8. port angeles

jess drove faster than the chief, so we made it to port angeles by four. it had been a while since i'd had a girls' night out, and the estrogen rush was invigorating. we listened to whiny rock songs while jessica jabbered on about the boys we hung out with. jessica's dinner with mike had gone very well, and she was hoping that by saturday night they would

have progressed to the first-kiss stage. i smiled to myself, pleased. angela was passively happy to be going to the dance, but not really interested in eric. jess tried to get her to confess who her type was, but i interrupted with a question about dresses after a bit, to spare her. angela threw a grateful glance my way.

port angeles was a beautiful little tourist trap, much more polished and quaint than forks. but jessica and angela knew it well, so they didn't plan to waste time on the picturesque boardwalk by the bay. jess drove straight to the one big department store in town, which was a few streets in from the bay area's visitor-friendly face.

the dance was billed as semiformal, and we weren't exactly sure what that meant. both jessica and angela seemed surprised and almost disbelieving when i told them i'd never been to a dance in phoenix.

"didn't you ever go with a boyfriend or something?" jess asked dubiously as we walked through the front doors of the store.

"really," i tried to convince her, not wanting to confess my dancing problems. "i've never had a boyfriend or anything close. i didn't go out much."

"why not?" jessica demanded.

"no one asked me," i answered honestly.

she looked skeptical. "people ask you out here," she reminded me, "and you tell them no." we were in the juniors' section now, scanning the racks for dress-up clothes.

"well, except for tyler," angela amended quietly.

"excuse me?" i gasped. "what did you say?"

"tyler told everyone he's taking you to prom," jessica informed me with suspicious eyes.

"he said what?" i sounded like i was choking.

"i told you it wasn't true," angela murmured to jessica.

i was silent, still lost in shock that was quickly turning to irritation. but we had found the dress racks, and now we had work to do.

"that's why lauren doesn't like you," jessica giggled while we pawed through the clothes.

i ground my teeth. "do you think that if i ran him over with my truck he would stop feeling guilty about the accident? that he might give up on making amends and call it even?"

"maybe," jess snickered. '"if that's why he's doing this."

the dress selection wasn't large, but both of them found a few things to try on. i sat on a low chair just inside the dressing room, by the three-way mirror, trying to control my fuming.

jess was torn between two - one a long, strapless, basic black number, the other a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. i encouraged her to go with the blue; why not play up the eyes? angela chose a pale pink dress that draped around her tall frame nicely and brought out honey tints in her light brown hair. i complimented them both generously and helped by returning the rejects to their racks. the whole process was much shorter and easier than similar trips i'd taken with ren