I could tell that Noah was drunk the minute he crossed the living room holding the corsage.

“Hi,” he said as he got close, reaching out with the pin toward my bodice, his breath hot and sweet. “Hold still.”

“I’ll get it,” I said, taking it from him before he stabbed me while Mrs. Vaughn, who obviously hadn’t gotten close to him lately, and my mother, who looked like she might bust with happiness, watched from across the room. Beside us Cameron was carefully attaching Scarlett’s corsage, a group of pink roses and baby’s breath, to her ample bustline. Cameron looked very small and very dapper in his tuxedo and cranberry-colored cummerbund and socks. Very European, my mother had said when he arrived, with Noah in his rented tux and too-short pants with gym socks peeking out beneath. I stuck my corsage on, barely missing poking myself in my haste, and settled in for another round of pictures.

“Wonderful!” Mrs. Vaughn said, circling us with the video camera while Noah snaked his arm around my waist. The liquor had obviously emboldened him. “Halley, smile!”

“One more,” my mother said, going through at least another roll of film, flash after flash. “What a great night you’ll have! Terrific!”

Marion was there, with one of those disposable cameras, taking picture after picture of Scarlett in her dress. She was going to a medieval tournament with Vlad that night, and was already dressed for the part in a long velvet dress with puffy sleeves that made her look like Guinevere, or maybe Sleeping Beauty. She’d gotten into Vlad’s weekend hobby, bit by bit, and she seemed to like it, tagging along to tournaments and drinking mead while he jousted. Scarlett was embarrassed, but Marion just said being someone else was kind of nice, every once in a while.

“Scarlett,” she called out, waving one hand over her head. “Over here, honey. Perfect. Perfect!”

After we’d been satisfactorily documented, we finally got out the door and to the limousine, on loan from the hotel where Cameron’s father worked. Cameron, for all his quirkiness, really knew how to make an evening. I couldn’t exactly say the same for my date.

“Where’s the bar?” Noah slurred as soon as we shut the door and drove off. “There’s supposed to be a bar in these things, right?”

Scarlett was just eyeing him, settling her dress around her, and I said, “He’s wasted. Ignore him.”

“I am not,” Noah said indignantly. Already he’d talked more to me, total, than he had in the entire year and a half we’d been broken up. “But there is supposed to be a bar.”

“I’m sure they just took it out,” Cameron said quietly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Scarlett said to him, squeezing his arm. “We don’t care.”

“I don’t need it anyway,” Noah said loudly, pulling a plastic juice container from his inside pocket. “Got it all taken care of, right here.”

I just looked at him. “Noah,” I said. “Please.”

“Wow,” Scarlett said as he opened the container and guzzled down a bit, dribbling on his shirtfront. “That sure is classy.”

“Works for me,” Noah said snippily. He stuck it back in his pocket, wiping his mouth, and put his arm over my shoulder, which I shrugged off as best I could.

By the time we got to the prom, Noah was completely loaded. The limo dropped us off in the bus parking lot, by the cafeteria, and I just started to walk inside, leaving him to stumble along behind me. He’d downed the last swallow of his stash, dropped the container on the sidewalk, and reached out to grab me; instead, he got my dress, tearing it at the waist. I felt cool air on my back and legs and stopped walking.

“Ooops,” he said as I turned around. He had something white and shiny, formerly part of my dress, in his hands and he was giggling. “Sorry.”

“You jerk,” I snapped, grabbing behind me to bunch the fabric together, covering myself. Now I was at the prom with Noah Vaughn and half-naked. There was no end to my shame.

“Halley, what’s going on?” Scarlett called from the front entrance to the cafeteria. I could see Melissa Ringley, prom chairwoman, sitting at a table watching me. “Hurry up.”

“Go in without me,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

She shrugged, handing Melissa their tickets, and she and Cameron disappeared inside. I could hear music playing, loud, and people kept walking past, on their way in. I backed into the shadow of the science lab to do something about my dress.

“Here,” Noah said, stumbling in behind me, “let me help.”

“You cannot help me,” I told him. “Okay?”

“You don’t have to be a bitch,” he snapped, still reaching around to the back of my dress, his hand brushing my skin. “You know, you’ve changed so much since we went out.”

“Whatever, Noah,” I said. I needed a safety pin, badly. I could not go inside and moon my entire class, not even for Scarlett.

“You used to be nice, and all that,” he went on, “but then you started thinking you were all cool, hanging out with Macon Faulkner and all. Like you were too good for everybody all of a sudden.”

“Noah,” I said. “Shut up.”

“You shut up,” he said back, loudly. Two girls in white dresses and heels looked over at us, trying to make us out in the dark.