Page 112 of Light Up My Life

“Jasmine!” a voice called from across the way. “Is that you?” It was Mrs. O’Leary. She’d walked to the edge of the town square and was calling to me.

Over her shoulder I saw Marcus and Fiona speed-walking toward me. So they were just warning me about Mrs. O’Leary? I met Fiona’s eyes and she gave me a look I couldn’t quite read. Was it anticipation? Dread? It made me feel both equally.

“Jasmine!” Mrs. O’Leary called again, crossing the street toward me. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting,” I said.

“Up on the slide? For what?”

“For love,” I said.

She thought I was teasing and laughed. “I wanted to let you know that Mr. Lenny dropped the lawsuit. He said it was because of something you said.”

“What?” I asked, startled and grateful at the same time. “He did?”

“Yes. So whatever it was that you said, thank you. I wasn’t getting through to him. Not even with all the extra rules I’d enacted.”

“I’m so happy,” I said, meaning it.

“Me too. What are you holding?” She pointed at the cards in my hand.

“An apology.”

Her face screwed into a confused look, but before she could ask me to clarify, Fiona and Marcus swooped in, flanking her and talking over each other, asking her questions about the competition and the votes. They were obviously trying to distract her, get her away from me, but it was a very entertaining scene.

So entertaining that I didn’t see Ryan at all until he was climbing the stairs, taking them two at a time. I fumbled with the cards in my hand, trying to put them in the right order while climbing to my feet so I could hold them up. The SORRY fell, slipping through a crack and fluttering toward the ground.

“Oh no,” I said, leaning over the side in a very delayed attempt to catch it. The word SORRY was now pointing up at me from a muddy puddle down below.

Fiona must’ve seen because she picked it up and tried to pass it back up to me. The card was just out of reach as I stretched to snatch it.

“We missed him leaving. Got here once we noticed,” Fiona whispered up at me. “Sorry.”

“Jasmine,” Ryan said softly, standing on the top step before the platform.

“I dropped my sign,” I said.

Fiona turned the card toward him, mud dripping down the word, and I displayed the two in my hand.

He smiled.

“You came,” I said.

He had a handful of cards in his hand, the ones he must’ve collected from the mice. “I did.”

I could not read his expression. Why was he so good at hiding how he felt?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fiona inch away, following after Marcus, who had convinced Mrs. O’Leary to leave. Ryan and I were alone now.

“You were right not to unmask at the ball,” Ryan said, looking at me.

“No, I should’ve. Everyone found out about us anyway. And I want that. I want the whole world to find out.”

“The whole world?”

“At least our whole world.” I swallowed, scared. “Do you still want that?”

“So much,” he said.