21 Proms by David Levithan Read Free Book Online Page A

he was planning on getting back together with Mandy,” you point out.
    â€œIt’s a risky move.” Kyra stops exercising and turns on her side to face you. “Why don’t you want to come with us in the Winnebago?”
    You roll your eyes. You are not going to prom in an RV. And you are not going to prom with girlfriends. Any other time, any other occasion, fine, but this is prom. You need a date. You can’t have Shane thinking you can’t get a date for prom. Seeing you on the arm of another guy will make Shane realize what he has lost. Which will make Shane fall in love with you all over again. Not that you’d take him back. No way. Not this time.
    At least, not right away.
    Fine. You admit it. You want him back. Maybe. And making him jealous is the way to his heart. It’s worked before, and it’ll work again.
    â€œWe saw you roll your eyes,” Jen says, still hundredsing. Unlike you, she is superathletic (plays intramural soccer and Connecticut community baseball). She can even multitask easily, i.e., work out and talk at the same time.
    â€œIt’s going to be fun,” Kyra says, re-tying her long black hair into a ponytail. “Don’t you want to spend the night with the people who are actually important to you and not some random guy?”
    â€œBrent isn’t random,” you say. “We’ve been on yearbook staff together for three years. Plus we e-flirt.” The IMs and e-mails were always harmless, although you used to leave them open on your computer so Shane would see them. Making it look like another guy was interested in you always made him more attentive. Much more effective than all those times you’d call him (after not hanging out for a week) and bug him not to take you for granted.
    â€œYou e-flirt whenever he’s fighting with his girlfriend,” Jen reminds you. “Then they get back together, and good-bye, IM buddy.”
    â€œHe’s not getting back together with Mandy,” you huff.
    â€œI don’t like Mandy,” Kyra says. “She’s so snobby.”
    â€œI don’t like her either,” Jen says. “She’s so blond. I have to watch her every morning, bobbing up and down in her cheesecake convertible.”
    You shake a fistful of your blond hair at her. “Hel-lo?”
    â€œYou know what I mean. It’s blinding. Like a spotlight glaring into your eyes.”
    Mandy lives two doors down from Jen and never offers her a lift to school. Luckily, Jen has you to pick her up.
    â€œDon’t you think he’d make a good prom date?” you ask, deliberately steering away from the topic of exes. “Picture him in a tux.”
    â€œYou guys would look good in pictures,” Kyra admits.
    You lay your head back on the mat, close your eyes, and visualize these so-called pictures. Yes, you would look good together. Not as good as if you were going with Shane, but still good.
    â€œI understand wanting to go with a boyfriend,” Jen says, “but since none of us has one, it’s stupid not to go together.”
    â€œAre you saying I’m stupid?” you snap.
    She is obsessed with the Girls Only Winnebago. She read about it in a teen magazine and became convinced that all senior unattached females should do it. Instead of bringing dates, a bunch of girls have their pre-prom party in a chauffeured Winnebago, go solo to the prom, and then party all night in the RV.
    You’re not crazy. Are you? Most people want a date for prom, don’t they? Your friends act like you’re the first person in the history of the world to want to be paired up for the friggin’ thing. Though if they knew the real reason you’re so desperate to go, they might be more understanding. Of course, they might also have you institutionalized. Either that or chain you to a brick wall until the whole thing is over.
    â€œI’m not saying you’re stupid,” Jen says.