He forced a small smile, nodded, and stepped back before she could explain further. He could have stopped there. He should have stopped there. But something, maybe the need to prove he wasn’t as pathetic as people said, pushed him to try again. The next morning, he approached Millie Harper.
Millie wasn’t naturally unkind, but she was surrounded by girls who thrived on tearing people down. The moment Richard walked toward her locker, her friends straightened, grinning in anticipation. “Millie?” he asked quietly. “Would you maybe want to go to prom with—” She cut him off with a laugh that wasn’t meant to be mean but landed that way anyway.