“Hey, Caitlin, here you go,” I shout over the music as I hand her the punch. She smiles at me, moving away from Henry again, and I feel the hot static of anger-annoyance relax slightly. She opens her mouth to say something but Henry grabs her again, spilling the punch over her hand.

“Hey!” She swats at Henry with her free hand, smile now completely gone. The irritation spikes—wait, no, it’s not irritation, this is pure anger. I haven’t felt this from Caitlin before and for a second, I’m completely overwhelmed. When most people get mad, there’s a build—a burning that grows hotter and bigger until it explodes. This isn’t like that at all. It’s as if there’s been a volcano of molten-hot lava inside of Caitlin this whole time, lying dormant underneath layers of kindness and ambition. Now, all of a sudden, the volcano might erupt.

“What?” Henry laughs, a different kind of heat building inside of him. A kind of heat that, from him, makes me feel radioactive. “Come on, don’t you want to dance?”

Both his arms are around her now as Caitlin does her best to angle her body away from him. Jessica and I are standing on either side, wondering what we should be doing.

“Back off, Henry,” Caitlin bites, pushing him away, spilling punch all down the front of his perfectly cut suit jacket.

“Jesus,” he shouts, looking down at the pink liquid seeping into his clothes. “God, you don’t have to be such a bitch!”

“It’s not my fault you can’t take a hint!” Caitlin yells back, and they’re starting to draw the attention of our classmates.

Henry recovers from the spill quickly, puffing out his chest and taking a menacing step toward Caitlin. Toxic rage is pouring out of him. The air is thick and I can almost see the heat waves rising off of Henry. Caitlin’s volcano stalls for a moment and all at once, it’s like I’ve had seven shots of espresso—my hair is standing on end and I’m having a hard time breathing. Caitlin is scared.

“Henry, go clean up,” I say, stepping between them, my back to Caitlin.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he spits. “Your girl here owes me an apology.”

“Oh my god, you’re deluded.” Caitlin leans around me to snarl into Henry’s face. The fear abates for a moment as the red-hot anger takes over. How Caitlin hasn’t completely combusted at this point is a total mystery to me.

“You’re the one who owes me an apology,” she snaps.

“I was just trying to have fun—”

“What about forcing a girl to dance with you is fun?”