“I know.”

“Two and a half years.”

“I know.”

Chapter Thirteen

We stood in the hallway for a long time. The noises from the class died down, and I listened to Jane breathe and felt her body slowly grow calm. I wasn’t worried about punishment for missing class. We’d lose points, but right now I didn’t care about that at all.

Finally, Jane looked up at me. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her mascara streaked down her cheeks. “Come on.”

She took my hand and we walked in silence, heading down the large staircase to the first floor. The corridor was quiet, all the students still in their classrooms. She led me to the cafeteria, and we let ourselves in. It was dark and empty.

Once again I wished we had the groundskeeping contract. We could get outside and run. I was surprised the Havoc kids hadn’t already tried it. Actually, since the Society had the security contract, it was just us V’s who couldn’t leave the building. Maybe it was time the V’s bid for one of those contracts.

The decorations were already in place, though they looked strange and shoddy without any lighting. The lunch tables were still set up as usual. We had planned to move them later, before the dance.

“We should cancel,” I said. “I know that they want us to have a dance, but how can we?”

Jane shook her head, her face set. “No. We’re not going to cancel. Here, help me.” She climbed up on a chair to reach one side of the banner we’d painted and hung the night before. I went to the other side and helped take it down.

We’d had trouble coming up with a good slogan for the banner. This wasn’t a regular high school, so this dance wasn’t like a regular dance. There was no theme. It didn’t have a name—it wasn’t homecoming or junior prom—so our sign just said maxfield academy dance.

I laid the banner down on a lunch table while Jane rummaged through the decoration supplies. She came back with a smaller sheet of butcher paper, glue, paint, and two brushes.

Following her lead, I trimmed the paper and then glued it to the banner, covering the words Maxfield Academy. Jane sketched new words in pencil, and we finished them with paint. Ten minutes later we stood back and looked at our work.

“‘Lily Paterson Memorial Dance,’” I read. “The Society’s going to be pissed.”

Jane smiled and took my hand. “I hope so.”

Chapter Fourteen

I waited on the fourth floor by the unused common room, absently staring out the window as night fell. The windows faced east, and the pine forest below me was glowing orange, reflecting what must have been a magnificent sunset in the west.

Nothing had been scheduled after class, and dinner was postponed to be included with the dance. We’d had nothing to do but sit in the dorms. Fortunately, anticipation seemed to quell the earlier unrest. I hadn’t seen Isaiah all day, and even Havoc was calm.

Almost all of the V guys were just wearing their uniforms to the dance, though most were a little more cleaned up than usual. Curtis had bought a sports coat and wore it over his usual shirt and tie.

I didn’t want to spend my few points on clothes, but I’d got my tie as straight as I could, and I’d borrowed Curtis’s polish kit to shine my shoes. Now, standing and waiting for Jane, I kind of wished I could have done more.

I heard the click of footsteps behind me.

It was Jane, and she was gorgeous. Her dress was brown and lustrous, like melted chocolate, and it gave her skin a golden hue. Her red hair was pulled up on top of her head, and she wore heels, emphasizing her slender legs. She put the sunset to shame.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi.”

“You look good.”

“You too.”

I exhaled and glanced down at my uniform. “Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t have anything else.”

Jane stepped toward me and I caught a scent of her perfume. It was sweet and subtle, almost like vanilla or honey, but more floral. She didn’t always wear it, but I loved when she did. “I think you look great.”

“Thanks.”

She kissed my cheek and slipped her arm through mine. “Can I hang on to you?” she asked with a giggle. “I’ve never worn heels before.”

I laughed. “You can definitely hang on to me. And you should wear them more often.”

We descended the stairs slowly. Feeling Jane on my arm made me forget about my problems.

That feeling was shattered when we got to the cafeteria. As expected, the banner was a major source of controversy, and just as we were walking in the door Isaiah was standing on a chair to tear it down. He was too late, of course—almost everyone was already at the dance and had seen it. Jane and I smiled and walked into the room.

Music was playing, loud enough that it was a little hard to hear each other. I didn’t know most of the songs, but I didn’t care. Jane and I walked out onto the dance floor and she put her arms around my neck.

“I’ve never been to a dance back in the real world,” she said. To be able to hear her I had to keep my cheek almost against hers. “Is this anything like those?”

“Not sure,” I said. “I went to a few of the casual dances, but never anything like prom.”

“How come?”

I shrugged. “Never had a girlfriend.”

As I said it, I wondered what that sentence implied. If I’d never been to a dance because I didn’t have a girlfriend, but I came to this dance . . .

It suddenly struck me that there was no way the security cameras or microphones could hear what we were talking about. We could say anything. We could plan an escape or talk about what detention really was. She could tell me about those fifteen people who had been here when she’d come—I’d never asked her.

It could wait. I held her a little tighter.

Even on the dance floor, all the students stayed with their gangs. The V’s hung out at the back by the outside doors—someone had propped them open to let the cool night air inside. The girls had all spent points on dresses, and they all looked completely different without their usual uniforms. Gabby wore something blue and shimmery that showed off her legs. Tapti’s clothes were traditional, from whatever country she was from; I had no idea which. Carrie was gorgeous, all smiles and laughter. No one could have guessed we were all prisoners.

The other gangs were dressed up, too. The Society, which always looked a little overdone to begin with, now looked like characters in an old black-and-white gangster movie. The girls wore long elegant gowns and perfect, intricate hairdos, and the guys were all in tuxedos. It must have cost a lot of points.

Havoc wasn’t as uniform in their style, but almost all of them had new, intricate tattoos and too much jewelry.

But the longer we danced the less I cared. I wasn’t looking around the room anymore, nervously watching for Oakland or Skiver or trying to count Isaiah’s guards. It felt less important now. My arms were around Jane, my hands on her soft, warm back. I could feel her breath on my neck, her cheek brushing mine.

When the lights turned up a little brighter and dinner was announced, we didn’t move. Even when the music was shut off, Jane and I stayed on the dance floor, not wanting it to end.

Jane sighed, and I squeezed her tightly, pulling her against me.

“Time to eat,” I finally said.