Free What's Your Status? by Katie Finn Page B

a second,” I said, feeling that it was time to clear this up. “I’m not actually—”
    “You can’t be holding your prom at the same time as ours,” Kittson said, ignoring me entirely.
    “But I am,” Isabel said with a smile. “I guess we’ll really get a chance to compare the two side by side, won’t we?”
    “But…” Kittson said, wrinkling her nose slightly, which she did when she was thinking hard. “But—”
    “Anyway,” Isabel interrupted, “just wanted to say hello. It was lovely to meet you, Madison. Finally. And Kittson, do come up and see the Lily if you’d like. It’s just stunning.” She looked around the Rosebud with a small smile. “Not that yours isn’t, of course. TTYL!” She gave us a little wave, then headed out of the ballroom.
    Kittson blinked at the doorway for a moment, then turned to me, her face stricken. “This is a disaster,” she said.
    “Why?” I asked, hoping to defuse a possible Kittson meltdown as quickly as possible. “I mean, so their promis above ours, on the same night. It’s not like we’re going to get in each other’s way. Much. Hopefully.”
    “Isabel Ryan,” Kittson said, practically spitting the name out, “has been making my life miserable this whole year. I haven’t wanted to burden you with it,” she said magnanimously. “But she’s determined to have a better prom than us. She’s constantly commenting on my blog. And now she’s in the better ballroom. She probably stole that mascot costume herself, just to get this to happen.”
    “No, she didn’t,” I said automatically. Kittson raised an eyebrow at me. “Not that I know anything about it,” I added. “Because I don’t.”
    “What are we going to do?” she asked, a little desperately. “She’s been out to get me ever since I made fun of her theme.”
    “What’s her theme?” I asked. Ours was A Night to Remember, and it seemed to me that people who came up with themes that referenced books about the Titanic really shouldn’t throw stones.
    “ Take My Breath Away, ” Kittson said, rolling her eyes. I had to admit, that was pretty bad. And even more morbid than ours, which I hadn’t thought was possible. “She’s never let me forget it. And she’s going to try to sabotage our prom, I bet you anything.”
    “No, she’s not,” I said as calmly as I could. I steered Kittson toward one of the chairs that were lining the side of the ballroom, and she sat down. “Listen, Kittson, Isabel wants to have a great prom. So do you. That’s all. There’s no sabotage going on. It’s all going to be fine. Okay?”

    “Okay,” Kittson said, taking a deep breath. “You’re right. Thanks, Mad.”
    “Sure,” I said. I glanced down at my phone again. “We’d better get this finished. We don’t have much time before school starts.”
    “You’re right,” Kittson said, springing into action. “We’ve been wasting all this time talking….”
    We finished the inspection in fifteen minutes and probably could have done it in less if Kittson hadn’t kept making asides about how much nicer the Lily Ballroom was. Duties finished, I gave the Rosebud a last look and followed Kittson to the area just outside the ballroom, nearly running into someone as I did so. It took me a moment to realize that the person I’d almost crashed into was Schuyler.
    “Shy?” I asked. I was glad to see her but had no idea what she was doing there. I glanced down and saw that she was carrying an iced Stubbs drink in each hand.
    “Morning,” Schuyler said. She handed me one of the drinks, and it was all I could do not to hug her. “Here. For you.”
    “But how did you know?” I asked gratefully, taking a sip.
    “Um, you put it on your Q,” Schuyler said. “You said you were here, and that you wanted a latte.”
    “You are the best friend ever,” I said, smiling at her. “Thank you so much.”
    “Hi,” Schuyler mumbled to Kittson. Schuyler was still a little intimidated by Kittson, even