Because It Is My Blood (Birthright #2)(78)

“Of course, Leo. She’s my sister now,” I said.

The world was a remarkable place, really. I had started the day with one sister, and I had ended the day with a sister, a sister-in-law, a brother, and a half brother.

I had started the day with no faith and now my heart was full.

XVIII

I ATTEND A SCHOOL DANCE; NO ONE GETS SHOT

IN EXCHANGE FOR ANOTHER modestly sized bribe to the Campaign to Reelect Bertha Sinclair, Leo was given a seven-month sentence to the Hudson River Psychiatric Facility and two years of probation. He’d be out in time for Thanksgiving.

The third Saturday in April, Mr. Kipling, Daisy Gogol, Noriko, and I drove Leo there. He kissed his wife (wife!), waved to the rest of us, and that was that. Noriko cried the whole three-hour trip back. We tried to comfort her but she spoke almost no English, and we spoke no Japanese, so I doubt we were much help.

Coincidentally, that evening was prom. I hadn’t wanted to go, but Win had convinced me that we should, if only to redeem the previous year’s disaster. “Do you think they’ll even let me on campus?” I had asked him. He reminded me that technically I had not been expelled this last time.

I had not bothered to shop for a dress so I went digging around in Nana’s and my mother’s old clothes. I picked out a navy blue dress with capped sleeves, a high neckline, and a low back. I thought the dress fit well, but upon seeing me, Noriko screamed, “No!”

“No?” I asked.

“Bad,” she said as she unzipped the back. “Old lady.”

Noriko went into Leo’s room and returned with a white dress. The dress was covered in lace and might have been a decent length on Noriko, but would be short on me. I would look like an insane bride. “You wear this,” Noriko said. She was smiling. It was the first time she had smiled all day, and I thought of my promise to Leo to take care of his wife. I really didn’t care about the matter anyway so I agreed to put on the dress.

I looked in the mirror. The dress was a bit tight on top, but otherwise, it fit surprisingly well.

Noriko came up behind me to adjust the sash, which tied in the back. “So pretty,” Noriko said.

I shook my head. Natty came out of her room to examine me. “You look…”—Natty paused—“mad but attractive. Attractive mad.” She kissed me on the cheek. “Win’s going to love it.”

Win met me at the apartment. He attached an orchid corsage to my wrist. I waited for him to make a joke about my crazy dress but he didn’t seem to notice that anything was amiss. “You look beautiful,” Win said. “Let’s hope no one gets shot this year. It’ll be hard to get blood out of that dress.”

“Technically, I think it’s still too soon for that kind of joke,” I told him.

“Oh.” He asked, “When will be the right time?”

“Probably never,” I told him. “Interesting jacket choice, by the way.” The jacket was white with black piping. Summery. Tacky.

“By ‘interesting,’ you mean you don’t approve? Because people in glass houses, by which I mean people going to prom dressed like brides, shouldn’t—”

“I didn’t say that. It’s, um, unexpected.”

He said that his old tux jacket had gotten misplaced at the hospital the year before. I told him I was pretty sure it had been cut off him. “That explains that then,” Win said. “This jacket’s my dad’s. He had white-tie and black-tie options. I picked white so no one will mistake me for anyone else.”

At prom, my classmates seemed pleased to see me and the administration tolerated me. The theme was “The Future,” but the organizing committee’s world-building skills were lacking, and they hadn’t really come up with a way to depict said theme in decorative terms. There was a handful of decorations with reflective surfaces and clocks, and a large digital banner that said WHERE WILL YOU BE IN 2104? Their vision of the future was vague at best, and I found the whole thing rather anxiety-producing. I had no idea where I’d be next year, let alone twenty years from now. Truthfully, the first answer to occur to me upon reading that banner was, Dead. In 2104, I’ll probably be dead.

I was interrupted from my morbid thoughts by Scarlet. She was nearing eight months pregnant, and she looked pretty and miserable in her huge pink dress. She had come alone. Keeping her company was another tactic Win had used to convince me to go to this ridiculous dance in the first place.

“Annie, I love the dress!” Of course she did. Scarlet and Noriko would probably get along famously once I introduced them. Scarlet kissed me, and Win went to get us drinks. “I’m so glad you made it. Did Leo get to Albany all right?”

I nodded. “How are you?” I asked.

“Awful,” she said. “I probably shouldn’t have come. There’s nothing sadder than a massive pregnant girl at prom. I hate what I’m wearing, and I’m too unwieldy to dance.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Well, no one wants to dance with me except Arsley anyway.”

I told her that I would dance with her, but Scarlet shook her head. “We aren’t twelve anymore, Anya.”

“Don’t feel too sorry for yourself. Headmaster keeps shooting me awful looks, and this ‘future’ theme is making me nervous,” I said.