Out in the hallway, I couldn't help but let out a loud sigh. I could hear the thumping of bass from the gymnasium where the dance raged on, but I couldn't bear to go back and pretend everything was okay. I pressed my forehead into a locker. Lana's magic was out of my system, but I still felt all tangled up inside. Out of control. My emotions were a chaotic jumble: anger, sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment... I wanted, so desperately, to blame Lana for the way I was feeling, for roping me into her crazy scheme and compromising my morals. And yet I wasn't just mad at Lana; I was mad at myself.

"J-Jessa?" came a quiet stutter.

I turned and saw that Peter was standing next to the water fountain, looking up at me from behind his large round glasses.

"Peter?" I was more than a little shocked that he had actually shown up.

His hair was drenched in sweat, which either meant he had been dancing or had just had a panic attack. "It's been a crazy night," he said.

"Tell me about it," I murmured. "What's going on with you?"

"Well, I got here like 30 minutes ago. And I was able to walk to the punch table, so umm... pretty proud of myself for that since it's pretty close to the dance floor. And then I danced by the gymnasium doors... by myself of course, but, you know... progress."

I couldn't help but feel the smallest of smiles tug at the edges of my mouth. "Yeah, that's definitely progress."

"And then I came out here for a drink," he said, pointing to the water fountain, "which is when I ran into—"

"Me," I completed.

He blinked. "Well actually, I ran into Lana first."

My stomach rumbled. "Ah."

"She was really upset."

"Well, maybe she deserves to be upset..." I mumbled. Then, when I caught Peter's shocked look, added, "Sorry. I'm not in a great mood... and it's mostly because of her."

"Well, Lana wasn't in a great mood either. She was kind of teary. And... do you know... she apologized to me? About snapping at me on Wednesday, after our group meeting?"

I blinked. That was news. In the entire time I had known her, Lana had only apologized once—and now she had done it a second time. "No, I didn't know she did that."

"Yeah, I was surprised too." Peter rubbed his arm. "And then she started telling me about how she messed up tonight pretty bad and she didn't know what to do."

"How'd you respond?"

Peter shrugged. "I mean, she didn't tell me specifics, so I just told her she had to make it right. And then she uhh... she..." Peter blushed. "She gave me a hug," he mumbled, so quietly that I almost didn't catch it. "And then she went that way." He pointed down the hall, towards the front entrance.

"Huh..." I murmured, staring at the front door.

I couldn't keep track of things in my mind anymore. What was going on?

"I'm gonna go find her," I said. "Thanks for the update, Peter."

"No problem." He gestured at the fountain. "I'm gonna drink some water and then... maybe I'll try to... socialize, I guess?"

"If you run into Alex, maybe you can tell him I'm outside? I've kind of ditched him with all the drama going on."

"I'll... t-try my best," Peter said nervously.

"Thanks, Peter," I said. And then, for good measure, I gave him his second hug of the evening, and then headed for the large double doors.

When I walked outside, it took a second for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the night. I saw Billy and Clarissa sitting on the same bench that I'd left them on, but Lana was standing in front of them, her arms wrapped around the redhead. What is she doing? I wondered, staring at the strange embrace. But then Lana withdrew her arms, and Clarissa's head perked up.

"Whaaa?" I heard her murmuring. "Where am I?"

"Here," Lana said, passing her a water bottle. "Drink. It looks like you might have been drugged."

Clarissa's eyes widened in surprise, but she took the water wordlessly and started drinking.

No one seemed to have noticed my arrival. I was able to watch everything from off to the side, hidden by the shadows of the night.

Billy was staring at Clarissa in shock. "What did you do to her?" he asked Lana. "She seems so much better now..."

"Just a trick I learned," Lana said, brushing off the compliment. "A maneuver that revs up your adrenaline. Makes you more alert."

Demon magic, I corrected in my head.

"Well, I'm glad you did it," Billy said, sounding sincere. "She looks so much better."

"Don't thank me," Lana said, looking down at her feet.

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Because I'm the reason Clarissa was like this tonight."

Billy blinked. "What?"

Even Clarissa joined in, with a confused, "Whaaa?"

Lana ignored Clarissa, pulling her gaze up to look at Billy in the eyes. She looked so unbearably sad, and instantly I knew what was going to do: she was going to take responsibility for what we had done.

Which meant she would lose Billy.

"I met with Clarissa after school today," she said. "At a coffee shop. I knew that she volunteered with you at the hospital, and I asked if she could find a way to convince you to come to the dance. Like, even if it meant throwing herself all over you. I don't know if someone slipped something in her coffee, but it doesn't matter, because she wouldn't be like this if I hadn't met with her. It's all my fault."

"Why did you ask her to bring me here?" Billy asked.

Lana's face reddened. "Isn't it obvious?" When Billy didn't respond, she said, in a small whisper, "I like you."

Billy stared at Lana in stunned silence.

Lana took a deep breath, and the rest of her confession came out in a rush. "I wanted you to ask me to the dance all week. And when you finally told me that you weren't planning on coming, that you were going to be volunteering at the hospital tonight, I felt like... well, maybe Clarissa could convince you to come here. And if you came here, maybe I could convince you to dance with me... And now it all sounds so stupid because it's obvious you don't feel that way about me, and anyway everything just blew up tonight and people just ended up getting hurt, and I'm the absolute worst." Her eyes welled with tears, and they spilled over, dampening her cheeks as she held back a sob. "So please don't thank me for anything. I don't deserve it. I ruined everything. And I'm so, so sorry."

"Lana..." Billy said, still looking confused. "You like me?"

Lana exhaled loudly, as if Billy had just asked her if she was okay with him pulling out several of her molars. "Yes, I like you. Please don't make me feel anymore stupid than I already do."

Billy shook his head in shock. "Lana... I like you too."

My heart thudded painfully in the silence, shock flooding through my veins. Billy likes Lana. Holy shit.

Lana frowned. "You don't have to patronize me—"

"No," he said, more forcefully this time. "I like you. I have for a while now."

Lana still looked unconvinced. She was shaking her head rapidly, her hair swishing from left to right. "No. That doesn't make sense. If you liked me, why didn't you ask me to the dance?"

Now Billy was the one who looked uncomfortable. "To tell you the truth, I got nervous. I was going to ask you, but then the guys found out and started harassing me about it and I was worried you'd say no... so I signed up for the extra shift at the hospital and just said I wasn't going to the dance."

Lana was quiet for a moment. She looked over at Clarissa, who was still chugging water and staring back at them with a mildly confused look on her face. "Well this is... awkward."

Billy nodded. "We probably could have skipped all of this if we both hadn't been so scared to be honest."

"Yeah..." Lana said, taking a seat with a sigh. "But being human is never that simple."

"Agreed," Billy murmured.

I waited for a moment, to see if anything else was going to happen on its own, but it seems like they were done talking for the moment. So I took that as my cue and emerged from the shadows.

"Hey guys," I said.

All three turned to face me. "Jessa," Lana said, looking surprised. "How long have you been there?"

"I just got out here," I lied. I turned to Clarissa. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better," she said, squeezing the empty water bottle. "But I don't really remember anything that happened to today."

"Retrograde amnesia," Lana said. "Very common."

"I guess." Clarissa pressed her hand to her head. "I do kind of remember being a bitch to Taylor... Do either of you know where she is?"

"She's in the bathroom," I said

"I want to talk to her," Clarissa said, trying to stand, but swaying unsteadily as she did so. Billy had to grab her before she could fall down, lowering her back onto the bench. "Actually," she said, "I don't think I'm ready to stand yet."

"I'll grab you more water," I said, "and I'll tell Taylor you're doing better and you want to talk."

"I'll come too," Lana said, standing up suddenly and looking me in the eye.

I nodded, and together we walked back inside the school.

The main hallway was empty, no Peter Thatcher in sight. The only sound was the muffled dance music filtering through the gymnasium doors.

Lana and I walked slowly down the linoleum tiles, past the rows of maroon lockers.

"So..." I said, "I heard everything you said to Billy."

Lana rubbed her face. "I couldn't tell him everything—all the demon stuff and the magic. But I told him as much as I could."

"I was actually really impressed," I said. "For apologizing to him. For taking responsibility, even though you knew what it could mean for this deal."

Lana sighed. "Yeah. I didn't think he'd accept my apology. And now that he has, I don't know how to feel. I thought I'd be happy knowing he likes me. I got what I wanted. But everything got so messy."

"With Clarissa, yeah," I said, looking down at the ground.

"And with you," Lana said, pausing to look me in the eye. "Listen, Jessa, I'm sorry for this whole night. Giving you my magic so you could control Clarissa—forcing you to control anyone—it wasn't right."

"You don't really have to apologize," I said, "because it was my fault as much as yours. I have free will, remember?" I shrugged. "We both screwed up."

"I'm still sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

I reached out and gave her a hug, squeezing her tightly and feeling the warm pull of her arms as she squeezed me back. The bass in the music filtered through the cracks in the gymnasium door, pounding with the beats of our hearts.

The next twenty minutes went by in a rush. Taylor eventually came out of the bathroom to talk to Clarissa. I also found Alex and gave him the biggest apology I could muster. Surprisingly, he didn't seem too upset. "I could tell something was wrong when everyone vanished," he said. "Glad you guys were able to work it all out."

Clarissa was still feeling weak despite several bottles of water, so we decided the best course of action was to bring her home. We all crammed into Alex's car and drove all the way out to Willis. She and Taylor exchanged small pecks before she climbed out of the car.

"And then there were five," Billy murmured as Clarissa disappeared into her house.

"What do you guys want to do?" Alex said, turning to face us in the back seat. "There's about an hour and a half left before the dance ends. We could go back...?"

"Wouldn't it be weird to go back? After all of the stuff that happened," Lana said, rubbing her arm. "I still feel bad."

"You don't have time to feel bad," Taylor said, holding her hand. "You're moving tomorrow, right?"

Billy looked shocked. "Wait—you're leaving Arlington?"

"Uh..." Lana said, realizing that everyone's eyes were on her. "I didn't want to say anything and ruin anyone's night," she said. "But yeah. I'm moving tomorrow. I won't be gone forever but... definitely for a while."

Billy turned to Alex. "Well that settles it. Back to the dance we go."

"Wh-what?" Lana asked, shocked as Alex started backing out of Clarissa's driveway.

"It's your last night in Arlington," Billy explained with a grin. "We don't have time to mope around. Clarissa is home safe. The night is still young. Let's go enjoy ourselves."

"Seriously?"

"No use crying over spilt milk," Billy said with a smile. "I mean, as long as everyone is down?"

"I'm down!" I called out.

"Me too!" Taylor said, pulling out an eyeliner pencil and re-drawing her cat whiskers on her cheeks. "I cried way too much tonight and mama needs to dance."

I watched as Lana's face lit up, the sparkle coming back to her eyes. "Okay. Let's go back!"

"Yes!" Alex said with a cheer. He looked over at Billy. "My man, you know how to change a night." He reached for the volume and cranked the music up. "Let's party like it's Halloween!"

The dance was still in full swing when we got back to Arlington High, and only a little worse for the wear. Some of the balloons had popped, their scattered latex corpses littering the dance floor, and the punch table was sticky from spilled drinks, but no one seemed to care. The band was still go strong, skeletons strumming and drumming away, and the crowd seemed only thicker, full of sweaty dancing bodies who had fully embraced the night.

I was tired of being upset. Billy was right: we had to let go of what had happened earlier. It was Lana's last night; we needed to make it count.

I dragged Lana and Taylor into the fray, and the guys followed. It took a few moments for us to find our groove, to shake off the heaviness of the evening, but soon there was only smiles and laughter. We danced under the blue and purple lights, our voices joining in with the band.

And when they launched into an old Fall Out Boy song, Lana's eyes lit up, and she locked gazes with Billy and they shouted along to the lyrics, jumping up and down with the beat.

I shimmied with Taylor, who gave me a hug once between songs that made me grin wildly. Alex bopped to my right, occasionally spinning me around in circles that didn't match the music whatsoever, but made me laugh. My other classmates swirled around me—Peter Thatcher drinking punch just at the edge of the dance floor, Sam Stevens adjusting some of the decorations that had fallen off the walls, Valerie draping herself all over Chad—but I couldn't focus on them for long. For just a few minutes, all I cared about was the here and now: how it felt to be seventeen jumping around at a dance, surrounded by friends—old and new—and knowing everything—the highs and the lows of the past few weeks—were coming to an end.

We took breaks occasionally for punch and snacks, and at one point discovered that a corner of the gym had been converted into a makeshift photo booth, with a glittery backdrop and various hats, mustaches, and signs to use as props. The photographer passed us the Polaroids afterwards; we looked so happy. I saw Lana's eyes glimmering in the flash, and I wondered what these photos would look like tomorrow. Everything was set to go back to normal at midnight—what did that mean? No one would remember that she existed, but would I? Over the past few days, I had been so focused on setting her up with Billy that I hadn't really considered what would happen after the dance.

Watching her smile and laugh, I hoped I would remember her in the morning. I didn't care what the stories said. Lana wasn't evil. She was kind and funny and flawed, like every other human I had ever met. She deserved a night of fun. She deserved this night.

Almost as if reading my thoughts, she looked up from the photo and gave me a hug. "Thank you for doing this for me," she whispered into my ear. "No one has ever taken a chance on me and I just wanted to say thank you."

I squeezed her back. "You're welcome."

As if on cue, the band transitioned into something slower, and Billy appeared, extending his hand towards Lana. "Would you like to—?" he started.

"Yes!" Lana interrupted with a huge smile, practically dragging Billy onto the dance floor.

Alex appeared on my left, filling in the empty space Lana had left behind. "So, since our last slow dance was interrupted... can we have a redo?"

I felt something in my stomach stir. Nerves, perhaps? "Sure," I said, and together we stepped onto the dance floor.

I pressed my cheek onto Alex's shoulder as we started to sway, watching the other couples in the room. Lana and Billy were easily visible; they were rocking back and forth, talking in whispers. And then, just a few seconds later, I watched Lana lean in and suddenly they were kissing.

"Yes!" I said, tapping Alex so that he turned to look at the couple.

He grinned. "Glad that finally happened," he said.

"Took long enough," I responded. "I've been trying to get that to work for weeks now."

"Playing matchmaker?" Alex asked, his brown eyes twinkling in the lights.

"A little bit," I said. I looked up at Alex and at the way the light danced on his lips. Did I want to kiss him? He was sweet and nice and not bad on the eyes. And the timing was right...

And yet I found myself shifting awkwardly, unable to decipher the feelings swirling in my stomach. So I looked away from him, my gaze drifting back over his shoulder, back to Billy and Lana. They had stopped kissing now, and Lana was whispering something, her mouth inches away from Billy's ear. As clear as day, I watched her lips form a simple phrase: "Do you want to go back to my place?"

Billy Stevens grinned. "Sure," he responded.

And that's when it happened.

There was a deep grumbling sound that seemed to reverberate from deep within the earth, and then the ground began to shake. The band abruptly stopped playing, and I backed away from Alex and held onto the punch table as the ground roiled around us like a wooden sea. Everyone in the gym looked terrified... except for Lana. Calmly, she reached out, cupped Billy's face between her hands, and pecked him on the cheek.

It would have been beautiful had Billy not collapsed immediately afterwards.

My jaw dropped. I opened my mouth, about to demand an explanation, but Lana just grinned at me. She waved, a little twiddle of her fingers, and then vanished into thin air as the shaking died away.

For a moment, there was silence in the hall. The music had stopped. No one could breathe. But then I heard a scream. I turned to see Samantha run to the dance floor where her brother lay collapsed on the ground. "BILLY!" she screamed, shaking him. But Billy wasn't moving. "He's not breathing!" she shouted as students and teachers swarmed around her. "Call 911!"

As the gym erupted into pandemonium, all I could hear were Lana's words over and over in my head: Do you want to go back to my place?

Clearly, she hadn't meant her hotel room.

- - -

Yay! We've hit one of my favorite scenes in the book. The one where everything changes ;) Hope you enjoyed this scene! Let me know your thoughts down below. And I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

~Bdicocco