Read If He Had Been with Me for Free Online Page B

houses,” he said. “And our family.”
    ***
    My mother skips the gym and comes straight home. Aunt Angelina orders pizza and we eat in front of the TV, something we never do at my house. Afterward, I claim to have homework and go home. My mother stays. She says she’ll be home later.
    When I get home, I call Jamie to tell him everything. I cry, and I tell him that I’m scared. I tell him that I found out that they only hospitalize you if you’re suicidal. I tell him it’s supposed to be genetic.
    Jamie tells me that he will always love me and take care of me, no matter what. He says it over and over and over and over again.

11
    The field at the bottom of The Steps to Nowhere floods with the spring rain. The boys walk around this impermanent lake together, threatening to push each other in or pretending they are about to jump in to make us scream.
    We hear that hardly anyone ever goes to the Spring Fling, so we decide that it must be cool and that we will go.
    The girls all come over to my house to get ready. The dance is casual, and we’re all wearing jeans. I’m going to wear the corset I bought with Sasha last fall.
    Brooke wants to do everyone’s makeup, so we take turns sitting for her while the other girls watch. I go last, and it’s during my turn that she says it.
    “Autumn,” she says, “I’m not going to spend the night tonight.”
    “Why?” we all chorus. Everyone’s overnight stuff, including Brooke’s, is all clustered together by my bed. Brooke stops putting foundation on me and takes a deep breath.
    “Because Noah’s parents are out of town, and I’m going to his place,” she says. There is a moment of silence.
    “Are you…” Angie says, her voice trailing off. Brooke looks around at all of us, and nods. We scream and Brooke covers her face with her hands.
    “Guys!” she says.
    “Oh my God,” Sasha says.
    “Why?” I say, and then wonder if it was the wrong thing to say. Brooke uncovers her face and smiles.
    “Because I love him,” she says, “and it just feels right.”
    “Awww,” Angie says.
    “Wow,” Sasha says. “Now I’m going to be thinking about it all night.” We laugh.
    “We’re going to walk to his house after the dance. Tell your Mom I got sick and left early, okay?” Brooke says. I nod. “I’ll come get my stuff tomorrow.”
    “You’re going to tell us everything, right?” Angie says.
    “Well…” she says.
    “You have to!” Sasha says. We all agree that she has to.
    When the boys arrive, we all file downstairs together and my mom takes our picture before we all pile into the van to go to the school. Jamie looks hot, and I tell him in his ear on the way there. He smiles and doesn’t say anything, but when I squeeze his hand, he squeezes back.
    Out of fifteen hundred students, about sixty show up for the Spring Fling. We have the floor to ourselves and we dance together in the middle and shout requests at the DJ, who actually complies. Because there are so few students, nobody stops us when we start to dance on the tables. It doesn’t matter how we dance because there is hardly anyone to see us, and our dance moves and requests become more and more ridiculous. We make a conga line. We do the Macarena when the Electric Slide is blasting out of the speakers. We exhaust ourselves dancing, drink some punch, and then go dance again. At the first slow song, Jamie asks our principal, Mrs. Black, to dance, and she does amid cheers from all across the room.
    We congratulate ourselves and agree: the Spring Fling is cool because nobody goes.
    It’s a long time before the DJ plays another slow song. By then my heart is pounding, and I’m so out of breath I practically collapse into Jamie. He looks so handsome that I get butterflies in my stomach looking at him. I wrap my arms around his neck and we sway to the music.
    “I love you,” I say, and I’m not saying it to remind myself that I do; at this moment I can feel it.
    “Love you too,” he