So we sat there, watching everyone around us dance, their faces shiny, makeup running. I pulled the flower out of my hair and put it in my purse.
When we had been quiet awhile, I said, “Did your mom make you come?” It broke my heart to ask, but I had to know.
“No,” he said, but he waited too late to answer.
In the parking lot, it had started to drizzle. My hair, my hair that I had spent the whole afternoon curling, was already falling flat. We were walking to the car when Conrad said, “My head is killing me.”
I stopped walking. “Do you want me to go back inside and see if anybody has an aspirin?”
“No, that’s okay. You know what, I might head back to school. I have that exam on Monday and everything. Would it be all right if I didn’t go to the after-prom? I could still drop you off.” H
