Page 53 of 10 Things I Hate About Prom
“Joaquin and I hung out a bit over spring break.” She pauses, as if to let me process that information like it hasn’t been haunting me for the past month. “He’s a really good listener.”
“He is.”
She nods, her lips turning upward into a small, shy smile.It feels strange to see her act so unassuming, like she doesn’t crush people’s hearts on a near daily basis. “He talked about you. Alot.”
That shouldn’t make my cheeks burn like I’ve suddenly come down with a 101-degree fever, but it does. The thought of Joaquin talking about me in any context makes my heart race, but the thought of him talking about me with Tessa is especially nerve-wracking.
“We were hanging out at lunch the other day and got around to talking about you again, and…your ex, Danny.” Her smile drops. “And I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”
Ho-ly shit, I didnothave Tessa Hernandez apologizing to me on my bingo card for this year.
“Oh…uh…thank you?” I stammer, unsure how to respond.
My reply doesn’t seem to register with Tessa. Her brows knit together as her eyes stay focused on something outside, her lower lip quivering into a frown.
“I’m not sure what Danny told you about that night…,” she says so quietly I almost miss it.
“That you asked if he wanted to hook up.”
She winces before nodding. Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether or not to believe Danny. It’s surprising that what he’d told me wasn’t entirely off base. The crushed fourteen-year-old freshman who still lives inside of me seethes, relishing the vindication of knowing my dislike of Tessa was justified. But the present me doesn’t get any satisfaction out of the truth—it only makes my stomach twist uncomfortably.
“I was a dumbass freshman year,” she finally says, toying with her oddly familiar moon charm bracelet for so long I assume she’s not going to continue. “My dad had gotten this new job and he was flying to conferences all over the place every few weeks. We hardly ever saw him, and when I did, all he’d do was nag me about grades, and extracurriculars, and all that bullshit you need to get into a good college. God forbid he actually ask me how my day was going.”
Well, I never thought I’d find something Tessa Hernandez and I could actually relate on.
“I started doing stuff I knew would upset him. Going to parties, smoking, hooking up with strangers. I don’t know what the point of it was…to get his attention, I guess. Make him stay, even if it was for whatever sucky reason I’d come up with,” she whispers, her voice so unlike the biting one I’m used to, she seems like an entirely different person. “It was my idea to hook up with Danny, yes, but he told me you two were over. I swear. Still…I’m sorry. Deep down I knew he was probably lying, but I felt like shit, and honestly, I didn’t care much about anyone but myself back then, so…”
That shouldn’t shock me. Danny and I weren’t together long, but it didn’t take much time for me to realize he wasn’t the doting boyfriend I’d always dreamed of. And maybe part of me always knew that—that Tessa was never to blame for what happened between me and Danny. Maybe it was just my insecurity, a raging beast that bubbled to the surface the second Joaquin announced he wanted to ask her to prom. A fear that I’ll never be enough compared to girls like her. And bitterness, from theway my classmates made me a target because I was an “imperfect” girl with a “perfect” boy.
“I regret a lot of things I did freshman year,” she continues, eyes fixed on her perfect gel manicure. “I ruined things for my sister—Dad cracked down on both of us after he had it with me, even though she never did anything wrong. She never does. And I ruined things with someone else I really cared about…so, yeah.”
With the ball back in my court, I have no fucking clue what to do. I’ve spent so long thinking Tessa was the villain that seeing a vulnerable side of her feels like stepping into an alternate universe. Just because she’s apologized doesn’t mean I have to forgive her, but it feels hard not to consider it. Not when I spent the past three weeks making terrible decisions because I wanted to hold on to the one part of my life that hadn’t fallen apart.
“Thank you for telling me,” I finally reply. “I…uh…can sympathize,” I tack on. The last person I want to talk to about how I self-destructed my relationship with Joaquin is the one who got between us in the first place, but I’m not so heartless that I’d leave her hanging.
Like that afternoon at Marco’s, I’m seeing another person I’ve known almost my entire life in focus. Tessa, a girl I’ve always assumed had everything and who ate people’s hearts for breakfast, is apologizing to me for something I’d assumed she never cared about.
We sit there avoiding each other’s eyes for a beat, neither of us sure where to go from here. There’s barely five minutes left of detention but there’s enough unraveled truths between us to discuss for days.
“Joaquin is super into you,” I say, trusting my normally untrustworthy gut. Talking him up to Tessa is the least I can do after everything. Just because he and I can’t be friends doesn’t mean he shouldn’t still get his happy ending with her.
My attempt at playing his wingwoman makes her smile, but something about her energy still seems distant. “I know,” she says plainly. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.
“I might be biased,” I begin, leaning in as if I’m sharing a secret. “But he’d be a really solid prom date. Parents love him,andhe already owns a suit. Truly the whole package.”
Tessa breaks out into a laugh, which is either mortifying or excellent news. Jury’s out.
“Joaquin’s sweet, but not my type.”
Anger sparks in me on Joaquin’s behalf. The man is a saint with a million-dollar smile and a heart of gold—how could henotbe someone’s type?! Especially with Tessa’s ultra-strict dad, he’s sure to be an easy parent pleaser.
“He’s the best, though, I swear! Even our dog loves him, and she hates everyone! Plus, he actually showers every day, so he doesn’t smell like BO twenty-four-seven, and I know his car looks like it’s about to disintegrate, but it’s got good bones, and he’s planning on upgrading to something from this decade once he—”
“Thanks for the endorsement,” Tessa interrupts, clearly amused. “But I already have a date to prom.”
That saps the wind right out of my sails. How is Tessa saying yes to a promposal not front-page news? Unless she accepted minutes before heading into detention, there’s no way I wouldn’t have heard about it through the grapevine by now. “Oh. Congratulations.”
Suddenly, her cheeks flush a pink as subtle and rosy as her lip gloss. “Thanks,” she murmurs, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her moon charm almost catching on her helix piercing. “Joaquin’s a great guy, but I’m not really interested in being anyone’s rebound.”
