Keeping The Moon(64)

other girl—me, too—who sat on that back stoop and smiled as if she didn’t even know or care about the sign over her head.

Last Chance.

We were still kissing when I suddenly heard music. Loud, crazy, boisterous music from the little house.

“What’s that?” I said, pulling back and listening.

“Isabel,” Norman said into my hair. “Her whole life is high volume.”

“No,” I said, gently untangling my fingers from his as I got up and walked to the door. “Isabel’s out with Frank. The only one

there is—”

The music cranked up louder. It was disco, wild and wonderful, beats pounding, a woman’s voice climbing and falling over them.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified …

“Morgan,” I said. “It’s Morgan.” And when I went out into the yard, by the birdfeeders, I could see her. She danced across the

brightly lit kitchen, arms waving over her head, hips shaking.

Either she had gone totally crazy, or Morgan was having a breakthrough.

“Come on,” I said to Norman. “Let’s go.”

The song ended while we crossed the yard. Then it started again. As I pulled the front door open, I had a sudden worry that I

wouldn’t be able to handle what was going to happen. But by that point, she’d already seen me.

“Colie!” she yelled, waving me inside. “Come on in!”

I stepped over the threshold, with Norman right behind me; he closed his hand around mine. “Morgan?” I said. “What’s going on?

”

“Norman!” she shrieked, running over to us. “Look at you two! You’re so cute together!”

The music was so loud we were all screaming.

“Morgan,” I yelled, “are you okay?”

She was bobbing up and down, shaking her head back and forth, but suddenly she stopped. “Come on,” she said. “Dance with me.”

“Oh, no,” I said. “I don’t—”

“Please,” she said. She put her hand over mine and squeezed, hard. I looked into her eyes and remembered that first day I’d seen

her at the Last Chance.

“Morgan,” I said.

“I’ve been going crazy,” she said in a rush. “I’ve been crying for almost twenty-four hours straight and I just didn’t know

what I was going to do with my life. I mean, nothing is gonna be how I thought anymore. I have to start all over, and that is

scaring the hell out of me, Colie. And then I realized that there was nothing else I could do tonight. Except this.”

The song ended. Then started again.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified …

“It’s gonna be okay,” I said. It was the first time in a long time that I believed it. “It will.”

“Come on,” she said, and pulled me gently by the hand. “You’re my friend, Colie. Dance with me.”

I didn’t want to do it. But I owed Morgan. So I closed my eyes and let her pull me into the middle of the room, into the music.

I told myself I wouldn’t think about that cafeteria at Central Middle. When I danced—and I did—I thought only of that girl

sitting on the back stoop of the Last Chance in her sunglasses and her lip ring. She wouldn’t be afraid to dance, and neither was

I.

The song repeated twice more, and we kept going; me and Morgan shimmying together, laughing, and Norman doing some strange pogo,

jumping up and down. Everyone looks goofy dancing. I’d just always been so worried about me that I’d never taken the time to look

around.

The song had started for the fourth time when Morgan suddenly stopped, her eyes on the door. Norman and I were doing the bump and

didn’t notice, until he gave me a good knock and sent me flying across the room to the doorway, where I almost crashed into

Isabel.

She was standing there, watching us. Frank was holding her hand.

I wondered what she was feeling. Maybe that same strange sadness that I’d felt watching the two of them all those nights from my

roof.

Norman and I kept dancing. Isabel was staring at Morgan, and Morgan stared right back.

“I’m sorry,” Morgan said loudly. Norman and I stopped; I was out of breath. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I never wanted to be right about him,” Isabel said. “I was just…”

“I know,” Morgan said. The song stopped for a second. It was suddenly quiet as we all stood there. She stuck out her hand, palm

up. “I know.”

Isabel just looked at her, then slid her hand out of Frank’s. The music started again. It was the wild finish, the buildup to the

end, and Norman grabbed me and twirled me around just as Isabel put her hand in Morgan’s, leaned her head back to laugh, and

closed her eyes.

“What is this?” Frank said behind me, as Isabel and Morgan bumped against each other, both of them laughing like crazy.

“It’s what girls do,” I told him. And then Norman and I moved toward them, forming a wild circle, and we rode out the song

together.





Chapter Fifteen