Chosen (21 page)

Before getting out of the car, Taylor and I thanked his mom and promised we'd meet her in the parking lot at ten. Taylor took my hand and, with dusk settling all around us, we walked up to the lit up school.

“Wow,” I said as we got closer. Lights streamed out of every window from the huge gymnasium. Pop music blared from inside. The students were everywhere. Taylor reached into his pocket and handed our tickets to one of the chaperones—an English teacher I'd never had. Would never have.

“Enjoy,” she said.

Taylor and I walked in through the side entrance. Navy and white, the school colors, were
everywhere
.

“Whoa,” Taylor said, his tone echoing mine from just seconds earlier.

The entire gym had been transformed. The bleachers were folded up and gone. The wooden floors had been polished. Twirly streamers of all different lengths hung every few feet, and students had made
GO YATES
and
YATES IS
#
1
banners on the walls.

“If only they'd had these decorations up when I'd been doing Coach Raymond's evil crunches,” I said.

“I know,” Taylor laughed. “It would have made running laps so much more fun.”

We meandered around and found Ana standing exactly where I'd imagined—by the drink table.

“Are you guys hearing this?” Ana asked, tipping her head in the direction of the DJ.

“How could we
not
?” I asked.

Taylor filled a clear cup with bright red punch and handed it to me.

“Thank you,” I said.

Tay and I smiled at each other and I stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

Whistles erupted behind us. I turned to find four of his friends from the swim team giving him the thumbs up.

Taylor waved a hand at them. “Be right back,” he told me.

I moved closer to Ana who, I noticed upon closer inspection, had something sparkly on her eyes. I leaned just inches away from her face, inspecting her. Her routine—cat eyes only—was gone. She'd put an honest effort into tonight's dance. She'd swept her shoulder-length, light brown hair into a messy updo. Bobby pins with rhinestone hearts secured her Audrey Hepburn–like hair.

I'd been so taken in with the decorations, I hadn't paid
enough attention to Ana's makeup—not to mention her outfit.

“No way,” I said. “Are you wearing more than just eyeliner? Ana!”

She blushed, bowing her head to sip her punch. “I
might
have decided to put in a little extra effort tonight. But! Don't think for even one second that I'm into this dance.”

“No, of course not,” I said, my tone teasing. “That hadn't even crossed my mind. But, Ana. You look seriously beautiful.”

She had lined her top lids with a thin line of black eyeliner and brushed on a barely there coat of dark brown mascara (complete with curled lashes!) and had dusted her lids with a shimmery, sandy shade of eye shadow. Her lips, like mine, shone in the light, clear and glossy. There was even a hint of blush on her freckled cheeks.

“Thanks, Laur,” Ana said, letting out a big breath. “I wanted tonight to be amazing. It's weird, but I actually felt like getting dressed up a little. You and Brielle always look so amazing at dances. I wanted to try it out for a change.”

“Your makeup
and
clothes look amazing—they're very you, Ana.”

I took in her outfit—she'd paired a black ruffled
skirt with a satin ruby red capped-sleeve shirt with pearly buttons. She'd accessorized with skinny silver hoops and a pair of diamond studs in the second holes in her ears.

Ana smiled. “I'm comfortable in this—I wouldn't have felt that way in a dress like yours or Brielle's, though.”

“That's the most important thing about fashion,” I said. “Rule number one: If you wear clothes that you really love, ones that make you feel good about yourself and also make you feel comfortable, not only will you look great because of the clothes, but you'll feel confident. Nothing makes you look better than confidence, Ana. No matter how impressive the label or how glitzy the accessory. You look incredible tonight because you're glowing with confidence.”

“I'm going to miss you, Lauren,” Ana said.

We smiled at each other. Over my shoulder, I saw Taylor talking to his swim team buddies. I caught his eye and motioned that I'd be near the snacks whenever he was done.

“Be right there,”
he mouthed, holding up one finger.

I didn't care that he was hanging with his friends. It wasn't my style to be a clingy, stay-by-my-side-every-second girlfriend. I wanted to party with my friends,
too. But I couldn't shake the way he'd been acting earlier.

“Let's grab something to eat and talk,” I suggested.

Ana followed me, and we both grabbed plates that said
YATES
in bold navy letters on the bottom.

“There's so much food,” Ana said. “I think Brielle was in charge of that.”

“Is she here yet?” I asked, craning my neck to look around for her.

Ana scanned the room, then pointed. “There she is.”

I followed Ana's gaze. Brielle was already on the dance floor. She'd always been an amazing dancer—she took ballet lessons on days off from riding. Will was dancing next to her and, from the look on his face, Bri had him totally hooked.

“They look great together!” I said.

Will, dressed in a button-down white shirt and black dress pants, held his own next to Brielle. His olive-toned skin, dark brown hair, and hazel eyes were all gorgeous.

I noticed that Bri had curled her dark hair into waves that cascaded around her shoulders, which she'd dusted with iridescent shimmer body powder. Brielle had paired her dress with white-silk kitten heels and a simple, layered silver necklace.

She looked away from Will, spotting me and Ana. She smiled and mouthed, “
Hi!
”

We waved to her.

“I'm so happy for her,” Ana said. “She really,
really
wanted to go with Will. I bet they're the It-Couple next year.”

“For sure,” I said.

I reached for a serving spoon from the food table. I loved fruit and I'd just spotted marshmallow fruit salad that I wasn't passing up. I put a heaping spoonful on my plate, suddenly realizing that I'd had nothing but a slice of pizza and a small Pinkberry all day. Ana, a Mexican food addict, went in the opposite direction. She filled her plate with tortilla chips, a spicy jalapeño dip, and sour cream. I added a cupcake to my plate—vanilla with strawberry buttercream frosting.

We found two free chairs next to each other and sat down. I dug my fork into the fruit salad and gobbled three bites before Ana had even finished two chips.

Taylor spotted me and started to break away from his friends, motioning that he'd be right over.

“How's everything with you two?” Ana asked, her voice low and close to my ear so no one else would overhear.

“Um . . . it was a
little
weird on the ride here,” I
admitted. “I think he's sad that I'm leaving. He's probably trying not to say anything about it because he doesn't want to hurt my feelings.”

“You're sad to leave him, too,” Ana pointed out, crunching down on a chip. “If Tay were
my
boyfriend, I'd be upset if he
wasn't
sad.”

“Exactly. It's complicated—I mean, I certainly don't want him to be sad. But I do want him to at least tell me that he'll miss me. I know that's selfish.”

“Not really,” Ana said. “Of
course
you want your boyfriend to think about you. Especially after you just told him you'd be moving hours away for boarding school.”

Ana and I saw that Taylor was getting closer to us.

“Just remember,” said Ana. “You don't have to figure everything out tonight. It's not like it'll be the last time you see each other. You've got all summer to figure out Lauren-and-Taylor with Canterwood in the picture.”

Ana had made me feel so much calmer. I wanted to pick her up and spin her around. “You're so right,” I said, hearing the change of tone in my own voice. “I kept thinking,
Tonight's it! Everything has to be figured out before the dance is over
.”

Ana shook her head. “Not at all.”

We smiled at Taylor once he reached us. He smiled back and sat next to me. Between hanging with his friends
and sitting down with me and Ana, he'd filled his own plate with sliders, BBQ-flavored chips, and a couple of chocolate-chip cookies.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “I didn't mean to ditch you as soon as we got here.”

“You didn't
ditch
me,” I said. “Ana and I were hanging out, too. Totally fine.”

Taylor and Ana had always gotten along very well. The three of us fell into easy conversation about summer.

“You're going to have to fight us for time with Lauren this summer,” Ana told Taylor in a joking tone. “Brielle and I are planning to steal her as often as we can.”

Tay tilted his head. “You're
so
on.” He looked at me. “You better get out your calendar and start filling it in. This is serious business.”

“Poor me.” I smiled at them. “Being wanted by my three best friends. This is terrible!”

Once we'd all finished eating, Taylor took all of our plates to the trash.

“Ana?”

Ana and I looked up at Jeremy, a gorgeous, highly sought after boy in our grade.

“Um . . . Jeremy?” Ana's voice was squeaky.

He smiled at her, flashing a set of perfect white teeth. “Do you . . . want to dance with me?”

Oh, snap! Ana's eyes darted to me. I wished I could high-five Ana right then and there. If this didn't prove my point about confidence being the most important rule of fashion, nothing would.

YES! SAY YES!
I screamed at her in my head—trying to signal with my eyes to go with him. But Brielle and I had barely gotten Ana to agree to come to the dance. There was no way she'd say—

“Sure,” Ana said. “I'd love to. Thanks!”

I couldn't stop my mouth from falling open. I looked like a total cliché, but I didn't care. I was absolutely stunned.

Ana tossed me a quick smile, smoothed her black skirt and got up, winking at me before she went off with Jeremy—who totes looked happy.

I half-stood, wanting desperately to get Brielle's attention. I signaled her with an exaggerated wave, looking like an idiot. But it worked.

“What?”
she mouthed, her arms around Will.

“Ana!”
I mouthed back, nodding in the direction of Ana and Jeremy who were dancing together. Dancing! And laughing.

Once Brielle saw what I was gesturing toward, her face mirrored my own clichéd one from earlier. She whispered something in Will's ear, then hurried over to me.

“How did
that
happen?” Brielle asked. “Ana's dancing. At a dance. With a guy. With . . .” She squinted Ana's way. “Oh. My. God.”

“I know! He came over and I even felt sorry for him before he even said anything—I mean, I was
sure
Ana would say no. But before I could bribe her with a trip to the art store, she got up on her own and just went with him!”

“Wow.” Brielle shook her head, still staring at Jeremy and Ana. “Our little Ana—all grown up.”

We both pretend sniffled-slash-dabbed imaginary tears and giggled.

“I won't keep you, but are you having a crazy fun time with Will?” I asked.

The sparkle in Brielle's eyes was unmistakable. “He's so funny and cute. And smart. I wish we could stay all night. How about you? Where's Tay?”

“Ready to dance,” I said. “And here comes Taylor.”

Brielle winked at me. “Catch up with you later,” she said before giddily running back to the dance floor.

Taylor started to sit back down next to me, but I stood, grabbing his hand. “Dance with me.”

He smiled. “I thought you'd never ask,” he joked.

We found an empty space on the packed floor, walking past a bunch of people I knew on our way. It still amazed me when no one said hi—I barely even got a half smile from a couple of girls I'd done a history project with about a month ago. Because of me, those airheads had all gotten A's. Rudeness,
ladies
?

But I kept my head up. I wasn't going to let
anyone
make me sad tonight, least of all
them
. Besides, the more I spoke to Becca, Ana, and Brielle about it, the more I realized that if people were actually going to behave this way, they weren't my real friends anyway.

Taylor and I moved to the rhythm of the music. He smiled at me whenever I looked at him, but something still felt off. I didn't know what was wrong. But I didn't want to keep bugging him about it either. Taylor would talk to me if there was something serious going on. I'd just have to trust him when he told me nothing was wrong.

When the fast music changed to a slow song, I stepped closer to Taylor, putting my arms around him. Smiling.

“I'm so glad we came,” I told him. “I'm having a lot of fun.”

“Good,” Taylor said. “Me too.”

We danced, shifting slowly back and forth. I knew he'd
wanted to talk about us tonight, but Ana's words from earlier were in my brain. I didn't have to settle everything or even
anything
tonight.

“Taylor, I know you wanted to talk about us tonight,” I said. “And I want to talk, too, but do we really want to do that here—tonight?”

I shifted away from Taylor's ear so I could see the expression on his face. I could see the relief in his eyes.