Andi and Travis show shortly after. He leads her through the room hand in hand, his eyes gleaming with bliss. I’m so completely happy he found someone as sweet and funny as Andi. He’s such a special person and close friend, I don’t know if I would have been okay with him going out with just anyone. Not that it’s any of my business. I’d feel the same way about any of the rest of the guys.
“
Dude, this place is amazing,” Andi says as she gets closer. “I feel like I go to a rich school in a movie or something.”
“
No doubt,” Travis agrees. He hooks a hand around her waist, and she leans into him.
The servers seem to be coming around with our entrees. “Looks like we should sit down and get ready to eat,” Dom says, pulling out a chair for Steph. I look to Josh. There’s no way he’s going to do the chivalry thing. He sits. Of course not. I chuckle inside.
“
Yeah, let’s get the show on the road. Eat fast so we can hit that dance floor,” Keesh says.
“
I can’t believe we spend all this money to get all glammed out for just a few hours before we look like mangy dogs,” Steph says, as we drag ourselves back to the table after an hour and a half of nonstop dancing. “My hair is a frizz ball and my makeup melted off.”
“
I know. It’s a good thing we got pictures or I’d never believe we ever looked that good,” Keesh adds.
“
Dude, it’s so hot out there, I think I lost a few inches. My dress feels like it’s going to fall off.” Andi wore a cute purple party dress. Super short and super sexy. Travis hasn’t been able to take his eyes off her.
“
I’m so sweaty, my dress feels like it’s gonna slide off too.” It’s gross. The air should be cranked down to about forty degrees. It feels like the inside of the sun in here. “I gotta pee. I’ll be back.”
Steph bends over to unstrap one of her heels. “I’d go with you, but my feet are already barking.”
“
I’m gonna wait for the guys. I’m dying of thirst. How long does it take to fill up a cup of punch?” Keesh rolls her eyes.
“
Want me to go with you?” Andi asks.
“
No, stay here. I’ll just be a second.” The look on her face is relief.
As I walk away, I glance at my friends. They’re allbeat. And we still have a few more hours left. We just need to ditch the shoes, hydrate, and get back out there.
I go into the restroom, do my business, and when I come out, Amy is leaning against the sinks. I never expected to see her at prom and I sure didn’t expect her to follow me into the restroom.
Our eyes meet and I mutter, “Hey.”
“
I talked to Mrs. Flores.”
I move to wash my hands. “Good.”
“
It’s helping.”
I take a paper towel and dry my hands. “Good.”
“
Thank you.”
I toss the crumpled paper in the trash. “You’re welcome.”
She pushes off the sink, turns toward the door, and leaves.
The dance floor is clearing out as the night moves on, but we’re not going anywhere.
Us girls dance together, waving our hands in the air, getting low to the floor, and making our way back up. Keesh and I double team Josh, freaking him like there’s no tomorrow.
At one point, he laces his fingers behind his head, like he’s kicking back while we service him. “Go, Josh. Get your pimp on,” Dom shouts to him.
Josh should never be egged on. He places his hand on Keesh’s back, pushes her forward, and pretends to smack her ass. Travis whips out his cell and takes some pics before she realizes what he’s doing.
“
Jon is going to kick your ass,” she yells at Josh, but starts laughing anyway. It’s hard to be serious when Josh is thrusting his hips and spanking the air. To Travis, she says, “Send me that picture.”
The last song of the night comes along. A slow jam. Keesh and I look at Josh. “You guys dance,” I tell them. “I’ll get a head start putting my shoes back on.”
“
Hey, Meggie, dance with me so I don’t feel like a dumb ass,” Brody mutters, shoulders slouched like he’s a four year old who just got scolded.
“
What happened to Misty?”
“
A six-foot-tall football player happened.” He pouts, jutting out his lower lip.
“
Her loss is my gain,” I tell him. “I’ll dance with you, but if you touch my ass, I’m gonna knock you out.”
“
Forget it. I’ll just go home.” He turns to walk away, but stops mid-stride, laughing. “Just joking.”
“
All right, we’re all good. We all have a partner. Let’s go dance,” Keesh says. “The song’s gonna be over before we get out there.”
And with that, the eight of us sway back and forth, some bodies
a lot
closer than others, to the last song of the evening, as the seconds count down to the end of our junior prom.
Thirty One
Studying for finals blows. The only thing good about final exams is they’re followed by summer break. The end of the year is right around the corner. Brody has created his foolproof study schedule and note cards for chem so I’m not worried about that at all. Since I took the Advanced Placement exam for history, I don’t have to take a final in that class. You’d think I’d be less freaked with only math and English to be worried about, but I’m not.
“
Forget it,” I say, tossing my math book on the floor. “If I don’t know it already, it’s not gonna suddenly take up residence in my brain. I’m wiped out.”
“
I second that,” Keesh says, chucking her book on top of mine.
Steph sighs. “You guys are a bad influence on me. We should really keep studying. We’re barely hanging on to our 4.0s for the semester. Getting a crappy score on the final is gonna ruin it.” Leave it to her to try and talk sense into us.
“
I’d be happy with a B.” Keesh flops back on one of my pillows. “Straight A’s are overrated. It makes us look like we’re stuck in the books, not well rounded.”
“
Good theory. See, getting a B will make colleges think we’re multidimensional, not just book smart.” It sounded good when I started talking, but not so much anymore.
“
You guys are full of crap.” Steph piles her book on top too. “But I’m tired and a B is looking pretty good to me too.”
“
So, what are we doing for your birthday, Meg?” Keesh asks.
“
I don’t know.”
“
Will Alex be home by then?” Steph asks.
“
Yeah, he’ll actually be home before graduation. I can’t believe he’s going to be home the entire summer. I got used to him being gone for so long and now he’s gonna be here for a couple of months. It’s gonna be weird.”
“
Enjoy it. Enjoy him before he goes back.” Steph curls up with one of my pillows and yawns.
“
I will.” I scoot Keesh’s feet over and stretch out on my bed with the girls. “But it’s not like I’m going to go back to being his girlfriend just because he’s here.”
“
Why not?” Steph asks. “I think we’ve all figured out this single shit doesn’t work for us. Not when we can have the guys of our dreams who are obviously our soul mates.”
“
I know. I just want to wait until he’s home for good and I’m done with high school. If it’s meant to be, then he’ll still be there and I’ll still want him. If not, well …” I have no idea. Somehow, that doesn’t feel like an option.
Keesh props herself up on her elbow. “Okay. We still need to make plans for your birthday.”
I shake my head. “Not now. Let’s just wait until after finals and graduation and then we can figure it out. There’s no rush. My birthday isn’t going anywhere.”
My birthday is during the summer. The way the calendar falls this year, graduation is early and my big day isn’t until the weekend. I like it this way. I can concentrate on end-of-the-year crap, then celebrate the beginning of summer and my seventeenth in one big swoop. And Alex will be here for it all.
“
Meg, happy early birthday,” Mrs. Gelson, I mean Mrs. Fuller, tells me when the bell rings, handing me a gift bag. “I hope you have a great time this weekend. Tell Alex I said hello, and have an amazing summer.”
“
What is this?” I ask, taking the bag. “You didn’t have to get me anything. Thank you.” I lean over to hug her. “When we get back in the fall, I’m hoping you’re gonna have a big belly popping out. I promise to babysit whenever you want.”
“
Thanks for the offer. I’ll have to take you up on that someday.”
“
We’re seniors, bitches!” Keesh yells, as we make our way out of the building after our last final. “School’s out. We only have to do this one more time next year and then we’re off to college.” She gazes at all of us. “Oh shit. That’s scary. This time next year, we’ll be getting ready for graduation.”
“
Stop,” Steph tells her. “I’m not ready to think about that yet.”
“
No, keep going.” I find it bleeping exciting. “We’ll be putting on our caps and gowns, family will fill the stands, and we’ll walk along the football stadium to the graduation song. I can’t wait.”
“
Dude, neither can I,” Andi says. She and Travis walk up, hand in hand. “I’m so ready for high school to be over. I can’t wait to go to college.”
“
Do you know where you want to go? Somewhere here or back in Boston?” Keesh asks her.
“
Good question,” Travis says.
Andi hesitates. “I’m not sure. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
Travis blinks away his worry. I doubt he’s ready to give up Andi, the way I had to give up Alex. Things will be different for them. If they’re still together next year, they can apply to schools in the same area, or even the same one.
“
None of us have, Andi,” I say. “Let’s just try and get through the summer and then we’ll talk colleges. For now, let’s go to my house and cool down in the pool.”
“
I’m in,” Josh says. “Let’s go.”
“
Can we stop and get a Slurpee first?”
“
For the birthday girl, anything,” Josh says, with a cheesy grin.
“
Anything?” I raise my brow. “This could get interesting.”
After a few hours of splashing around, my belly starts to rumble. “I’m hungry.”
The boys nod their heads in agreement. “I have an idea,” Dominic says. “Let’s go to the store and get some food and then head over to school.”
“
For what, babe?” Steph says. “We’re not dressed for graduation. It’s not like we can get in. We don’t have tickets.”
Very true. We’re not really great friends with any of the seniors so we never tried to score tickets. School’s out. Done. Finished. Why would we go back?
“
We can have a picnic. Grab a bunch of food, blankets and sit in the baseball field. It’s far enough away so we won’t draw attention, but close enough so we can hear everything and watch the fireworks.” Dom has a nice plan. It sounds good to me.
“
What do you think?” Alex booty-checks me. “I’m down if you are.”
“
All right. We can come back here again after if we want to.” I stand and grab my sundress from the lounge and pull it over my head. “I’m not changing and wasting time. I’m hungry. Let’s go.”
“
Looks like Meggie’s appetite has spoken,” Keesh says, as she follows my lead.
Travis gets to his feet. “Yeah, you don’t want to piss off a hungry woman.”
“
Or any woman for that matter,” Ben chimes in.
“
You’re all gonna piss us off right now if you don’t stop talking shit,” Keesh scolds them, jokingly.
At school, Andi spreads out some blankets on the grass. Josh sets up some lawn chairs. Steph and I start unpacking the bags of food. Plenty of chips, sodas, and some deli sandwiches.
It’s like another beach party, without the sand.
“
I’m thinking we should definitely skip the beach next year and just have a BBQ at school. This is awesome. I don’t have to worry about sandpaper ass or gritty food. And Ben doesn’t have to growl at traffic.”
“
Hey,” he says, “traffic sucks. You’ll see when you drive.”
“
I’m in no rush. Getting my license is the last thing on my mind.” I’ve come to enjoy walking to school in the morning. It gives me time to think, sort out all the shit going on in my life. Recently, all I’ve been able to think about is Amy. I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was when we got hauled in for another chat with Mrs. Flores the first day of finals.