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Laurie nodded. “Sometimes we do stupid things for love.”

My eyes were wide as I looked at her. I couldn’t decide if it was crazy or sweet that she’d done so much to get Jake’s attention. I settled on mostly crazy.

A car honked from the street and Laurie’s expression perked up. “Anyway, my ride’s clearly getting restless. I’m glad we’ve got that sorted.” She smiled at me and walked toward the car idling on the side of the road. “I’ll see you at the dance,” she called out, sending me a wave over her shoulder as she got into the car.

I shook my head as I watched her drive away. She hadn’t even asked for my forgiveness, but that was Laurie for you. I found I wasn’t angry with her anymore though. The things she did were pretty messed up, but I guess they made a strange kind of sense to her. More importantly, I felt lighter than ever before because I finally knew the truth. There was nothing between Cole and Laurie.

Hayley’s car pulled up in my driveway, and as she got out, she glanced over her shoulder in the direction Laurie’s car had gone. “Was that Laurie?” she asked.

“Sure was,” I said, as she started down the driveway toward me.

“What was she doing here?”

“She was apologizing,” I replied, walking to meet her halfway.

“What?” Hayley stumbled forward slightly in her heels as she heard the words.

“Careful there,” I laughed. “You need those two feet for dancing tonight.”

Hayley shrugged. “I’m not sure if there will even be a dance. Isn’t Laurie apologizing like the first stage of the apocalypse?”

I laughed. “Come on; let’s get in your car. I’ll tell you about it on the way to school.”

After finally recovering from the shock of Laurie’s apology, Hayley was remarkably unsurprised by the explanations behind her actions. She’d apparently seen Laurie checking Jake out plenty of times before, so it wasn’t news to her that she was interested in him. She was surprised by Laurie’s claim of love though. Hayley figured someone needed a heart to feel love and strongly still believed that Laurie was sorely lacking in that department.

It wasn’t until we were almost at school that I saw the kind of stunned reaction I’d been expecting from Hayley.

“I told you Laurie apologizing was the first stage of the apocalypse!” she screamed, as we took the turnoff to school.

There were cars, TV trucks and people absolutely everywhere on the street outside the school's front entrance. It was like nothing I had seen at a school event before. The bustling crowd was more like the kind you would expect outside a rock concert or at a crime scene. I could see the flashing lights of cop cars up ahead, and we were stuck in a line of cars that wound up toward the school's front doors.

“Who are all these people?” I whispered.

“I don’t know,” Hayley replied. “Do you think everything’s okay?”

It was then that I spotted the first #Cadi poster.

I swore under my breath.

“What?” Hayley asked.

“I think these people are here for the final of the competition,” I replied.

“No,” she whispered in disbelief before looking at the gathering with fresh eyes. She then started bouncing up and down on her seat. “Madi, they’re here for the final. They’re here for you!” Hayley squealed.

I shook my head though. “How can they be?” I asked. “I’m not in the contest anymore.”

“And obviously they don’t care! Have you seen how many posters there are supporting you?”

I slumped in my seat, feeling utterly speechless. Hayley was right. There were so many posters with my name on them. Some signs were simple, with my name and Cole's circled in a heart. Others were covered in glitter pronouncing, “Madi and Cole 4 Eva.” It seemed like the posters were everywhere I looked, and tears started welling in my eyes. I may have quit the competition, but it meant so much to see that people cared about me.

“Do not cry!” Hayley told me. “You’ll ruin your makeup.”

“Sorry,” I said, quickly wiping my eyes and checking my face in the mirror. It was hard not to shed a tear though.

“Maybe they don’t realize you’re not in it,” Hayley said, as the sounds of people cheering for Cadi reached our ears.

“What do you mean?”