Tuesday, Anna had lunch with her friends for the first time in over a month. She hadn't wanted to take either of them away from the group – that wasn't fair to them. Just because she wasn't talking to Luke anymore didn't mean she expected either of her friends to stop. Besides, Mia was still dating Zev, and she didn't see how she could ruin her friend's relationship just because people were causing her to have problems with her own. But today was different; she really needed to ask them something.

"Are you two going to the dance?" she asked when they sat down in the library next to her.

She'd wanted to ask about it yesterday, but Mia had been absent from school. Anna didn't know why, and Mia hadn't really wanted to talk about it. But Anna decided not to push it; things had been stressful enough for Mia lately as it was.

"Oh, I don't know...I really hate those things." Carmine sighed. "I mean, remember last time?"

Anna nodded. Two years ago, they'd gone to a dance at school. Anna had assumed Carmine would go with Conner since both of them were single, but she'd scoffed at the idea. Instead, she'd ended up taking a boy in one of her classes. Of course, when she found out later that the boy was actually Summer's cousin, Carmine had been horrified. It took her less than a day to put a stop to that relationship. The next year she'd apparently had a crush on a boy that she'd refused to bring; she'd even managed to convince everyone else to skip the dance that year with her. It wasn't until later that Anna had realized the reason Carmine didn't want to bring that boy to the dance was because he'd actually been a demon. So she could definitely see why Carmine would be a little worried about doing that kind of thing again this year; she didn't seem to have very good luck in picking dates. Too bad it didn't look like Anna was going to have much of a choice about skipping it.

"Please?" Anna asked. She had to go, and she really didn't want to do it alone.

She wasn't exactly sure how she'd managed to be one of the Homecoming Queen finalists, but now that she was, she was expected to go. And even after all these years and everything that had happened to her, it was still incredibly hard for her not to do as she was expected. It was just something that had been ingrained in her way too long ago for her to try and fight it.

"I would, but maybe we should be worrying about other things..." Mia told her. "I mean, look at everything that's been going on the past month. Why would you want to go in the middle of all this?"

"It's that Homecoming Queen announcement. They won't tell us who won until that night, so I have to go."

"Is there any way you can find out early?" Carmine asked hopefully. Anna just shook her head.

"The votes are counted by the teachers the day before."

"You're sure about that?"

"Yeah." Anna nodded.

Now that she wasn't sitting with her friends at lunch anymore, she'd figured she might as well be productive during that time. So instead of going to the library like she usually did, on Monday she'd decided to make a trip to the office to ask about that.

Rudi was sitting at the front desk as usual, but Anna ignored her. Instead, she turned her attention to one of the secretaries who looked like she might just be getting back from lunch herself.

She spent almost the entire period talking to the woman, trying to figure out exactly how likely it would be that she'd actually be picked for this. If she didn't get picked, she didn't see why she had to go, especially since she didn't even have a date for it. But the woman had been incredibly unhelpful. So now, it looked like Anna had no choice but to attend.

"You don't want to go to the dance?" Rudi asked, walking out with her after the bell rang and Anna was forced to go back to class.

Anna didn't say anything; she just quickened her pace. She couldn't think of anything even remotely nice to say to Rudi, and she'd rather not say something she'd have to take back later.

"Did you talk to your friend yet? Mia?" Rudi tried again.

Anna still ignored her, but she wondered if she could jog through the halls – or would that look weird?

"I told her to tell you...I'm sorry about trying to break you and Luke up."

"Trying?" Anna asked curtly. It seemed to her that Rudi had done more than just try.

"...About breaking you up." she corrected herself. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I thought it's what you wanted." Anna said.

She might be incredibly sorry herself, but she couldn't see why Rudi would care about it. Rudi looked like she was going to say something else, but Anna turned the corner, heading into her own class before Rudi had time to say it.

And of course the class she had after lunch was with Luke. She did her best to avoid eye contact with him as she took her seat. Class started and Anna put all her effort into focusing on the teacher. Still, it was hard to concentrate. But that's when she decided that if she really did have to go to this dance, she'd at least like her friends to go with her.

"If you don't want to go, that's fine." Anna said, looking from Carmine to Mia. But I would really like you to."

And even though not going alone to a dance that Luke would also be forced to attend was definitely a big part of why Anna wanted them there, she had to admit it wasn't the only reason she was so worried.

She didn't want to have to say it to either of her friends, but part of her wondered if Fredrick would show up. She'd already seen him twice now, and he seemed to be doing a lot of things that were eerily similar to what he'd done back before they'd gotten rid of him. And somehow, she got the feeling that this would be exactly the kind of thing he'd enjoy doing. And if he did come, Anna really wanted her friends to be there with her. If all three of them were there together, maybe they could prevent anything from happening – and be better prepared to defend themselves.

"I don't even have a date." Carmine told her.

"Don't take anyone." Mia shrugged. "At least then you won't have to worry about accidentally taking one of Summer's group."

"Gee, thanks." Carmine rolled her eyes. "You always know how to make me feel so much better."

"There's nothing wrong with going by yourself." Mia told her.

"Says the only one of us with a date." Carmine grumbled. Then, a thought seemed to dawn on her. "Wait – do you have a date for this?"

"What do you mean?" Mia asked. "Of course I do. I'd take – oh..."

"Yeah..." Carmine nodded. "Maybe we should all just go to this thing alone."

Anna just sat there for a minute, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward.

"...Were you planning on going with Zev?" Anna asked, staring down at the table.

It hadn't actually occurred to her that the two of them might be planning on going already, but it made sense. After all, Luke was going – he was probably going to try to get his best friends to go too. And of course that meant Zev would be there. And who else would he go with but Mia?

"We hadn't actually discussed it." Mia told her. "But I think it'll be easiest if we both go alone."

"I don't want to put you in that position." Anna told her.

"Don't worry – he'll understand." Mia nodded. And she looked so convinced, Anna actually started to feel better about it.

"So who're you going with, anyway? You going to this thing alone?" Carmine asked Anna.

"I don't know..." Anna shrugged. If she wasn't going with Luke, she didn't particularly care about having a date either.

"Well, you can't go by yourself if Luke's bringing someone." Carmine told her firmly.

Mia nodded in agreement.

"Is he bringing someone?" Anna asked. She tried not to show how hurt she was by the thought.

"I'll find out." Mia said. "I have to talk to Zev about it anyway."

"Thanks." Anna told her.

"So...I guess this means we kind of have to go to this thing, don't we?" Carmine said slowly.

"I guess so." Mia nodded.

Anna could tell that neither of her friends was really looking forward to this – especially since it'd mean Mia would definitely be going alone and Carmine never seemed to have good luck with these types of things. But Anna was so relieved that they'd be there with her, she only felt a tiny bit guilty about any of that.