21 Proms by David Levithan Page B

You knew you sounded pathetic, but you didn’t care. You wanted him back. Not that it did any good. And then you started dating Ethan Shappell. He was sweet and made you laugh. You finally stopped wishing that every time the phone rang it would be Shane. Of course, as soon as you stopped caring, your cell rang and it was Shane. Shane who was bored with Cecelia. “I miss you,” he said, and your mouth went dry, and your heart was in your throat, and Ethan who? And then you and Shane were back on, back together, back on track. Until The Model.
    â€œBecause,” Kyra says, bringing you back to the here and now, “she should be glad that she’s not going with Brent. Then they’d all be in the same limo.”
    If you’re all in the same limo, then Shane will see what he’s missing, up close. You can already smell his salty, buttery scent.
    â€œI don’t want to talk about Shane,” you say. “I want to find a new date.”
    â€œBut who?” Kyra asks as tomato sauce dribbles onto the tiles.
    â€œBut why?” Jen asks as she passes Kyra a napkin.
    â€œI don’t know,” you say. “Help me brainstorm.”
    â€œWhat about Jeff Odom?” Kyra asks.
    You shake your head. “He’s going with Melissa Fields.”
    â€œEthan Shappell,” Kyra suggests. “He really liked you last year.”
    â€œAlesha Zelnick,” you say.
    â€œI got one!” Kyra exclaims. “Nick McNearly!”
    Hmm. You reach for the last chip in the bag and take an extra-small nibble while contemplating the suggestion. Nick is a nice guy. He helped you with an assignment just last week. You lent him a pen. You always say hello and wave when you pass each other in the hall. He’s also going to MIT next year, which will make Shane (who applied to all the Ivies but only got into his safety school) go ballistic.
    â€œHe’s a possibility,” you say.
    Jen grabs the empty bag and tosses it into the garbage can. “I cannot believe you’d rather go to prom with Nick McNerdy than with us.”
    â€œYou are so mean,” Kyra says. “Don’t call him that!”
    â€œGimme a break,” Jen scoffs. “You know he’s a nerd. It doesn’t mean he’s not a nice nerd. I’m sure he’ll end up running Microsoft when he’s older and being a kazillionaire, but he’s still a nerd. And I know Drew agrees. We have math together and he picks his cuticles all through class and leaves the skin in a pile on his desk.”
    â€œThat’s not nerdy,” Kyra points out. “That’s disgusting.”
    You brush away their concerns with the back of your hand. Nick is tall, dark, supersmart, and semi-handsome in a Clark Kent kind of way. Maybe in a tux he’ll turn into a superhero. A tux and a manicure.
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    You wait until the bell rings and then gently rest your hand on Nick’s shoulder. You were planning to engage him in small talk, but you’re too nervous and too afraid to look at the mound of cuticles piled on his desk, so you just blurt out, “Nick, do you want to be my date for prom?”
    His pencil case falls from his ripped-up fingers and lands on his chair. “Me?” he yelps.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou want to go to prom with me?”
    â€œUh, yes?”
    â€œI would love to go with you —”
    Hurrah!
    â€œâ€” but I can’t.” His face crumples. “Heidi asked me at lunch and I said I’d go with her.”
    Damn. “That’s too bad. Well, have a good —”
    â€œI wish you had asked me first. I would rather have gone with you. Will you be my date at the movies on Saturday instead?”
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    After asking him to the prom, you couldn’t exactly say no, could you?
    â€œDo you want to share a box of Junior Mints?” Nick asks as you reach the front of the concession line. He picks at his fingers while he waits for your