All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Author:Gabrielle Zevin [Zevin, Gabrielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

equate witch

DESPITE THE FACT that neither of

us had dates, Scarlet wanted to go to

the Fall Formal and so we did. I would

have preferred not to, but as Daddy

might have said, that was the price of

friendship.

The theme of the dance was “Great

Romances,” or some such nonsense.

There were projections of supposedly

great couples from the past on the

walls of the gym. Romeo and Juliet,

Antony and Cleopatra, Hermione and

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Ron, Bonnie and Clyde, etc. I don’t

think most of them met a particularly

good end, but I suspect this was an

irony that entirely bypassed the

event’s organizers.

I was not surprised to discover that

Win was there with Alison Wheeler.

Though Alison and I were not friends,

there was no animosity between us

and we had gone to school together

for years. She was pretty verging on

very pretty, with a willowy frame and

long red hair out of a storybook. It

showed good taste on his part, and I

was glad to see he had gotten over me

so quickly. No one else had asked me

to the Fall Formal, by the way. I sup-

pose they were justifiably worried

about ending up like Gable Arsley.

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Toward the middle of the night,

Win’s band set up to perform. (They

were only to play during the DJ’s

break.) I asked Scarlet if she wanted to

leave.

“No, that would be rude,” she said.

“He’s still our friend so let’s listen to

at least one of his songs and then we

can go.”

They started with a cover of a really

old song called “You Really Got a Hold

on Me.” Win had a deep, husky

singing voice, and he played guitar

well, too.

“He’s good,” Scarlet said.

“Yes,” I said.

“Do you want to go now?” she

asked. “I waved to him so I know he

saw that we stayed.”

I shook my head.

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The nameless “band” did a couple of

original songs, and I liked those even

better than the cover. The lyrics were

clever and even poetic. Win was talen-

ted. There was no doubt about that.

I found myself very much wishing

that we had left. It would have been

easier not to have known that Win was

talented.

They played a fifth and final song. It

was a ballad, but not too sappy. I

thought Win might have looked at me,

but then he made a lot of eye contact

with everyone. He seemed entirely

comfortable onstage.

The band took their bows, and the

DJ came back on to spin a couple

more songs. I was glad that it was

over. I felt hot and ill. I needed to get

outside for some fresh air.

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“Let’s go,” I said to Scarlet.

At that moment, one of the boys

from the play asked Scarlet to dance. I

didn’t want to be mean so I told her I

would wait.

Scarlet made her way to the dance

floor. It was a fast song, and she

danced with considerably more skill

than her partner. I was glad the dance

hadn’t been a total bust for her. Be-

hind Scarlet, I spied Win dancing with

Alison Wheeler. She was wearing a

knee-length white dress that really

complemented her skin tone and her

hair. She looked elegant and very

grown-up. Win had taken off his tie

and rolled up his sleeves, and I guess

he must have been a bit hot from per-

forming, because his short hair was

curled into ringlets around his ears in

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a way I had never seen before.

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