“Have the most beautiful night.”
The gymnasium glowed under string lights and silver balloons.
The dress moved with me like water, every careful stitch hugging my frame in the way only Grandma Evelyn’s hands could have managed.
I smiled, ready to lose myself in the music.
Then the whispers started.
A cluster of girls near the punch table turned to look at me, then leaned into one another.
Then the whispers started.
Two boys by the speakers smirked behind their hands.
I felt the heat crawl up my neck before I even understood what was happening.
“Oh my God,” a voice rang out, sharp and amused. “Is that real, or a joke?”
I turned.
Chloe stood in the center of the floor in a tight silver gown, her friends fanning out around her like a court.
“Is that real?”
Her glossy lips curved into the kind of smile I had seen her use a hundred times in the hallways.
