Tag Along by Tom Ryan Page A

bungee cord.
    â€œI have an idea,” says Roemi. “We should cruise by the school and check out the last-minute rush into the dance. We’re pretty close. Let’s do a drive-by.”
    I’m not sure I want to risk being seen by Lannie, but I can’t very well say no, since it’s his car.
    Luckily, the crowd at the school is so involved with checking each other out that nobody takes a second glance at the Land Cruiser. I park across the street from the school and we watch through the tinted windows as girls run screaming to greet each other and smokers take their last drags before ditching their butts and walking onto the school property.
    â€œHey, Paul,” says Roemi. “There’s the old ball and chain.”
    Sure enough, there’s Lannie, walking across the street in front of us, just a few car lengths away. I slouch down in my seat.
    â€œRelax,” says Roemi. “Nobody can see us unless they get up really close to the window. She looks fierce.”
    She really does look good, with her hair piled on top of her head and her dress hugging her body in all the right places. The funny thing is, I don’t have any interest in being out there, walking into the dance with her. I’m happier here, hidden behind the tinted windows.
    â€œOkay,” says Roemi, “I still don’t really get this. So you and Lannie didn’t break up, right?”
    â€œNo,” I say.
    â€œBut you aren’t at prom with her, and she doesn’t know that you’re spending the night hanging with the Scooby-Doo crew?”
    â€œNo,” I say. “She thinks I’m sick.”
    â€œI know you don’t want to talk about it,” he says, “but I’m going to give this one more shot. Now that we’re all besties, can you please just give us the Coles Notes version of The Case of Lannie Freston’s Missing Prom Date ? The curiosity is killing me.”
    I glance in the rearview and see Candace raise an eyebrow at me. Suddenly it all just seems stupid and pointless.
    â€œFuck it, whatever,” I say. “I had a panic attack, okay? I had a panic attack last week for the first time in years, and then this morning I had another one, and it was so bad that I couldn’t even think about going to the prom. So my mom called Lannie for me and told her I was sick, and that’s why I’m not at the prom tonight.”
    â€œI’m not sure I understand,” says Roemi. “Why didn’t you tell Lannie? She’s your girlfriend, after all. Wouldn’t she understand?”
    How can I explain that because Lannie is so in control, I’m terrified of letting her know I am so out of control? That if she finds out what’s wrong with me, she’ll see it as another challenge? She’ll try to fix me, make me better.
    Maybe I should let her. She’s fixed everything else. My friends, my future, my grades, the way I look, the things I do in my spare time. Why shouldn’t I let her fix this?
    â€œMaybe he’s not at the prom because he didn’t want to go in the first place,” Candace says quietly. I look at her in the rearview mirror again, and she shrugs and looks me straight in the eye as if to say, Isn’t it true?
    â€œWhoa, check it out,” says Roemi, pointing past me. I turn to see Ryan Penner walking away from the crowd in the parking lot and up onto the street where we’re parked.
    At first I think he might have spotted us. Then he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out what looks like a baggie, and I realize he’s just sneaking away to smoke a joint before going inside.
    Sure enough, we watch as he lights up and strolls directly toward the Cruiser. He stops with his back to my window and then begins to pace back and forth, furiously working through the joint.
    â€œI don’t think he sees us,” I say quietly.
    â€œThis is like a horror movie,” says Roemi. “Don’t