He pulled me off of him, his hands tight around my wrists. He touched me like he couldn’t stand to be near me, pushing me away, holding me at a distance.

“I said I was sorry,” he said, as if saying I’m sorry was absolution enough no matter the crime. The lines of his face hardened. “I have to get going. Do you need a ride?” He knew that I did, but I could tell he couldn’t wait to leave, so I shook my head softly and let him go. Crushed, I watched as he walked out of my life without a second glance. The first tear rolled off my face, hit my chest. He was lost to me and there was nothing I could do to make him come back.

Not wanting to return to the dance, I sat on the cold ground against the doors, heard the music rage on behind me. My friend Melody texted asking where I was, but I ignored her. She never liked Cameron, and the last thing I needed was to see the relief on her face when I told her he’d left me. Instead, I curled in on myself and waited for the unbearable pain in my chest to turn into breathless sobs.

That was when I heard it. The click of a lighter striking a flame. I looked up and there she was, perched on a metal bench with cigarette in hand, an angel of the night. The patron saint of the wronged and my savior, Elise Ferro.

“Want one?” she offered, hand outstretched, a pack of cigarettes in her palm. There weren’t a lot of smokers at school and I’d only smoked one or two times before with Cameron and his friends, but none of them were regular smokers. “It calms me.” She made it look so glamorous, the wisps of smoke framing her face against the dark of night.

“Thanks.” I took one and she gave me a light. Leaning in, I got a closer look at her face in the glow of the flame and didn’t recognize her. She had to be new, sitting out here in the bus bay, smoking alone.

“What an asshole,” she said, eyes flicking in the direction where Cameron went. She’d been there the whole time, heard everything. Heat and mortification spread over my face. I wanted to crawl into bed and never get out, just sink under the covers and disappear forever. To a place where Cameron still loved me and there was no pain.

“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked, eyes softening when she saw my stricken expression.

I looked behind me at the double doors that led back to the dance, the loud music and happy faces, to Melody and all the people who knew me. They’d know I’d been dumped soon enough.

Blinking back tears, I nodded. Please, I wanted to say. Anywhere but here.

“I’m Elise, by the way,” she said on our way to her car.