On impulse, she spun on her heel and stepped into the first cubicle. Working feverishly, she plucked again and again at the single-sheet toilet paper dispenser, her hands a blur of motion as she harvested a mountain of paper.
One nervous eye on the door, she stuffed the tissue down her bodice. It prickled against her skin as she adjusted it again and again until two respectable-looking mounds tented the front of her spaghetti-strapped, knee-length, black satin dress. She turned sideways to the mirror, then spun around the other way. A small smile curved her lips. She looked good. She had breasts! Surfing a wave of confidence, she pushed her way out into the corridor.
Music throbbed loudly as she made her way toward the gym. Madonna’s “Vogue” was playing, and as she entered the cavernous gym she saw Cindi and Carol and their clique striking a series of sexy poses on the dance floor.
Immediately she began to scan for Dylan. Her eyes ran over the Jocks, lounging on the bleachers and eyeing the dancing cheerleaders with lascivious intent. Next were the gaggle of Art Geeks, their dramatic black hair and smudged kohl eyeliner making them look like extras in a Michael Jackson video in the gym’s nightclub lighting. The Burn-outs and Freaks were next, then the Math Nerds. A frown pleated her forehead as she turned slowly, trying to find Dylan’s tall, rangy frame in the crowd. He wouldn’t be dancing—he was too cool to dance. And he wouldn’t necessarily be hanging out with any of the established groups. He was a lone wolf, operating outside the cliques that made up the school’s social hierarchy. Luckily for him, he was good-looking enough and funny enough and cool enough to get away with it. James Dean for a new generation, except his hair was raven-black instead of dirty-blond and his eyes a dark, disturbing gray.
The crowd parted briefly as the tide shifted on the dance floor between songs. Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do” came on, and suddenly she saw him standing on the other side of the gym. As usual, her heart skipped a beat. He was so dark and dangerous and beautiful.
She moved toward him, edging past dancing teens, dodging uncoordinated elbows and knees until finally he was within reach, his back to her as he talked to another guy from their year.
Nerves tap-danced in her belly now that she was near him. She almost turned away, but instead she forced herself to reach out and touch his arm, rationalizing that he probably wouldn’t hear her over the music if she tried to attract his attention verbally. Plus she got to touch him, even if it was only through his clothing.
He swung around to face her and she swallowed a lump of pure adoration as she looked into his face. His unusual dark gray eyes, fringed with sooty, wasted-on-a-boy lashes, his straight, strong nose, the carved perfection of his lips and chin—she could practically sculpt him from stone she knew his features so well.
His expression was unreadable as he stared at her, but there was no missing the way his eyes dropped down below her face for a brief moment. She felt a zing of triumph rocket along her veins. He’d noticed her cleavage! It had made a difference!
“I just wanted to say I’m really sorry about today. And to let you know I can help you with American Lit, if you like,” she yelled over the music.
His face screwed up impatiently and he shook his head to indicate he couldn’t hear what she was saying.
Greatly daring, Sadie stood on her toes to make up for the few inches of difference in their heights and leaned toward him. She was so close, she could feel the heat coming off his body.
“American Lit. If you need any help…?” she yelled.
He definitely heard her that time, but his expression was unreadable. Crucially, though, he didn’t say no outright. She congratulated herself on at last getting through to him. He simply hadn’t understood her earlier offer, the one she’d made in class, before she’d…Well, obviously she could make up for all that now.
He leaned close.
“Sure, Sadie,” he said in her ear. “You can help me out with American Lit—but first you have to tell me something.”
She was awash with relief and excitement. She could feel his breath on her ear. And he was going to forgive her. She had a second chance to prove herself.
“Sure. What?”
He pointed to her chest.
“What the hell is that?”
Sadie glanced down—and froze. A glowing nimbus of white light was radiating out of the neckline of her dress. For a moment her mind went blank with horror, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Then she realized that the bleached tissue she’d stuffed down her dress was responding to the black-light disco lighting. Not just responding—she had a supernova in her bodice, enough light to rival the neon glow of Vegas. Astronauts were probably pointing and staring from the moon, her chest was glowing so brightly.
She gasped, clapping her hands to her breasts to try to cover the incriminating radiance. Stricken, she glanced up and saw that Dylan was grinning, a hard glint in his eye now. He hadn’t forgiven her for today. Not by a mile.
“You got a cold or something?” he asked. Then he reached forward and pulled her clutching hands effortlessly from her chest. Crooking a finger into her bodice, he tugged it out so he could look down her top more clearly. “Man, you’ve got a whole rainforest down there, haven’t you?”
She was numb with shock as he reached into the neckline of her dress, unable to comprehend what was happening. She’d imagined his hands against her skin a million times, but as she felt the warm brush of his fingers against her body there was no desire, only a rising tide of nausea and shame. Slowly, casually, he plucked the scrunched-up tissue from her dress, handing each piece to her so that soon she was holding a small pile of glowing white balls. A crowd gathered to witness the spectacle. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Jocks doubled over with laughter as they saw what was happening, while Cindi and her pack giggled behind their hands. Others murmured sympathetically, shaking their heads as they witnessed her humiliation.
At last she was holding all the tissue, and Dylan reached forward and covered her clutching hands with his own. Leaning in close, he squeezed her hands meaningfully with his own and looked her in the eye.
“I think we’re about done, Sadie Post,” he said. For the first time she smelled the alcohol on his breath and registered the glassy cast to his eyes.
He turned his back on her. She stood frozen for a few more pathetic seconds as he walked away, then she turned tail and ran, glowing balls of tissue scattering in her wake.
She wanted to die. She could never come to school again. She could never do anything again. Within minutes, the whole school would know what had happened, and she would be the absolute laughingstock, a figure of pity and fun for everyone to take a shot at.
Tears streaked her face as she bolted down the corridor, her sobs echoing off the brick walls. She hated Dylan Anderson. She hated him as much as she used to love him. More, even.
And she was never, ever, going to forget this.
1
“SADIE, STOP FIDGETING. You’re a bride. You’re supposed to be serene and dignified,” Claudia said.
Sadie grimaced apologetically. “Sorry. I just wanted to see,” she said hopefully.
“Well, you can’t. Not until I’ve finished,” Claudia Dostis said firmly, returning to the task of lacing the corsetlike back of Sadie’s ivory-silk wedding gown.
Sadie sighed and nodded, and her other bridesmaid, Grace Wellington, smacked her lightly on the shoulder.
“That includes your head, too,” she said. Grace was trying to anchor a frothy veil into the upswept mass of Sadie’s honey-blond hair.
“Does this mean I have to go back to bride-training school?” Sadie asked meekly.
“If