My stepmother bought me the worst dress she could find to embarrass me at the prom – but before the night was over, she was crying and begging me to take it off.
I had never heard her hum before. It was a soft, contented sound, the kind someone makes when something they’ve planned for a long time finally happens.
I looked up.
In the rearview mirror, her eyes met Brianna’s. They lingered for a second. Then Brianna smiled slightly and looked back at her phone.
A chill ran down my spine.
“We’re here, girls,” Alexis said excitedly. “Get out. Have a great night.”
Brianna practically floated out of the car.
I stepped slowly onto the sidewalk. The gym doors at the end of the path suddenly seemed very far away.
The doors opened, and the music hit me like a wall. The warm light spread across hundreds of faces, and they all turned to us.
For a moment, all eyes were on Brianna. Her ice-blue dress shimmered under the lights like something out of a magazine.
Then his eyes locked on me.
“Oh my God, everyone, look at Emma!” she shouted, loud enough to cut through the music. “Did someone lose a bet tonight?”
Laughter spread through the crowd.
I felt my face burning as I moved further inside.
“Is it from some costume shop?” a boy from my chemistry class asked, grinning as if he’d just told the funniest joke in the world.
“Maybe from a Halloween sale,” added another voice.
I tilted my chin up and walked past them, but the whispers followed me like a second shadow. I could feel them brushing against my skin.
On the other side of the gymnasium, near the punch table, Alexis was joining the chaperones. She looked at me, smiling.
It was the smile of someone who had set a trap and watched it close perfectly.
I retreated to the far corner, behind a cluster of decorative balloons, leaning my back against the cold wall. I told myself I wouldn’t cry.
“Emma.”
Jenna’s voice cut through the noise. She rushed toward me, her green dress billowing, her face tense with anger.
“Don’t you dare let them see you cry,” she whispered, holding my hand. “Brianna’s a snake. Everyone with half a brain knows that.”
“Jenna, I just want to leave.”
“Two hours. We survive two hours, then we go to the diner and I buy the biggest milkshake on the menu.”
