Four Days Before

 

It took Haylee forever to tell her mom about the Winter Fling. As a result, we didn't go shopping for the dress until the day before.

Hazel let Haylee use her credit card, and my mom drove us to the mall on Thursday evening. As we sat in the back of the car, Haylee said to me, "I wish you were coming to the dance."

I kind of wished I'd been asked, too, but only by Nick, and that clearly wasn't happening. "It's no big deal," I said. "I'm sure you'll have fun."

"Why aren't you going?" Mom asked from the front seat.

"Because I'm not allowed to date yet," I said. "Duh."

"You don't need a date to go to a dance," Mom said. "You could go stag."

I was pretty sure that word hadn't ever been cool. "That's not how it works," I said. You didn't just show up to the Winter Fling without a date. That was a sure way to end up sitting by yourself all night.

"The school only sells tickets to couples?" I could hear the feminist rising in her voice.

"No," I said. "But I wouldn't have anyone to dance with. That's kind of the point."

"You can dance with other people who don't have dates."

I sighed. "I don't really want to go, anyway."

"Fine," Haylee said. "Abandon me."

I rolled my eyes. Pleasing the two of them was impossible. "You'll have fun. Really."

Mom dropped us off at the mall and we arranged a meeting place for a few hours later. Then Haylee and I set off on a rampage through every store in the mall, searching for the perfect dress.

We had the usual problem. Every dress that looked halfway decent was out of Haylee's price range, and everything in her price range was all wrong: too skanky, too frilly, too bright, or too boring. She couldn't go looking like a whore, but she couldn't go looking like a cupcake, either.

As she tried on dress after dress, Haylee was leaning toward whore. She put on a navy blue dress that was backless and had a slit up each leg, so the front of her skirt looked like a loincloth.

"No way," I said.

"Are you sure?" Haylee asked, spinning and looking at herself over her shoulder.

"I'm sure. That dress is made of regret." I didn't mention that the loincloth look would make Fiona's leg wrap maneuver a lot easier.

In the end, Haylee found a black dress covered in silver sparkles on clearance that looked classy while still showing off her shoulders.

"What do you think?" she asked, spinning around in it for me. "Is this it?"

I stared at her. "We're meeting my mom in 20 minutes," I said. "We've been through every store. The dance is tomorrow."

She squinted at herself. "I don't know. Who do you think I'd be in this dress?"

I smiled. "I think you'll still be Haylee."

"I mean, do you think Bradley will look at me?"

"Looking at you is pretty much required for dancing."

"Kira."

"Haylee. You look great. Bradley's going to die."

Haylee grinned at me in the mirror, twirling again. "You really think so?"

Did I really think so? I couldn't even picture the two of them together. "You're gorgeous. How could he not?"

"Okay," she said. "You've convinced me."

We spent our last few minutes looking for a necklace. Haylee chose this funky chain with a big silver medallion on it, which somehow managed to straddle the line between costume jewelry and flashy accessory.

"What do you think?" Haylee asked.

My phone beeped with a text from Mom.

And these were among the last words I said to my best friend in this life: "Just buy it already. We're ten minutes late, and my mother is pissed."