“I’ll dance with her,” Harvey Edwards said. He’d tried to kiss Kelly in the eighth grade. She’d pulled out the lizard she had hidden in her shirt and let it flick its tongue on Harvey’s cheek. Harvey had never bothered her again.

“Go home to your wife,” Celeste said, and kept pulling Kelly.

Tommy Leselles came too close and said, “I’ll do whatever you want.”

Celeste gave Kelly’s arm a strong tug and pointed. “Here,” she ordered. “Sit there while I try to find a decent man who’ll have you.”

Kelly knew she’d been assigned to the wallflower bench. It was empty, just her. She looked around at the couples dancing. A few people waved but they didn’t come over to say hi. She knew it wasn’t real, but she put her left hand up to her hair. She hoped the big diamond would flash so brightly it blinded them.

She had on the red minidress her mother made. It had long sleeves, a mandarin collar and a skirt that was midthigh. Black pantyhose and black shoes with block heels completed the outfit. Robbie was at their house when Kelly was first trying it on. “It looks like a Star Trek uniform,” he said.

“It’s not that short!” Kelly said, but the damage was done. Her mother lowered the hem by two inches.

Why did I come to this thing? she wondered. Celeste was on the right side of the room, talking animatedly with a guy from high school. Kelly knew he had the IQ of a snail, but the strength of an orangutan, so he was great on the football field and therefore popular.

Kelly stood up and started walking. If she left quietly, no one would notice her. She’d go home, or better yet, go to Dr. Carl’s clinic and—

“Want help escaping?”

She looked up to see Tony Pullman. He and his family had moved to Kansas when Tony was a senior. He was a year ahead of Kelly, so she didn’t really know him. He went off to college somewhere, then returned to help his dad in the family’s used-car business. Tony always drove the most fabulous cars, and he was very good-looking.

“I just—”

“Here comes Celeste.” He had his hand on the lever of a door that led to the outside.

“Go!” Kelly said, and seconds later they were outside in the cool night air.

She started to walk along the side of the building, toward her car, but Tony stopped. He stepped under a tree. “That moon is beautiful,” he said.

She couldn’t see it from where she was standing, so she went under the tree beside him. The moon really was exceptionally pretty.

“Has Celeste always been jealous of you?”