Chapter 2

"I'm sorry," Jen said, "I really am. But I can't go to prom."

"Oh." Defeated, Steve turned to walk away.

"But if I were going - "

"No, it's cool. I understand."

If Steve hadn't been so focused on not breaking into tears then, he may have noticed how genuinely upset his high school princess was. Instead, he headed out to the Pit, a sunken courtyard where he and his friends killed time between classes. As he walked through the bustling crowd, his thoughts alternated between self-pity, anger at Jen, and possible comebacks for when his friends gave him grief about the rejection.

"What's up, guys?"

"What'd she say?" That was Stoner - not for his love of drugs, just his last name. Incidentally, Stoner's dad, an orthodontist, had the most-stolen sign in any office park in Indiana.

"She said no."

"Well, that's probably because she's going with someone much, much cooler than you." Bobby B - their resident smartass - offered.

"Shut up." (So much for witty comebacks.)

"What possessed you to even ask her?" Little Kueny asked. Somewhat of a misnomer, Little Kueny was a lineman on the football team. But his older brother was even bigger, so he had been Little Kueny for as long as anyone could remember.

"I don't know, man. I just thought -"

"That you wanted to nail her?"

"Shut up, Bob. I don't need to hear this now."

"Let the man suffer in peace, guys. He just asked out his dream girl and she told him no." Gar - Jeremy Garity - was Steve's closest friend, and as likely as the next guy to give him grief over stuff like this. But he knew when the line could and couldn't be crossed. "Come on, let's get to class. I have eight tardies in Kotoly's class and I don't need another one."

"Laters all."

"Later Casanova."

"Shut up, Bob."

Gar pulled him close as they walked away "What did she say? Is she going with Christian?"

"No, she just said she wasn't going this year."

"So maybe it isn't you - maybe she legit can't go."

"You think so?"

"She didn't tell you she was going with someone else, did she? Hey, I'll see you at Sonic after school?"

"Sounds good, man."

"Later, brother."

"Laters."

But as Gar walked away, Steve couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't about Jennipher Semmes not going to prom - it was about her not going to prom with him. So much for destiny.