I roll my eyes. “I don’t need a date,” I say, defiantly.

“Besides, Czar here is more handsome than any high school boy,” Jen says, her voice light and happy.

“It’s Zara, actually. But she is pretty, isn’t she?”

Zara’s eyes get big when we turn to her, like she’s wondering what in the world we’re talking about. I walk over and lean down next to her and scratch her neck. She lifts her head and licks my cheek.

“Wait!” Mom calls. “Hold that.” She picks up the camera and snaps a shot of me hugging Zara, and I’m pretty sure that’ll be my favorite picture.

Alex drives us to school in her mom’s old Lancer. When we finally pull up to the big brick building, my palms are sweating.

I remember my first moments standing in front of these glass doors. It’s dark now, but really, it’s exactly the same as it was then. I’m the one that’s different. Oddly enough, I’m more scared now than I was then. Because now, I have more to lose.

“I’m so nervous,” I admit.

“I’m excited!” Jen says.

“Yeah, this was your idea. How can you have cold feet?” Alex says.

“I don’t! I’m just nervous. What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then everything will be the same as before. But it’s going to work.”

I nod. No matter what, I’m going to make sure Marissa isn’t the one to blame if this goes bad.

But it has to work. It will.

The parking lot is already dark by the time the dance starts.

I watch the other students walk into the school with their fancy dresses and shirt-and-ties.

We walk through the parking lot, me much too comfortable in the high heels, and I march quicker than Jen and Alex, but I stop when I see a cop car pull into a parking spot. What the hell?

Three boys hop out of the back seat, laughing. The one who hops out first has those sexy glasses, and even from far away, I know it’s Jackson. His father’s in the driver’s seat. I guess he came as a chaperone.

I turn away quickly and keep walking.

As soon as we enter the school building, all three of us stop and stare. Jackson recruited a few guy friends to help with the actual setup of the dance, so none of us have seen it all put together. Jen and Alex’s sign hangs right at the entrance, candles light the path down the hall to the gym, and a little plastic runner leads the way all the way down.

It’s pretty, but it’s nothing compared to the way the gym itself looks. There are lights over both sides of the gym, covering the walls from ceiling to floor. I didn’t even realize we had this many. The Eiffel Tower Jackson and I worked on sits behind the DJ, and it’s beautiful. The background is dark, with hanging little twinkling stars.

We did an amazing job.

I just wish I could share this pride with Jackson.

From what I can hear around me, everyone else seems to admire the work done on the dance decorations, too. The only real proof this is the same sweaty gym we use for classes and games and prep rallies is the floor. There wasn’t much we could do to cover up the basketball court.

“This is awesome!” Jen says, her smile stretching all the way across her face. I grab her hand, and she grabs Alex, and I feel so close to them at this moment. I’ve never been in this position, but now I see there can be safety in numbers.

As kids head out onto the dance floor to dance to the heavy beat music, we just stand there, watching.

Finally, the moment’s over when Alex goes running into the crowd, pulling me and Jen with her. I laugh as I’m dragged onto the dance floor and start dancing with my friends.

It feels good. Surprisingly good.

We take turns gawking when Marissa and Brandon walk in. She doesn’t even look our way, which is good. She’s good at this faking thing. Guess she’s been doing it for a while.

Everything has to seem normal, so our job right now is to have fun. The real mission doesn’t start until a little later in the night. So we dance, and we laugh, and we have fun. Part of me is just pretending to complete the illusion and help Marissa, but it’s not all fake. I’m actually having fun.

Alex messes up her hair by swinging her head around to every song. She’s the kind of girl whose hair should always be down. It’s so pretty anyway. Still, I can’t help but give her a hard time.

“I put a lot of work into that!” I yell over the loud music.

She pulls out one of the bobby pins and flings it into the air.

After a few songs, I see Marissa and Brandon through the crowd, only a few random grinding dancers over. Brandon’s hands are all over her. I hate the expression on her face, complete misery. There must have been a time when she loved him, wanted him, but that time is clearly long gone. That tends to happen when someone treats you like shit.

I don’t know what Brandon deserves, but Marissa at least deserves better than this.

Marissa pushes through the crowd, and as she passes us, she stops to lean in and whisper in my ear, “The decorations are awesome.” I’m careful not to smile at her kind comment, knowing Brandon needs to think it was something nasty. She gives me a wink and then pushes past us, pulling her boyfriend behind her. He gives me a smirk and a wink, and I shiver.

We stay and dance a little longer, and while this is fun, I’m starting to get restless. I want to get this over with.

“Want to get a drink?” I yell out to Alex and Jen, who both nod, and we head back up to the cafeteria. It’s there that I see Jackson.

He’s wearing black slacks, a white button-up, a checkered vest, and a bright green bow tie. Sticking to his too-attractive-for-true-geekiness geeky thing. It’s weird, but it’s so him. So Jackson.

He’s with his goofy gamer friends. They’re debating about something serious, but then again, knowing Jackson, it’s probably about which food item or cartoon character is better. His head pops right up when I stop at the doorway though, his conversation forgotten, and we just stand there for a few seconds, watching each other.

I so wish I were with him tonight.

I shake my head. There’s a reason I sent him away. Eventually, he’ll find out the truth. And the closer we are, the more it’ll hurt when he does. I could deal with it, but I’ll do anything to save him from that pain.

There are a bunch of round tables covered in tablecloths and little Eiffel Towers and candles in the center. We sit at one of them to catch our breath from all the dancing.

“The decorations turned out great, didn’t they?”

I spin to see Jackson standing there, his hands in his pockets and a hopeful look in his eyes.

“They’re amazing,” I say.

Jen and Alex agree. Alex lifts up her cup and says, “Cheers!”

She’s so weird sometimes. We all laugh politely, but there’s nothing else to be said, so after another awkward moment, Jackson says, “I’ll see you around,” ending our conversation much too soon, and he heads back to the dance floor with his friends.

“Think it’s almost time?” Jen asks as soon as Jackson is gone.

My eyes are still following Jackson, but I force myself to turn to Jen. “I hope so.”

It’s been about a half hour, enough for us to get kind of bored dancing, so maybe it’s enough for Brandon, too. We head back into the gym and search through the crowd of packed bodies, hopping and bobbing and grinding to the heavy beats until we finally find them.

Marissa is dancing halfheartedly alone, eyeing up a blond girl now dancing with Brandon.

Yup, it’s definitely time. I nod to Jen. She gets this look on her face like she’s a lioness or something. Brandon is her prey. She hands me her phone and then pushes in.

I like this Jen. Powerful, confident, determined. I hope, after tonight, she’ll be more like this. Happier, stronger.

Alex and I casually drift over to Marissa.

“Game on,” she says.

I lean in and whisper to Alex, “You should probably get going.”