“Really? So if I check inventory at the store there won’t be a bunch of supplies missing?”
“Good luck with that.” Markos’s family’s hardware store was notoriously disorganized; Markos probably banked on that fact. Brian knew it, too, and his frown deepened.
“I should take you in, Markos. Might teach you a lesson.”
“Come on, Brian! What about all the pranks you and Dev and Cal did?”
Brian glared. “That’s different. You flooded the gym.”
“Flooded? It’s only a few bubbles.”
“They’re not bubbles after they go through the heating vent, dumbass. They’re just soap.”
“You’re such a hypocrite.”
“And you’re such a fuckup. That’s thousands of dollars of damage and no one can even tell what it’s supposed to be. You can’t even plan a simple prank right.”
Markos flinched. I stepped toward him out of instinct—no one was allowed to hurt my best friend—but before I could reach him, Ari ducked in between Markos and his brother. “It wasn’t Markos,” she said. “He’s been with us all night.”
Brian rolled his eyes. “I found him out here, not in with you.”
“He just left, I swear. There’s no way he’d have time to set all this up,” she insisted. “And it doesn’t make sense, Brian—I mean Officer Waters. You guys always did your pranks senior year, right? So why would Markos do one now?”
Brian took a second to absorb this piece of logic, then turned to Markos. “Is this true?” Markos didn’t look any of us in the eye, but he nodded. “What were you doing out here, then?”
Markos cleared his throat and looked up and down the hall. For the briefest second, when he caught my eye, he winked. “Meeting a girl. You probably scared her away. Thanks a lot, by the way.”
Brian made a disgusted noise and turned to Ari. “So you’re going to vouch for him.”
Ari planted her feet and looked at him levelly. “Markos didn’t do it, Officer.”
Brian turned to me. So did Markos and Ari. It was my turn to decide what to do.
But for me and Markos, it’s never really a decision. I always have his back and he has mine. “Ari’s telling the truth.”
Brian stared at us for a moment, then pivoted on his heel and stomped down the hall.
When he was out of sight, Markos grinned. “That was fun.”
Ari punched him in the shoulder. “You idiot. I just lied to a cop.”
“He wanted to believe you. That way I’m not such a failure.” Markos saluted and stood up from leaning on the locker, straightening his suit jacket. “Have a fantastic rest of your evening, lovebirds.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Oh, I never lie to my family.”
From behind us I heard a giggle—Serena Simonsen waved from the doorway of a dark classroom, and Markos waved back. Ari rolled her eyes, and as Markos passed me, he put a hand on my shoulder and leaned in. “She’s all right. You can keep her around,” he muttered into my ear, as if it was his decision (or even mine) whether or not Ari stayed with me.
I grabbed his arm before he could walk away. “She might not agree.” She might not really want me. Average me. Imposter me.
“Are you kidding me? She’s all in. Get your head out of your ass and look at her.”
Ari and I watched Markos and Serena disappear into an empty classroom, then we walked back the way we came. As we walked I did what Markos said and I looked at her. Not the idea of her. Not the Ari who wore toe shoes and floated onstage. Not the one whose parents died when she was little. The girl in front of me. Leaning toward me. Looking right back at me.
As soon as we stepped back into the gym, our arms were around each other. Soapy water still sputtered from the vents in the ceiling. Ari’s dress was so slippery and the floor so slick I had to hold her as tight as I wanted to or I’d lose her and we’d fall. My hands met at the small of her back. She held me just as tight—her hands linked at the back of my neck, twisted in my hair, her cheek pressed close against my collarbone—and I could feel her heart beating through the fabric of my secondhand suit.
Anyone upset by their ruined clothes and hair had long since left, but a fair number of us had stayed. Someone had cut the lights, probably afraid of electrocution, so it was dark in the gym except for the glow of people’s cell phones flashing off the sparkle of dresses. It smelled like a laundromat, and since the DJ had long since given up, we could hear people laughing and splashing and attempting to dance to a small portable speaker someone had plugged into their phone. It was only a matter of time before Brian or some other authority figure came by and kicked us out, so we seized the moment.
Ari relaxed into me. All effort left her. We melted together.
“You saved Markos’s ass,” I said to her.
“Brian’s too harsh on him.”