And for one impossible second, I thought… maybe she did.Maybe she felt it too.Maybe she knew, even if I never said it out loud.
Her expression in that moment—it was open in a way I’d never seen before.Like she was waiting for something, bracing for it.Like this song meant just as much to her as it did to me.
And if I had let myself hold onto that look—if I had let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, we were standing at the edge of the same feeling—I never would have done what I did next.
Because this performance couldn’t be personal.The song wasn’t supposed to be hers anymore.
So, I turned it into something else.
And when the last note rang out, I made sure to make it loud and clear—I made sureeveryoneknew who it was for.
Not her.
Not the person who had poured her heart into it.
Not the person I wanted to be focusing on.
I turned my head, locked eyes with the first girl from my class I could see, Jessica Carson, and said the words like they had always been meant for her.
“Hey, Jessica.Would you wanna go to prom with me?”
The crowd erupted.
Jessica gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in that over-the-top way she did whenever she wanted attention.
And Anna?—
I didn’t look at her.
Icouldn’tlook at her.
But Ifelther.
I felt the second she realized.
The second she understood what I had done.
And then?—
She was gone.Just like she had done on Valentine’s Day.Just like she had done last night.
She didn’t wait for the applause, didn’t stay to watch Jessica squeal her answer.She just turned and ran out.
And for the first time in my life, I felt like a part of myself had died.
I just sat there, let Jessica launch herself at me, let the school cheer like this was some perfect teen movie moment.
I let it happen.
Because I told myself it was for the best.
That I had done the right thing.
That nothing was ruined.It wassaved.
I savedher.
That’s the lie I told myself.