A Prom to Remember(60)

Ms. Huang placed a tiara on Amelia’s head and gave her a red rose.

“And your prom king is…” Ms. Huang searched the room with a grin. “Henry Lai!” The room erupted into much louder cheers this time. He was apparently the king of the people.

Bile rose in Henry’s throat, and he slipped out the back door.

“Where is Henry?” Ms. Huang asked, her voice muffled in the hallway but still clear enough to motivate Henry to move faster.

He headed for a nice, private bathroom stall, figuring that was the one place that Paisley wouldn’t be able to follow him.

He just needed a few minutes to himself.

And maybe to throw up a little bit.

Paisley Paisley walked into the men’s bathroom like she owned the place, prepared to tell all the guys who were in there to get the hell out.

As it turned out, perhaps men didn’t linger in the bathroom the way women lingered in bathrooms, because it was deserted. Maybe because this bathroom was totally bare bones compared to the ladies’ lounge on the other end of the corridor.

For her first men’s room experience, Paisley was not particularly impressed.

She walked along the line of stalls, peeking under each one. It was hard to admit, even to herself, but she was actually having a good time at the prom. The decorations were cheesy, and there was a vague wet-basement smell wafting from somewhere, but it was strangely perfect.

She peered under the last stall and saw Henry’s sneakers.

Shaking her head, she said, “Henry, I know you’re in there. You’re the only person at this prom wearing a pair of electric-blue Converse.”

There was no answer.

“Please, Henry, at least talk to me.”

“Henry’s not here. This is the ghost of Henry.”

“Oh, come on, Henry, don’t make me crawl under this door. You know I’ll do it. I have no shame.”

“You have no shame because I have all the shame in the whole world. I’m some kind of shame sponge. Why do I feel like garbage for winning something like prom king? Why would this make me want to hide in the bathroom?”

“I don’t have answers to those questions,” Paisley said, leaning against the white subway tiles across from the stall Henry was in. At least the bathroom was clean. But she really wanted to get back to the prom. She didn’t understand the person she’d become over the past hour.

Henry sighed, the sound echoing in the mostly empty room.

“Why don’t you come out here and talk to me?” Paisley asked.

“No thanks. That doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“Why?” She kept her voice even. The last thing she wanted was for her impatience to get the better of her. He needed a friend and would do the same for her in a heartbeat. Or maybe not exactly the same. She had trouble imagining Henry in a women’s bathroom. He would write a supportive and kindly worded note and have someone else bring it to her.

“I can just live in here forever. Someone can bring me food. It’ll be great,” he insisted.

“Sounds sort of terrible to me. You just have to go out there and dance one dance,” Paisley said.

“You say that like it’s easy. I can’t dance with Amelia. She hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you.”

“If someone did to me what I did to Amelia, I would hate them.”

“Aw, come on, dude. You were in self-preservation mode.”

“If anyone else had been crowned queen, I could handle it. But all that attention on top of what I did to her is just way too much. I am not prepared to cope with this. Everyone at school has been talking about it. It’s too much scrutiny.”

“Who’s been talking about you? I’ll punch them,” Paisley said. “But seriously, you must have realized there was a pretty good chance that she’d be queen.”

“I was in denial, Paisley.”

Paisley rolled her eyes. “Fine, I know for a fact she doesn’t hate you.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

Paisley had to think fast. She hadn’t mentioned her conversation with Amelia to Henry for several reasons. It wasn’t only because of Amelia’s threats and her insistence that Paisley follow the girl code. For the record, Paisley didn’t even believe in the girl code. But she did believe in karma.

“Um,” Paisley said, trying to come up with something logical.

“You have nothing!” Henry yelled.

“Henry, she was obviously interested in you, so she obviously doesn’t hate you.”

Henry scoffed dramatically.

“She was nice to you, she sent you texts, and she went to your baseball games. She wanted to go to the prom with you, for goodness’ sake! And she told people she asked you. All of that adds up to someone who at least sort of likes you. None of that happens on a whim.”

“But then I rejected her. So she hates me.”

“You rejecting her one time doesn’t negate all the nice things she did for you. Maybe you’ll be surprised by her niceness.”

“You think?”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Henry said.

“One thing at a time. You just have to come out of the bathroom stall.”

The door swung open. “Okay. I can do that.”