Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas

Author:Liz Czukas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

18 In which my brother practices his sales pitch, and I am suckered

HEADS

The DJ gave us a two-song warning for last dance, and I pumped my fist in the air. I’d successfully avoided Troy since abandoning his gasping fish tongue on the dance floor, and now the end was in sight.

I’d stuck to my friends like glue, trying to keep someone taller than me between myself and the rest of the dance floor as much as possible. Schroeder was being particularly obliging in this ruse of mine, always checking over his shoulder for me and blocking me from view whenever he could. I could have kissed him. Overall, it had been an extremely successful strategy, and I was finally in the home stretch.

And that’s when Phil snuck up on me from behind and slithered his hand around my shoulders. “So, we’re obviously going to Blanchard’s for the after-party.”

I tried to shrug his arm off. “You might be, but I’m not.”

“Why not?”

“Um, besides the fact that Troy tried to stick his tongue down my throat earlier? Gee, let me think . . .” I tapped my finger against my chin.

“You’re still being a psycho about that?”

“Yeah.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not going.” Across from me, Schroeder and Cassidy looked concerned, but I shook my head at them. I knew they couldn’t hear what we were talking about over the music, but I was certain I had this in hand.

“Everybody’s going,” Phil said near my ear.

“If everybody jumped off a cliff, would you?”

“If there were a kick-ass party at the bottom of the cliff, I absolutely would.”

“God, you suck.”

“I told you, you don’t have to call me God. My Lord will be just fine.”

I punched him in the arm. Not hard enough to do any damage, but hard enough that he rubbed the spot where I’d hit him.

“Come with me.” He made puppy-dog eyes at me.

“Phil, I’m really not in the mood. I just want this night to be over.”

“Was it that bad?”

“Do you want me to start with the water that Olivia slopped all over me at dinner? Or should I just cut right to when Troy elbowed me in the head on the dance floor? Or maybe I’ll look fondly back on that disgusting golden retriever kiss he planted on my tonsils. Hmm, it’s just so hard to decide what the best part was!”

“Okay, okay, okay.” He held up his hands. “I get it. But if you go home now, all you’ll have is the bad memories.”

I didn’t answer.

“Buuu-uuut,” he drawled. “If you go to the kick-ass after-party, you’ll have fun, and you won’t even care about what happened at the dance.”

“Seems unlikely.”

“Prom is not about the dance, Heart. It’s about the rest of the night. Trust me, last year, prom was lame until we got out of here.” He jerked his thumb toward the exit. “There is no way the school-sponsored part of the evening can compare to the rest of it.”

“Then I’ll just spend it with my friends, which is what I should have done in the first place.

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