• His arms wrapped around my waist and our bodies swaying back and forth was the greatest feeling in the world. My heart thudded in my chest, and I felt a sense of joy building within me. Then it struck me.
    “I’m sorry, I just can’t do this.” I admitted, pulling away from his embrace.
    “Wait, what’s wrong? Isn’t this what you want? Us?” Tyler asked, shocked as if he’d done something wrong.
    Part of me wanted to smile. He could never do anything wrong, and the thought that he could just seemed silly. “Yes. It’s everything I wanted.” My eyes dropped, and I sighed. “It’s just I can’t think to lose her over a boy.”
    “Who?” Tyler tilted his head, and a softness filled his eyes.
    “Mikayla. You know she likes you. Everyone knows. I can’t think to lose her over you.” I felt upset about telling him the truth, but it had to come out someday. She was one of my best friends, and we had always sworn we would never let our bond break over a guy.
    “Can we please talk about this after the slow song is over?” Tyler said, holding out his hand, and I realized dancing with him would make everything better.
    Accepting his offer, I grasped his neck and pulled him close. He wrapped his arms around me once again, and we turned to the slow rhythm that filled the air. The song seemed to last forever until finally the music died out, and all the singles came rushing back to the dance floor. The music was turned up louder and a fast tempo filled the hot, sweaty air. He dragged me aside into the shadows, where he stood me in front of him.
    “Tell me, why does this upset you so much?” He asked, taking my hand in his.
    “Like I said, it’s Mikayla. She likes you, and I don’t want to ruin our friendship by dating you.”
    “But you won’t!” he said abruptly. “I’ll tell her the truth, and make sure she isn’t mad. She can’t be mad. You liked me first, right?” I smiled, loving how he knew I had been the first to have feelings for him.
    “Ty, let me tell you a story. Remember Mikayla’s 13th birthday dance party? You guys danced for every song! I was insanely jealous, but I wasn’t about to ruin Mikayla’s birthday. I didn’t say anything to anyone for a long time because I was afraid it would get to her and she would be upset. I kept it to myself for so long that I couldn’t bear it; until she started to date Kurt.” I blushed, I had never told anyone how long I’d kept my crush a secret.
    Tyler smiled. “I’m guessing you were happy about this?”
    “Completely!” I grinned. “I finally told someone I liked you. Nothing spread for a while until it broke out and everyone knew, including you. I was told so many stories of what you thought about it, but nothing ever came out quite positive.”
    “What did they say?!” Tyler said shocked. I looked up at him. Had he said something nice about my feelings for him?
    I shook my head, sparing him the details. “Not important right now. Anyway, I started to give up hope. I didn’t know what to think. Nothing anyone told me said that you liked me too. Valentines Day was coming up and Caitlin said I should get you something. I tried, but I t was too awkward, since we weren’t dating, and you thanked me, but I heard worse.
    “What? How much worse?”
    “Not now, Ty. Let me skip to the part where Kurt and Mikayla broke up. I died. I hadn’t gotten far enough with you, and I knew she would start dating you, which she did. You two danced at the February dance and I was so depressed. I gave up entirely, and I have been hoping for weeks that some miracle would come until today, when you asked me to dance. Tell me, do you really like me?”
    “Yes. Why do you think I asked you to dance?” He smiled at me, and I blushed.
    “You asked Mikayla to dance, too!” I said, trying hard to be angry, but failing miserably.
    “I was told to.” He bowed his head as if he were ashamed. I felt bad, so I continued.
    “Oh, so are we friends?”
    “How about more?” His hand moved to my hip. “We could always try dating.” I looked into his dark blue eyes that matched perfectly with his lush brown hair. His smile was the only thing that seemed to matter. I realized that it mirrored mine perfectly, and I broke into a happy cry.
    “I can’t say no to that smile!” I laughed. It was a dream I thought would never come true. I wanted the moment to never end, I couldn’t think of anything better.
    “Should we tell someone?” he asked as if there was no way to be more casual.
    “Caitlin would be the first person I would tell.” I said thoughtfully. Smiling gleefully, I rushed and grabbed his hand to pull him across the floor before blushing, and letting go apologetically, asking “Too soon?”
    “Not at all.” He replied, grabbing my hand again. Blushing a second time, I led him through the crowd of people to Caitlin and Christopher, who were talking on the other side of the room. Caitlin had obviously noticed that we were holding hands, because her face lit up and she raced to us.
    “No way!” She screamed.
    “Yes way!” we screamed and jumped up and down as the two boys watched us, amusement on their faces.
    “So that’s how girls dance! Go figure!” Said Christopher, laughing happily. He turned to Tyler, and they shook hands, as though to show his approval. I caught Tyler’s eye, and he winked at me. My heart skipped a beat as I began to laugh. Caitlin and I continued to jump to the music, and I cried,
    “Now this is how we party!”