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music was so loud it made my teeth vibrate, and it was some obnoxious techno crap with a relentless thumping beat and no melody. The club was packed to the gills, and although it might have been twenty degrees outside, it was probably around ninety inside.
    Since we hadn’t come in the front entrance, we didn’t get to check our coats. Which meant someone would have to keep an eye on them all night or they might walk off. Why anyone would bother to steal a coat from inside a nightclub I don’t know, but it was just a fact of city life that you couldn’t put anything down anywhere and expect it to still be there when you got back.
    There wasn’t anywhere to sit down, but there was a cluster of standing-room-only tables off to one side of the dance floor, and we hovered until one of them opened up, then piled all our coats on it. Luke fought his way to the bar and got us each a beer, but before anyone had taken more than two sips, Piper was tugging him toward the dance floor. He looked over his shoulder at me, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of leaving me alone at the table. I wasn’t exactly comfortable with it myself, but I gave him a smile and a thumbs-up anyway.
    Left with no company save three empty coats, I felt the faint prickle of tears in my eyes. I blinked rapidly in an effort to stave them off. Piper was out on that dance floor, dancing with abandon, her body gyrating to the beat as she steadily sipped from her bottle of beer. She leaned toward Luke and said something that made them both laugh. With nothing to do but people-watch, I let my eyes drift around the room and saw that Luke wasn’t the only guy in the place who appreciated Piper’s dancing. If Luke got tired, there would be a stampede of volunteers eager to take his place.
    I took a sip from my beer and tried not to make a face. Disgusting stuff, though I fully intended to try to develop a taste for it in preparation for college. I’d never be the wild party animal type, but I hoped to at least blend in.
    There were plenty of people out there dancing without partners, mostly groups of girls who seemed to be having a good time without the help of any guys, but I would have been way too self-conscious to just go out there and dance by myself, even if I didn’t have to keep an eye on the coats. I felt like the world’s biggest loser.
    I spent about five minutes throwing myself a pity party, but then Piper returned to the table and pushed me out toward Luke on the dance floor.
    â€œYour turn!” she shouted in my ear.
    Lucky for me it was kinda dark in there, so Piper couldn’t see how red my face turned. Me, dance with Luke? I could barely remember how to breathe in his presence.
    Piper gave me a bright smile and another push. “He doesn’t bite unless invited to,” she said with a laugh. “Now get out there.”
    Luke was beckoning to me, so I plastered on what I felt sure was a frozen smile and forced myself out onto the crowded floor.
    It’s not like it’s some romantic slow dance, I told myself. Piper would never have sent me out if it were.
    The good news was that the music was too loud for conversation, so I didn’t have to make a fool of myself stumbling over words. The bad news was that, well, I had to dance. The floor was so jam-packed the only dance move I could do without bumping into someone was a vaguely rhythmic shuffle. Luke was about ten times as coordinated as me, but he didn’t seem to mind my pathetic dancing, and I tried to have fun. Sweat trickled down my back and glued my hair to my neck. Eventually Piper cut in, and I was more relieved than disappointed.
    Luke and Piper made every attempt to include me, and we all took turns sitting out and keeping watch over the coats. But despite their best efforts, every time it was my turn to sit out I felt a little lower, a little more like a third wheel who just didn’t belong. Maybe it was because I