The Last Boy and Girl in the World (9 page)

Once I was upright again, Jesse's hands let me go. It took me a second to figure out what was happening. Jesse and I were no longer slow dancing, even though the slow song poured out of the speakers. That he'd hip-checked me, and it popped me a few steps to the side. Off-balance, I tried to steady myself, but Jesse spread his legs and thrust his crotch at me, grinding himself on my bare leg to a nonexistent beat. Hard, almost like I was a soccer player on an opposing team and he was trying to steal the ball from me. I wish I had been ready for it, I wish Jesse had given me a heads-up, because if he had, there's no way I would have fallen.

There were gasps from the people watching us as I hit the floor, I definitely heard them. And then laughter. Shocked, I stared up at Jesse, but he was all smiles, giving me a come-hither look and crooking his finger, beckoning me to stand back up. He opened his mouth and said something, but I couldn't hear it because of the screams of everyone rushing close to watch us. I turned and saw Morgan. Even she was clapping. And Victoria too, with a bemused look on her face.

So I did it. I did what Jesse wanted, what the entire gym wanted, the only thing I really could do in the situation. I hopped back up to my feet and grinded on him as hard as he'd grinded on me. I did the running man in a circle around him while everyone clapped to the beat. I forced him to turn around and spanked his butt over and over again while he bit down on his finger and made groaning sounds.

That's when Bundy raced over and got between us. Jesse held up his hands in mock shock, pretending not to understand what she was upset about. The crowd booed. Then Bundy looked at me. Glared at me.

“Three years later and you're still hell-bent on embarrassing yourself.”

My mouth plopped open. It was a sucker punch, as mean as or maybe even meaner than the way she came at me right before I quit Mock Congress. Even though I was older now, practically a senior, I shrank and shriveled inside like I was still a freshman. And just like she had then, Bundy turned on her heel and walked away from me before I could defend myself.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one to walk away from me.

I looked for Jesse to see if he'd heard, but he was already strutting back toward his friends, who either had their hands up for high fives or shook their heads with amused disbelief.

Left alone, I smoothed my dress. It was even dirtier now, the lace smudged muddy, having picked up the dirt from the gym floor on the spots that were still damp. I walked over to the food table, hoping they might have club soda or something, but of course they didn't. High school dances were club soda–free zones.

“Keeley!”

Elise and Morgan waved me over to our table.

I got myself a can of soda and headed toward them, trying to hold on to the good feelings I'd had earlier in the night.

“This is honestly the craziest courtship I've ever seen,” Elise said as she scrolled through pictures on her phone she'd taken of Jesse and me. “I don't even know how to advise you.”

Morgan rested her chin on her hand. “But it's so perfectly them, don't you think?”

“Oh, totally! Whatever you're doing, Keeley, keep doing it. It's clearly working!” Elise held up a photo of me and Jesse dancing and beaming million-dollar smiles.

“Keeley, what's wrong?” Morgan asked. Even though she said it quietly, Elise looked up from her phone.

“Nothing,” I said quickly, and I rolled my wrist to be extra convincing. “Just Bundy being a beeyotch. Whatever.”

Morgan twisted her head around until she saw Bundy, and then curled her lip. “Ugh. Forget it.” It was the second time in two weeks that my best friend had said those words.

•  •  •

Wes didn't know Morgan had him on speaker when he asked her not to bring me to his friend's party because I was obnoxious and not funny and none of his friends wanted to hook up with me anyway.

Morgan and I looked at each other, and then at the phone on her bed. Morgan dove for it, but she wasn't quick enough.

“Not even Beeker,” Wes said. Which was probably another insult, though I didn't know Beeker, so I couldn't say for sure. “Come on. Can't you tell her you and Elise are doing something else this time?”

The way he asked it, whiny, I knew he'd asked her not to bring me before.

Morgan finally turned the speaker off and put the phone up to her ear.

I sat down on the floor and for whatever reason, started folding random clothes that Morgan had strewn around her room. I probably shouldn't have been surprised Wes would say such shitty things about me, especially considering what had happened a few days before, but I still was.

After that, I only heard half the conversation.

“Screw you, Wes, she's my best friend.” And then, “I told you she didn't mean it. She was just kidding around.” There was a long pause. “No.” And then a longer one. “Yeah, well, if you can't take a joke”—at this point, she looked at me and made a stupid face, like Wes was being annoying—“then, yeah, I guess we are breaking up.” She hung up her phone and threw it across the room.

“You and Elise can go without me,” I said after a few minutes of stunned silence. “I don't care. You're not going to hurt my feelings.” That wasn't even a lie. I couldn't be any more hurt than I already was.

“Forget it,” Morgan said. Then she hugged me very, very tightly, as if she wanted to make sure that this was really happening, that her dumping Wes wasn't just a bad dream.

•  •  •

Even though it hadn't worked the first time, I tried again to do exactly what Morgan said. Forget it. I sat quietly in the gym for the next few songs, while Elise sent texts and Morgan danced in her seat.

And then, lo and behold, “Cupid Shuffle” came on.

A rush of people headed to the dance floor, boys as well as girls. Maybe because the song lyrics were instructions? I'm not sure. The three of us went out too. Of course I looked for Jesse, but didn't see him.

I went through the motions, twisting and turning, but I kept scanning the gym. Where had Jesse gone? Maybe back to the locker room? I knew he wouldn't miss this opportunity to put on a show in front of everyone.

About halfway through the song, I figured I should go look for him.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't also have a sense of dread. I already knew that the night had slipped away from me somehow.

I walked quickly down the hallway, past the girls' bathroom, past the guidance offices and the library, “Cupid Shuffle” melting away underneath the rain the farther I got from the gym. My feet were still bare, the bottoms black, and I moved silently. No one would hear me coming. I rounded the corner and peered down at the science wing.

And there, at the end of the hallway, was Jesse Ford.

With Victoria Dunkle.

She sat on top of the hall monitor desk where Mrs. Treasman handed out demotions. Victoria's legs were crossed and angled to the side. She wore a lemon-yellow halter dress, a plain cotton one, nothing special. Jesse had both hands on the corners of the desk and he leaned in to her, whispering something. She tipped her head back and giggled.

I whipped back around the corner and steadied myself against a set of lockers, listening. I couldn't make out what they were saying. It was Jesse talking, mostly. Victoria, all she did was giggle.

I almost, almost laughed. But then I looked down at my dirty dress and everything got blurry.

I quickly wiped my face.

I did not cry at school. Ever.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Morgan's hand, I thought. I hoped. I remembered her warning earlier in the morning.
You don't want to make Jesse laugh tonight. You want him to kiss you.
God, I screwed that up.

Or maybe it was Jesse?

I didn't want him to see me crying. But maybe it would be a good thing if he did. He'd know that I really did like him.

But how could he not know that already?

I looked up. Levi Hamrick, in wet jeans, running sneakers, and a black rain slicker. “Keeley.”

I had never heard my name spoken so gently.

Then the lights flickered out.

Saturday, May 14

EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM ALERT:
Intermittent power outages due to high winds are being reported across Aberdeen County and Waterford City Metro. Residents are being advised to avoid unnecessary travel.

We stood in the dark for a few seconds. Then the emergency lights flicked on and woke everything up.

“Don't sneak up on people like that!” I hissed.

Levi made a sour face and drew his hand away from me quickly, as if I were suddenly hot to the touch. “I wasn't trying to sneak up on you,” he said, an edge to his voice, the same way he'd spoken to me at the Key Club sandbagging when he'd caught me joking around with Jesse. Like an annoyed older brother. Or a dad. “I found you crying in the middle of the hallway.”

“Oh my God,
shhh! 
” I glanced to where the science wing began and prayed Jesse and Victoria hadn't heard that. Levi hadn't come to Spring Formal, or rather, I didn't remember seeing him, not that I would look. “What are you doing here?”

“The power outages. Now, just stay where you are a second,” Levi said sternly, holding his palm to me as if he were directing traffic. He looked up at the emergency lights, counting the beams of weak spotlight after weak spotlight. They were mounted over every other classroom door and barely made a dent in the darkness, a total joke compared to the bright pops of lightning outside. Some didn't even turn on.

Levi was only a couple of inches taller than me, still a good size for a guy but not nearly as tall as Jesse. He unzipped his rain slicker and underneath was a white polo shirt, two points jutting down like arrows. His hair was buzzed to peach fuzz. He'd worn it that way as long as I could remember. I had no idea what Levi looked like with hair, if it was curly or wavy or straight. His eyes were plain brown like mine, or so I thought.

It wouldn't be until a few weeks later that I'd notice the yellow flecks.

While Levi was preoccupied, I began walking backward the way I'd come, hoping to disappear to the gym without anyone noticing. But Jesse and Victoria rounded the corner.

“Oh,” Jesse said, his eyes meeting mine. He didn't say it surprised. Or apologetic. It came out straightforward and plain, like the fifteenth letter of the alphabet.

I said “Hey!” as cheerily as I could. Which, looking back, I bet didn't sound cheery. But I tried.

“Hi, Keeley,” Victoria said sheepishly. Had Jesse told her what I'd said to him? Had they both been laughing at me?

Levi groaned and shook his head. “Everyone needs to get back to the gym now,” he announced. “The hallways are off-limits.”

Jesse looked at me and rolled his eyes toward Levi before walking back to the gym.

Maybe Jesse thought he'd caught me with Levi?

If he did think that, would it make him jealous?

I quickly decided no. Because of what Jesse already thought about Levi, and also knowing all the mean things I'd said about Levi that day we were sandbagging the river.

He has such a hard-on for rules, I bet he jerks off to the school handbook.

That one had really landed. Jesse was shocked to hear a girl make a jerk-off joke. Wasn't that the start of everything? The moment when Jesse really noticed me? It sure felt that way. And we'd had so much fun over the last week, drawing lines in the sand and daring each other to jump over them.

Had Jesse ever planned to kiss me tonight? Or was that a joke too?

I convinced myself that the reason I had never been loved by a boy was because I hadn't met a boy who
got
me. Jesse was supposed to be that person. I was so sure he was. Except Jesse was with the beautiful girl who I bet never once took a purposefully ugly picture of herself or did a stupid dance.

I used to think Morgan and Elise had some secret special knowledge of how to get boys to like them. And I felt lucky that they were there to help me get it right. But it suddenly seemed far simpler. I just had to do the opposite of my natural impulses. Because something was obviously wrong with me if I thought licking a car window was an acceptable way to flirt with anyone. Or making masturbation jokes. Or admitting my love for someone I'd really only known for a week.

As we reached the doorway to the gym, I saw flashing bright red and blue lights through the streamers. Four police cars were parked outside the gym doors and more were pulling into the parking lot. But I wasn't nervous or scared. I felt sick to my stomach over what had happened with me and Jesse.

Principal Bundy pushed through the streamers. She was already frowning, but when she laid eyes on me, it doubled. “What are you kids doing? The hallways are off-limits.”