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Bry agreed, returning to his laces.
    “You guys should congratulate me! I’ve got a date—a popular date—and the dance is still two weeks away.”
    “I just . . . How did he ask you?”
    “I have my methods.” Jenni tried to look mysterious before excitement won out. “It was so easy! Jake’s been moping ever since the split. I ended up next to him in the cafeteria line and told him what a great tight end he is and how much Everly must regret being such an idiot. I told him the best revenge is to get back out there, maybe by showing up at prom with someone totally unexpected, and oh, by the way, I’m available.”
    Lexa gasped. “You didn’t! Why were you even in the cafeteria?”
    “No guts, no glory.” Jenni laughed. “I saw him headed in there alone and felt a sudden irresistible urge to be late for practice today.”
    “Do you even know what a tight end is?” Bry asked.
    “I know Jacob has one,” she said, holding up a hand to slap Lexa five.
    Lexa obliged, still reeling. Jacob Larimore. Not that Jenni wasn’t too good for him, but people didn’t get in with Jacob’s clique just because they wanted to. Everybody wanted to.
    “You guys have to get dates too now. It won’t be fun if we don’t all go.”
    Bry finished his last double knot and stood up. “I’m guessing you’ll be fine.”
    “That’s not the point,” Jenni said. “I want us all to be there.”
    “I might go,” Bry relented, smiling, “if only to see Everly’s face.”
    “Exactly!”
    Lexa stood and shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying to settle more comfortably into her skates. Despite what Blake said, boots didn’t have to hurt this much and she’d worn enough of them to know. At seven hundred dollars a pair, though, she was stuck with these until August, at least. “I’ve got to get out there,” she said, heading for the ice.
    Skating warm-up laps, she tried to imagine walking up to someone like Jacob Larimore and basically asking him out. Not in this lifetime, she thought, envying her best friend’s confidence again. On the other side of the boards, Jenni was still gossiping with Bry. She’d talk him into going, most likely with Lexa, if only because there was no one else either of them wanted to ask.
    No one askable, anyway .
    Lexa shifted her gaze to the front door and wondered where Ian was. His session with Blake didn’t start for ninety minutes, but it was rare for him to miss even a second of practice. He finally dashed in, looking sweaty and stressed. Blake emerged from the office, talked with his star a moment, then walked out to coach Lexa, sliding his tread-bare Sorels over the ice.
    “What’s up with Ian?” Lexa asked.
    Blake’s brows rose. “Why do you care?”
    “Just curious. Geez. He’s never late, that’s all.”
    “He got a job. At the gym. You know his dad moved out to take that promotion down south, but now they’re paying two rents, so it’s not as good as it could be. Ian’s eighteen and out of school. His folks can use some help covering his expenses.”
    “He can’t be earning enough to make a dent in skating expenses!” Lexa protested. “Besides, you don’t even charge him full rate!”
    Blake shrugged uneasily. “In this world, you have money or you have hard choices. If he skates next nationals the way he’s capable of, he’ll land a summer tour, his mom can go join his dad, and this will all be old news.”
    “Yes, but—”
    “Worry about yourself,” Blake advised. “Ian will be just fine. I want to work your loop, then the footwork in the free. If you can’t control your arms through that sequence, we’ll have to re-choreograph it.”
    “They aren’t that bad.”
    “Should I get the video camera?”
    “No,” she said sullenly.
    “Let’s go, then: double, double, single.”
    Lexa reluctantly began her father’s jumping drill. Skaters at her level didn’t have single loops in their programs, not unless they messed up and popped out of one