“It’s okay,” I yelled back. “This music kind of sucks anyway.”

“What?” She hadn’t heard me.

“Nothing!”

Gilly did that little nod again.

I scanned the room for Berry. I mean how hard can it be to find someone lime green in a sea of pastels and navy formal wear?

Tanner walked over with a chair and put it next to Gilly so she could sit. I took Gilly’s crutches and leaned them against the back of the chair.

Gilly rested her hands in her lap. “I guess it’s probably not as exciting as other dances you’ve been to.”

“It’s pretty much the same!” I nodded along with the music.

Gilly shouted something I couldn’t hear over the bass, so I leaned closer. “What?”

“Nothing,” she shouted back. “I love this song!”

As the bass built on the dance floor, more and more kids streamed into the crowd, jumping in unison like they were trying to smash a hole in the floor together.

Somehow, I was standing with the same group of kids that, like, a week earlier had tried to erase me from Greenville High existence, and it felt like I was still standing on the edge of a cliff.

Because I still wasn’t where I needed to be.

My eyes darted over the crowd. That’s when the music on the dance floor faded, and the first beats of tinny metal funk came over the loudspeakers. Tanner shot Sarah a confused look. I searched the auditorium for an explanation.

“Did you put this on?” I asked Gilly.

“Put what on?” Gilly shrugged.

“ ‘Funkytown.’ ”

“Wait.” Gilly looked up at me. “Is this, like, your song?”

“It’s a song I like,” I shouted. “Like, a lot.”

Gilly nodded blankly. “Oh. Right.”

I turned and spotted Berry strutting along the edge of the dance floor, a flash of green hop-stepping along the sidelines.

Berry.

“Gilly!” I squatted down by her chair. “Um. I have to say something!”

“What?” A confused look flashed over Gilly’s face.

“I want to thank you for inviting me to the dance. And I think you’re really cool and possibly after this we can be friends,” I hollered, “but there’s someone I need to go dance with. Now.”

Gilly looked at the ground then up at me. “Berry,” she said.

“What?”

“It’s BERRY!” Gilly yelled over the music, a small smile on her lips. “It’s OKAY. GO!”

Officially it is possible everyone knew but me.

I bolted across the dance floor, through a soft sea of not fabulous suits and spaghetti strap dresses, to the far end of the floor, where I saw her, dancing.