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