Anything except the dress.
Eli listened quietly.
Then said,
“No, thank you.”
His best friend, Jordan, reacted differently.
He simply stopped calling.
The two boys had been friends since middle school.
Jordan had spent hundreds of nights at our house.
Maya treated him like a second brother.
But after hearing about the dress, he started avoiding Eli at lunch.
Eventually Eli confronted him.
Jordan admitted the truth.
“Everybody thinks you’re doing this for attention.”
“And you?”
Jordan looked away.
“I don’t know.”
That answer hurt Eli more than any insult from a stranger ever could.
Graduation night arrived hot and humid.
I nearly became sick while getting dressed.
Maya’s empty bedroom was across the hall from mine.
For a few seconds, I stood in the doorway and imagined what should have been happening.
Music playing too loudly.
Maya yelling for someone to find her earrings.
Eli telling her they were already late.
