by Claire Ray
With that, he crooked his elbow and held it out for me. “Want to go break some hearts?”
I looked up and seeing him made me smile. I took his arm, and he escorted me inside.
I’d never seen the interior of the resort look like this. Gone were the couches and tables and descending lamps. In place of the normal furniture was a pristine ballroom all in white: white drapes, white settees, white tablecloths. The lighting was soft, there was a band playing songs—I noticed Jay up there playing bass; he gave us a thumbs-up.
Half of the crowd danced and the other half lounged on a back patio that had been opened and lit up with hundreds of lights. The slopes were lit up too, serving as the most beautiful backdrop imaginable. It looked like something out of a television show.
Will kept hold of my elbow as we walked along the periphery of the room. “Dance or mingle?”
“Um.” The thought of dancing with him made my heart speed up. I ground down on my teeth and tried to picture Jake’s face.
“I say dance,” Will continued, oblivious to my distress. “That way people can get a load of how awesome we look, and maybe they’ll drop out of the contest.”
“You’re devious,” I said, smiling.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Then he steered me to the floor. Jay gave us another thumbs-up sign, and Will held up his hands as if to tell him to give us a break.
Then the band busted into a slow song. Will swept me into his body and the butterflies in my stomach transformed into full-on flying birds. His hand was on my back, and I couldn’t breathe so easy. So I rested my head on his shoulder. From my perch there, I could breathe easier.
“Whitman,” Will said, his voice quiet.
“Yeah?” I raised my head and looked him in the eye, and then had to avert my gaze.
“I’m going to spin you a hundred and eighty degrees. Look against the wall.”
Sabrina and Cam stood on the outskirts of the floor, not dancing and not looking very happy. In fact Sabrina’s arms were crossed and she was glaring in the direction of the dance floor. Will continued to move us in a circle, which was good thinking because it didn’t look like I was spying on Sabrina, which, of course, I was. When we rounded back in the proper direction, I realized that she was glaring at us.
“She’s angry!” I whisper-shouted.
“Yep. And I’m the devious one. You are now officially evil.”
I looked back at him. “It’s not the costume, you know, it’s you.”
He looked to Sabrina and then looked at me. “She’s not my type.”
“I realize that.”
His eyebrow went up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Then he spun me around and dipped me. When he brought me back up I laughed. “That’ll get her.”
“See? Devious.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I have my moments. Besides I’m tired of her. She’s not that nice to Cam, and I gotta stick up for my boy.”
When we twirled back around, Sabrina and Cam were gone. I spotted them around the corner at a table serving refreshments. She was saying something to him, with her arms crossed and her face contorted. He didn’t seem to be paying attention. He ladled a cup of punch and handed it to her. She slammed it down on the table, spun on her heel, and stalked away to where Stephanie and Hannah were conspiring in a corner.
Will continued to twirl me and I continued to people-watch. “I like being on the floor like this! I can take it all in.”
“Yeah, well, I need a break, twinkle toes.” Then he dipped me again. I couldn’t help myself. I was giggling. He raised me up, and he smiled at me.
We walked to the edge of the room, where Erin and Abby were poking their heads out of a shimmery white curtain.
“You guys are so going to win!” Abby squealed.
“Shut up!” Erin poked her in the ribs. “We’re going to get nailed for crashing.”
Just then a coworker of hers passed us and waved to her. “Hey, Erin!”
“You guys aren’t exactly invisible,” I said. “Anyone can see you.”
“Forget it, then.” Erin stepped out from the curtain and pulled Abby out too.
“Did you like my moves?” Will asked Erin.
“You’re a regular Fred Astaire,” she responded glibly.
“Come on. Dance. I dare you.”
Abby and I began chanting, “Do it. Do it.”
But just then, a whirlwind of light blue attacked Will. “Dance with me!” Sabrina shouted.
Will wasn’t expecting a full-on assault, so he staggered back from the force of her hug. Once he realized what was happening, he peeled her hands from around his neck and pushed her away. “Sabrina, hey.”
Sabrina didn’t even look at the three of us girls. “Will. Dance with me,” she commanded.
Will, for once, was a little speechless.
Erin, as ever, was not. “Sorry, Sabrina. He’s with us.”
Erin removed the hood from her head, shot us a look, and walked to the middle of the dance floor, where she held out her arm as she waited for Will to join her.
He ran to her.
Sabrina’s face turned twelve shades of red. I thought she might cry. Then she spun on her heel and stalked off to the girls’ room.
“I can’t believe her. She’s going to get fired!” Abby gushed as we watched Erin on the dance floor.
“A little fun will do her good,” I responded.
Will spun her around, and Erin laughed while she danced. It was nice to see her so smiley, and I realized that Will probably had thought the same thing, which was why he had asked her to dance in the first place.
“Oh!”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“You said ‘Oh’ out loud.”
“I did?”
“Yeah. You did.”
I didn’t know how to put into words what I had just realized. How to explain a moment that has no rhyme or reason to it? But watching Will Parker in a suit, knowing he was doing me a favor, watching him goad Erin into smiles, for the first time I had a real notion that he did care about some things.
But luckily I didn’t have to explain this to Abby, because at that moment, Cam Brock appeared before us. His face was ashen and his hands were in his pockets like they always were. “Hey, Abby,” he said.
“You want something to drink?” she asked me. “I’m going to get something to drink.” And then she tried to walk away, but Cam reached out and grabbed her arm. This surprised her. And me.
“Sorry,” he said, letting her go.
“I’ll get it,” I said. “Drinks all around.” Abby’s face looked petrified at the notion of being left alone with him, but it seemed fairly clear to me that he wanted to talk to her.
As I walked to the refreshment table, I turned to spy on them, to make sure that our poor Abby was holding her own. What I saw shocked me. He was leading her to the dance floor! Her face looked dazed, but happy. Then Erin waved her arm in the air, which caught my attention. Once we locked eyes, she pointed at Cam and Abby and made a happy face.
I poured myself a glass of punch. It was red and sticky and sweet. As I drank, I watched my two best friends, dressed in casual black clothes, infiltrating the dance floor and having a wonderful time.
Chapter 19
After the winners of the Annual Best Costume Contest were announced, the entire party was ushered outside, where the party organizers had transformed the walkway to the main chairlift into a path of lights. There were candles everywhere, on the path itself and hanging from the bare tree branches. Once we were all outside, Mean Agnes gave an order and the entire resort powered down. All the electric lights were shut off, and the whole area fell into a hushed quiet.
The group of us huddled near a large tree, and peered up into the night searching for the natural light show. Unfortunately there were too many clouds to make it worthwhile.
“It’s freezing out here!” I exclaimed, as I wrapped the cape tightly around me and blew out a
stream of breathy air.
“I thought your sash would keep you warm,” Erin wisecracked.
I felt across my chest for the Best Costume sash. “It does! It does!”
Abby jumped up and down and clapped. “I can’t believe it! We won!” She fingered the sash that she was wearing—as soon as Will and I were handed the winning title, he had given his sash to Abby and told her she deserved it. It was a really nice thing for him to do.
So now, the dance was at its end, and Abby and I were in matching sashes, though mine was over layers of white lace and hers was over a black sweatshirt. But that wasn’t the source of her giddy happiness. No, the source was approaching us with a handful of paper cups.
“Here, this’ll keep you warm,” Cam said, handing each of us girls a steaming hot chocolate.
“Thanks,” Abby said shyly. Erin’s smile was bigger than I’d ever seen it.
It turned out that our goal of seeing Sabrina Hartley in tears was achieved, but it had nothing to do with our costumes. In fact, Cam and Sabrina had gotten in a spat almost as soon as they’d arrived, and Cam had finally told her that she had to be nicer or he was going to break up with her.
Well, Sabrina is a lot of things, but naturally nice isn’t one of them. That was when she had marched over to Will and thrown herself at him. Soon after, Cam had asked Abby to dance. And the rest of the night, he’d spent with her.
I’d never seen her look so happy.
“Too bad there are so many clouds tonight,” Erin said wistfully.
“Yeah, I’d wanted to see the northern lights,” Abby agreed.
“Ah, it’s cold anyway. Diner anyone?” Cam asked.
A half hour later, the five of us were crammed into the corner booth at the Mountain Diner, in what I had always thought of as Sabrina’s booth.
Cam’s arm was around Abby’s shoulders, and Erin was eating the biggest plate of French fries I’d ever seen.
Will sat next to me, leaning across to pick off of Erin’s plate. He was describing what it was like to be assaulted by Sabrina.
“I thought my life was ending in a flash of blue satin.”
“Seriously, what was I thinking?” Cam asked. Abby blushed.
I leaned into the booth and caught myself feeling content. I had had a really good time at the ball, with my two best friends and Will and Cam. I ate a fry, feeling slightly guilty about enjoying myself so much when my boyfriend was sitting home alone. I knew that I should leave, call Jake, and go back to my real life.
Will nudged me in my side. “Come back, Whitman. Where’s your mind at?”
“School,” I lied without thinking.
There was a collective groan at the table. Erin threw a fry at me. “Don’t talk about that!”
“Hey!” Abby squealed. “Don’t throw food at my creation!”
Just then, as if he could hear my thoughts, Jake appeared at our table. I held my breath. Everyone went quiet, especially Will. Erin kicked me beneath the table.
“Hey!” I finally greeted him. “Look.” I held out the sash for him to see. “We won!”
Jake tried to read the writing on it. “Oh,” he said, confused. “What’d you win?”
Erin found her voice. “They won Best Costume. Abby made them. For Jessie and Will.”
The table had already been quiet, but this brought it down even further.
“Here, sit down,” Will said finally. He squeezed in closer to me to make room for Jake, but Erin, who was on my other side, refused to budge. This caused me to be squished.
“Watch the dress!” Abby scolded.
“Let me out,” I said quietly to Will.
His face fell. “No, just—don’t go yet.”
“Come on, Jessie.” Jake held out his hand for me.
“I have to. Just move,” I said to Will.
Will slid out of the booth so I could follow suit. When I stood up, I presented the skirt to Jake so he could see. “See? Best Costume. Abby rules.”
Jake didn’t really say anything. He reached for my hand and turned to the table. “See you guys later.”
Everybody mumbled good-byes to me, except for Erin and Will. As Jake and I walked out of the door, I turned to catch a last glimpse of them. Will stared at me. I smiled but he didn’t smile back.
Jake walked me home while I tried to stop myself from thinking about Will so much.
“Was it fun?” he asked as we passed the turnoff to Mr. Winter’s farm.
I didn’t answer right away. What was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to tell him that I had had a great time, and that it had been great because I’d been with Will? I was starting to seriously hate myself. “Yes,” I answered after a moment. “It was fun. I think Cam and Sabrina broke up for good.”
“Sabrina’s the girl you hate, right?”
“I don’t hate her,” I grumbled.
Jake laughed. “Okay. I’m not even sure if I know which one she is, but I know you hate her.”
This made me feel even worse, so this time I didn’t say anything. I focused on how cold my ears and hands were. Also, I couldn’t feel my toes anymore. These shoes were pretty, but they pinched the front of my feet, and they weren’t exactly built to keep out the snow. I thought about how nice it would be to still be at the diner, with my friends, laughing at Will’s stories of Sabrina and thinking about what a good dancer he was. About how funny he’d been on the dance floor, dipping me so close to the ground that I could’ve kissed it.
“What’s so funny?” Jake asked me.
I looked at him, surprised that I had been smiling broadly enough for him to see it in the night’s darkness.
“Nothing. Just thinking about accepting my crown,” I lied again. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, my spirits plummeted. Why was I telling lies? I just wanted to get home.
But when we finally arrived at my house, the awkward feeling I had increased.
“Want to hang out a little bit?” Jake asked me, when we got to the doorway.
“No, it’s too late. My dad will freak.”
Jake’s brows moved toward the middle of his face. He was surprised that I had said no. In fact, I was surprised that I had said no. It wasn’t too late. If it had been Will who’d walked me home, my dad would’ve invited him in. This thought made me feel even grumpier, so I kissed Jake on the cheek and sent him home.
Later, once I was back in my room, and taking the dress off, and removing the pins from my hair, and sitting on my bed with Teddy on my lap, all I could think about was Will. How handsome he looked. How sweet he was to Erin. How fun it was to dance with him. How close he sat next to me in the booth.
I thought too about English class, about what it would be like to see him in the halls of Willow High. I hugged Teddy more tightly. I realized that no matter what I did to try to keep myself from liking Will, when we got back to school I would always be looking for him in the halls, just like all the other girls there did.
It was all Will’s fault. He’d gone and cast his stupid spell on me, and I hadn’t been strong enough to keep it from happening. And this dance was the last time I’d ever have any time with him. And I hadn’t realized until this moment that I felt sad about it.
The worst thing was that I had been disappointed to see Jake at the diner and that shouldn’t be how a girl felt to see her boyfriend. I was beginning to feel really bad about myself. Here I’d used Will to get Jake, I’d manipulated everybody until Jake had broken up with Evie, and now I was sitting alone, having gotten everything I’d wanted, and I didn’t want it anymore.
I had become Sabrina.
I wondered if it was too late to make myself a big Cheer-up Shake.
Chapter 20
When I opened my eyes the next morning, they focused almost immediately on the winner’s sash, which I had thumbtacked to my wall the night before. Sitting up, I read the words BEST COSTUME, then immediately closed my eyes.
The feelings I had had the night before came rushing back: the knotty stomach and
the pounding heartbeat that all spoke to the fact that I felt guilty.
I bounded out of bed, showered, and brushed my hair. When I got to the kitchen with a notion that I’d try to choke down some cereal, Brian was at the table, his head in his hands, his face glum, and his blueberry muffin in a thousand little pieces as if he had smashed it.
Normally I would’ve eaten my cereal and ignored him. But the guilt I felt was all-consuming and I was desperate to make it go away. I knew the only way to do that was to start at least acting like a good-hearted person. Hopefully I could fake the goodness until I made it. “What’s up?” I asked him.
He didn’t seem surprised by my concern at all. In fact, he didn’t even look up or answer me.
So I started again, pulling out a chair and sitting next to him. “Wanna go skiing today? I’ll take you. We can even go get your little friend if you want.” I swallowed a bit of cereal and noticed that my chest already felt a bit less edgy. Good deeds were good medicine.
Brian didn’t seem as high on my offer as I was. He balled his hand into a fist and brought it down on the smashed-up muffin, causing it to crumble into a million more pieces.
“Okay,” I said, trying to figure out his problem. “Skating then?”
“Whatever,” he replied, his head in his hands, sounding sadder than ever.
“Brian, what’s going on?”
He finally raised his eyes. “Will you help me write a letter?”
I spent the rest of my morning sitting by the computer, helping my brother compose an email that would make any twelve-year-old proud. It turned out that he was feeling blue because Tiffany had left early with her father and Evie. I had been so caught up in my own plans, I hadn’t realized that she had left too. As I thought about it, Brian hadn’t been in my way at all the past couple of days. He’d been sad for days and I hadn’t even noticed. There was no two ways about it: I had to try to be a better sister.
When we’d finally come up with something he felt good about, we hit SEND, and he turned to me, grinning. He hopped off the chair, kicked me in the shin, and then ran into the living room where he promptly began playing video games. I screamed in pain and muttered something about getting him back, before remembering my vow of only a few moments before to be a better sister. Maybe being a better sister meant understanding that a kick in the shin from Brian wasn’t really a kick in the shin. Maybe in Brian’s world, it was a proper thank-you. It was funny to me that he was at his most destructive when he felt his best.