forget it.”
She smiled and took the box, opening it and sliding the corsage of white roses onto her left wrist. “How’s your arm?” she asked, noting how close he held his right arm to his body.
He smiled weakly. “It’s okay. I’m sorry we can’t dance, though.”
She shook her head immediately. “It’s okay. Don’t even think about it. What did the doctor say?”
“To keep it as still as possible. It’s just a sprain, so it should be fine soon.” He held out his left arm and she looped hers through it, allowing him to lead her out of the house. A sudden outcry of catcalls made her stop short and she looked up, bursting into laughter at the sight before her. Claire and Claudia stood in the moon roof of the black limo parked in front of her house, and all of the limo’s windows were rolled down, revealing her friend’s staring, cheering faces.
“You look gorgeous, dahling!” Claire called at her. “Simply gorgeous!” She pounded the top of the limo. “Now get in this thing and let’s get going! I wanna party!”
She laughed and nodded, climbing in as Trevor held the door open for her. The limo was crammed with their friends and acquaintances, all jostling each other as glasses of champagne were passed around. Annabelle continued passing glasses until Zach opened a fresh bottle, and even then she checked her glass as discreetly as she could. She might have been naïve, but she wasn’t stupid. She had already learned her lesson.
“To the most beautiful people in the school,” Claire declared, raising her glass. Loud catcalls and cheers filled the limo. Annabelle laughed weakly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. There were a lot of beautiful people in their school—more than just the few that could squeeze into the limo. “And to our amazing football team for pounding Lincoln into the ground!”
The cheers grew thunderous, and then everyone downed their champagne. As they drove to the marina there was loud chatter and even louder music. Annabelle lost herself in the frenzy, singing hysterically with her friends and yelling to be heard over the noise.
As they pulled up to the twinkling lights of the marina, the music from the country club’s ballroom audible even as they climbed out of the limo, Annabelle felt a sense of giddiness overtake her. Students stepped aside as the group made their way down the gold-flecked stone path, and for a moment it was like she was seeing everything from the outside—the mass of beautiful students making their entrance into the crystal-decorated venue.
They headed straight for the picture line so they could have their pictures taken before they started dancing and ruined their hair and makeup. She and Trevor took a couple together, but then they took pictures as a group, first all of the girls followed by one of all of the guys, then one as a whole group. As she squeezed in-between Claire and Mary, Trevor behind her, she realized the whole event felt strangely surreal. She knew when the pictures came back the girls would all crowd around them and gush about how gorgeous each other looked, but in reality they would all just be staring at themselves. And somehow, when the flash went off, her smile felt plastic and fake.
When they were done taking pictures they crowded around a table near the dance floor, half of the group getting up to go dance while the others remained seated. Annabelle mentally shook herself, trying to get rid of the thoughts in her head. This was Homecoming, and she was supposed to be having the time of her life.
So what was wrong with her?
Why did she feel almost like she was someone else?
“You should go dance,” Trevor shouted in her ear, to be heard over the music.
Annabelle smiled and started to shake her head, but Claire suddenly jumped up and grabbed her hand. “Let’s dance!” Claire begged. “You can be my dance partner.”
Annabelle shot an apologetic look at Trevor, but he laughed and nodded, waving her away with his left hand. She allowed Claire to lead her to the dance floor, where they were promptly surrounded by the other girls. Annabelle tried to push everything else out of her mind, forcing herself to concentrate on having fun as she and Claire spun each other around, laughing and singing along with the music.
When her feet were ready to start bleeding, she laughingly excused herself despite the protests that she stay. She made her way to the refreshment table, carefully