"I wonder if she'll ask a junior, like Jane Brown did," said Jessica, holding the door for me.

Sam accepting an invitation to the prom seemed so mainstream of him. I figured he must really

like Jane.

"Just as long as she doesn't ask a sophomore," said Madison. "We three are the only sophomores going."

"Speaking of which," said Jessica, "do you want to look at dresses after school?"

I shook my head. "Can't," I said. "I'm meeting Connor."

At three-ten, when I got to the exit by the senior parking lot, Connor was already there.

And he was talking to Kathryn Ford.

Kathryn's tiny, perfect shoulders were up against a locker, while the rest of her body formed a

triangle with the wall and the floor. Connor stood over her, looking

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into her Barbie-blue eyes and nodding emphatically. She reached up and brushed something out

of his hair.

"Hey, Lucy!" Somehow sensing my presence, Kathryn swiveled her head in my direction but left

the rest of her body facing Connor, like a praying mantis.

Or a cobra.

I walked over to where they were standing. "How's it goin', Red?"

"Um, okay." Standing so close to Kathryn, I suddenly felt enormous, like one of those giants that entire towns must unite to defeat. "Thanks again for the ride Friday," I said to her.

"Oh, sure," she said. "Tonight, though, it's me passed out in the passenger seat." She hip checked Connor. "You ' re driving, right?"

"No way, Jose," he said. "Senior City Night? I'm crawling."

"Well, I gotta cruise," said Kathryn. "See you kids later." She peeled herself off the wall and brushed her hair forward over her right shoulder. It positively gleamed. Gleamed. As if she'd

stepped out of a Pantene ad. "Bye, bro." Kathryn stood on her tiptoes and wrapped not just her

arms but her entire body around Connor. While they were still embracing, she turned to me.

"Doesn't he just give the best hugs?"

Kathryn, perhaps you'd to take a bite of this shiny, red apple I have in my hand. I made it

specially for you.

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"Oh, yeah," I said, snapping out of my reverie. "Totally."

Finally they let go of each other, and Kathryn started down the hall.

"Come on," Connor said to me, shouldering the door open. "Let's go get something to eat." As we crossed the senior parking lot, it was hard to erase from my mind the memory of Kathryn

pressing her body up against Connor's. What if tonight in the city he suddenly realized he was

tired of me, that I wasn't fun enough or cool enough or ... Kathryn enough? But just as I was

picturing the two of them riding off into the sunset together, Connor's SUV towering protectively

over Kathryn's mini, Connor picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

"Who's my girl?" he asked.

"Connor, put me down!" I screamed.

"Say it," he said. "Who's my girl?" He mock slapped me on the butt.

"Connor," I repeated, laughing, "put me down."

"Not until you say it."

"I am!" I yelled. "I am. Now put me down."

"That's more like it," he said, and when he put me down and wrapped his arms around me, the

perfect kiss he planted with his perfect lips perfectly deleted the image I'd just had of my

perfectly princeless future.

***

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At dinner my stepmother not only directly addressed me, she actually made my day.

"Lucy, your father and I discussed it, and we want to thank you for being such a big help on

Saturday night. We really appreciate it. You should feel free to make whatever plans you want

for Friday night."

I didn't even wait for my dad to call, just hightailed it downstairs as soon as dinner was over and

dialed Connor's cell.

"Yo, what's up? It's Connor. You know what to do."

"Hey, it's me," I said. "I have good news. Call me later." After I left the message, I realized Connor hadn't known I was grounded--I'd told him I needed to be home right after our afternoon

deli-run, but I hadn't told him why. So maybe my being un-grounded wouldn't qualify as good

news to him.

Still, it was good news to me.

The day after Senior City Night was Senior Cut Day. I didn't know if it was Connor's being

absent, but everything seemed a little unreal, like I was walking around in a watercolor instead of

a three-dimensional world. I couldn't focus at all. In math, Jessica took advantage of Mr.

Palmer's chewing out John Marcus for answering his cell during class to ask if Connor had told

me the details of how last night he, Matt, and Dave all puked on the street outside some club. I

shook my head.

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"Sometimes those guys totally piss me off," she whispered. "Matt told Madison they were doing shots of tequila all night." She made a face. "Whatever. Hey, do you want to go look at prom

dresses after school?"

"Miss Johnson, Miss Norton, are you quite ready for tomorrow's quiz?" Mr. Palmer was glaring at Jessica from the front of the room.

"Sorry, Mr. Palmer," said Jessica.

"Yeah, sorry," I said. When he went back to writing on the board, Jessica rolled her eyes at me. I nodded, but I couldn't quite stave off the flicker of anxiety in the pit of my stomach. Dave had

called Jessica. Matt had called Madison.

Why hadn't Connor called me?

After class, Madison met Jessica and me in the hallway.

"Okay, are we prom dress-shopping it later?" Jessica asked as we walked to the cafeteria.

"Let's wait until spring break," said Madison. "My mom's totally on my case about this warning notice I got in math." She took a swig of water and pushed open the door of the cafeteria with her

hip. "Matt said he threw up six times already," she said. "How totally gross is that?"

"Totally," Jessica agreed. "Dave said he'd been puking all morning."

I didn't say anything, very self-conscious about the fact that I had no idea how many times

Connor had

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puked in the past twenty-four hours. It was what they wanted to hear, right? Well, Matt may have thrown up six times and Dave may have been throwing up all morning, but since he is the most

popular boy in school, Connor, naturally, has thrown up more than both of them put together. I

know this because I am his girlfriend and, as such, am responsible for disseminating information

about His Majesty's gastrointestinal functions.

They sat down at an empty table. "I just need to get a sandwich," I said, not sitting.

Both Madison and Jessica gave me a look. "What?" I asked.

"You okay?" asked Madison.

I shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

Jessica reached for my hand. "Looocy," she said, sounding just like Ricky Ricardo. "You got some 'splainin' to do."

I pulled out a chair, sat down, and closed my eyes, too embarrassed by what I was about to say to

look at them. "Connor hasn't called me all day."

Jessica started laughing, and so did Madison. But when I didn't join them, they stopped. I opened

my eyes. "You're not seriously worried about that?" asked Jessica.

"It's been, like, twenty-four hours," I said. Jessica put her arm around me. "Honey, he is so into you."