Fearless by Katy Grant Page B

just want to hang out with my friends tonight, okay?”
    Rob put his hand on my head before walking away. “Okay. See you later. Maybe I will go bother Madison.”
    I buried myself in the crowd so Ethan wouldn’t see me. Eventually Molly found me, and I told her what had happened. From where we were standing, I could see Kelly talking to Ethan at the refreshment table. Now Reb was over there too with the boy she’d been dancing with. My whole night was over.
    â€œYou should’ve listened to me! He probably gave up because he thought you were trying to avoid him!”
    â€œWhy would he think that?” I asked her in disbelief.
    â€œBecause, Jordan, I saw him try to walk up to you a couple of times, but you’d always run away!”
    â€œI wasn’t trying to avoid him! I was just . . . embarrassed.”
    â€œYou know that, and I know that, but how would he know that? Anyway, never mind. I’ll ask a boy for you. Just point out someone you like,” Molly told me.
    Why did everyone always think they had to help me get a boy to dance with me? Was I that pathetic?
    â€œNo!” I yelled.
    â€œFine. But you could still have fun if you’d just dance a few times at least.”
    The rest of the night was majorly horrible. Even though I tried not to, I couldn’t keep from watching Kelly and Ethan together. I’d always liked Kelly, and she had no way of knowing that Ethan and I knew each other from last year. But that didn’t make it any easier to see the two of them talking and smiling.
    A couple of times, it looked like a boy was about to ask me to dance. But I would walk away before he could get too close. I just wasn’t in the mood anymore. I knew I wouldn’t be any fun tonight.
    When the dance was over, I was ultra depressed. We left Camp Crockett’s dining hall and went outside toget into the vans and trucks that would take us back to Pine Haven. Molly and I barely talked at all.
    But once we got back to camp, we were walking up the hill together in the dark. “I have to talk to you about something,” she said suddenly.
    â€œIf you tell me another
Titanic
story, I’m going to jump overboard without a life vest,” I warned her.
    â€œOkay, I won’t. But I do want to say something to you.”
    I sighed out loud. “Go ahead.”
    â€œI just want to say this. I know you get scared sometimes, Jordan. Everybody does. But you let it get to you too much.”
    I didn’t say anything. Kelly, Reb, and Jennifer were walking up the hill ahead of us, laughing and talking. They’d all had a great night.
    â€œLook, I can understand you being afraid about learning to jump. You could fall off. You could get hurt. That makes sense. And you know, last night when we were doing the skit and you backed out of it? I can understand that, too. Lots of people are afraid of getting up in front of a group. I was a little nervous doing the skit too.”
    I tried to look at her, but I couldn’t see her face in the dark. “You were?”
    â€œYeah, I was. But I did it. And I really, really wish you’d done it. Because you would’ve been good at it.”
    â€œThanks,” I said. I was really wishing now that I’d done it too.
    â€œAnyway, I can understand you being afraid of stuff like that. But what happened to you tonight? You made talking to Ethan this huge, huge deal. And it wasn’t. You really wimped out. And it’s your own fault you didn’t dance one single time tonight.”
    â€œOh, thank you so much. This makes me feel so much better, hearing this from my
best friend
.”
    â€œYeah, I am your best friend. Which is why I have to be the one to tell you this. You let your fear get to you sometimes, Jordan. You blow things up in your mind and make them a lot worse than they really are. Sometimes you just have to face your fears.”
    â€œOh, really?” I said, ultra