OCDaniel by Wesley King

sighed.
    â€œHey, Mrs. Leigh,” he said, jumping into the car. “Daniel, love the color.”
    We pulled up in front of the school, and my mom looked at me.
    â€œHave fun, you two. You sure your mom is okay to pick you guys up?”
    â€œYeah,” Max said. “She can’t wait to ask me all about it.”
    My mom laughed. “I’m sure. Now get in there. You’re late.”
    We piled out and walked inside. School is weird at night. It’s exciting for some reason, since I always think it just doesn’t exist when we’re not in class.
    We reached the gym, handed in our tickets, and walked inside.
    That’s when it all went wrong.

CHAPTER 7
    I’m not sure I like the idea of fate. It kind of means you don’t have a choice. Or you can make choices, but they’ll still bring you to the same place. I like the idea of choice, because I don’t get to do it much. Once I tried to not brush my teeth the correct amount of times. And most people would probably say that was an easy thing to do, but for me it was like lying down on some train tracks waiting for a train to hit me, and I heard it rumble and I knew I could get up, and so I did, because why would I want to be hit by a train? So of course I brushed my teeth and went to bed.
    The dance looked like fun. It was in the gym, but it was dark enough that everyone kind of looked the same, and there were lights set up, flitting around like multicolored birds. The music was loud and a few people were even dancing. One of them was Mrs. Lenner, who was really loud and wore a lot of yellow and orange outfits.
    Principal Frost was watching in the corner, looking agitated.
    I looked around, and saw that Raya was there already. She looked beautiful.
    She was wearing a dress. I didn’t think she wore dresses. Hers was purple. Her hair was tied back, and I think she had lip gloss on or something, because her lips sparkled.
    â€œRaya looks good,” Max said, sounding bemused.
    â€œYeah,” I managed.
    â€œPull it together, Space Cadet,” he said. “Let’s go find the guys.”
    I followed him, but my eyes didn’t. They were locked on Raya. I never realized how much I liked the color purple.
    Raya saw me and smiled. I smiled and then quickly turned away. I was glad it was dark.
    â€œWhat up, Max?” Taj said, wearing a white dress shirt that was way too small.
    How did he have so many muscles?
    â€œYou know,” Max said, standing beside him and looking out at the crowd. “Good crowd.”
    Taj nudged Max. “Check out Clara.”
    We both looked. Even I was impressed.
    Her blond ringlets spilled all the way down her back and over a sky-blue dress.
    â€œWow,” I said.
    â€œWow indeed,” Max replied, giving her a little wave. “I didn’t know this was the prom.”
    Taj snorted. “You should go talk to her.”
    â€œMaybe later,” he said. “Let’s go join the group.”
    â€œI’ll catch up,” Taj said. “Tom and I are working on a little routine. ‘Billie Jean,’ baby.”
    Max laughed and shook his head. “I can hardly wait.”
    I felt my cheeks getting even hotter as we got closer to Raya. She was standing with Ashley, and Clara appeared almost instantly, flashing her gleaming white teeth.
    â€œHey, Max,” she said. “Love the shirt.”
    He smiled. “You look nice. Like a princess or something.”
    I thought she was going to faint, she looked so happy. “It’s just a thing I had in the closet.”
    â€œHey, Dan,” Raya said. “Love your shirt too.”
    Max smirked. I fixed my collar. “Just a thing I had in my dad’s closet.”
    Clara gave me an annoyed look and then walked right past me to talk to Max, laughing at a joke he hadn’t even told yet. I stepped a bit closer to Raya to get out of her way.
    â€œHey,” I said nervously. “I just