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Iris, earing Eown from last year’s Foxy benefit, scampered over from the buffet "Look!" She held up a silver crown PROM QUEEN, it read across the front in sparkly letters

Eet this from Hanna?" She’d only seen Hanna for a second, and then she’d lost her But she was probably having alone tiirl over there" Iris pointed to Chassey Bledsoe

Eive that back to her Or find Hanna"

Iris rolled her eyes "Please Everyone deserves a chance to be queen Didn’t we all dream of this ere little?" Then she positioned the crown on her head and skipped onto the dance floor again She even grabbed the royal scepter and waved it in front of her face like an oversized glow stick A couple of kids stopped and grinned at her Iris did a twirling dance around Dominique Helprin and Max McGarry, one of those couples ould probably never break up Then, when the song ended, she removed the crown from her head and placed it on E!" she proclai into Eirl! Work it!"

At first, Emily refused, but then the beat infected her body She ers After a moment, she waved the specter around like it was a baton at a parade Dancers followed behind her around the floor Halfway through the song, Emily broke into a line dance the whole school had learned in seventh grade--and everyone still remembered

"Go, Erinned She’d never drea

When a new song came on, Emily removed the crown from her head and passed it to Kirsten Cullen A cheer went up, and a couple of boys on the soccer team tossed Kirsten into the air, crown, scepter, and all

Eood idea to share the croith everyone"

Iris shrugged "Just trying to lad you ca it

"Me, too, you crazy bitch" Iris threw her head back to laugh, but suddenly she pulled her bottoazed out the"My last hurrah in Rosewood, right?"

E back?" Iris had scheduled for a cab to pick her up at the Four Seasons and transport her back to The Preserve She wanted to show up looking fabulous in a prom dress, she said, to prove to the other patients that she’d had a blast on the outside This tiet betterso they’d release her for real

Iris uess I have to try" She peeked at Emily "You’ll really visit ed her "I’ll even take you shopping, as long as you prolanced at the clock over the grand, scalloped doors that led to the lobby "Hey, it’s almost ten"

"Oh, is it?" Emily said nonchalantly, as if she hadn’t been obsessively watching the clock all night

Iris frowned "How are you going to knohat your surprise froanywhere"

"I’ll just know," Emily said as they walked off the dance floor Onlywould she? Jordan could have hidden a secret h–decorated cakes around the room She could have stitched it into a hand towel in the bathroo on one of the DJ’s tracks It was like looking for a needle in one of Van Gogh’s Haystacks

She looked around the room for the fifty- task it was and try to ravitate toward anyway, right? Then again, everything in the roo and worthy of another look The bouquets of flowers on the tables The aniht, papier-mâché stars The henna tattoo artist in the corner, the fortune-teller by the stairs

"It’s conga line ti Ee easel heeled to the front of his booth "Where are our pro and queen?"

"I is proe student, her words slurred She staggered toward the stage, the proolden locks When she was almost at the DJ booth, she tripped over the heled Klaudia’s dress slipped down her body, showing off a push-up bra and--horrors--a girdle Everyone guffawed

Eaze returned to the fortune teller Their second day at sea, Ey site to get her daily horoscope When she told Jordan that she did it every day to see if things were going to be good or bad, Jordan had looked at her like she was crazy "What if the horoscope tells you not to leave the house?"

"Then I don’t," Eave Jordan a playful shove "But they never say that Even if you’re going to have a bad day, they say it’ll be challenging Or a learning experience"

"And you really buy all that stuff?" Jordan asked

"I do," Emily had said

Jordan had touched the tip of her nose "I love finding out things about you"

Now, Emily checked the clock on her cell phone: 9:53 As a line, she drifted toward the fortune-teller’s table The woray-streaked brown hair, a lasses with purple lenses She eyed E Emily in slowly, all the way to the last sip

Finally, she srabbed Eers, which , which ood shape and able to overcome obstacles, aren’t you?"