Rhymes With Cupid by Anna Humphrey

pass on the dress then.”
    “No, wait,” Dina urged. “I want to see what it looks like on you, at least. And you have to see the black on me so I can get your honest opinion.”
    “No way. Nuh-uh. Not coming out. Not ever,” I said. “Not until I change into my regular clothes. Sorry.”
    “Please? Just open the door a crack. I swear, there’s nobody out here.”
    “Okay, fine,” I sighed. “I’m opening the door for one second, and one second only. You aren’t allowed to laugh, and then I’m closing it again. Ready?” I pushed the changing room door open about half an inch, then half an inch more. “Oh my God, Dina,” I exclaimed, peeking through the crack. She was standing out in the open near the full-length mirror, twirling around. “That looks incredible on you.”
    Her soft curves pushed the sheer black fabric out in all the right places, and the camisole and leggings made the look sexy, but not indecent.
    “Do you think?”
    “Definitely.” If Patrick saw her in that, convincing him to have a crush on her instead of on me would be a cinch.
    “I think the zipper might be broken, though,” she said, reaching over her shoulder with one hand and fiddling with it. “It gets stuck at the top.”
    “Let me see.” And that was my fatal mistake. Without even thinking, I stepped out of the changing room and walked toward her, reindeer bra on full display for the world to see.
    “Come and tell me if these are too tight,” I heard someone say from the other end of the hallway. A girl was opening her changing room door. I should have recognized her voice, but I didn’t. Not right away. His voice, though, sent shivers down my spine instantly.
    “Nah. Nothing’s too tight on you, according to me.”
    I turned. Why? I don’t know. Probably out of shock, or stupidity. Or both.
    “Elyse?” Matt Love, my ex-boyfriend, was staring directly at me. No, correction: Matt Love, my ex-boyfriend, was staring directly at my Rudolphs. I froze, blinking at him like a reindeer in the headlights. Then I came to my senses and crossed my arms awkwardly over my chest.
    I hadn’t seen Matt in nearly eight months, since last June, when tenth grade finished for the summer. After that, I’d begged my mom to let me enroll early at Sir Walter Scott High in the neighborhood we were planning to move to. But even though it had been a long time, besides the fact that his hair was a bit longer at the sides and he was wearing a T-shirt I didn’t recognize, he didn’t look all that different. Matt Love smiled at me—that same slow, slightly crooked smile I remembered—and my heart started hammering with a mixture of panic and fury, the same way it used to when I’d pass him in the halls at my old school after that fateful February 14. “How’s it going?”
    Before I had time to answer, my former best friend Tabby stepped out of her changing room in a pair of white, skintight jeans. All of her attention was focused on Matt Love as she pranced in front of him, shaking her butt. “What do you think?” She took both his hands in hers and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, pressing her body against his and leaning back. She tipped her head to look into his eyes, and that was when she noticed the distracted look on his face. She followed his gaze. “Elyse?!” she exclaimed, hugging Matt’s arms even more tightly around her. Her voice had a fake-friendly tone that made my stomach lurch. “What are you doing here?”
    “I work here,” I said numbly.
    “At American Apparel? Seriously?”
    I didn’t answer. Just because I’d moved to another school, and just because nearly a year had passed, it didn’t change the way I felt about her. I had nothing to say.
    “Hey, do you get discounts?” she asked.
    Tabby, while once fun to hang out with, had never been the brightest person on earth. Did she honestly think I’d be wearing a see-through dress over supertight leggings and a reindeer bra if I was working a