Blake followed Shane’s lead, having never dated a real girl before, and put his hand out.

My dad smiled, looking at least a little relieved as we walked out onto the porch. He looked over at our dates once more. “Well, you kids have a good time.”

We walked out into the cool night air. Shane took me to his truck and opened the door. “Wow, Aimee, like wow. That dress and your hair. It’s going to be a long night.” He bent and kissed me. “Remind me later that I have self-control, okay?”

I nodded, giggling. “Okay. You look great too.”

“I look like your butler. You look—wow.” He walked around to the other side of the truck, still talking to himself.

Blake took my sister to the car he had arranged, with a driver who stood before my sister in his suit and top hat. She waved at me as she gushed and climbed into the car.

I smiled at her, feeling so many good things all at once. I didn’t have to fight to keep the bad things down deep. It seemed the wall I had built had crumbled down and filled in the moat. I didn’t need any of it anymore. I didn’t need Aleks either. I wanted him, but choosing him was like choosing a lifetime of heartache. I'd already suffered through that.

I looked out at the night sky as it darkened and made a mental note that I would let him go. I would let this be my life. Normal. It was secretly everything I had ever wished for. Secretly.

We walked up to the huge doors of the school, where the dance was held in the gymnasium. The teachers were there with the spring formal committee. They were taking the five dollars the dance cost per person. Teachers were checking each person to see if any intoxicated people were coming in.

Police were standing around in plain clothes but with their weapons on their hips, like detectives in the city would wear. I breathed a small sigh of relief seeing Constable Bindley. He smiled at me, giving me a knowing look.

Shane paid our entrance fee and walked me in. Mr. Mac was already talking to Blake and laughing as my sister stood there looking confused.

Mr. Mac stopped talking when I walked in. He smiled at me, very nearly blushing. “Well, well, Cinderella. You have cleaned up for the ball, I see. You look fantastic, kid. I always knew you had it in you.”

I felt myself blushing, as Shane squeezed my arm. “Thanks. I feel a little weird being in a fancy dress, but this is my last chance at doing it.”

He looked concerned. “How are you feeling?”

“Good days and bad. Today is good.”

He rubbed my arm. “I’m so glad to hear that. I have been very worried about you.”

“Thanks, Mr. Mac. I’m just glad the year's almost up and I can take the summer to relax and focus on my health.”

He nodded. “Yes, school is almost up. Well, I better be getting back to chaperoning; I’d hate for anyone to say I slacked off.” He gave me a sideways glance, smiling one last time. I smiled back and let myself be dragged to the dance floor with Shane.

He looked down at me as he led me into a slow waltz. “You look incredible.”

I rolled my eyes. “You said that already. I hate that I look like this amazingly-hot babe and everyone is nodding when they look at me. It's like my sister was right all along, that a little care and attention wouldn’t have killed me. Of course, then everyone would have let me get by on my looks and not on my merit and hard work. That path leads to either marrying an old-ass billionaire or working at Target and everyone saying, 'Man, I bet she was something to look at back in the day.' You know?”

He laughed. “Ah, but you’re still the bitter cynic that I love.” I didn’t know what I was about to say when he said the words, but I stopped breathing.

He bent to kiss my cheek. He lingered at the side of my face. “I do love you, Aimee. I have loved you since we were five and you saved all the worms on the sidewalk when it rained in kindergarten. I’ll never forget you putting them into a plastic pail. Hundreds of creepy slithering worms put in a pail, under the back deck at your house. You stayed with those dirty bastards until it stopped raining and then you released them.”

I laughed into his chest as he continued, “I loved you in grade seven, when that girl Robin got picked on by the mean girls. You found the maxi pad colored with red felt stuck on her bag, and before anyone came around the corner, you grabbed it and stuck it to your bag. You think no one saw, but I did.” I remembered that and the merciless torture I got for it.

My head was spinning but he continued, “I loved you in grade ten when Grace Mellotti's dog got hit by that car and you carried him three miles to the vet's office. You saved his life, even though Grace had made your life hell.”

He kissed the other side of my face. “I loved you last summer so much, but when your mom got killed, I couldn’t bring myself to ask you out. So, I went to your sister and asked her about you. She told me you were madly in love with that Blake kid and I thought I had missed the boat. I panicked while asking your sister about you and accidentally acted like I wanted to ask her out.” His voice was filled with regret. “I am so sorry I never manned up and just asked you out.”

I laughed nervously. “You make me sound like a saint. I have done bad things in my life, FYI.” My head was swimming in the emotions.

He raised his eyebrows in doubt.

I shrugged. “Okay, well not bad, but stuff. I’ve lost library books and let my sister take the blame. I wanted to try to peroxide my doll's hair lighter than it is when I was in eighth grade, but I was nervous about doing it. She was my fav. I thought the bleach might ruin her hair, but I wanted it to match mine. So one night I filled a spray bottle with water and peroxide and I sprayed Alise’s hair. In the morning, her hair was a tacky color of copper brown and all streaky. When my mom yelled at her for trying to dye her hair, I never fessed up that it was me. It cost my mom a fortune to fix it and Alise got so confused, she tells the story now like it was her idea.” I still felt a small bit of shame for that one.

Shane laughed. “Your sister was an evil brat, so it isn’t hard to imagine her doing bad things like that. Surely your mom knew she was evil.”

“Yeah, my mom knew. Her sister is exactly the same.” I looked him deeply in the eyes. “Shane, I am so lucky to be with you.” I meant it.

He smiled. “Ditto.” We hugged and danced slowly, enjoying each other. I loved the fact that he was my history. He knew everything about me and remembered the things that made me proud of myself.

We danced for a few minutes before he stopped again and looked at me very seriously this time. “Where is that Aleks guy? Have you seen him?”

I nodded, trying desperately to keep my emotions under check and not reveal anything in my looks. “I’ve seen him a few times, but he’s not the bad guy. I know you want him to be, but he’s really not. I saw the guy that day—he had a different face than Aleks. Besides, Aleks is leaving town, tonight, I think.”

"Good." He nodded, processing the information. “Speaking of bad guys. I am joining the police force. I take the test in the city in two weeks.” He said it and left it out there for me to think about or comment on.

I smiled at him, proud of him for making a choice that would better himself. Even more so, I was desperately grateful we could stop talking about Aleks. “Nice, good for you. That’s a great fit for you, I think.”

He watched my reaction, letting a smile grow on his face.

We had covered a lot of relationship areas in one night. It was a bit intense for my first dance, first boyfriend, and first love.

“Will you wait for me?” He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“Yes, of course. It's only six months of training, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it isn’t exactly a huge wait. What if I end up being a city cop?”

I shrugged. “Cross that bridge when we get there?”

"Okay. It’s a long ways away. I’m not even guaranteed to get past all of the tests. They’re pretty intense.” He kissed my hand. “I just want us to be together, like boyfriend and girlfriend together. Are we there yet?”

I nodded. “Yeah.” I knew I had another door to close before we were completely there, but I wanted him more than anything else.

We stopped dancing and walked to the punch table where two parent chaperones stood watch. I smiled at them as Shane got us both a drink. I watched him drink his before I had any. He smiled, knowing what I was doing. “It’s safe, Aimes—that’s Becky Magee’s mom. She’s a Baptist.”

I drank the punch.

We went and sat at a table where my sister and Blake were sitting with a few other people.

I smiled at Shane. “So, the police force... I watched a show on it once. It was brutal. It’s like the marines. Police boot camp is savage, but the guys seemed so confident and proud of their accomplishments there. Are you excited?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

“I saw that one too. It looked pretty intense. Yeah, I’m excited, but I have a long process before I'm in.”

I wanted to encourage him; his parents were living for themselves and he had such potential. It would be a shame for him to spend his life in our little town.

I looked down the table at Blake, who looked happy talking to my sister. She looked partly mystified and the rest happy.

The girl next to us was named Nadine. She was one grade behind us. Her boyfriend, William, was in graduating with us. She smiled at me, as Shane started talking to Tommy, who was beside him. My sister tried to be discreet as she eyeballed Tommy and then me.

I nodded slowly, as if not responding to her. We both were watching him, when Nadine whispered to me, “You look pretty. I didn’t even recognize you. You look like a model. Like your sister.” It was a backhanded compliment, but I knew she meant well.

I smiled at her. “Thanks. You do too.” Her long brown hair was pulled up into a French twist and her yellow-satin halter dress was very form fitting. She looked amazing for a sixteen-year-old, more like twenty-five. I assumed that was the point.