“Just one more, sweetie,” Mrs. Foley chirped.

Ophelia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Mom,” she said impatiently, “that’s, like, the fiftieth picture you’ve taken of me.”

“Well, you don’t dress up very often, sweetie,” her mother replied.

“I hope you don’t act like this at graduation,” Ophelia grumbled.

“Well, you only graduate once, honey.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Just, you know, don’t embarrass me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because parents like to do that kind of thing to their kids, you know. I hope you don’t do this kind of thing to Nathaniel when he gets to be my age. I mean, I know I’m kind of the ‘practice child,’ being the firstborn and all, but still…”

“Point taken.”


“You two look great,” Mrs. Desjardin gushed.

“Thanks, Mom,” Emily replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Come on, we need to get going. Tiff’s waiting in the car,” AJ said, shifting uncomfortably.

“Oh, well, say hi to her,” Mrs. Desjardin said cheerily.


“Too late,” Tiffani called, opening the door. “I got tired of waiting.”

Emily stared at Tiffani. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “What did you do to your hair?”

“Changed it. Again.”

“At this rate, you’ll be bald in a few years,” AJ remarked dryly.

Tiffani shrugged. “I like it. Mainly because it ticks my mom off. She pretty much passed out when she saw what I did to my hair. I think she sprouted some new gray hairs.”

“Nice job,” Emily chuckled. “You’re going to make her look like an old hag at this rate.”

“Yeah, she just about lost it over the dress, too,” Tiffani added. “She wanted me to wear some frilly froo-froo dress. It was gross.”

“How did you even get that dress?” Emily asked.

“Tacita. She loaned this to me. She did my hair, too.”

“Cool,” AJ said. “So, yeah, can we go now?”

“Yeah. By the way, I picked Louie up at his house on the way over here, so we don’t have to get him after leaving here.”


Ophelia sighed and watched her classmates dancing together. I shouldn’t have come, she thought. his is… this is like hell on Earth, for me. Boring. As soon as they announce the winner, I’m leaving. This sucks.

“Hey,” Emily said, sitting beside Ophelia.

“Hey,” Ophelia muttered.

“Hey, want to dance with Louie for a while?” Emily asked. “I need to give my feet a break.”

“Nah, that’s okay, I’ll pass.”

“What’s wrong?”

Ophelia made a face. “Just wishing I hadn’t come here. This is starting to remind me of why I don’t attend school dances. As soon as they announce the winner, I’m leaving.”

“Sounds good. I think I’ll do the same thing.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you. Let’s, like, go to IHOP and then watch some movies at my place. It’ll be a lot better than this Hades on Earth.”

“So, when are they going to make the announcement?” Louie asked.

As though on cue, Maya Smith stepped onto the stage. “Hey, everyone,” she said into the microphone. “It’s time to announce the Prom Court!”

“Finally,” Ophelia muttered. “Time to get this over with.”