“Alinaaaa!” My name pierced through the music and noise. Laney was running toward me in a poufy hot-pink gown. Ada was behind her in a dark green mermaid dress. As they got closer, they did what I was afraid they’d do, which was fling their arms out and “ca-caw!” at me.

Margot’s eyes widened. “Do you know them? Or do I need to remember that self-defense class I took in middle school?”

“They’re in the chorus,” I said. “They’re harmless.” Then the song changed and a fast beat pumped through the gym. Ada stopped short, grabbing Laney’s wrist to pull her onto the dance floor. Laney grabbed mine, making me stumble forward. In a panic, I grabbed Margot’s, and before either of us could say anything, we were whooshing through sequins and glowing white button-downs to a cramped space in the middle of the gym. I held my arms to my chest to make myself smaller, blinking at the gyrating bodies surrounding me. Aside from crowd-surfing, there was no way out. I looked at Margot, sure she would find a way to end this.

But Margot was dancing, her arms in the air. She smiled at me, her teeth radiating bizarrely in the black light. “One dance. Then waffles,” she yelled, grabbing my hands and swaying them above my head. I groaned and laughed and shook her off, my hands swaying on their own as the beat grew more intense. Then everyone started jumping, and so did I, the music washing over my body, my lavender skirt swishing and spinning, luminescent in the neon lights.

We danced three songs. I’d forgotten how easy it was to move like this, with no steps or rules, and no one watching you, tallying up all the things you were doing wrong.

“Better than waffles, right?” someone shouted. Ethan danced up in a charcoal suit with a neon-purple cummerbund. Laney and Ada screamed and hugged him.

“Meh,” Margot said, but she couldn’t hide her smile. “Are you done Instagramming?”

“Of course not.” Ethan scoffed. I had the urge to ask him if Jude was here, but I didn’t.

A slow song came on just as Harrison walked up in a dapper dark blue suit. “Hey,” he said, smiling nervously. I wanted to look at Ethan and gauge his reaction, but that would be too obvious. Laney started giggling uncontrollably, so she clearly wasn’t concerned with being too obvious. But either Harrison didn’t notice or pretended not to. He did look really nice. There was a neon-green flower in his lapel, and he wasn’t wearing his beanie. Actually, he looked kind of weird without it. Like his head was naked, but I wasn’t about to say that.

“Where’s your hat?” Margot asked flatly, because of course she did.

“Uh…” Harrison’s smile faltered.

“Are you the hat police?” Ethan said, raising an eyebrow at Margot.