"You know what I meant," he insisted. "Are you okay?"
Swallowing hard, Claire leaned up and gave Matthew a quick kiss.
"Fine. Just tired. Thanks for the flower."
Matthew looked vaguely disappointed, which only made Claire more irritated. And nervous, since the new distance between them wasn't getting any shorter.
"Okay, I've gotta go face Mr. Gould's own special form of torture," she said.
"Huh?" Matthew looked confused.
"My chem test." Claire sighed. "I'll call you later, okay?"
With her eyes trained on the buffed gloss of the tile floor, Claire trudged down the hall. On Wednesday afternoon, Claire and Emily walked out to the parking lot. The clouds overhead were low and gray, promising rain by nightfall. Emily unlocked the car with the key fob, and Claire sighed with jealousy.
"I know, right?" Emily said, tossing her bag into the backseat. "When is your mom going to break down and get you a car?"
"Probably never," Claire grumbled, sliding into the passenger seat. "I'll have to beg you and Matthew for rides until I'm eighty."
"Well, at least she's getting you a dress for the Autumn Ball!" Emily drove toward the edge of the school's grounds, pausing at the stop sign and wiggling her eyebrows at Claire. "And guess what. You'll never guess—I'll just tell you. I'm having an after party the night of the ball—it's going to be the after party, actually. It's going to be so much fun." She hesitated, just for a second. "You can come right? I mean, you and Matthew?"
Emily's excitement was contagious, and Claire started to feel the buzz of dresses and tuxes and after parties—all the normal stuff that the human side of her had been missing. "Of course we'll come," Claire said. "How on earth did you get your parents to agree to it?" "It's their anniversary." Emily's eyes glinted wickedly. "They're going to Cabo for a couple of days, and they're leaving me with the house all to myself."
"Aren't you worried about getting caught?"
Emily shook her head. "I'll have days to clean up. And besides, it's the only way to salvage a night with Randy Steigerson."
Emily looked genuinely miserable about her date, but after so many dances when Emily had boyfriends she was crazy over and Claire sat home, Claire figured one less-than-stellar date wouldn't kill Emily.
"So, you really can't get out of that one?" she asked.
"No. First of all, Amy pointed out that he's actually a really nice guy, he's just sort of . . . awkward. But it's not like he's going to corner me in the limo or spike my drink or anything. And besides, it's getting sort of late to find another date, and I'm not going stag, and I'm double not missing the first-ever Autumn Ball that you're coming to! So, it's Randy Steigerson and then a kick-ass party."
"I'm . . . I'm glad you figured that out," Claire said, finally. More hurt had leaked into her voice than she'd intended.
"I called you first," Emily said quietly. "About the whole Randy thing. But you were so busy with your chem test and hanging out with your mom . . . and when Amy called to tell me she'd found a date for the ball, we just sort of hashed it out."
Emily was right—she had called, the night of the new moon disaster. And Claire hadn't been able to call her back. How would she have explained a two-in-the-morning phone call without making Emily completely suspicious? And anyway, Amy had certainly leapt right in. It was already hard to have the same sort of relationship with Emily that they'd had before. But Amy was making it freaking impossible. For a moment, Claire was so lonely for her old life—her old friendship with Emily—that her throat closed up with the ache of it. She swallowed hard, trying to pull herself together before Emily noticed that she was on the verge of tears.
"So, who's Amy going to the dance with?" Claire asked. Her voice was almost steady.
"One of Randy's friends, Julio, asked her, mostly 'cause he knew Randy had asked me. Amy doesn't really know him, but it's not a huge deal. She told me that she mainly said yes since the guys want to double. Which is fine with me. At least I'll have one friend around, you know?"
A little puff of air flew out from between Claire's shocked lips.
Emily's eyes widened, and she put one hand up to her mouth, like she was trying to cram the words back in. "Oh my God, Claire, I totally didn't mean that the way it sounded."
Claire struggled to regain her composure. "No—I mean, I know you didn't—"
"I just figured you'd either want to go with just Matthew or that the two of you would end up going with the rest of the soccer guys is all. The whole reason I'm going with Randy is so that I can be at the dance with you." Emily looked so upset that Claire felt her own throat start to tighten.
She put a hand on Emily's arm. "Stop freaking out. Amy's your friend too, and I'm glad you're doubling with her. Besides, I'm guessing that I'll be stuck having dinner with Kate-Marie and Doug, and you know that's not going to be any fun."