Chapter 107
Monday morning, I walked into SHS like I owned that joint, my head held high, my shoulders back, my nicest pair of jeans on, and I looked every person I passed in the hallway dead in the eye. If any of them had heard about Liam asking my best friend to homecoming, well they could rest assured I was over it. Done. It was such old news, it wouldn’t even be popping up on Facebook anymore, and we all know that’s pretty much just for old people.
I was at my locker, getting my books for first period, when I heard someone clear their voice behind me. I turned, remembering to be assertive, and was shocked to see none other than Liam White standing behind me with his hands in his jacket pockets and a sheepish grin on his face.
I stared at him longer than I should have to be so cool and finally asked, “Yeah?” in as nonchalant a voice as I could muster. What? Was he here to apologize or something stupid like that? Well, let him; that ship was already out to sea—way out to sea.
“Hey, Cass,” he said, staring up at me with those baby blue eyes. I looked right into them and said nothing. “Can, I, uh, ask you something?”
I closed my locker, hard, but I did not slam it, before turning to face him. “What?” Was there an algebra test coming up that I hadn’t heard about?
Liam swallowed hard and cleared his throat again. “Well,” he said, looking over both of his shoulders, like he wanted to know if anyone was listening to us. “I, uh, I just wanted to see if, uh, maybe, you might want to go to the homecoming dance with me?”
On the insides, my entire gastric tract was on fire. I simultaneously wanted to throw up and run for the bathroom at the same time. I had heartburn, a stomachache, my throat was restricting, and my legs felt like they were made of Go-gurt tubes, half-empty ones. On the outside, I was polished, stainless steel. “What’s that now?” I asked. Raising my voice a little louder than I needed to, I repeated, “You want to know if I will go to the homecoming dance with you?”
Once again, Liam looked around. There were a few people staring now. “Uh, yeah,” he said. Tiny beads of perspiration sprang to life on his upper lip and his brow. “I mean, you know, if you don’t have a date already. Or anything.”
Never in a million years did I actually think he’d ask me to this dance, not after what Lucy had told me. But, in my wildest dreams, the ones where I am the ruler of the universe and things happen just because I can will them to, I had thought about the possibility of him asking. In my daydreams, my responses were often varied. Sometimes I actually said yes, and we proclaimed our love for each other, but most of the time I usually ended up kicking him in the shins or something equally brutal. So, my actual response even caught me by surprise.
I laughed. Loudly. Right in his face. Liam’s eyes bulged, and he took a step back from me. While there were so many replies running through my mind, the only thing that actually came out of my mouth was, “No.” And then I walked right past him, on my way to class.
Now, a smart man-child would’ve let this go, but Liam White really does have a dirty kitchen sponge for a brain. He followed along right behind me. “Cassidy, I’m serious,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I looked at it with the sharpest eyes I could muster, and he withdrew his now shaking hand. “Oh, so am I,” I replied, still laughing, though I was wrapping things up.
“I thought…” he stammered, checking to see if the onlookers had followed. There was a bit of a crowd now. In a quieter voice, he said, “I thought you, you know, liked me.”
Hearing him say that really stung because it confirmed that this whole time that I was hoping he’d ask me out while he chased Lucy, he knew how I felt. But I kept those sentiments to myself. I forced myself to laugh again and said, “Now, isn’t that adorable.” Shaking my head, I walked into Mrs. Neely’s class, leaving him standing in the hallway while the other kids whispered and giggled at him.
I reached my seat and wanted to collapse in a fit of tears, but I realized not only were some of those same kids heading into the room, so was Liam, once he went to get his books. I took my seat and began to flip through my history book, as if none of it had ever happened. On the inside, my stomach ulcer had calmed down a bit, and I felt like I could take a full breath now, but I still wanted to scream or lash out irrationally. The looks from the other girls who walked in after me told me I’d done the right thing, though. They were all very impressed with the way I’d handled the situation, whether they knew about Liam asking Lucy out or not. I’d put a dog in his place. They’d have to respect me for that. It might not be as savage as killing vampires, but for me, on that day, it’d have to do.
* * *
The homecoming dance was epic. I was so glad I’d decided to go anyway. Emma even came—which is crazy—and I wondered if Elliott had managed to get to her somehow. She was wearing a dark blue dress that trailed the floor and looked like something our moms would pick out, but she was comfortable, which is saying something since she typically hates dresses. And we even got her out on the dance floor, so long as Wes, Milo, Lucy, Jason, and I promised to form a protective bubble perimeter around her so that no one would accidentally bump into her. Only once did she proclaim it to be too peopley and head for the bathroom. Lucy dragged her back out and the partying recommenced.
Lucy looked stunning in her pink dress, and I could tell by the way that Jason was looking at her that she’d definitely made the right choice to say yes to him. She said they were definitely not a couple, and she would be taking things very slowly, which was typical of her since her motto is that her time is valuable, so people need to prove they’re worth it.
Milo, Wes, and I were rocking out to a Billy Idol song when I looked up to see Liam staring at me. Throughout the course of the night, I’d seen him slow dancing with plenty of pretty girls, but he’d come alone. He didn’t ask me to dance, and I didn’t blame him. By the end of the afternoon the day he’d asked me to homecoming, everyone in the school had heard what had happened, that he’d asked me and I’d laughed in his face. Now, he stared at me for a second and then turned around and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.
For a moment, I felt like running after him. Like threading my way between all of these people who thought it was a nice day for a white wedding, grabbing his arm, spinning him around, declaring that he’d hurt me first, but I forgave him. Except I didn’t. If he wanted to make this up to me, he’d have to work a little bit harder than that. Not only had Lucy’s philosophy about self-worth rubbed off on me, so had Elliott’s. There’s no way he’d be proud of me for chasing Liam White down and letting him off the hook.
“Hey, Cass,” I heard a deep voice to my left say. I turned and looked into familiar green eyes. “Don’t dance so close to Milo. There’s a six-inch rule, you know?”
I smiled so wide I thought my face might start cracking. “Dr. Sanderson!” I exclaimed. “When did you get here?”
He laughed. “I’ve always been here, Cass. Always will be, too.” He patted me on the shoulder and took a few steps away from me before he turned back and said, “You sure look pretty in that dress, lil girl.”
I felt my face flush and turned away before I could even say thank you. But by then, he was gone. I heard lots of kids shouting his name and realized he’d be swarmed for the rest of the night. But that was okay. He was there when I needed him, and I realized, he probably really had been there every time I’d needed him over the years, off in the shadows, the top of a building, blending in in a sea of faces. And now, at a point in my life when I needed him most of all, he was there for me.
Wes grabbed my arm and shouted, “I’m going to get another cookie. You want one?”
“You bet!” I yelled back. I gestured for Milo, and we headed off together to the refreshment table. Emma was sitting nearby, so we grabbed our snacks and went to join her. I took my seat and saw Lucy and Jason twirling around, and off in the corner, a familiar form kept watch over all of us. I couldn’t help but smile. I felt more at peace than I had in months, maybe even years. And the chocolate chip cookies were delicious.
