Emma Jean Lazarus Fell in Love by Lauren Tarshis Page A

though they’d said good-bye, he was here tonight, just in case Colleen needed him. And now he was telling her that of course Will was coming. He reminded her that she and Will had been talking about the dance every day for weeks. And her breath couldn’t smell like egg salad, because she purposely hadn’t eaten it for three days.
    And then she felt someone’s hands over her eyes, for real, and a funny voice whispering in her ear.
    â€œCollcakes.”
    And Colleen grabbed Will’s wrists and turned around and they both laughed. And oh my gosh he looked so cute!
    Oh no! What if her boy got jealous of Will?
    But no, of course he wasn’t jealous. That’s not how it was with Colleen and her boy. The only thing he’d ever wanted was for Colleen to be happy. And now Colleen had the feeling that he would always be there for her, somewhere, in case she needed him.
    â€œLet’s go dance!” she shouted to Will over the music.
    â€œI hate dancing!” Will shouted back.
    â€œNo you don’t!” said Colleen.
    â€œOkay, maybe I don’t,” Will laughed.
    And they ran over to the dance floor, where all her friends were already dancing. They made room for Will and Colleen and they were all dancing together. And Colleen closed her eyes for a few seconds because she knew this was one of those precious moments that she’d want to remember for her whole life.
    They had just finished dancing when she saw Emma-Jean.
    How amazing that she was here! And she looked so gorgeous in orange. But, well, maybe for the next dance Colleen’s mom could show her how to sew that pretty piece of material into a real dress.
    â€œLook!” Colleen said, pointing to Emma-Jean. “She’s here!”
    â€œWho?” Will said.
    â€œEmma-Jean!”
    â€œI can’t believe it!” Kaitlin said.
    â€œThat’s amazing!” Valerie said.
    Emma-Jean was standing there, looking around in that Emma-Jean-ish way, like she was studying them for a science project.
    â€œEmma-Jean!” Colleen called, waving the hand that Will wasn’t holding.
    â€œEmma-Jean!” Kaitlin called.
    â€œEmma-Jean!” Valerie and Michele called together.
    They all started to laugh.
    â€œShe’s in her own world,” Will said, but not in a mean way. It was like he understood how it was with Emma-Jean.
    â€œOkay, on three,” Colleen said. “We’ll all yell together.”
    They all huddled together, Valerie and Jeremy, Michele and Leo, Kaitlin and Neil, and Colleen and Will.
    Colleen and Will?
    This was way better than any dream.
    â€œOkay,” said Colleen as loudly as she could. “One! Two! Three!”
    And they all took deep breaths and shouted together across the cafeteria.
    â€œEmma-Jean!”

Chapter 25
    T he decision to attend the Spring Fling had been made just that morning, when Ms. Wright had phoned Emma-Jean’s mother to say that the PTA still needed some chaperones.
    Emma-Jean had listened as she ate her oatmeal, and when her mother hung up, Emma-Jean said, “Perhaps we should go.”
    The words had come out unexpectedly.
    â€œReally?” Emma-Jean’s mother said. “You want to go to the dance?”
    â€œYes,” Emma-Jean said, before she could consider the question too deeply.
    â€œAnd you want Vikram and me to go too?”
    â€œVikram has never been to a dance,” Emma-Jean said. “It is one of his regrets.”
    â€œI didn’t realize that.”
    â€œIt’s true,” Emma-Jean said. “And that is why we should go.”
    It all seemed rational enough, Emma-Jean thought.
    Apparently her mother agreed, because she smiled and grabbed Emma-Jean’s hand and said, “Let’s go tell Vikram!”
    They arrived at the dance more than thirty minutes late, having been delayed by the challenge of arranging Emma-Jean’s sari. After an hour of fruitless folding and wrapping and