“Have a good night." I patted him on the shoulder while he looked weirdly at Mark.

Mark looked funnily at me.

I just stared Mark down, as coolly intense as ever.

“Drive carefully,”

I warned him sternly. And then I grabbed E-Beth's hand and headed off to my car.

We weren't out of earshot when I heard Mark ask Jerry, “What the hell was that about?"

“Man, don't you remember? Ellie got killed by a drunk driver."

E-Beth was silent until we got to my car, and she looked really nervous as we buckled in our seatbelts. I assumed her nervousness was a result of my quiet rage, and the Last thing I wanted to do was ruin a perfect

Prom for her.

I let my hands drum on the steering wheel as I exhaled mightily and let the tension flow out of me. A second later, I knew I was fine. I turned over to E-Beth and said, "I'm sorry about all that. I'd really hate to spoil our evening."

“Oh, don't worry," she responded immediately.

“I understand completely."

I waited and watched her.

“And yet... you still look a Little unnerved."

"Oh! It's not that, really, it's not that. Not that at all," she stammered. She was Looking straight at the floor and I knew I was going to have to dig a little deeper with her.

“C'mon, then what's with the long face? I thought we were having a great night."

“Oh, we are!" E-Beth immediately perked up. "This has been the greatest night of my Life!" And then as suddenly as she'd cheered, she dropped right back down.

“It's just..." her voice trailed off. This was the

E-Beth I remembered. Supremely confident in her academics, pathetically shy socially. Only she'd been perfectly fine socially up until five minutes ago.

“E-Beth... what is it? I don't have to take you home yet. We can do anything you want to do. Tonight is yours.”

She Looked right up at me and I could see the shimmer in her eyes. "You mean that?"

“Of course I do."

“Well you see, tonight's Prom night." Her gaze dropped back down to the floor.

“And... I got a room at the hotel. And I was hoping..." Her eyes went right up into mine, communicating everything she was too afraid to verbalize.

I had to admit, I was absolutely stunned. Never in a million years was