’m on track to being crowned prom queen, the one thing I’ve dreamed of for years. It would be the perfect finale, but more than that—it would be the ultimate confirmation of my status, tangible proof of how much everyone loves me. I have a whole vision board ready—spiritually, and literally, smack in the middle of my bedroom wall.
“Congratulations,” Rainie squeals over my shoulder as I keep scrolling.
There are four other candidates for prom queen. Rainie is one of them, thanks to the star power of her mother, the famous Hong Kong singer Krystal Lam. But all the girls are gorgeous and influential and lovable in their own way: There’s an actress who’s been popular at school ever since she filmed a variety show with the C-drama star Caz Song, an actual royal who spendsher summers riding Friesians around her castle in Europe, and a transfer student with goddess proportions who’s repeatedly gone viral for lip-syncing. The competition will be tight.
“Congratulations to you too,” I tell Rainie sincerely. Even if she’s competition, we’ve been friends since we were kids, and I know she cares about prom almost as much as I do. “You’re going to looksogood.”
Then I pause over the prom king candidates. Henry Li is, unsurprisingly, the first to appear. But right next to him, just as I feared, is Ares Yin.
“I heard he received one of the highest number of nominations for prom king. Like,ever,” Rainie whispers, following my gaze. “Do you think he even ownsa suit?” she asks with a giggle, as if she’s already picturing him wearing one.
I can only picture him setting my house on fire. I suppress a shudder and busy myself with reading.
We’re delighted to share that the theme will be Total Eclipse of the Heart. As you might have heard, this year’s prom is very special, as it will coincide with the lunar eclipse! If the weather conditions allow, you’ll even be able to see the blood moon.
Voting opens at 3 p.m. today and will close on prom night. You can vote again a second time at the entrance of Rivera Restaurant. Your prom king and queen will officially be announced at the event.
Get your dresses ready and your suits ironed—just three weeks to go!
The blood moon. I stare at the words, my throat tightening as the vision resurfaces in my mind. The glass shattering, the red moon hanging high in the sky.
Is the fire destined to happen on prom night?
No.
No, the fire isn’t destined because the vision isn’treal.It can’t be real.
“...thinking about getting this ballgown from VCL,” Rainie is saying. “You should know it. It’s like the one your mom wore for their spring campaign? Ilovedthat photo shoot, by the way—the fact that they got your dad to shoot it with her? It’ssocute. Truly, such a power couple.”
There’s enough noise rattling around my brain without this unwelcome mention of my father, so I just make a soft sound likehmm, hoping she’ll move on. It’s been getting harder to maintain the facade of the perfect family when my parents haven’t even stood in the same room together in months. But if anyone found out, it would ruin everything, taint my image irreparably—and with it, my chances of becoming prom queen.
“Your parents should do more photo shoots together,” Rainie continues. “Oh, speaking of—my mom’s been meaning to ask them over for a little get-together. She says it’s been ages since she last saw them. What do you think? Are they free next week?”
“That would beamazing,but I’ll have to double-check with them,” I say. “Their schedules have just been so hectic lately, and my dad’s reserved a cottage in the countryside for the two of them on Thursday or something.” It’s scary how smoothlythe lies slip out, how intuitive it feels to just say whatever sounds good.
“Wait, that’s so sweet of him,” Rainie gushes. “I don’t think my dad’s taken my mom out on a proper date since ...”
But I barely hear the rest of her sentence, because Ares Yin walks through the classroom door. His gaze locks on mine right away, like he’s been searching for me, and my chest constricts. Just one look from him is enough to undo all my wishful thinking this morning. Confirmation that what we experienced last nightwasreal.
My eyes follow Ares as he takes his usual seat in the back corner. Alone.
I don’t get any work done in math.
This isn’t exactly a new problem. For the past few months, I’ve been finding it difficult to concentrate at school—it’s like everything has been reduced to white noise. But even by my own standards, I’m hopelessly unproductive for the entire fifty-five minutes. My notebook lies forgotten on my desk as I glance over at Ares again and again, remembering how he’d looked last night by the lake. Dark-eyed, dangerous, like the fifth horseman of the apocalypse. When the bell rings and everyone scrambles out of their seats, he takes his time standing up, pausing before he reaches for his bag.
