I glanced up, expecting him to be looking at the door. But he wasn't. He was looking at me.
I bit my lip, choking off a sob before it escaped. Desperate to leave before I totally lost it, I started scrambling backward.
"Watch it!" Lizzie called from below. "You almost kicked me."
"Then move it!" I yelled.
Soon, the ladder shook with her movements. My feet found the next-lowest ladder rung, and then the one right below. I stopped. My head remained the only thing inside the building. I raised it to give Jake one last look.
He stood, with his arms crossed and his back against the door. He wasn't even looking at me. He was looking down at his shoes. He was shaking his head.
I waited.
He still didn't look.
So I found the next ladder-rung and kept on going.
After that, I was never welcome anywhere near him or his friends. For a while, I hated him. He'd been the guy of my dreams, and he'd made me feel young and stupid, just when I'd been ready to become a woman.
And I never did get that dance.
