When the limo pulled up to 1 OAK, the photographers started taking pictures immediately, which was exactly the effect Steven had intended. After a quick discussion it was decided that Steven would exit first so he could help Lolly out of the car. Dustin would get out next, followed by Kimmie. Obviously, she couldn’t object when she had no alternative, but Kimmie wondered if it would look like she and Dustin were a couple since there were only four of them, as opposed to five. She decided that when they got out of the car, she’d make sure to put a little distance between herself and Dustin so the paparazzi wouldn’t take them for a couple. And if they asked to get a picture of the two of them, she’d insist her sister and Steven join them. She felt bad for thinking these things, but she knew Dustin had a crush on her and it felt wrong to give him any false hope. To make matters even more annoying, her sister was Team Dustin, and as they stood side by side in their shared bathroom putting on their makeup, Lolly went on and on that Dustin was a genius and sure to be very successful in the future. This line of reasoning did nothing for Kimmie. She was only a sophomore in high school and just didn’t care about such things.

Exasperated, she finally snapped that she didn’t care about Dustin’s perfect SAT scores, she only liked him as a friend and that was it. Lolly, knowing the real reason Kimmie wasn’t interested, countered, “FYI, Count Vronsky has screwed half the senior girls at Spence.”

Unwilling to let her sister have the last word, Kimmie said, “Well, won’t they all be jealous when I’m his new girlfriend?” Kimmie regretted sharing her secret desire with her sister, but at least her sister went back to styling her hair and didn’t say another word.

The driver opened the back door and Kimmie listened to the shouts of the photographers. She was ready for the best night of her life to begin.

XXI

While they went through security and waited to check in, Dustin told Kimmie again how gorgeous she looked. This made her happy and she repaid the compliment, saying she loved his outfit, too. She had googled “’90s hip-hop style” earlier and Dustin was dressed exactly like many of the guys in the pictures. “You look very authentic. Like you just arrived here from the nineties Terminator-style.” She felt the urge to be extra nice to Dustin now since it was sure to be difficult for him to watch her spend the night dancing with Vronsky.