The Anti-Prom - By Abby McDonald Page 0,1

hurt from forcing this smile, but I pose for the flash of someone’s camera, pretending like everything’s just fine. And it is. Kaitlin can work her way through the whole freaking Kama Sutra with Cameron for all I care. This is prom. And like my mom always says, you remember prom for the rest of your life.

Four songs later, I’m still trying to dance the disturbing memories right out of my mind when Courtney grabs my arm. By now, our careful outfits are beginning to come undone: her strapless turquoise dress is slipping lower, and her hair has fallen out of its bun. I watch her lips move, not able to make out a word over the deafening thump of the music. “I can’t hear you!” I yell back.

Courtney mimes something, as if she’s putting on lip gloss.

“Bathroom break?” I figure her out. “OK.”

Nikki grabs some of the other girls and breaks for the edge of the floor. I follow, numb. Maybe some air is what I need. I want to forget everything, but no matter how much I throw myself into the music, I still feel weirdly detached, like I’m not in my body anymore. I should be crying, heartbroken over Cameron somewhere, I know, but for some reason, the tears won’t come. I just picture them together, frozen in that guilty scene. His hands, her little breathy moans.

I feel something sharp start to form behind my rib cage, a fierce knot of resentment.

“This is the best prom ever!” Brianna declares, pushing through the door into the gleaming cream bathroom. As a reigning senior, she would know, which is why Courtney and Nikki just make noises of agreement instead of asking if it’s true that she spent the last one barfing in her pool house after getting drunk at the preparty. “Bliss, do you have that mascara?”

I silently hand it over. The others all crowd around the gilt-edged mirrors, carefully reapplying gloss and glitter, but I sink down onto the plush love seat in the corner, tired out.

“So, gossip,” Brianna orders, gazing at her own reflection. “There’s got to be something.”

“I saw Patrick making out with Taryn,” Nikki offers.

Brianna wrinkles her lip. “From cheerleading?”

“No, the one with red hair. Remember, she cheated on TJ last year?”

There’s a chorus of delighted “Ew!” and “Skank!” and for the first time, I wonder if they’d even take my side. It shouldn’t even be a thing. I mean, Kaitlin and Cameron are the ones lying and cheating and stabbing me in the back here. But then I think of this senior girl, Melissa. She and Luke DiGeorge were like the old married couple of our group, until she found out that he’d been texting Keisha Martin behind her back. She confronted them during lunch one day: a huge showdown in front of the whole school. At first, everyone was totally scandalized and swore they had her back, but Courtney was dating Luke’s cousin, and Keisha hooked everyone up with tickets to the best events through her dad, and soon enough, she was totally forgiven. In the end, Melissa just kind of drifted out of our orbit. I don’t even know if she came tonight.

I watch the girls gossip, chilled by the thought of everything I could lose. I’ve worked too hard to get here — get in — to be edged out, just because my supposed friend couldn’t keep her hands (or other body parts) off my boyfriend. But what am I supposed to do now: smile and let them get away with it?

The knot twists tighter.

“You guys won’t believe my after-party.” With a final dap of gloss, Brianna turns away from the mirror. “It’s going to be epic, I swear.” She notices me folded in the corner. “What’s up with you, B? Is Cameron off getting wasted with the rest of the guys?”

I force another grin. “No idea! He was around here somewhere. . . .”

Luckily, before she can ask anything else, the door swings open. “Omigod, you will not believe who I just saw!” Another senior, Jessica, bursts in. Her hair is dyed almost white-blond, and she’s straightened it into a flat sheet that hangs past her waist.

“Who? Who?” The girls crowd around.

Jessica pauses for effect and then announces, “Jolene Nelson.”

I look up.

“No. Way!” They all gasp.

“Yes way!” She snatches a lip gloss wand and touches up. “I saw her lurking in one of the side rooms, and you will not believe what she’s wearing. It’s like, pink!”

“Pink?” Nikki sneers.

“Uh-huh. It’s