Page 11 (1/2)

"What proym thinks about you except for me I’m the one you’re with I think you’re beautiful That’s all thatdeep in my chest and I found it hard to breathe, let alone maintain eye contact I looked down atwe’d never coled my face up to look into his eyes

"Do you want to leave? We can go to ame

"Okay I have one favor to ask first"

"What?" At this point, I’d grant hi

"One dance"

My eyes flickered past hiym To the other students

"Please?"

"Okay," I whispered, though the word scraped out of er led me onto the dance floor and everyone stared Girls snickered and pointed at my dress

"That is the cheapest dress I’ve ever seen," someone called "Where’d you buy it? The Wal-Mart clearance rack?" Bridger’s hand tightened on mine "This is proer’s hand tightened ht beneath the biggest disco ball, and took me in his arms

"Don’t listen to them," he said "And if you don’t want to see their faces, just look intoto find the pupils in the irises, but it didn’t matter Sure, I couldn’t see the other students But I could still hear them

"… embarrassed to be seen with her"

"So shoddy, especially next to O’Connell"

"I hear he doesn’t have to rent his tux He owns it, and it’s Armani"

"The least he could’ve done is buy a halfway decent dress for her"

I closed my eyes and laid my head on his chest One of his hands leftthe voices away So he could hear theesture and I s dress And the wrong shoes And I didn’t have a teeny, sequin-covered purse to clutch But when it came to a date, I had the best one in the entire rooain

He saze moved to his lips, to his white teeth I licked ht

"Not so bad anymore, is it?" he asked

I bit my botto ended and I let go of Bridger, ready to bail Prohtened and he pulled yotten I put ot lost in his eyes More than one song passed, and if the other students were talking aboutheart My gaze er’s eyes and hisI could aline how they’d feel on mine, he leaned closer toto the music But then he looked away and stared toward the doors we’d coer?"

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head He tookintoand then he slowed, no longerto the beat, his eyes far away He tilted his head to the side and I wondered who he was listening to Who was verbally beating me to a pulp this time? I strained er frowned and he stopped dancing

He took a step away from me and said, "I’ll be back in a couple of ?"

"No, I’m--" Before I could finish, he turned and wove his way across the dance floor, disappearing through the door that led into the main part of the school "--fine"

I folded my arms overand trying not to make eye contact with anyone But I could hear them