Page 123 of As You Walk On

“I don’t care about impressing anyone,” he says.

“Then what’s all this?” I tease, acknowledging the phones recording us, the Tones’ soft humming, our friends wearing promposal outfits.

“A dare,” he whispers. “The rest I’ll tell you later. Right now, I’m showing everyone therealme.”

Laughter breaks through my lips. I grab his other hand.

“Well, when you put it that way,” I say, and then do the other thing I never thought would happen.

I kiss a boy in front of the entire quad.

It’s unquestionablyeverythingI wanted it to be.

•••

I’m delicately placing the plastic crown in my locker after school when Luca appears, leaning against the door next to mine.

He grins. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I whisper back, shouldering my locker closed.

All through my last two classes, my stomach’s been a thick knot. The promposal had me higher than any edible ever could. But I kept hearing Luca’s voice in my ears:The rest I’ll tell you later.

The rest, as in why he’s suddenly forgiven my shitty behavior at the party.

No such thing as a clean getaway, right?

“So, um.” Luca twists his rings. The skin between his eyebrows tightens. He looks almost like he did when Devya chose Peter over him.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt. “For how I acted. The fucked-up things I said. About you. Your family.”

I didn’t rehearse any of this. I never expected Luca to talk to me again, let alone prompose. But I lean into Makayla’s advice.Own it.

“I’m sorry for making any of you think I was choosing Jay. That you and him or me were the same. We’re not.” I inhale unevenly. “I’m still unsure why you asked me to prom. You deserve better.”

Luca tilts his head. “Theo, stop being so hard on yourself.”

Seven words relieve the ache in my stomach.

“What changed?” I ask.

“Over break, I had a lot of time to think about you. Devya. My fam. Second chances.”

I bite the inside of my lip.

“Not everyone deserves another shot,” he tells me. “I didn’t with Dev. I wasn’t sure ifyoudeserved one. Makayla’s impassioned speech about why I should give you another try wasn’t very convincing either.”

Ugh. Figures, even though I technically neveraskedMakayla to interfere. Just to help Luca complete his dare.

“But,” he says before I plead with the floor to swallow me whole, “Darren’s speech did.”

I do a double take.“Darren?”

Luca nods. “He practically tackled me after school. That guy’s a talker. Told me everything about you, Jay, the crop top, the fallout after the dare...”

I thunk my forehead against my locker.

Darren “TMZ” Jacobs and his mouth.

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