“Do you need to go outside for lunch?” Chelsea asked.
“It’s raining pretty hard. I don’t really feel like it.” She shrugged. “I should probably just eat something.” She always got a little run-down toward the end of the semester, but dealing with David, Tamani, and Yuki was twice as exhausting as fighting trolls, which — as it was practically a holiday tradition now — might have been preferable.
But Shar wasn’t going to let that happen. No matter how many times she or Tamani suggested they just raid the cabin and be done with it, Shar refused. After three weeks it seemed like a lost cause to Laurel, but Shar insisted it was too dangerous to barge in without knowing more, and would destroy their chance to learn something new besides. So they continued to watch and wait and wind tighter with every passing day.
Laurel tried to shake her gloomy thoughts away and smiled at her friend. “I’ll be fine. It’s just the end of the semester.”
“Yeah, finals. I totally get it.” Chelsea sighed. “I should just give up. I mean, unless David crashes and burns this semester there’s no way I can beat his GPA.” She laughed. “Of course, if I do slack off, this will be the one semester he does crash and burn, and then I’ll know that I could have beaten him, but I was lazy. So, it’s studyville for me,” she said, giving Laurel a sarcastic thumbs-up.
Laurel smiled and shook her head. She was proud of her good grades, but David and Chelsea took it to a whole different level.
The hallways were emptying out. Laurel thought about heading for the cafeteria, but she didn’t want to stand up. She wasn’t normally one for naps, but now seemed like a great time to make an exception.
“Can I ask you a really weird question?”
Laurel stared at her. “You just did. At least for you.”
Chelsea chuckled nervously. “I just… I just wondered. You’ve been broken up with David for a while now. Are you guys done for good?”
Laurel studied the floor. “I don’t know.”
“Still?”
Laurel shrugged.
“So, if — hypothetically — I were to ask him to the winter formal next week, would that be a problem?”
Laurel gaped at Chelsea as a strange feeling settled in her stomach. “Did you break up with Ryan?”
Chelsea rolled her eyes. “No, no. Thus the hypothetical part.”
“That’s a pretty extreme hypothetical,” Laurel said. Her mind was racing. It wasn’t that she actually expected Chelsea to ask David. But… what if she did?
Chelsea shrugged.
“I–I…” Laurel couldn’t even think of anything to say. The idea that David would go to any kind of formal dance with anyone but her was beyond comprehension. Laurel and David hadn’t missed a formal dance since sophomore year.
“Forget it,” Chelsea said. “I can see it bothers you. I’m sorry I said anything. Please don’t be mad.”
“No,” Laurel said, climbing to her feet and extending a hand to help Chelsea up. “It’s okay. I’m glad you said something. Really. Are things that bad between you and Ryan? You haven’t said anything about his scores in a while. I figured that got sorted out.”
“More like swept under the rug,” Chelsea said, shrugging. “Anyway, let’s go get some food in you.”
But suddenly food wasn’t even on the list of things Laurel was thinking about. With the mystery of the trolls’ cabin, the unsolved puzzle of the blue powder, and Yuki’s constant presence, Laurel hadn’t had the time — much less the energy — to think about something like the winter formal. But now that Chelsea had brought it up, it somehow took priority. Laurel wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to do, but her mind was screaming at her to do something.
The noise of the cafeteria assaulted her ears as she studied the tops of the students’ heads, looking for David. He was pretty easy to spot, sitting beside Ryan, the two of them head and shoulders above most of the other kids around them. Chelsea got in the hot lunch line while Laurel strode over and tapped David on the shoulder.
“Hey!” he said, turning to her with a grin. So friendly. David was a model of platonic affection — except for the longing in his eyes. She wasn’t sure she wanted to lose that. Ever.
“Can I talk to you? Somewhere quieter?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said, getting up a little too quickly.
They walked together until they found a somewhat secluded section of the hallway.
“Is everything all right?” David asked, touching her shoulder.
“I—” Now that she had him here she wasn’t sure she’d be able to squeak out any words at all. “I was wondering…” She took a deep breath and blurted, “Have you asked anyone to the winter formal?” Only as the words tumbled out of her mouth did she realize she’d made up her mind.
Surprise was evident on his face. She wondered if it was mirrored on her own.
“I was just thinking… I was hoping maybe we could go. Sorry if it seems awkward, I just think we shouldn’t let this… stuff… totally destroy our social life and I figured maybe—” She forced her mouth shut before she babbled any more.
“What exactly are you asking me, Laurel?” David asked, studying the tops of his shoes.
And with those few words, Laurel realized what she’d just done. She’d asked David on a date. What did that mean for them? What did it mean for Tamani? Her head spun and she was confused again. She looked down, avoiding his eyes. Not that it really mattered; he wasn’t looking at her, either. “I just want to go to the dance with you, David. As… as friends,” she tacked on, thinking of Tamani.
He hesitated and for a moment Laurel thought he might turn her down.
“Okay,” he said at last, nodding. “That would be great.” Then he was smiling and his eyes were shining with hope. Laurel wondered if she’d made a huge mistake.
But part of her was just glad he’d said yes.
“What day do you finish finals?” Tamani asked, flipping idly through Laurel’s Government textbook while she rummaged through the fridge for something to eat.
“Friday,” Laurel said, wondering if Tamani had ever done more than flip randomly through any of his schoolbooks. “Friday morning. After that I get the rest of the day off.”
“Are you going to go to that dance on Saturday — the winter formal?”
Laurel looked up at him, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. “What exactly are you asking me?” She knew they couldn’t go together — it was too dangerous — but she was suddenly feeling a painful sort of déjà vu.
“Well, Yuki sort of… expects that we’re going together. I never asked her, but she’s practically planned the whole thing already. She wanted me to ask if we could go as a group again. I guess she really enjoyed that, in spite of how it ended. I know you’re not with David anymore, so it’s okay if—”
“No, it’s fine,” Laurel said. She wondered how hard it had been for Tamani to even imply that she ought to pair up with David for something. “I actually already talked to David about it. We’re going together. As friends,” she added, before Tamani could read too much into this bit of news. “So a group thing would be nice. But let’s not invite the trolls this time.”
“Don’t worry,” Tamani said. “I’ve got it all figured out. No more troll ambushes. No more last-minute rescues by persons of questionable integrity. We’ll have two squads shadowing us all night, in addition to the ones behind your house, watching the cabin, making rounds through the city, watching traffic on the 101 and the 199, plus reserves standing by.”
Laurel stared at him, mouth agape, eyes wide. “How many sentries are here now?”