The dress I picked out sat untouched on my bed. Midnight blue, just like Jayden once said was his favorite color. I had imagined this night a thousand times—walking into the school dance, his hand in mine, laughing under the dim lights.

But reality had other plans.

"Are you coming?" Maya's voice crackled through my phone. My best friend. The one person who always had my back. Or so I thought.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I don’t think so."

A pause. Then, hesitantly, "Lily, I didn’t plan this. It just happened."

I laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Oh? You didn’t plan to show up at the dance with Jayden? To be the one he picked instead of me?"

I could hear the guilt in her silence.

"You knew," I continued, my voice shaking. "You knew I liked him. I told you everything."

"I didn’t mean to hurt you," she whispered. "Please believe me."

But how could I?

I ended the call and stared at the dress one last time before shoving it into the back of my closet. My heart ached, not just for Jayden, but for the friendship I had lost, too.

I didn’t go to the dance that night.

Instead, I sat by my window, watching the stars, whispering promises to myself—one day, I'd find someone who chose me first. And when I did, I wouldn’t need a midnight blue dress to prove it.

She never got to tell Jayden how she felt, what do you think? 

Is Maya really to blame?