"Isla's not answering my texts," I sigh, resisting the urge to run my fingers through my styled hair, "have you guys seen her anywhere?"

"She'll be here in a minute, I'm sure," Susannah reassured me, shaking her head at my doubts. She was right, Isla's phone was always on, and she knew what time our dance was supposed to be. She's probably on her way over right now. "Go, get ready. We'll keep an eye out."

"Okay," I nod, moving to the center of the room where the other debs all stood with their dates. Belly and Cam stood closest to where I'd be standing, "you guys haven't seen Isla or Jere around, have you? They've gone missing."

"I haven't, sorry," Belly apologizes, her brows furrowing together in concern, "do you want to go look for them?"

"No, I'm sure they're on their way," I shake my head, smiling at my little sister as I move to ask the other debs if they've seen him. Everyone was taking their seats and getting in their positions to start the routine. If Isla doesn't show up, I'm just gonna have to sit it out. "Hey, have you guys seen Isla?"

"I think I saw her follow Jeremiah outside," Gigi shrugs, shooting me a look of pity. Outside? She knew the dance was coming up. Why would the two of them go outside?

"Okay," I take in a breath, nodding, trying not to seem completely panicked. "Thanks."

I walk around aimlessly, trying to figure out what could possibly be taking this long. Isla's my best friend, and it's hard to believe she's potentially ditching me to make out with Jeremiah. This has to be something more, maybe he finally opened up about what's bothering him, and she feels too bad to leave? That sounds like something Isla would do.

"Hey, Flo," Steven places his hand on my shoulder. I'm standing in his and Shayla's place, "You okay? Where's Isla?"

I shake my head, forcing a smile onto my face. The thing is, I'm not mad at Isla. I don't think it's possible for me to be, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. We'd been talking about this for weeks, claiming it would be the story we tell our future kids when they're older... and now, she's nowhere to be seen. "No clue," I shrug, "I'm gonna go sit down. Good luck, you two."

Shayla frowns at me as I walk away, "I'm sorry, Flo."

Everyone's staring at me as I walk to the end of the dance floor, my eyes searching through the crowd for my best friend's familiar red hair. They know she's ditched me, and they probably are thinking she's a terrible person. I'm not sure what bothers me more, the pitying looks and whispers about me or the way they think badly about my best friend.

Giving up, I turn to walk back to our table when Conrad stands. It feels like time is moving in slow motion, my feet planted firmly on the ground as he walks over to me. He smiles at me shyly, stopping once he's in front of me. "I think I remember most of the steps."

I smile at him, suddenly not so worried about Jeremiah and Isla's whereabouts. Sure, maybe Conrad and I can never be together officially, but we can have this one moment. Conrad takes my gloved hand in his, leading me over to my place on the dance floor, directly in front of Cam and Belly, who're both smirking at me.

I remember one time when I was a kid, my mom told me that Conrad was my sun, and when the sun came out, the rest of the stars didn't matter. I didn't quite get what she meant at the time, but now, while I'm dancing here with Conrad, my mom's past words make sense. The rest of the room fell away at this moment, there was no sickness or missing best friends. It was just Conrad and I.

I didn't want it to end. I could stay like this forever, Conrad's hand on mine, his other on my back, fingers lingering to touch my bare skin, causing electricity to shoot up my spine. When he dips me, my eyes lingered between his eyes and lips. He was so close, close enough that I could lean in and kiss him.

Everyone in the room cheering and applauding breaks me out of the trance Conrad holds over me, but my eyes don't linger away from his as he pulls me up, his hands lingering on me, "thank you," I breathe, my heart hammering so loudly in my chest I fear he can hear it.

Conrad shakes his head, and his hair falls over his forehead, "I think I messed up some of the steps."

I reach my gloved fingers up, brushing his hair to the side. Even now, when everyone's chattering around the room and applauding, it still feels like Conrad and I are the only people here. Everyone else simply fades away when I look at him. "You were perfect."

"I'm glad," his voice is barely above a whisper, breathless, "glad that it was me."

"Oh, so you were jealous of Isla?" I tease as Conrad links his fingers through my own. I long to take these stupid gloves off so I can feel his hand more clearly in my own. "I'm glad that it was you too."

"Flo," He lets out a nervous breath, "I really like-"

"Hey," Conrad is cut off by Jeremiah grabbing his shoulder, turning him around to face him. I hadn't even noticed he was back, and so was Isla, who's currently standing a few feet behind him, her gaze on her feet, guilty.

"Hey, Jere," I greet him, my smile contouring into worry. His blue eyes were bloodshot, his face streaked with tears, "what's going on?"

"Conrad, we need to talk, all right?" Jeremiah ignores my question, his tone serious, "it's important. It's about mom. I found something out."

Shit...

Conrad and I share a look, both thinking the same thing, "Um... yeah..." Conrad drags off, stuttering, "we-we'll talk about this later, okay?"

"No," Jeremiah pleads, shaking his head, "it's important."

"It's okay." Conrad places his hand on Jeremiah's chest, and I can see it's taking everything in him not to fall apart. We can't do this right now, not here, with everyone watching. This was the night Susannah's been waiting for all summer. We can't ruin it for her.

I watch as Jeremiah glances between Conrad's hand up to his face, realization hitting him, "You already know, don't you?" He asks his brother, expression a mix of hurt and betrayal, "you've known this whole fucking time and didn't tell me?"

"Jere..." I interject, trying my best to sound calm, "why don't we go talk in the hallway, okay?"

"Talk about what?" Belly asks, walking over to us with furrowed brows, "what's going-"

Before she can finish her sentence, Jeremiah swings his fist towards Conrad, smacking him right in the jaw. Before I can stop him or pull Conrad away, Jeremiah lunges at him, this time tackling his older brother to the ground.

"Jeremiah," I place my hand on his shoulder, attempting to pull him off of Conrad, "stop-"My words get cut off by Jeremiah, who swings his elbow back, hitting me in the stomach and knocking me to the ground.

"Flo," Isla runs over, dropping onto her knees. Her mascara was running, and now I understand why she couldn't look up at me. It wasn't just guilt; she'd been crying too. "Are you okay?"

Belly and Isla both help me up, as Susannah walks over, "stop it." She points her fingers at the boys, "both of you. Stop it." Jeremiah finally gets off Conrad, who hadn't even attempted to fight back. Everything felt crumbling around us, like the perfect moment Conrad and I shared was shattered, with no traces of it remaining. "What is going on?"

"Mom..." Conrad stands up, and I take both Isla and Belly's hands in mine. Conrad shares a look with Jeremiah, who's crying, "we know, Mom. We both know." 

Ahhhh the next chapter is gonna be very sad... apologies in advance.