Surviving High School

stronger.
    “Thanks for understanding,” she said, giving her dad a hug, and when she drew back, she saw that a bit of blue nail polish had somehow ended up on his cheek. She smiled.
    “What is it?”
    “Nothing,” she said. “Good luck at Junior Nationals.”
    “You’re skipping a meet?” Kimi asked as he left.
    “Right,” said Emily. “To go to the dance.”
    “You really have changed, Em,” said Kimi. “I like it.” Shepicked up a massive can of hair spray and a curling iron. “Now it’s time to get pretty.”
    Ben couldn’t stop staring. The blue dress flowed around Emily’s body like water, so that she almost seemed to be swimming instead of walking. For the first time, she felt as graceful on land as she did in the pool. Trying not to stare at her body, Ben took one of Emily’s long brown curls in his fingers and bounced it playfully in the air.
    “Hey!” said Kimi. “That took, like, an hour to get right. Don’t go messing it up in the first ten minutes. You’ll have plenty of time for that later.”
    The three of them, along with Kevin Delucca, who was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a tuxedo on it, much to Kimi’s embarrassment, all sat in Ben’s car as they drove to the dance.
    Ben still couldn’t take his eyes off Emily.
    “Shouldn’t you be, you know, watching the road?” asked Kimi.
    “I thought you were supposed to be the one freaking out about my driving, Emily,” said Ben, finally looking forward again.
    Emily considered that for a second. “I guess I just—forgot.”
    In truth, she was too entranced by Ben to think about anything else. In place of the pink seventies-style suit he’d threatened over the last few days to wear, he’d worn a simple black one with a white shirt and a blue tie that almost perfectly matched her dress. She suspected that Kimi might havetipped him off. Best of all, he smelled like he had that day he’d first run into her in the cafeteria and called her Yogurt—like vanilla and cookies.
    “What’s that cologne?” she finally broke down and asked.
    “It’s not cologne,” he said. “It’s the artificial flavor they use to make Mrs. Jenkins Holiday Cookies. Just one of the fringe benefits of having a workaholic scientist for a father. Technically, his job is to design custom scents and flavors for mass-produced food.”
    Emily smiled. Apparently she still had a lot to learn about Ben.
    Inside the Twin Branches gym, where homecoming was always held, the four of them headed straight for the dance floor and joined a small circle from Ben’s crowd, including Zach and Hannah, Spencer and Lindsay, and Hector and Amanda. A fast song with a driving bass rattled the windows and hurt Emily’s ears.
    “Good to see you!” Hannah shouted over the music. “I’m so glad you and Ben are back together.”
    In the meantime, Lindsay was looking at Kimi, horrified. It didn’t take Emily too long to see why: They were wearing the same dress.
    “This can’t be happening,” said Lindsay. “I—I’m dressed just like the Realtor .”
    “And I’d have to say she’s pulling it off better,” said Kevin, smiling at Kimi. She gave his hand a thankful squeeze as Lindsay ran for the girls’ room.
    Heading back from the snack table by herself a few minutes later, Emily spotted Samantha and Nick talking in the corner. As she passed them, Samantha giggled at something, and Emily smiled. It was the first time she’d heard Samantha laugh.
    Away from the circle on the dance floor, Kevin and Kimi were now talking with Amir and an incredibly tall, black-haired girl who was pronouncing all of her o ’s as ooo . As she walked by them, Emily overheard her say, “Of course we have homecoming back in Canada!” Emily shook her head in disbelief. So Amir really did have a hot Canadian girlfriend.
    Nearby, Cameron Clark stood alone. Seeing Emily, he walked over and looked down at her, his eyes staring deep into hers.
    “Where’s your date?” he asked, and she pointed out Ben in the center of the dance floor, talking loudly to Spencer over the music.
    “Where’s yours?”
    He shrugged.
    “I came alone. Figured I might meet someone here at the dance. Maybe you’d like to—”
    He put a hand on her shoulder, and his touch was like fire on her skin—in a good way, but Ben was waiting. Emily felt the sudden need to shake Cameron off—to push him away.
    “I—I better get back to my date,” she said, retreating from him, and he nodded.
    “Of