“Uh, ya think?” I ask, one step away from actually tapping his head to see if there’s anything left in there.

He throws his hands up. “Every time I think I understand teens— You wanna know what, I’m going to take care of it.”

“I expect apologies from the responsible parties,” Mom says.

Principal Armstrong sputters. “We have no way of knowing who exactly is to blame here, but I will be vigilant about making sure that both Hannah and Waylon are not the victim of any further abuse, and their names will be removed from all prom-court-related things.”

Hannah stands and pulls her backpack over her shoulder. “No need. They want a king? They’ll get a king. Count me in. I’m running for prom king, Mr. Principal Man.”

She’s out the door before any of us can even react.

I look to Mom and then Principal Armstrong, who are both as shocked as I am.

“Uh . . . uh . . . give me a sec.”

I run after her and find her in the hallway. “What the hell, Hannah? You can’t be serious. What’s your grandma going to say?”

She turns around with an innocent grin. “If I’ve learned anything in the last few years, it’s that you’ve got to be the one who writes your own story. You don’t think I see people making fun of me? I’m the Afro-Dominican girl with buck teeth. That’s all anyone knows me as. I’ve been dating your sister since last summer and I bet that’s pretty much all you even know about me.”

I clear my throat, trying to suppress a little bit of guilt and what that guilt might mean. I haven’t really taken the time to get to know Hannah, because I always felt like Hannah wasn’t interested. “We are so close to graduation,” I finally say. “So close to getting out of this stupid school, and you want to make a thing of this instead of just letting it die?”

She shrugs. “This can go one of two ways. We’re nominated and step out of the race and people always remember that one time the two homos were nominated for prom court. Wasn’t that funny? Or I could actually do this thing and then maybe someday everyone will remember how the gay girl with the crazy teeth took life by the balls and ran for prom king. Wasn’t that wild? Wasn’t she fearless?”

I stand there for a minute, waiting for her to say she’s kidding and that she’s going to let all this blow over. But she doesn’t. Instead, her posture only becomes more defiant. She’s got nothing to lose. And for the first time, I think I’m actually seeing Hannah. It’s as though this whole time the Hannah I knew was never Hannah at all. Only a shadow of her.