He flipped around, head cocked to the side. “Sorry about what?” I bit my lip. “I’m sorry for what I said to you before. When you said you were here for me and I said that meant nothing.”

He waited.

Flushing, I ran my hands over my arms like he had. The feeling was so not the same. “It was rude.”

“You were upset.” Hayden shrugged, a troubled look pulling at his face. “Adam… was everything to you.”

I flinched. Adam was nothing to me now. “Anyway, I’m sorry.”

Hayden nodded. “It’s all forgiven, Ember. Friends?”

I felt my lips curve. “Friends.”

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Excitement hummed through biolast class of the day, also Friday, and oh, yeah, Homecoming Weekend. Bor-ing.

“You really aren’t going to the game?” Disbelief filled Cory’s voice. As if nothing else in this world could be as important as “the game.”

“Nope,” I eyed Coach Ashford, who had his feet crossed at the ankles and propped on the desk. His head kept falling down, and then he’d jerk it back up and blink.

“And you’re not going to the dance, either?”

I yawned loudly. “No.”

Cory shook his head. “I thought you girls lived for that kind of thing.”

We didI didbut my date (if I had one) wouldn’t live through the night, which kind of took the fun out of it all. “Just not my kind of thing.”

“Oh.” Cory twirled the pencil between his fingers and cleared his throat. “Billy is having a bonfire after the dance. You should come.”

I simply stared at him. Billy McIntyre was in my English class. Nice kid, captain of the football team. I barely spoke to the guy.

Cory’s cheeks turned a ruddy color. “Well… the other ones gothe ones you live with. They usually goeven Hayden. It’s like tradition around here. Go out in the cornfields, get drunk, whatever. Anyway, you should come.”

“Oh.” I bit my lip. Hayden hadn’t mentioned it. He also hadn’t mentioned the dance, even though I’d overhead Phoebe talking about going. She had a datesome pensive-looking guy with dark hair and full lips.

I wondered who Hayden would take to the dance. I mean, he had to, right? Over half the female population stopped to drool over him when he crossed their paths. And why hadn’t he mentioned the party? We were friends. Didn’t friends tell each other about these things?

“Ember?” Cory said.

“Oh. Uh, I don’t know.”

Cory frowned. “Think about it, at least? It’ll be fun.”

“Sure.”

Thankfully, the bell rang. A party sounded fun. So did keg stands. But if Hayden wanted me to go then he’d have said something, right? Of course, the moment Hayden and I walked to our lockers I had to open my big mouth. “Are you going to the bonfire Saturday night?”

Hayden palmed his bio book. “How do you know about the party?”