Page 114

“Yes, please,” I said, letting him lead.

The corners of the gym were anchored with emerald towers comprised of balloons, along with life-sized cardboard cut outs of iconic Oz characters, ready for you to take selfies with. Eventhe Wicked Witch made an appearance, twirling slowly overhead on a broomstick where for other dances I assumed a disco ball would be. A yellow brick ‘road’ had been carefully taped down across the gym’s surface to lead to the dance floor, only to disappear and reappear on the far side leading to a table full of tiny cans of sodas, water bottles, and a carefully supervised bowl of what was labeled Flying Monkey punch.

“Water, soda, or whatever that is that I’m frightened of?”

“Diet Coke,” I said, and he finally let go.

The third wall of the gym had a stage set up with a projection screen showing someone’s Images of Oz screen saver set, hopping through important scenes every ten seconds. I followed the light back up to the projector, hanging from the ceiling in a wooden shield, and then followed its cables back up into the darkness of the gym’s ceiling.

“Here you go,” Darius said, returning to hand my soda to me.

“Thanks,” I said, taking it from him. I’d been stupid to get a drink, now I had something to actually hold, instead of him.

Kids kept coming in, two by two and then twelve by twelve, if the excited screaming was to be believed. I saw the intermittent flash bursts of the photo booth starting—sorry, Mom, but I was not going to get one with Liam—and the DJ, trapped in one corner behind his equipment wearing a green sequined suit, started playing, which led me to making my second-most stupid decision of the night, asking, “Back in California, did you dance?”

“Any time I could,” he said seriously. Then he set his drink down on a table. “Come on.”

I…had never danced except for in the privacy of my own room with the music turned up. I was just about to explain this to him when the DJ’s mic came on and shouted:

“Redson High Juniors and Seniors welcome to your prom!” Lasers jetted out from the DJ’s booth like we were in a spacewar, more tornado-like fog billowed out, and then everyone was clapping and screaming and we were on the dance floor.

Something fast with an electronic beat came on, and Darius swayed from side to side, and I did my best to imitate him, and then I just closed my eyes and did my own thing because maybe if I couldn’t see anyone else they couldn’t see me.

One song in, I felt less stupid than I had. Two songs in, I was actually enjoying it, the way that we were near each other moving: even without touching or the other world, we were projecting energy back and forth. Three songs in, I was having an amazingly good time—which was why I didn’t know Lacey was there until she tackled me.

“Jessie!” she screamed in my ear.

I startled then hugged her back. “Hey!”

“Look at you!” she shouted, over the song.

“Look at yourself!” I shouted back.

“I know!” she said, and twirled so I could see. Her dress was floral and long sleeved, because it still had to pass Ms. Harper’s inspection someday, but it had a low-cut neckline and an oddly, for her, short skirt. “Safety pins,” she shouted. “Jonah helped me,” she whispered. “Don’t let me go home without ditching them.”

I laughed, and turned to Darius. He was just about to say something when the lights, already dim, dimmed further, and the music took on a slower pace.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the first slow song of your prom!” the DJ’s booming voice echoed overhead.

And at that, Darius put his hand out for me. Before I could lose my nerve, I took it.

CHAPTER 42

Ilooked back over my shoulder once but Lacey was gone, abandoning me to the dance floor. Darius’s hands circled my waist and I put mine carefully on each of his shoulders, bringing us as close as Redson High official regulations would allow.

I didn’t need to be closer to feel him near though. After dancing earlier, I was overly conscious of the space between us because it felt like it was full of static, a roiling potential between us that the music spiked with each slow beat.

And it wasn’t just us. I let myself phase out and see the other world all around me. I could see-feel the speakers pump and wave, the misty-heat of my classmates swaying, the lights that shot overhead, the wires that ran them, the glittering fireflies of everyone’s phones. If I could ignore my headache, I was in a fairy world, and the magic was all around me.

“This doesn’t feel real,” I whispered.

“Why not?” Darius whispered back. I blinked and all the other lights blurred, as Darius came into focus. We’d stopped dancing and he was looking intently at me.

“You know why,” I said. He hadn’t said a wrong thing all night and where his hands were on my hips, and I would’vesworn I felt a current running between the two of them, directly through me. I tilted my head up, and saw the projector overhead, hanging like a spider. This—me and him—was a lot—and it wasn’t why we were here—although it would be if I let it and—I stepped back with an apology. “I gotta—” I looked around and saw people as people again and started weaving through them out one of the doors in the back that the chaperones had opened to let the fake smoke out.

Darius was beside me in an instant, with a look of concern on his face. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No.”