The next thing she knew, everyone around her began counting down from ten. Kimmie was soon screaming along with the other three hundred partygoers, and when they reached number one, she closed her eyes and lifted her chin to this handsome, nameless, shimmering sea glass of a boy. He kissed her, giving her the most magical kiss of her life. (There had only been three others, but still!) Fireworks were going off in her head just like in the movies, though she realized later what she had heard was the TV. It was the first time Kimmie felt truly happy since her “accident,” the accident that she was trying so hard to bury and walk away from. That was the advice her dad gave after her surgery: “You’re young, kiddo, sometimes dreams don’t work out. Find a new one and move on. A pretty girl like you has plenty of options.” So that’s what she had been trying to do lately, to be more like her sister, Lolly, and find happiness in friends, clothes, Instagram, or even a boyfriend. Though it was nauseating to listen to Lolly gush over Steven, Kimmie sometimes found herself envious of her sister’s relationship. Maybe a boy could give her that same feeling she had had out on the ice, a this-is-exactly-where-I’m-supposed-to-be-in-this-big-wide-world kind of feeling. And now here was this boy who thought she was beautiful and picked her to kiss when he could have had any girl at the party, so she decided to give in and enjoy it.

After midnight the boy thanked her for the kiss, asked for her iPhone and said he’d put his number in it, instructing her to text him so he could take her for high tea. After he handed her phone back, he winked and wished her a Happy New Year. He then turned and disappeared into the drunken writhing crowd now dancing to the Bieber version of “Despacito.”

She didn’t want to look at his name until she was alone, so she pushed her way through the drunken crowd again, heading to her secret bathroom. Passing the library, she glimpsed Dustin sitting on a couch between two girls. She wasn’t sure if he saw her, and knew it was rude not to wish the one friend she met at the party a Happy New Year, but at that moment she didn’t care. She was on a mission to learn the name of the beautiful blond boy who had slipped his tongue into her mouth at midnight.