I feel myself recoiling away from the microphone in my hand, but I grip it tighter and continue on, my voice unwavering. “But for us seniors, we have barely two weeks left of school. This whole chapter of our lives is about to end! Some of us might not ever see each other again. Some of us will get married. Some of us might only be friends for now and others friends for life. What’s holding us back from falling wholly into the people we want to be? Why are we waiting to spread our wings when, if we could leave behind all that fear, the next two weeks could be our greatest memories of this place?”

The second I’m done I look at the microphone in my hand like it’s possessed me.

And then, slowly, everyone begins to clap. Willowdean stands, followed by Amanda and Ellen. A few others do too. Callie and Melissa, on either side of me, join in.

Blush heats my cheeks and I nod once before passing the microphone.

The rest of the panel is sort of a blur. I say things. People even laugh at my stupid jokes sometimes. Hannah doesn’t completely croak when all eyes are on her, and the whole thing ends up being pretty not bad.

“Final question,” Millie says, “and perhaps the one your peers are most curious about. Who are you taking to prom?”

The crowd lets out an ooooooh and a few wolf whistles. My stomach sinks. Millie, I love you, but this question! Is! The! Worst!

Hannah goes first, biting her lip as she takes the microphone. “The most beautiful girl in the world and my girlfriend,” she says, a shyness in her voice I’ve never heard before. “Clementine Brewer.”

On the front row, Clem buries her face into the collar of her shirt for a moment, so that all you can see is a forehead and two braids with two little clear bauble hair ties at the end. She peeks her head back up, like a very cute turtle, and blows Hannah a kiss.

The auditorium eats it up.

Hannah passes the mic to Callie, who looks over her shoulder to Mitch. “Mitch, will you go to prom with me?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he says with a drawl.