The Beginning of Everything(56)

There was a huge line at the florist’s the afternoon of the dance, and I tried to entertain myself by watching the kids who’d come with their parents standing around pretending they weren’t embarrassed. But that got boring after a while, so I jokingly texted Cassidy a picture of a hot pink lei along with the message, they said I could have this for the same price as a corsage!

You’re not serious?! she texted back immediately.

I laughed over it and let her wonder while I paid for her wrist corsage.

My phone rang as I was walking back to my car.

“Please tell me you didn’t,” Cassidy said.

“I didn’t,” I admitted. “Note to self: girlfriend does not want to get leid.”

“Oh, very funny.”

Tony Masters screeched into the parking lot then, the windows of his Blazer rolled down and shedding rap music. He honked his horn at me to say hey, and I only jumped a mile.

“Jesus,” I swore, half panicked even though I was still on the sidewalk.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Just this guy from school being an ass.”

“Okay,” Cassidy said. “Well, try not to die before tonight.”

“If I see a big black SUV that looks like it’s going to blow through a stop sign, I’ll hit reverse,” I promised.

“What?”

“The accident,” I told her. “Last May?”

“You never told me that part. You always just called it the accident.”

“Oh, I thought I had.” I reached into my pocket for my keys. “I was leaving this kid Jonas’s lakehouse party back when I still had my cool car, before I drove Voldemort.”

Silence, and a bit of scuffling on Cassidy’s end.

“Did I tell you I’ve decided to name the Volvo?” I pressed, wondering why she wasn’t laughing. Probably she was just impressed by the amazingly clever name I’d given my car.

“Sorry,” Cassidy said. She sounded distracted, like she was at the salon or something. “I have to go.”

“Yeah, me too. See you tonight.”



I GOT DRESSED slightly early and put some product in my hair that I never bothered with for school and stood there adjusting my tie in the mirror forever.

It wasn’t that I was nervous about taking Cassidy to a dance—I was certain we’d goof around and have a good time with our friends like we always did—but more than anything, the homecoming nomination made me feel as though I was being pushed back into a world I was happy to leave behind.

I didn’t expect to win homecoming king. It would have been flattering, but useless, since it was the kind of thing that was over the moment it began. Still, I set the alarm on my phone for the time Ms. Reed, the student government advisor, had told us nominees to head to the green room. The “green room,” as though it was someplace fancier than the little annex with the unisex handicapped toilet off the back of the gym.

I picked up my copy of The Great Gatsby while I waited for Cassidy to arrive and reread the parts about Gatsby’s parties since they seemed festive enough. I got so engrossed in the book that I failed to realize it was getting late, and it startled me when my mom knocked on the door of my room.

“Maybe you should check with Cassidy, sweetie,” Mom said worriedly. She was carrying this camera my father had bought her for Hanukkah maybe five years ago, bulky and outdated.

“Yeah, I’ll text her,” I promised, pulling out my phone. When she didn’t answer back, I called. It went to voice mail, and I didn’t much see a point in leaving a message.

But when she was a half hour late and still hadn’t returned my call, or either of my texts, I started to get worried. Mom stuck her head back into my bedroom and asked what was going on. She was all false cheer, clutching that sad old camera, and I don’t know what made me do it, but I looked down at my phone and acted like Cassidy had just texted me back.

“She’s running late,” I lied, reaching for my keys. “And it’s easier if I just pick her up. You don’t mind, right?”

The gate guard at Terrace Bluffs was used to me picking up Cassidy; he waved me through without a second glance. Some little kids had done chalk drawings in the street again, of ghosts and pumpkins. A few of the houses on Summit Terrace already had Halloween decorations up, orange lights glowing from the trees and fake cobwebs over their hedges.

I grabbed the corsage and rang the bell, wondering if I’d finally meet her parents. No one answered, so I knocked louder, and rang the bell again, trying not to be too rude about it.

“Hello? It’s Ezra,” I called, in case they thought I was one of those kids on the bicycles who went door to door preaching the joys of the Church of Latter-day Saints. I mean, I was wearing a tie. A limo drove past, with Tommy Yang from JV tennis sticking his head out the sunroof. He hooted at me, and I waved back. It wasn’t until the limo disappeared around the corner that I started to panic.

I gave Cassidy another call. Her phone rang five times before I got voice mail.

“Hey,” she said laughingly. “Leave me a message in a hundred forty characters or less and—oh my God, Owen, stop, I’m trying to record a voice-mail greeting—sorry, well, leave a message. Or send a telegram if it’s urgent.”

“Um,” I said. “Hi. It’s me, Ezra. I’m staring at your front door, and your corsage is sweating. Wait, no, that sounds gross. It’s moist. Sorry, that’s worse. Anyway, you should come open the door soon because I’m leaving fingerprints all over your doorbell.”