it, there he was.
He was wearing his suit, smiling from ear to ear, and holding a corsage.
For a moment, I was six years old again.
The little boy from the playground was standing in front of me, and somehow we’d actually kept our promise.
I smiled and reached for the corsage.
Then my mother appeared.
She didn’t smile.
Instead, she looked at me and quietly said that we needed to talk.
“You’re Not Going Yet.”
I thought she was joking.
Then she took my hand and led me upstairs.
She closed the bedroom door behind us.
I could hear my friends outside waiting.
My mother looked nervous.
She told me I could go to prom with him—but only after I heard something she had kept from me for years.
I couldn’t understand.
What could possibly have changed?
This was my best friend.
We had grown up together.
He
