One month earlier. May 1997
The writing on the huge paper banner above Jessica Heath's head was garish, written in bright blue glittery paint.
A Night to Remember
Senior Prom, Class of 97
She stared for a moment at the banner, which had been suspended above the entrance to her high school's gym hall. Then she turned and started heading down the corridor and towards the exit doors.
There's still another month to go and I'm already sick of hearing the word prom, she sighed to herself. What are people going to do once it's over and they realise it was just another night?
And probably not even one worth remembering, despite all the hand painted banners hanging everywhere.
Jessica kept heading down the corridor and towards the exit. She was stuck walking home today.
"Congratulations on making Prom Court this year, Jess!" a nearby voice called out.
Jessica turned in its direction, trying not to grit her teeth. She hated being called Jess by anyone other than her closest friends.
Which the voice in question definitely wasn't.
She aimed a shallow smile at the student who'd congratulated her, a chubby girl with long brown hair. "Thanks."
The girl - was her name Poppy? Or Polly? - replied with a fake smile of her own, displaying her braces. "I mean, even though you already know you won't be queen, it's still its own achievement to be voted into Prom Court. But does it make it less exciting for you, knowing your best friend will end up with the crown instead?"
Jessica shrugged at Poppy/Polly, who was standing behind a folding table and selling prom tickets. "Not really. Some people care about these things more than others. And those that don't have a chance of winning anything, it looks like they end up stuck selling the tickets. Have fun with that."
Without waiting for a reply, she continued walking towards the exit.
The sun nearly blinded her when she stepped out of the building. She squinted and cursed out loud at the cloudless sky. It was still only spring and the days were already unusually hot. It didn't bode well for the summer.
Jessica rubbed the back of her neck. She hadn't even begun the half hour walk to her house, but she was already starting to sweat.
"Of all the times of the year for Clair to write off her car, did it really have to be just as the weather starts turning feral?" she muttered as she began walking.
She'd usually get a ride home with her best friend. But Clair had crashed her car the week before. She'd lost control of the wheel one night, when she'd been competing with some of their classmates to see whose car could leave the best skid marks on the desert sand.
Jessica hadn't been there that night. But she'd heard from several students how Clair had ended up flipping her car onto its roof, yet walked away from it with barely a scratch.
Her little car though, that was a different story. It had been completely written off.
And until she managed to convince her rich father to buy her a replacement, it meant both girls would be stuck either walking everywhere or begging rides off their friends with access to cars.
"Guess I'm on my own today." Jessica sighed again as she started walking. Clair and her lived in opposite directions. Also, Clair was in yet another detention, this time for having been caught smoking in the girls' bathroom by the vice principal.
The only thing that surprised Jessica about the situation was that it hadn't happened earlier.
Clair McKinley had probably had as many detentions in her life as hot dinners. She may have been the most popular girl at Abbot Springs High School, but the teaching faculty considered her an absolute menace.
Jessica considered her the sister she'd never had.
The two of them had become almost instant friends when the McKinley family had moved to Abbot Springs over ten years ago. They'd bought the fanciest house in the town, a rather grand timber structure on a rise that gave it sweeping desert views.
Jessica could still remember the thrill her six year old self had felt whenever she'd gone to Clair's house after school or on weekends. The freedom of being able to roam around the Victorian style mansion and get into childish mischief, with no one else around.
Well, that wasn't strictly true. Clair's mother had been home, though she'd always been in her bedroom with the door firmly shut. Clair's father had always been at work and her older brother had been… Jessica had no idea about him.
So it had always been the two friends on their own. Playing dress up with a pile of Mrs McKinley's old clothes, making up silly stories and simply having fun. In the large gleaming kitchen, Clair had taught Jessica how to make biscuits with rich sausage gravy. It was one of Clair's favourite meals, apparently very popular in her hometown back in Louisiana.
The townsfolk had looked at the McKinleys with suspicion from day one. Even over a decade later, there were still people who considered them outsiders.
"Not one of us." Jessica had often heard nosy older women whispering in the local diners. They're from, you know, the South."
As if the South was some sinister other country instead of just a few states away.
Of course, no one dared say anything directly to the McKinleys. They may not have been one of us but they were definitely the richest family in town. No one wanted to cross the hotshot lawyer with the twangy accent, or his family.
Jessica hadn't cared one bit about the local gossip. She'd simply been in awe of Clair. Of how a little girl the same age as her, could be so different to her. So sure of herself. So outspoken and just plain scrappy.
The two of them had been joined at the hip ever since.
Clair and Jessica.
The undisputed leader of their high school and her faithful lieutenant. The captain of the cheerleading squad and her vice captain.
The young woman with unstoppable charm and her best friend who desperately hoped some of that self confidence would rub off on her.
That hadn't happened yet. But it still could, right?