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PROLOGUE

Felicia Miller was crying in the bathrooain

I kneas her because in the three h, I’d already seen Felicia crying in the bathrooh and breathy like a little kid’s, even though Felicia was eighteen, two years older thanthat it was every girl’s right to cry in a public bathrooht, and there was so in formal wear Besides, I’d developed a soft spot for Felicia There was a girl just like her at every school I’d ever been to (nineteen and counting) And while I may have been a weirdo, people weren’t noredFor her, school had been nothing but a constant parade of stolen lunch money and nasty remarks

I peeked under the stall door and saw a pair of feet in strappy yellow sandals "Felicia?" I called, rapping softly on the door "What’s wrong?"

She opened the door and looked up at ? Well, let’s see, Sophie, it’s proht of my senior year and do you see a date anywhere near me?"

"Uht--"

"What?" she asked as she stood up and wiped her nose with a huge wad of toilet paper "Thatfor me?" She snorted

"Please I lied to ht me this dress"--she slapped at the yellow taffeta like it was a bug she was trying to kill--"and I told the me here, so they dropped me off

I justI couldn’t tell theet invited to my senior prom It would have broken their hearts" She rolled her eyes "How pathetic is that?"

"It’s not that pathetic," I said "Lots of girls colared at me "Do you have a date?"

I did have a date Sure, it was Ryan Hellerh less popular than I was, but it was still a date And my mom had been so excited that someone had askedan atte In was really i there in her yellow dress, wiping at her nose, and before I could stoptotally stupid: "I can help"

Felicia looked up at h puffy eyes "How?"

I looped o outside"

We yh the big double doors and out into the parking lot

"If this is some sort of prank, I have pepper spray inher little yellow clutch close to her chest

"Relax" I looked around tolot was deserted

Even though it was late April, there was still a chill in the air, and both of us shivered in our dresses "Okay," I said, turning back to her "If you could have anyone as your pro to torture me?" she asked

"Just answer the question"

Staring at her yellow shoes, she es?"

I wasn’t surprised SGA president, football captain, all-around hottieKevin Bridges was the guy alirl would pick to be her prom date

"Okay, then Kevin it is," Imy hands to the sky, I closed my eyes and pictured Felicia in Kevin’s arht yellow dress, hie, I started to feel a slight tre all the way up to my outspread hands My hair started to float froasp

When I opened e dark cloud irling, sparks of purplish light flashing inside of it I kept concentrating, and as I did, the cloud swirled faster until it was a perfect circle with a hole in the center

The Magic Doughnut, as I’d dubbed it the first time I’d created one on my twelfth birthday

Felicia cowered between two cars, her arms raised over her head But it was too late to stop

The hole in the center of the cloud filled with bright green light

Focusing on that light and the iers and watched as a bolt of green lightning shot out of the cloud and raced across the sky It disappeared behind some trees

The cloud vanished, and Felicia stood up on shaky legs "W-as that?" She turned to ?"

I shrugged, still feeling pleasantly buzzed by the power I’d just unleashed Magic drunk, Moo inside"

Ryan was hanging out by the punch table when I came back inside

"What was that about?" he asked, nodding toward Felicia She looked dazed as she stood on tiptoes, scanning the dance floor

"Oh, she just needed solass of punch

My heart was still racing, and

"Cool," Ryan said, bouncing his head in time with the music "Wanna dance?"

Before I could answer, Felicia ran up and grabbed my arm "He’s not even here," she said "Didn’t thatthat thing you did make him my prom date?"

"Shhh! Yes it did, but you’ll have to be patient As soon as Kevin gets here, he’ll find you, trust

Ryan and I were only halfway through our first dance when a huge crash echoed through the gym

There was a rapid succession of loud pops, al under the refreshment table I watched the punch bowl plu red liquid everywhere

But it wasn’t a gun that hadsounds; it was balloons

Hundreds of thee balloon arch swooping to the ground I watched as one white balloon escaped the carnage and rose into the rafters of the gym