“You’re missing a huge section of curl, Vesta. How can you seriously not see how you’re missing that section?”

“I have naturally curly hair, Mollie,” Vesta said defensively, angling the curling iron in a different direction. She stuck her tongue out in concentration. “I don’t know how to use this dang thing.”

Mollie’s eyes met mine in the mirror in my bedroom, wide and desperate. “Can you please come and take over, Addy? She’s going to burn my hair off.”

I snorted, leaning into the mirror so I could put my teardrop earrings in. “She’s not going to burn your hair off.” My gaze snagged on the smoke wafting up from where the curling iron wrapped around Mollie’s locks. “Well. Probably not.”

“Vesta!”

“Here, dear, let me take over.” Mom came into my room without an ounce of hesitation, plucking the iron from Vesta’s grasp. “I haven’t curled Addy’s hair in years, but I think I remember a thing or two.”

“Can’t be worse than the job Vesta’s doing,” Mollie huffed, glaring at our friend in the mirror. Her eyes, though, were bright with amusement.

Vesta stuck her tongue out.

We’d been getting ready for the past few hours, and Mollie was the last to finish up. We already had our dresses on—Vesta wore her white one, which caused her hair to appear that much redder. It didn’t have sleeves, and she left her hair down, her curls perfectly tamed.

Mollie’s gold dress was a bit longer than Vesta’s, flowing to the middle of her calf. She was the last to get her hair done, since she’d spent most of her time braiding mine back into a loose, low bun.

Mom gave me a gentle smile. “You look beautiful, sweetheart. You all do.”

I glanced at myself in the mirror, at the way the blue dress hugged my waist. It had long sleeves, the sequins glittering in the light. My blonde hair was pinned up beautifully, with a few strands framing my face. Mollie had really nailed it.

“This seriously feels like a long time coming,” I told them, sitting on the edge of my bed to slip on my flats. “It feels like we went dress shopping forever ago.”

“So much has changed,” Vesta said in a wistful voice, and I knew what she was thinking about. Bryce had asked her to the dance Friday morning—which was a little late, in my opinion, but he made up for it by bringing Vesta a bouquet of white roses. Of course she’d said yes. After everything, I would’ve kicked her if she’d said anything else.

We’d agreed to meet him at the dance instead of having him come here. Mollie and I were each other’s dates for the night, since neither one of us had a guy to act as arm candy. A part of me felt fine with going by myself tonight—I’d have a fun time. The other part, though, couldn’t help but wish Vincent…

No. Not going down that road.

“You could’ve had Jackson,” Vesta had teased her, back before we’d gotten our dresses on.

But Mollie had shaken her head, giving a smile that was just a notch off of fully convincing. “I don’t want to go with him. I want to go with you two.”

Maybe one day Mollie would figure out what was going on with Jackson. I couldn’t really gauge how she was really feeling about the whole situation. We’d talked about it a little, but it felt like that story was unfinished. Maybe Jackson would get bored and find someone new. Heck, maybe he’d go back to Trish. Whatever happened, Vesta and I would be there for Mollie. No matter what.

“You girls better get going if you want to make it on time,” Mom said after she finished spraying Mollie’s hair, making sure the hold was firm. “Let’s go downstairs and we can take a few photos.”

“Lipstick check,” Vesta said to me, smiling wide enough to show teeth.

I couldn’t help but smile back. “All good.”

“You too. Mollie?”

She shook her head. “I just have gloss on.”

Vesta grabbed my hand, stopping me from moving. “I know these past few months have sucked,” she started, her voice low, eyes serious on mine. “But I want you to know I’m so lucky to have you as my friend.”

I squeezed her fingers. “That should’ve been my line.”

“We’ve been the worst,” Mollie added, her teeth worrying at her bottom lip. “We should’ve been there for you more, been open with you more—”

“No should’ves, would’ves, or could’ves,” I said, gently cutting her off. “Like Vesta said, these past few months have been hard. So hard. And who the heck knows what the next months have to hold? But I’m so glad I have you two to help me face it.”

Mollie wrapped her arm around me first, Vesta following suit, and we once more joined our group hug.

I couldn’t imagine living without these two. I hadn’t known Mollie for a year yet, and I would’ve trusted her with my life. Vesta too. It was still funny thinking about the way everything with Bryce had turned out, but I’d meant what I said. I was happy for them.

Even if I didn’t get my happily ever after.

Vincent and I had gone back to pretending that the other didn’t exist, which felt wrong. Wrong to throw all of it away. All those feelings, all those memories. Ditching them felt…heartbreaking. Even if I was still angry about the paper, the way things went down between us made me feel so much worse.

“Have fun,” Mom told me as she wrapped a scarf around my neck and handed me my car keys. “When you get back, maybe we can have a movie night.”

The thought was so sweet that I found myself wanting to dig my heels in and stay home instead. “I’ll hold you to that,” I said.

Vesta turned up the radio loud as we made our way to the school, and even though she and Mollie weren’t the best of singers, they sang along to each lyric, their happiness infectious. I tapped my hands against the wheel, careful to avoid any ice patches. It felt good that things were back to normal between us, that there were no more secrets between us.

When we arrived at the dance, I was surprised by how many cars were already parked in the lot. Vesta was bouncing in her heels, eager to see Bryce, eager to take pictures with him. Mollie had her arm wrapped around mine, huddling close to my coat, as if she didn’t want to let go. I wondered if she was afraid of seeing Jackson, but thought better than to ask. Next time his name came up, it’d be from Mollie herself. I didn’t want to keep pushing.

She might’ve been worried about seeing Jackson, but I wouldn’t have to worry the same thing about Vincent. I knew for a fact he wasn’t the kind of guy to come to the Snowflake Dance.

Mrs. Keller was manning the ticket booth, tucked beside the coat racks, and she smiled upon seeing me. Vesta and Mollie hooked their coats up while Mrs. Keller said, “You look lovely, girls. Addy, all of the committee’s hard work paid off. Everyone thinks it’s a dream.”

“We’d never settle for anything less,” I told her warmly, passing over our tickets. Once I shrugged off my coat, I allowed my friends to guide me toward the main area.

The double doors to the gymnasium were spread wide, and even though the inside lighting was low, I could still see the dance in its full glory. The entire committee had spent hours decorating today, hanging paper snowflakes from strings and laying blue fabric everywhere. We’d transformed the gym into a winter wonderland, with a photo booth, an archway, and a whole lot of fake snow.

Earlier while we’d been setting up, Mrs. Keller had gotten a ladder to hang the paper snowflakes from the rafters, much like she had last year. They turned and spun and glistened in the bluish lighting, just high enough above people’s heads for them not to run into them.

To walk into the gym, we had to pass underneath the archway, and I couldn’t look at it without my throat tightening. Memories flooded through me, so many, but I didn’t try to force them down. Pretending things didn’t affect me never worked—I wasn’t going to try it again.

“It’s so beautiful!” Mollie called into my ear, having to nearly shout to be heard over the music. “You guys did such a great job!”

I smiled at it all. The faux snow layered over everything, the columns in various spots off the dance floor wrapped with blue ribbon. The Snowflake Dance banner hung near the far wall, and even from here I could see the glitter. There was a tarp on the ground to protect the floors from our shoes, but I barely registered it. Everything else was so wow.

In that moment, I knew I’d done it: I’d checked off the last thing on my list. The Snowflake Dance was a success. People were dancing, laughing, singing along with the music. I’d done everything I could, and it had paid off.

I hadn’t realized I’d only come to see everything in its final form until it sunk in that I just wanted to go home.

“Vesta!” Bryce came around a group of people, his grin splitting ear to ear as he took her in. He wore a white tie, matching her perfectly. “You look beautiful.”

Even in the low light, I could see her blush. “Want to take a picture?” Vesta turned to us. “Can one of you take it?”

“Mollie can,” I said, all but shoving her forward. “I’m going to run to the bathroom.”

Vesta was too caught up with Bryce to notice my expression, but Mollie didn’t miss it. Her eyes lingered on me, as if wondering if she should say something. “If you want to go home, I can get a ride home with Bryce and Vesta.”

I didn’t deserve a best friend like her, and I knew it. My hand caught hers. “I’ll catch up with you in a little bit, okay?”

Instead of waiting for her to respond, I turned around, heading toward the entrance. But as I turned away, my eyes fell on a figure in between a group of students, just standing there. Jackson. His height was the dead giveaway. The expression on his face was tender, almost like he was in awe. It almost felt weird to be witnessing it, especially when I had no idea what he was looking at.

When I followed his line of sight, though, I found it led to Mollie, who was walking with Vesta and Bryce to a brighter corner of the gym to snap a picture.

When I glanced back at Jackson to see if the look was still on his face, the crowd had shifted, obscuring him entirely.

Like I thought earlier, it felt like whatever happened between them was unfinished. Especially after seeing his face when he looked at her, not knowing anyone was watching. Maybe I’d been wrong about his intentions.

I just needed air, I decided. Maybe a breath of night air would help me feel a bit better. But the idea of dancing the night away didn’t appeal to me, not when I couldn’t stop thinking about something else that was going on tonight.

Untapped Potential played Fridays and Saturdays. That was what Vincent would be doing right now. I wondered what songs they’d be playing. I hadn’t attended enough gigs to memorize their music, but I’d be able to feel the thump in my chest, like a second heartbeat. It made sense that I liked the drums the best in their songs. I liked their drummer the best.

I didn’t bother putting on my coat, giving Mrs. Keller some lame excuse about leaving my lip gloss in the car. My heels clattered on the cobblestones as I made my way out the door, drawing in a breath of cool, icy air. The cold wrapped its fingers around my arms, snaking through the mesh part of my dress near my stomach and making me tremble.

A clear sky greeted me, absolutely free of snow clouds and the constant cover of gray that we’d been living under since winter officially began. No, they were absent tonight, and I tipped my head back to take in all the constellation of stars. They looked like the snowflakes inside, hung by a set of strings.

I didn’t know how long I stood out there, allowing my soul to settle inside my body, to take a deep breath in and let an even bigger one out. Long enough for my toes to grow numb where they poked out of my heels. Long enough for the tracks to switch inside, for the DJ to start a slower song.

Long enough for most of the students to be inside already, even the latecomers. So that was why I noticed when a certain truck pulled up and parked in the lot, too far for me to make out exactly who was driving. I watched my breath fog in the air, not wanting to get my hopes up.

It only took a handful of moments for the person to hop out of the truck and head toward the building. Once the parking lot lights illuminated their face, I felt my heart kickstart, all of the butterflies taking off at once.

Vincent.