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“We could hire a DJ,” Elise said.

“I happen to know a good one,” Jess said, referring to Flynn.

“What about food?” Michelle asked.

“Maybe I could get Gray’s parents to donate some trays from All Naturals,” I said.

“This is actually starting to seem doable,” Jess said.

We decided we should have a follow-up meeting with the guys so we could coordinate our efforts. Owen and Flynn got on board immediately and began spreading the word at Braeburn. On Wednesday night, we met in the garden behind the Commons Building to start working out the details. Gray was going to meet us later after dinner with his family.

When we got to the garden, the guys were already camped out on the steps. Jess and Michelle joined them there, Jess on the step above Michelle, with her arms draped around Michelle’s shoulders. Like Elise had predicted, they did look quite cute together.

When Flynn saw Elise standing beside me, he stood up, gave me a brief apologetic nod, then shifted his focus to Elise. He sidled up next to her and tried to flirt. “First thing’s first,” he said. “Have you kissed or slept with anyone here? It’s kind of a requirement of admission in our incestuous little group.”

His eyes flickered with a mischievous glint, and I couldn’t help but smile. Elise snorted and said no, she most certainly hadn’t. But I realized as soon as Gray got here, that would no longer be true.

“The night is young,” Flynn said, winking at her.

Elise just rolled her eyes and blew him off, and I laughed in spite of everything. There was something so inherently “high school” about the whole situation—all the tangled webs of relationships, the hurt and the angst—and of course, the inevitable focus on prom.

When I caught Owen’s eye and tried to smile, he immediately looked down, his expression like a wounded puppy’s. And then Gray turned the corner of the building, and my gut wrenched as I remembered the last time he and Owen had seen each other. Boxer shorts at breakfast, bad blood. I prepared myself for the worst.

But Gray simply came over and shook Owen’s hand like nothing had happened. Then I introduced him to Jess and Flynn. Flynn stood up to shake his hand, and I was surprised by how small and deferential he seemed next to Gray.

“Hey, man, I’ve heard great things about you,” he said. That was the most cordial I’d ever seen Flynn. I wondered if he was worried that I’d told Gray about our kiss. I hadn’t yet.

Flynn stood there cracking his knuckles and looking uncomfortable. As if things weren’t awkward enough already, Elise popped up and came over to talk to us. Gray’s jaw went rigid, and his shoulders tensed.

“Hi, Gray,” she said.

“Elise.”

“Look, before things get all weird between us, I wanted to apologize for last year,” she said. “I’ve already apologized to Emma, but I never got a chance to say I’m sorry to you. And I am really, really sorry.” Gray looked wary and defensive, but he let her finish. “If I could take everything back, I would, but it’s done. It’s part of my past I’m not proud of. But I hope you can forgive me and we can all be friends. Or if not friends, at least not enemies.”

Gray cocked an eyebrow and looked at me. I was pinching my lips together trying not to smile because when it came down to it, Elise could be pretty charming when she wanted to be.

“Okay,” Gray said. “Apology accepted.”

With all these awkward formalities out of the way, we joined the others, who were talking about food and party favors and decorations. It felt so normal to be hanging out with my friends and my boyfriend, talking about prom—a rare preview of what life could be like now that Gray and I were staying together. I grabbed Gray’s hand and squeezed.

“So Gray’s on food detail, right?” Michelle said. “And Flynn, you’re okay with DJing?”

“Aw, man, we have to listen to his music?” Jess said, teasing. “I get to help make the playlist.”

“I refuse to listen to My Chemical Romance at the prom,” Flynn said, teasing her.

“Hey, we should rent a karaoke machine,” Owen said.

“Are you insane?” Michelle said. “Karaoke? At a prom?”

“I thought the whole point of this prom was that it’s unconventional. Unexpected,” he said. “I think karaoke could be fun.”

“Yeah, because you can actually sing,” I said. “What about those of us who are vocally challenged?”

“The whole point of karaoke is to hear people singing badly,” Elise said.

“Says the girl with the voice of an angel,” Jess said.

“Well, I like the idea, Owen,” Elise said. Then she gave him one of her sweet-sexy smiles, and Owen beamed back at her. My heart wilted a little.

We all argued the pros and cons of karaoke, and Flynn decided it might be amusing to hear people botch bad pop songs all night. The rest of us finally agreed.

“So we’ve got food, venue, and music taken care of, now what about the date?” Michelle said, serving as our taskmaster.

“Well, the other prom’s on May nineteenth, so we can’t have it then,” Jess said.

“Why not?” I said. “If we do some creative marketing, we might even be able to lure people away from a boring country club event in favor of our no-holds-barred karaoke prom.”

“Yeah,” Michelle said. “We could emphasize that unlike
some
proms, ours is going to be all-inclusive, come-as-you-are. Wear whatever you like; bring whoever you like!”

“Do whoever you like,” Flynn said, and we all groaned.

“Oh my God,” Jess said. “Can you imagine how pissed Overbrook would be if nobody showed up to his prom?”

“And what about Amber and Chelsea?” I said. “I can totally see them out on the dance floor with their dates and three other sad-looking couples, just fuming at the ears ready to murder us.”

“That’s incentive enough for me,” Elise said.

Once we’d delegated responsibilities, it began drizzling, so we decided to disband for the night and continue our coordinated efforts tomorrow. Everyone said good-bye, and we went our separate ways.

On the way back to the parking lot, the drizzle turned into a soft, warm rain. Gray and I stood outside his Jeep, getting wet but not wanting to leave. I felt so happy, and yet I had this tiny stone of guilt lodged in my chest. If Gray was going to stay and become a part of my daily life, I had to tell him about my kiss with Flynn. I was a little worried, especially considering Gray’s reaction to finding Owen at my house on New Year’s, but I didn’t want us to hide things from each other anymore.

I looked down at the ground, swallowed, and told him.

“You kissed
that
guy?” he said. “The one with the eyeliner?”

“Yeah, I know. It was stupid. A mistake. But I thought you should know.”

“When was this?” he said, sounding angry.

“A few months ago,” I said. “It didn’t mean anything. I was just feeling so—”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” he said, his voice softening. Then he took both of my hands in his. “Emma, you don’t owe me any explanations. I broke things off between us. I have no right to get upset. I mean, it kills me to think of you doing . . . that”—he brushed a finger softly over my bottom lip—“with someone else. But you were free to do whatever you wanted. And you still are.”

“I know,” I said. “But I don’t want to kiss anyone else.”

“Good. Me neither.” He leaned down and brushed his lips softly against mine. The rain was falling steadier now, making Gray’s shirt thin and transparent. I ran my hands along the back of his head and his neck. He whispered in my ear, “You drive me crazy. Let’s get in the car and go to the park. We’re getting soaked.”

But I knew exactly what would happen if we went to the park. And it wasn’t a game of Frisbee. “I think we should take a night off,” I said. “There’s no rush anymore. We have all the time in the world.”

He smiled. “I don’t think I can take a night off. I’m addicted to you.”

“Gray, I have school tomorrow. And I can’t miss any more classes.”

“You won’t,” he said. “I promise I’ll call and make sure you get up.” He kissed me on the lips, deeply this time, and I felt my will weakening.

“No,” I said, pulling away from him. “As much as I want to, I can’t.”

“Fine,” he said, pouting a little. “Then how about we get off campus this weekend, just the two of us. We’ll get a hotel room.”

“A hotel room?” I said, feeling my face flush. It would be the perfect weekend to do it, since most of our class would be in DC until Sunday. But still, a hotel room carried certain . . . expectations.

“Friday night,” he said. “I’ll come pick you up and take you to dinner, then we’ll stay at the Waverly Inn. They’ve got balcony rooms that overlook the falls.”

“I can’t do Friday night,” I said. “That’s Michelle’s birthday.”

“Saturday, then,” he said.

“All right,” I agreed. “Saturday.” And the smile on his face fooled me into thinking I was happy, too.

C
HAPTER
25

O
f all the things Michelle could have chosen to do for her birthday, she wanted to have a sleepover party. With most of the junior and senior class in DC there were only about a dozen of us left in the upperclassmen dorm. So Jess, Michelle, Elise, and I got into our pajamas, dragged our sleeping bags into the lounge, made a giant vat of microwave popcorn, and sat around in a circle playing corny campfire games.

We started with Truth or Dare, which quickly devolved into Dare after Elise kept asking too many personal questions about our sex lives. On one dare, Elise made me do Bloody Mary, which requires the victim to stand in front of a mirror in a darkened room and spin around three times while saying, “Bloody Mary.” The legend says that when you open your eyes, you’ll see the face of the man you will marry alongside the ghostly apparition of Bloody Mary.

“But if you see a skull,” Elise said gleefully, “that means you’re going to
die
before you ever get married. Heh heh heh.”

“God, Elise, I never knew you were so morbid,” I said.

“Remind me why we’re playing this again,” Jess said.

“Because it’s a slumber party,” Elise said. “That’s what you do. Scare the crap out of each other.”

Now that I had been sufficiently terrified, I walked into the bathroom, followed by the girls, Elise holding a candle. They stood me in front of one of the mirrors and told me to shut my eyes, then they spun me around three times while we all chanted, “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.”

“Now open!” Elise said.

So I did.

Reflected in the mirror was Gray’s face, flickering in the candlelight. At least it looked like Gray, although my eyes were swimming with dancing lights. Behind him was a faint aura of red, almost like Hester’s ghost was standing behind him.

I nearly fell over from shock, and somebody behind me screamed. Then we all burst out of the bathroom and into the brightly lit hallway, giggling like a bunch of ten-year-old girls.

“You saw something, didn’t you?” Jess said.

“Will you guys think I’m crazy if I say yes?”

“We already think you’re crazy,” Michelle said.

“But seriously, what’d you see?”

When I told them, Jess and Elise shrieked. Ever the skeptic, Michelle said, “There’s a logical reason why this works.”

Elise pouted. “Are you going to take all the fun out of this?”

“Probably,” Michelle said. “But fear or any heightened emotion can put you in a trancelike state. The spinning makes you dizzy, and then the darkness disorients you further, so all your perceptions get distorted. Then you add the power of suggestion, and people end up seeing what they’re expected to see.”

“It’s still freaking me out,” I said.

Then Jess added, “What if it is real? I mean, what if the mirror is actually a conduit to the spirit world?”

Elise followed this up with a ghostly “Oooooh.”

“Don’t waste your breath,” I said. “Michelle doesn’t believe in anything supernatural. Everything has to be proven with empirical evidence, or it doesn’t exist.”

“It comes from living with my voodoo-loving aunt,” Michelle said.

“I love Aunt Darlene,” I said. “And she’s a very wise woman. I still think we should have done that spell she gave us.”

Elise’s eyes lit up. “What spell?”

Michelle shot daggers at me from across the room. “Just this bogus spell she must have bought in one of the voodoo shops in her neighborhood.”

“But what kind of spell is it?” Jess asked. “What’s it supposed to do?”

When Michelle didn’t answer, I said, “It’s a spell to get rid of somebody.” Elise’s eyes went large and eager.

“Like who?” Jess said.

“Like Overbrook, of course,” Elise said.

“Guys, it’s just a superstition,” Michelle said. “We’re not going to do some stupid voodoo spell.”

“Why not?” Elise said.

“Yeah,” Jess said, tugging on Michelle’s sleeve and making big doe eyes. “It sounds like fun. And if you don’t believe in it anyway, what’s the harm?”

Michelle grumbled and sighed. “We can’t just do it here,” she said. “We need vinegar and a moving body of water and—”

“Darlene sent me the vinegar,” I said.

“And we have a stream right on campus,” Elise said. “Hey, we should go to the woods to do the spell, and then . . . I dare us all to spend the night in the witch caves.”

We all snickered, thinking she was joking.

“Been there, done that,” I said. “No thanks.”

But now it was Michelle’s turn to get back at me. “Why, Emma? Too scared to go back?”

“Come on!” Elise said. “This time you won’t be alone. You’ll have us with you. What could possibly happen?”

“Let me see. Some actual Salem witches could haunt us, we could be ravaged by wild animals, a serial killer could have staked his claim on Lockwood—”

“Okay, but seriously, what could happen?” she said.

“I’m in,” Jess said. “So long as Emma is.” Then she batted her eyes at me. “Pretty please, Emma. Pretty, pretty, pretty please with a giant cherry on top?”

“Okay, okay,” I said. “You guys are relentless.”

We gathered up our sleeping bags and flashlights and other important provisions I hadn’t had with me the last time, like cell phones and snacks. Then I packed the spell, the vinegar, and the photo of Overbrook, and we sneaked out of the dorm and walked down the path toward the woods.