Page 74 of The Friend Scheme
I don’t know how to process all this.
“I hope I don’t disappoint,” I say.
“Omigosh,” says Naomi. “Sweetie, no, you don’t at all. Look at you in your suit! You look like James Bond!”
“Shucks. You look great, too. That dress is… something else.”
She frowns, then her eyebrows narrow.
“Shit, dude,” says Bri, laughing. “You’ve got a way with words.”
Oh fuck.
“I mean that in a good way! Um. I just mean, like, it’s next-level good. Sorry. You seem really cool, so I’m nervous. Ugh. Ignore me.”
“Hey, it’s cool.” She beams. “I’m used to making boys nervous. Okay, Jase, I like him already. You can keep this one.”
He squeezes my shoulder again. “I was planning on it.”
And my heart threatens to burst out of my chest like a Xenomorph. How can a feeling like this not be real? How can he fake it?
I really wish I knew what was going on.
More than that, though. Despite everything, I want him to do what he said.
I want him to keep me.
“You boys wanna dance?” asks Bri.
Um.
No.
My answer to that question is always no.
No no no, a million times no.
But Jason nods, and suddenly I’m walking with him to the dance floor. Soon, we’re surrounded by other students, who are all dancing. Lights flash around us, and it’s just dark enough for me to feel a little anonymous.
I must say, it’s a little infectious.
Seriously, he called me cute?
Plus, Jason introduced me to his friends like I was his date.
Like he was showing me off.
Even though I know about the scheme, I want to feel nothing but this.
Seeing as I have no other option, I awkwardly join their dance. I have one dance move, which is just jumping along to the beat. Sometimes I move my arms a little. But that makes me feel weird. I’m just not good at this. A few more songs play, mainly vintage disco, and I grow increasingly uncomfortable with each one.
It’s more than the fact that I’m uncoordinated, though. And even a night like this can’t make me like disco music.
I’m dancing with Jason and his friends.
I’m acting like nothing’s changed.
But it has.
