Winter White by Jen Calonita

them to ruin it.”
    “They can’t ruin it if you don’t let them,” Kellen said between bites.
    Kellen didn’t get it. Cotillion was supposed to be special. She wanted to try on dresses with her friends, and talk about escorts and—
escorts
! Every deb needed an escort, and ifKellen was hers, then there was no way the evening would be a failure. “I do know one way to keep the night from being a total disaster,” Mira said, picking at a fry. She tried not to sound eager. “I need to find an escort. You know, like a date. But I can’t ask anyone—they have to ask me.”
    “You are not allowed to ask someone to your own dance?” Kellen looked confused.
    “Technically no,” Mira said. She watched as Kellen stopped chewing. “It’s tradition for escorts to be assigned a girl. But if a guy knows a girl is going to cotillion, he can ask her on his own, too. I just hope someone wants to ask me.” She pretended to stare at the jukebox.
    Kellen took a long sip of his milk shake before saying anything. He seemed to be deep in thought. Maybe he had gotten her subtle hint and was going to ask her to cotillion right now!
    “I wouldn’t worry about a date too much,” he finally said, chewing on another fry. “I’m sure they’ll assign you an escort if no one volunteers.”
    Mira’s hands clenched tightly. Boys. Sometimes they were so clueless.

Six

    The heated discussion continued even after Hayden pulled into their driveway and everyone got out of the car. Izzie chose to walk behind him and Mira—out of the line of fire—which was a smart move because Hayden was about to say the one thing he knew would make his sister’s head explode.
    “I forgot the world revolves around Mirabelle Monroe.”
    “Excuse me?” Mira’s wavy hair bounced angrily as her head whipped around to look at Hayden. Izzie thankfully suppressed a smirk because two seconds later Mira gave Izzie a look that said,
Can you believe he said that?
    Izzie replied with her own look, the one she’d patented over the last few weeks to deal with problems of the Mira variety. Those included, but were not limited to, Mira asking whether her headband matched her outfit (Izzie didn’t have aclue), if Izzie knew where Mira had left her favorite pair of flip-flops (nope), and whether Izzie would choose Team Peeta or Team Gale if she was on a deserted island and could only pick one boy to spend the rest of her life with (Peeta, of course!). Mira didn’t really want an answer—she had already formed her own opinion—but Izzie noticed that if she just nodded and gave “the look,” Mira was satisfied.
    “Izzie thinks you’re overreacting, too!” Mira took “the look” to mean that Izzie agreed. “Any girl in my situation would want to know the same thing!”
    Hayden winked at Izzie. She knew he was trying to get Mira fired up on purpose. “You’re right.
Of course
, Kellen asked about you during cross-country practice. What else would he be doing? Trying to improve his time? All he wanted to talk about today was you,” Hayden said patronizingly. “Is that what you want to hear?”
    Mira played with the strap on her messenger bag. “Well, it would be nice, but I guess he did have other things to think about.” Her face turned pink, and it looked like her cheeks might explode. “So, did he?” she asked again. “Ask about me, I mean.”
    Hayden stopped walking and gaped at her. Izzie started to crack up, which made Hayden roar.
    Mira stopped short, too, and stared at them both as if they were nuts. “What? Hayden never answered my question!”
    Hayden finally managed to stop laughing. “Sorry, sorry.It’s not wrong, but he didn’t ask me about you.” Mira’s face fell. “Don’t sweat it. I would never ask a guy about his sister if I liked her, either.”
    “So you
do
think he likes me?” Mira asked.
    “I…” Hayden looked at Izzie wearily. “A little help here?”
    Izzie backed away, swinging her army-green messenger bag.