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I listened to her with half of my brain, just like when I was in the other-world, only I wasn’t—the rest of me was trying to figure out how to gracefully segue our conversation without crashing it.

“Have you heard anything about prom itself?” I interrupted.

“It’s the Wizard of Oz themed. And a bunch of senior girls are going to show up with wicker baskets and stuffed Totos. Don’t copy them though—if you do they’ll get mad.”

“I meant—more like, slideshow type stuff.”

“Well well, look who wants to be popular now!” Her tone was teasing, not cruel—right? “It’s a junior-senior prom, Jessie. We’re not cool enough to be in it.”

“Who picks the photos?”

“I don’t know. The yearbook committee? The school paper? There’s nerds involved, for sure. We can turn in photos next year. I’ve got a special file for ones I’m saving on my phone.”

All of that sounded innocent enough. But I needed toknow-know, for Lacey’s sake. “Does anyone ever…play jokes on anyone else?”

“I heard the DJ’s a joke. But, its Kansas, what can you do?” she said, lifting her hands off the wheel for a shrug. And soon we were in Ventana. I was no wiser but it was too late.

I sat down on the front porch of my trailer and sent Lacey:

Sarah doesn’t know.

Or, she was so dense she didn’t understand where I was leading, or she really was the world’s best actor. Sharing those thoughts with Lacey wouldn’t help though—and I really didn’t think Sarah knew anything. I had to give her the benefit of the doubt—that’s what half of friendship was.

My mother finished the dress that night, chattering about Liam all the while. She’d told everyone at the bar and I prayed to God that it wouldn’t somehow get back to any member of the Lewis family. We were the same age. Had my mom and Liam’s mom gone to high school together? If they had, I was sure they didn’t hang out anymore.

When my mother’d finished hemming, she sat on the couch and sent Allie to bed.

“But it’s only seven!” Allie protested.

My mother got that look in her eye. “Go,” she said sharply, and Allie ran. Then she turned back to me, sweet as pie, patting the seat beside her. “Come over here, Jessie.”

“Sure, Momma.” Obedient and slightly frightened, I sat down.

“I—it’s just,” she took a sip of the beer she’d been milking on the end table and twisted her head in the air, apparently looking around for words. “You know I want you home by midnight, right?”

I nodded.

“Good. I mean it. Or I will leave the bar and hunt you down.”

I nodded again, more briskly.

“Good. But I’m not stupid. I know that there’s a lot of trouble you can get up to between the hours of seven and twelve PM. I know that there’ll be a lot of parties—and that Liam’s a very, very, popular boy.”

Oh God. This was going to bethatconversation. I felt myself flushing as red as the dress I had on.

“I just wanted to talk to you now, before you get all boy-crazy. I know there’ll be chaperones at the event, and that they’ll keep a bible’s length between you two,” she said with alook. “But I know they can’t be everywhere at once, and they’re not out there with you with him in his truck cab.”

“Mom, I’m not going to?—”

“Shhh!” she said, pinching her fingers in mid-air to cut me off. “Even though you say that now, tomorrow night you might feel differently—and who knows how he’ll behave.” Her face took on a solemn expression. “I just—I don’t want you to do anything you regret later. I don’t want you to do anything at all. I think you’re too young. But if you’re going to be stupid, at least be smart and make him use a condom.”

There were no words for how badly I was dying inside right now, how much I wished my body were an inanimate object, like a cushion on the couch.

She leaned forward, looking me directly in my eyes. “And if he does anything you don’t want to you, I don’t care how popular he or his family is, sweetheart—I’ll find him and cut his dick off.”

I blinked, resurrected from merging with upholstery. “Thanks, Momma.”

“You’re welcome.” She leaned forward and smooched my forehead the way that I smooched Allie’s, and then Barbara’s car honked once and she was out the door.