Last Dance

by Melody Carlson

  Casey shook her head, then buried her face in her knees again.

  DJ and Taylor exchanged glances.

  “Are you going to have an abortion?” Taylor asked.

  Casey didn’t answer.

  “Talk to us, Casey,” pleaded DJ. “We’re here to help. What’s going on?”

  Casey looked up again. “I—I had a—an examination. And it was horrible. And I’m supposed to schedule another—another appointment.”

  “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” DJ told her.

  “But I—I have to—to take care of this,” Casey sputtered. “It’s my responsibility.”

  “That’s true,” Taylor said as she extended her hand to help her up. “The baby is your responsibility. But you don’t have to make this decision today.”

  “Right.” DJ stood and offered Casey her other hand.

  “Come on,” Taylor urged. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “And unless you want to go out there and deal with Seth, we’re taking you home,” DJ informed her.

  “But he’ll be mad.”

  “Let him be mad,” Taylor said.

  “Yeah,” agreed DJ. “Let him show you what he’s made of.”

  “And what he’s full of,” added Taylor.

  Then, with Taylor and DJ flanking Casey, they marched through the waiting room. When the woman at the desk tried to stop them, Taylor faced her down. “Our friend is confused and upset and wants to leave,” Taylor said firmly.

  “But she needs to see the—”

  “Are you saying you won’t allow Casey to leave?” Taylor demanded. “Because I can get an attorney in here like that” She snapped her fingers in the startled woman’s face. “I don’t think you want to be accused of holding a juvenile here against her will, do you? That might make for an interesting news story. Would you like me to call the press?”

  The woman backed down, and the three continued through the waiting area, totally ignoring Seth, who had already tossed down his magazine to follow them out to the car. Before they could get Casey into the front seat, Seth was trying to intervene.

  “What did you do to her?” he demanded.

  “Wouldn’t that be more like what you did to her?” Taylor shot back at him.

  “I’m helping her,” he said.

  “You’re helping yourself,” DJ told him as she eased Casey into the passenger seat, then closed the door.

  “Casey!” He slammed his fist on the roof of the car. “You get out of there and come with me!”

  She didn’t even look up.

  “Leave her alone,” DJ said.

  “She is not going to have that baby!” he yelled.

  “That’s not for you to decide,” Taylor said as she closed the door behind Casey.

  “That baby is half mine,” he declared, “and my half is not—”

  “Not what?” DJ got close to his face. “Not going to live? What are you going to do, Seth, kill half a baby? You don’t think that would be murder?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Take a hike, Seth,” Taylor said as she got into the backseat.

  “And unless you plan to grow up real soon, just leave Casey alone.” DJ got into the car, started the engine, and began to back out. But there was a loud noise and the whole car shook.

  “Did I run over him?” DJ stepped on the brake in panic.

  “No, that moron just kicked your car.”

  DJ put the car into park and got out in time to see Seth stomping toward his car. And sure enough, he had kicked her car. Right there on the passenger side where Casey was sitting was a big indentation. DJ just shook her head as she got back into the car. “Seth is a maniac,” she said quietly.

  Casey was crying again. And DJ’s hands shook as she drove home. She didn’t think they were in any real danger, but it was upsetting just the same. She wondered if she should tell her grandmother about how her car had gotten damaged or just hope that she didn’t notice. DJ parked the car in the driveway, and they all got out to examine the foot-sized dent.

  “I’m sorry,” Casey muttered, “this is all my fault.”

  “It is not your fault,” DJ said.

  “That’s right,” Taylor agreed. “It’s Seth’s fault. And if you have the sense I think you have, you’ll drop that boy like a hot potato.”

  Casey nodded.

  “It’s almost dinnertime,” DJ said as they went inside. “Let’s put on our party faces, because Grandmother has a special announcement tonight.”

  “That’s right,” Taylor said. “Casey, you come into our room and splash some cold water on your face, and I’ll help you with some makeup.”

  Before long, Casey’s puffy eyes and red face were just a memory, and all three girls made it down in time for dinner. Although Casey was even quieter than usual, no one seemed to notice since Rhiannon was the woman of the hour. She was ecstatic to hear Grandmother’s good news. And when Inez and Clara came in with not only a cake but a bottle of sparkling cider as well, Rhiannon cried tears of joy.

  “You are all so wonderful,” she said as they all held up their flutes of sparkling cider. “I feel like God gave me a family when he allowed me to be part of Carter House. And I am so thankful.”

  “Here’s to Rhiannon,” Grandmother said. “To her success at the Fashion Institute of Technology and to her future in the fashion world.”

  “To Rhiannon!” they echoed.

  By Wednesday afternoon, it seemed that Eliza’s slightly impaired race for the crown was about to come to a screeching halt. But it wasn’t from a lack of trying on the part of the Carter House girls. Even Casey, who, thanks to Seth, was bluer than blue, was doing her best to help out.

  “It’s hopeless,” DJ confessed to Eliza’s supporters as they gathered in a quiet nook of the locker bay for a quick after-school meeting.

  “Why?” Daisy demanded.

  “For one thing, it’s not looking like Eliza’s mother is going to let her come back,” DJ explained. “Besides that, no one’s been able to figure out who made the MySpace page, so both Madison and Haley are still solidly in the race. And besides that, there’s a new rumor circulating about Eliza.”

  “What?” Daisy frowned.

  “You haven’t heard it?” Kriti asked.

  “No, what is it?”

  “People are saying that Eliza made the MySpace page herself just to get the others in trouble and to garner sympathy from the voters,” Taylor said.

  “That’s nuts!” Daisy shook her fist. “Certifiably nuts.”

  “Yes,” DJ told her. “We agree. But for some reason, people are buying it. And Eliza not being here to defend herself seems to add fuel to their fire.”

  “So are you going to quit campaigning completely?” Daisy asked.

  DJ frowned. “I really don’t see the point in dragging this out.”

  “Especially if she’s not coming back,” added Rhiannon.

  “It’s feeling pretty lame,” Casey said quietly.

  “Having a campaign meeting, are we?” Madison asked coyly as she and Tina paused to stare at the small gathering.

  “Get a life,” Daisy called back at them.

  But they just laughed and continued walking.

  “See,” DJ said, “what’s the point in prolonging this losing battle?”

  “When did you last talk to Eliza?” asked Daisy.

  “At noon.” DJ shook her head. “She sounded depressed. She was on her way to the shrink, and it seemed perfectly clear that her mother was not budging.”

  “It’s so unfair.” Daisy slammed her fist into a locker.

  “Easy, girl,” Taylor said.

  “Hey, maybe you’d like to run as a write-in,” DJ said to Daisy, “in Eliza’s place.”

  Daisy shook her head. “No, thanks.”

  “Okay, then.” DJ wanted to wrap this up. “I think we need to let it go. I mean, if anyone wants to keep campaigning, go ahead, but I’m pretty sure it’s hopeless.”

 
“I’m going to call her,” Daisy announced as she opened her phone. They all waited until Daisy had Eliza on the other end. “So, what are the chances of you making it back here?” she asked hopefully. She waited and her face grew cloudy. “Really?” Her mouth twisted downward. “Oh, I’m sorry, Eliza.” She just shook her head. “Well, you hang in there, okay?” Then Daisy hung up and looked at the rest of them with a hopeless expression. “DJ’s right. It’s over.”

  “Sorry to run,” Kriti told them, “but Josh is waiting.”

  “And I promised to run Rhiannon to the fabric store,” Taylor told them.

  Rhiannon grinned. “On her Vespa, which will be a first for me.”

  “So, just for clarity,” DJ said quickly, “we’re quitting the campaign?”

  Everyone seemed to agree, but as they went their separate ways, DJ felt a sense of sadness and loss. Just before she left the locker bay, she glanced at a campaign poster of Eliza. A corner had come un-taped and DJ paused to re-adhere it to the window. She looked at Eliza’s bright, smiling, confident face (a photo that DJ had found irritating a couple weeks ago) and realized that she actually missed the princess. More than that, she felt a sense of personal responsibility—Eliza had begged DJ to help her, but DJ had let her down. Still, DJ didn’t know what more could be done. Grandmother had tried…and it’s not like they could force Eliza’s mother to allow her to come back.

  10

  “WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY,” sDJ observed as she drove away from the school with Casey slouched in the passenger seat. “Makes me want to go to the beach.”

  “Go for it,” Casey said in a flat tone.

  “You want to?”

  She just shrugged, but DJ took that for a yes and turned onto the beach road. Before long they both had their shoes off and were walking down the beach. Neither of them said much. They just strolled along, moving out of the way when a wave rolled in too quickly. Finally Casey got tired and they found a handy log to sit on.

  “So…how are you doing?” DJ asked.

  “You mean besides being knocked up and recently dumped?”

  “No…I mean, that too.”

  “I’ve had better days.”

  “I know…” DJ reached down and scooped up some cool sand in her hand, letting it trickle between her fingers as she wondered what she could possibly say to make Casey feel better.

  There was a long silence…the only sounds were the waves and a few gulls screeching.

  “What would you do if you were me, DJ?”

  DJ considered this. Well, for starters, she’d never be in that place…or would she? She suddenly remembered those few times when she and Conner had pushed things a little far, times when she’d been tempted to go farther, and how they’d finally drawn some lines in their relationship. “I’m not sure what I’d do, Casey. But I think if my mom was alive, I’d tell her.”

  “But your mom was cool.”

  “Your mom’s cool too, Casey.”

  “She’s okay…for a mom…but she’s so caught up in being a perfect church lady that I know she’ll go to pieces if she finds out that I’m pregnant.”

  “You might be surprised.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “But you’ll never know if you don’t give her a chance, Casey.”

  “True…”

  “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “If I could trade places with you—I mean, if I could be pregnant and have my mom be alive so that I could tell her I was pregnant—I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

  Casey didn’t say anything.

  “I know that probably sounds lame, but it’s true.”

  “I believe you.”

  “Is your mom coming for the Mother’s Day fashion show?”

  “I think so. She was trying to decide between that and graduation. She said they can’t afford both.”

  “So if she comes…would you tell her?”

  Another long silence.

  “You know what will happen if I tell her, DJ.”

  “What?”

  “She’ll insist that I keep the baby.”

  “Keep it as in keep it and raise it and everything?”

  “No…probably not like that. I mean as in not have an abortion.”

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “You mean, go through a whole pregnancy and give birth to a baby?”

  DJ grimaced. “When you put it like that it does sound a little overwhelming.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “But I wonder how you’d feel if you didn’t do that.” DJ squinted up at the sky. “I mean…if I were you, I wonder how I’d feel.”

  “How do you think you’d feel?”

  “I think I’d feel sad.”

  Casey just nodded.

  “And guilty.” DJ sighed. “And I wonder if that sadness and guilt would last longer than nine months…you know what I mean?”

  “Like a lifetime?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Would you hate me if I got an abortion?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “But you’d be mad at me?”

  DJ didn’t know how to answer that. “I guess I’d be more concerned than mad. Like I’d want to know why you felt you had to do it. Like, was it your choice or was someone, like Seth, pressuring you? And I’d want to be sure you were really okay with it. Taylor and I saw how stressed-out you were at the abortion place—it seemed pretty obvious that you weren’t feeling too good about it then.”

  “I was scared. And Seth wasn’t helping.”

  “Seth was only thinking of Seth.”

  “I know that now.” Casey picked up a stick and drew a circle in the sand. “And I also know he’s already invited Jolene Kranz to the prom.”

  “Seriously?”

  Casey nodded. “I don’t really care. I know I’m better off without him.”

  “It’s got to hurt.”

  “Oh, yeah…it hurts.”

  “Hey why don’t you go to the prom with someone else too?”

  Casey actually laughed.

  “You could,” DJ persisted.

  “Right. Three days to find a prom date. Sounds like a bad summer movie.”

  “It could happen. In fact, we could make it happen.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks.”

  “So, you’re saying you want to sit at home alone on prom night?”

  Casey’s mouth twisted.

  “Think about it. Seth will be there with Jolene and you’ll be home in your sweats and slippers feeling like a reject.”

  “Who’s going to want to—”

  “Can you trust me, Case?”

  “Trust you to twist some guy’s arm to—”

  “No, I’ll ask Conner if he knows someone. I mean, think about it. What if there’s some nice guy who would love to go to prom but was too afraid to ask a girl, and now he regrets it and thinks it’s too late.”

  Casey snickered.

  “I’m glad I’m entertaining you.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” Casey threw her stick over her shoulder. “Sure, knock yourself out, DJ, see if you can find some pathetic loser to take the jilted pregnant girl to the prom.”

  “No one knows you’re pregnant.”

  “Not yet.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I don’t know.” Casey stood up. “And maybe I don’t even care. It’s not like I’ve ever had a great reputation at that school anyway.”

  “Well, I seriously doubt that Seth will go shooting his mouth off. According to Taylor, he’s worried about what mommy and daddy would do.”

  “That’s the truth.”

  “And you can trust Taylor and me to keep quiet.”

  “I know I can trust you.”

  “You can trust Taylor too.”

  “So you say…”

  “Anyway, back to prom. If Conner finds a guy to go with you, you’ll really cooperate? I don’t want to set some nice guy up for a letdown.”

  “Just make sure Conner
actually gets a nice guy.” Casey stuck out her chin. “He doesn’t even have to be a hunk…as long as he’s nice”

  “Wow.” DJ nodded. “I’m impressed.”

  Casey let out a swear word.

  “Okay, I take it back. I’m not impressed.”

  “No, that’s not it…I just remembered something. If I go to the prom, I’ll have to go to youth group tonight. Otherwise I can’t wear the dress Rhiannon made.”

  “That’s right.” DJ tried not to sound too smug. “But you have to admit that dress is totally worth it.”

  As they walked back to the car, Casey continued to grumble about the fairness of the dress exchange and whether or not she really wanted to go to the prom, and all the reasons why she should just forget the whole thing. “I mean, seriously,” she said as DJ unlocked her car, “why bother? Life as I know it is over with anyway.” Tears were coming down her cheeks. “I’ve messed up a lot, DJ, but this time I really did it.”

  DJ didn’t know what to say.

  “And even if I can undo my mess, I know that it’ll never go away completely. I’ll never be who I was before.” Casey sniffed loudly. “I wish there were do-overs…or that I could turn back time.”

  “Yeah…I’m sure a lot of people feel that way.” Now DJ wondered if her prom idea was really that great. Finding a pregnant friend a date to the prom seemed a little like putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm. Still, she felt sorry for Casey and was becoming increasingly concerned that she might slide into a really deep depression.

  After they got home, DJ called Conner. “I need a big favor,” she told him.

  “What?”

  “Can you find Casey a date for the prom?”

  “Kinda short notice, isn’t it?”

  “Duh. But she’s really bummed about Seth breaking up. And now he’s taking Jolene Kranz, and if we could find Casey a date, well, it wouldn’t be quite so painful.”

  “Don’t you mean if í can find her a date?”

  “Well, if you don’t want—”

  “Sorry…I was just jerking your chain.”

  “Thanks. Anyway, are we still on for youth group tonight?”

  “Sure. Hey do you think Casey would go for someone from youth group?”

  “I don’t know.” DJ considered this. “Are you thinking of anyone specifically?”

  “Not specifically.”