21 Proms by David Levithan Read Free Book Online

pride.
    Of course, Mike and Xavier and all the rest of the Latin Club glare at me when we pass in the halls. I don’t think they’re all that mad, though. Whatever blackmail scheme they got going is probably kicking into high gear. I’m sure they’ll all be buying new computers by the end of the week.
    Still, I’m a little nervous as I roll into Latin.
    Danny’s already there and he grins as I sit down next to him. “Dude,” he says, “want to go to Western Plaguelands tonight for a raid? I heard about a sunken temple in Caer Darrow with lots of purple drops.”
    â€œI’m on it like a bonnet,” I say.
    All things considered, he’s a good best friend. Maybe better than me.
    Ms. Esposito walks by my desk, holding her coffee. “Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad nece,” she says, which I think means that if we were back in the good old days, I’d be left out on a windswept crag to die.
    She smiles.
    I’m so registering for German next year.

Your Big Night
    by Sarah Mlynowski
    You were worried it wouldn’t happen. Terrified. Smashing-a-headlight-while-taking-your-driver’s-test terrified. Ever since Shane dumped you again, this time for The Model (some sophomore named Reese who supposedly had appeared in some random catalogues), you knew that you had HAD to get a date for prom.
    But terror be gone! TheMan, the screen name belonging to Brent Booster, your blue-eyed and sexy yearbook editor (with whom you occasionally e-flirt while working on page layouts) has just written you the delicious words you’ve been waiting for:
    TheMan: wanna go 2 prom together? Or is asking you sexual harassment?
    Yes, yes, yes! You don’t write that, obviously, since you are trying to appear cool. You take a deep calming breath, lift your feet onto your desk in an attempt to stretch and therefore relax, and type:
    Drew: Sure
    TheMan: sure it’s sexual harassment?
    Drew: Sure I’ll go to prom with you. J
    But then you worry. Why does he call himself TheMan? You hope he is being ironic.
    Your own screen name came from your ex. When Shane met you back when you were fourteen, he thought you looked like Drew Barrymore. Now everyone you know calls you Drew.
    But more than Shane’s screen name, you worry about Mandy, Brent’s on-and-off-again girlfriend for the past year, who, though not on the yearbook staff, often hogs the yearbook couch, fridge, and Internet access. Should you ask about her? No, you decide. You should not.
    Drew: What about Mandy?
    You nervously pick at your split ends while waiting for a reply. You’re pretty sure Mandy and Brent are finished. In fact, just today you witnessed her throw her bio textbook at his head after third period. You wish you had the guts to throw a textbook at your ex. But that would show him that you care. Which you don’t. No way, no how. It’s kaput. Finis.
    TheMan: so over
    So perfect! Two months before prom and you already have a date. And you need a date, if you want to make Shane jealous. Which, of course, you don’t.
    Â 
    â€œDon’t go with him,” your best friend Jen warns you the next day in gym.
    You, Jen, and your other best friend, Kyra — the three of you clad in hideously fluorescent orange gym clothes — are lying side by side (first Kyra, then you, then Jen) on identical blue and smelly foam mats. This month your phys ed teacher has become obsessed with Pilates and is making you all engage in a form of painful sit-ups called hundreds, where you lie on your back and pulsate a hundred times.
    â€œWhy” — you exhale as you pulse — “not?” You are trying harder than you normally would, in an attempt to get into shape for prom.
    â€œBecause he’s going to get back together with Mandy and you’re going to get screwed,” Jen says matter-of-factly.
    â€œHe wouldn’t have asked me if