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Outside, she threw herself into the whirl of color and music. She was brighter than she had ever<br />
been at any dance before. She danced with everyone, laughing too loudly, flirting with every boy in<br />
her path.<br />
They were calling her to come up and be crowned. She stood on the stage, looking down on the<br />
butterfly-bright figures below. Someone gave her flowers; someone put a rhinestone tiara on her head.<br />
There was clapping. It all passed as if in a dream.<br />
She flirted with Tyler because he was closest when she came off the stage. Then she remembered<br />
what he and Dick had done to Stefan, and she broke off one of the roses from her bouquet and gave it<br />
to him. Matt was looking on from the sidelines, his mouth tight. Tyler's forgotten date was almost in<br />
tears.<br />
She could smell alcohol along with the mint on Tyler's breath now, and his face was red. His<br />
friends were around her, a shouting, laughing crowd, and she saw Dick pour something from a brown<br />
paper bag into his glass of punch.<br />
She'd never been with this group before. They welcomed her, admiring her, the boys vying for her<br />
attention. Jokes flew back and forth, and Elena laughed even when they didn't make sense. Tyler's arm<br />
circled her waist, and she just laughed harder. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Matt shake his<br />
head and walk away. The girls were getting shrill, the boys rowdy. Tyler was nuzzling moistly at her<br />
neck.<br />
"I've got an idea," he announced to the group, hugging Elena more tightly to him. "Let's go<br />
someplace more fun."<br />
Somebody shouted, "Like where, Tyler? Your dad's house?"<br />
Tyler was grinning, a big, boozy, reckless grin. "No, I mean someplace where we can leave our<br />
mark. Like the cemetery."<br />
The girls squealed. The boys elbowed each other and faked punches.<br />
Tyler's date was still standing outside the circle. "Tyler, that's crazy," she said, her voice high and<br />
thin. "You know what happened to that old man. I won't go there."<br />
"Great, then, you stay here." Tyler fished keys out of his pocket and waved them at the rest of the<br />
crowd. "Who isn't afraid?" he said.<br />
"Hey, I'm up for it," said Dick, and there was a chorus of approval.<br />
"Me, too," said Elena, clear and defiant. She smiled up at Tyler, and he practically swung her off<br />
her feet.<br />
And then she and Tyler were leading a noisy, roughhousing group out into the parking lot, where<br />
they were all piling into cars. And then Tyler was putting the top of his convertible down and she was<br />
climbing in, with Dick and a girl named Vickie Bennett squashing into the back seat.<br />
"Elena!" somebody shouted, far away, from the lighted doorway at the school.<br />
"Drive," she said to Tyler, taking off her tiara, and the engine growled to life. They burned rubber<br />
out of the parking lot, and the cool night wind blew into Elena's face.