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  "You're going to Cerebral Annaland on me."

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  "Yeah," she laughed. "I guess I am. I just want you to know, Ben, that you don't need to save me. I can save myself."

  The words made her feel stronger; and hearing herself say them, she knew they were true. She loved Ben. But she didn't need him to make her life okay.

  Ben stroked her hair. "Don't you get it? One of the reasons I love you is because I know you don't need sav-ing."

  She raised her lips to his and they shared a kiss. Ben had jumped to the wrong conclusions about Maddy and Jack, and she'd jumped to the wrong conclusions about Ben.

  Just as they were about to kiss again, a tall, skinny figure hollered for them to wait up. It was Marshall, Dee's escort from Ojai. His tux jacket and tie were gone, his shirt rumpled and half untucked from his pants. He had a tall lemonade mojito in hand--from the way he was walking, it clearly was not his first.

  "Please tell me you've seen Dee-ee." He made the name Dee into two syllables.

  "The answer's the same as it was the last two times you asked me, buddy," Ben replied. "No."

  Marshall had lost track of Dee at prom. Anna wasn't worried, because Dee had called Sam to say she was fine and with Jack--they'd be at Hermosa Beach by 3 A.M. Anna glanced at the luminous hands of her watch. Two forty-five. Anna suspected that Dee was learning how to save herself too.

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  "Marshall, may I make a suggestion?" she queried.

  "What?"

  "Relax. Have some fun. Dee won't let you down."

  "I'm fucked," Marshall moaned, then sucked a quarter of his mojito noisily through his straw. "How did this happen? How? I should call the hospital, but I'll lose my job." He wandered away up the beach--Anna saw him stop to question Skye, whose silver mesh dress seemed to dance in the reflected bonfire. His elongated silhouette looked forlorn in the night.

  They were getting some espresso minus the Kahlua a few minutes later back up at the patio when Ben and Anna spotted Sam and Parker on a blanket not far from the bonfire. Parker motioned that they should join them, so they strode through the sand and plopped down on their blanket.

  "How's it going, Miss Prom Queen?" Ben teased. He picked up a handful of sand and let it run through his fingers.

  "Oh, bite me," Sam grumbled as she cradled a lemonade mojito. "I did all this work to make a great documentary, and it turns out it's all for nothing."

  "How do you figure?" Ben asked.

  Sam raised her eyebrows. "If the prom queen makes a movie about prom, it's not called a documentary. It's called a fucking home movie ."

  "I don't think royalty is allowed to say 'fuck,' your highness," Parker offered. "Not even when she's had

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  three power mojitos. Speaking of which, I'm due for another."

  "Whatever," Sam sighed. "What's done is done. And my documentary is really, really done. My father always says that no good deed goes unpunished. I think he's right."

  Anna stretched out and dug her toes into the cool sand. "Actually, you gave people an amazing prom that they'll remember forever."

  Sam propped herself up on her elbows and took a sip of her drink. "Good. Nominate me for sainthood."

  "No, seriously, Sam. You're turned a near disaster into something really amazing."

  "Coffee, this time. More Kahlua, less caffeine." Sam slurped the last of her mojito and handed Parker the glass.

  "Your wish is my command, your prom queen royal highness." He rose, bowed to her, and padded off across the sand toward the bar table.

  Sam's gaze followed him. "You're right, Anna, I'm a total magician." She closed her left eye, made a fist with her right hand, then spread her fingers. "Poof! Did you see that? I just magically turned Parker into Eduardo."

  Anna smiled. "It's too bad that Eduardo couldn't have seen--"

  "Hi, you guys!" It was Dee, skittering across the sand toward them. "I'm so happy!"

  "Better be careful. Marshall's on the prowl for you," Ben warned. "Of course, last time I saw him he was down there getting loaded." He pointed toward the surf.

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  "Thanks for the heads up," Dee said. She wrapped her arms around herself. "I will remember this night forever . Prom night. The night Jack and I met."

  "Where is he?" Anna asked.

  "In front of the hotel," Dee replied. "I just didn't want you guys to worry."

  "Well, I'm worried anyway," Ben said. "Jack's a player."

  "Not with me," Dee insisted, eyes shining.

  Dee really did look happy. And sane. Anna smiled at her.

  "Do you think there is such a thing as soul mates?" Dee asked.

  Anna was touched. "It's definitely possible, Dee."

  Ben kept his eyes on Anna. "Even a player can decide to quit the game when the right girl comes along."

  "I love you guys so much," Dee breathed. She hugged them each in turn. "Where are Cammie and Adam?"

  "They left prom early," Sam told her with a wink "They'll either show up or not."

  Dee grinned. "I'm going to Jack's guesthouse with him. I'll call Marshall so he won't worry anymore."

  "What about the Ojai Institute?" Anna asked.

  "I don't know. Whatever happens, it's worth it. I love you guys!"

  "That's the most sane I've ever seen her," Ben remarked as Dee trotted away.

  "No kidding," Sam agreed. "It's kind of scary."

  Parker arrived with Sam's drink. "I saw Dee. Where's she going?"

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  "Off with Jack. They're soul mates," Sam filled in. She sipped her laced coffee. "Much better."

  Ben nuzzled Anna and whispered in her ear. "Dee and Jack are inspiring me. How about we find a more private spot?"

  He was reading her mind.

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  Your Promness

  "Last one to make a ring shot has to go skinny-dipping," Sam told Parker as they stood on the patio about twenty feet from an upended buffet table. She'd tucked the bottom of her gown into the waist of her boy-cut black lace La Perla panties. Her prom crown was in one hand, yet another mojito--she'd switched back again--was in the other. As the night had gone on, she'd found herself more and more depressed, both over her ruined documentary and at being with Parker instead of Eduardo. Her boyfriend would have found a way to make everything okay. But he was in Mexico, probably with that hot Pilar bitch--

  Stop, she ordered herself. Just stop.

  She bent her wrist and curled the rhinestone tiara toward her, then flung it like a Frisbee, trying to ring it on one the table legs. No dice. She overshot by five feet, losing her balance in the process.

  "Steady there, your promness," Parker advised, then went to retrieve the now-battered crown.

  Sam stared into the night. She and Parker were alone.

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  Ben and Anna had taken off down the beach. Cammie and Adam hadn't shown up--she knew exactly what they had to be doing. Krishna and Damian had come back for drinks about fifteen minutes ago and then had decided to take a walk into town with Ashleigh so that they could buy a razor and give Damian an impromptu Mohawk. For some ungodly reason, Skye had joined up with Marshall in the search for Dee--a search that Sam knew would be completely futile. Maybe Dee had called Marshall by now. Maybe not. As for Pilar--

  Geez . She really was wrecked. The imaginary Spanish chick didn't really exist, except in Sam's paranoid imagination.That doesn't mean Eduardo isn't with some other, equally bodacious babe, the demon voice in her head whispered. Some version of Parker's earlier words to her came roaring back.

  Not enough to skip some stupid party in Mexico. "If I really wanted to be with you ..."

  "Does your worshipfulness wish to take another shot?" Parker knelt in the sand and handed her back her crown, plus a drink he'd made.

  "Since we're such good buds, you may call me simply 'your royalness,'" Sam decreed. "Because I am prom queen. Me ." She took a sip of what Parker had poured for her. "Jameson. Good choi
ce."

  Parker patted the crown on her head. "Enjoy it."

  "Screw it." Sam tossed her tiara away. "I'm abdicating. What good is a queen if her king doesn't attend the

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  coronation?" She pointed at the night sky. "I hereby command you to make Eduardo appear!"

  No shocker. Nothing happened.

  "His loss," Parker declared.

  "Whose?"

  "God or Eduardo, your heavenliness. Take your pick."

  Sam giggled. Had Parker always been this funny? Or did she just think he was funny because she was so fucked up?

  She put her face two inches from his. "When I do this, it looks like you have one giant eye in the middle of your forehead."

  "I do have one giant eye in the middle of my forehead. Excuse me." Parker strode out onto the beach, retrieved Sam's crown, and then deposited it around one of the upturned table legs. "Tada! I win! You pick who skinny-dips."

  Skinny-dipping. She'd felt so free in Mexico that she'd swum bareass in the Pacific with Anna. It wasn't until the next day that she found out Eduardo had seen her from a boat, and that he he'd loved what he's seen. She looked around. No Eduardo. So she boomed at Parker: "I command you to partake of the sacred waters of the Pacific!"

  "Absolutely, your wastedness." Parker started to fumble with the buttons on his tux shirt.

  "Stop," Sam ordered.

  "How come?"

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  "First, the ceremonial kiss from the queen."

  "Yes, your highness."

  Sam giggled again, then stepped drunkenly toward Parker, who had closed his eyes. She kissed him. Then she kissed him again. It was friendly, that's all. Well, maybe a little more than friendly, but not much....

  "Samantha?"

  Oh God. She knew that sexy, slightly accented voice. It belonged to Eduardo. But it couldn't be real, because Eduardo was in--

  " Samantha !"

  Sam pushed Parker to one side so she could prove to herself that she was having auditory hallucinations.

  Nothing phantasmagorical was involved. Eduardo stood not five feet from them, in jeans, a white T-shirt, and an open light blue shirt.

  "I left the party in Mexico to surprise you." His voice was hard and cold. "But I am the one who is surprised."

  Parker tried to go to Sam's defense. "Hey, man, this isn't what it looked like. It's prom night, Sam was missing you--"

  "Shut up before I feed you your teeth," Eduardo seethed.

  "But--it isn't fair. You should have told me you were coming." She knew that was a weak effort, but she was too mortified by her own behavior to think of anything else to say. Mortified and drunk.

  Eduardo's eyes narrowed. "Why? So you could pretend to be the girl I thought you were?"

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  Fear clutched Sam's stomach. "I am that girl! This was stupid, I know. I was just lonely and missing you and we were goofing around and--"

  "Save it, Samantha," Eduardo spat, "for someone who gives a damn."

  He turned and headed back toward the hotel parking lot. Sam stumbled after him. "Eduardo, wait, please. Please !"

  He didn't turn stop; Sam was too wasted to catch up with him. All she could do was watch him disappear around the corner of the hotel. She felt bereft, lost, alone. How had this have happened? How ?

  Parker came up next to her and put a supportive arm around her shoulders. "What's with that guy? He just loves to show up unannounced."

  "Go to hell, Parker."

  "Relax, Sam. Talk to him tomorrow. It'll be okay."

  Funny, five minutes ago he'd been as wasted as she was, but now he sounded perfectly sober. Had he really been so drunk in the first place, or had he only been pretending to be drunk so that she would be tempted to kiss him?

  "You got drunk and you kissed me," Parker went on. "Nothing else happened. It's prom night , for God's sake. What's the big deal?"

  Sadness washed over her. She was megarich and semi-famous. She could get anything, go anywhere, meet anyone she wanted, but what she couldn't get was a do-over of the moment her first true love had found her kissing someone else.

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  "The big deal, Parker," she replied calmly, with all the dignity and sobriety she could muster, "is that you don't give a shit about me, but Eduardo does. He really, truly does."

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  Who Says Romance is Dead?Anna and Ben walked with their arms around each other, heading away from the bonfire until its faint light was far off in the distance. They were about to spread out their beach blanket when Anna nearly tripped over something. At first she thought it was a rock. But then it groaned. A someone. She peered closely at it. Two someones.

  Skye. Her shimmery silver dress was near her waist, revealing an equally shimmery silver G-string. She was entwined in the gangly limbs of none other than Marshall.

  "Sorry!" Anna half-gasped, astonished to see that the mental-health chaperone was a closet party animal. "We didn't see you."

  Skye lifted her head from Marshall's shoulder long enough to peer up at Anna and Ben. "Marshall is helping me get over Damian."

  Marshall shrugged. "What the hell. I already lost my job."

  "If you can't be with the one you love... ," Skye slurred. "However that thing goes."

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  "Love the one you're with?" Ben filled in helpfully.

  "Yeah, whatever." She put her head back in the crook of Marshall's arm.

  "Okay, well..." Anna had no idea what to say; it was everything she could do to keep from giggling.

  "Party on," Ben suggested, peering down at them.

  He pulled her away from the macking couple, and they managed to walk down the beach another hundred yards or so. Then they couldn't help themselves; they burst out laughing ... before spreading their own blanket on the sand and giving themselves over to the moment.

  At a guesthouse on Twenty-fifth Avenue in Santa Monica, Dee slept wrapped in Jack's arms. Meanwhile, he thanked whatever gods had led him to this moment and this girl. She stirred; Jack pressed her closer.

  "Everything is okay," he whispered, kissing her hair. "Go back to sleep."

  He couldn't say for sure that they wouldn't both wake up in the morning and give each other that who-are-you-and-what-the-hell-did-I-do? look. It had happened to him so many times; the wow-I-had-no-idea-it-was-so-late while pulling on his jeans, followed by the hey- I'll-call-you lie as he stuffed his wallet into his back pocket and made a hasty retreat.

  Maybe that would happen. Maybe it wouldn't. But this feeling, this moment, had never happened to him before: He wanted to hold Dee forever. He kissed her forehead.

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  Shit . Maybe this was what love felt like.After Eduardo coldly stormed away, Sam downed three cups of bitter black coffee and then took her returning lucidity and bitch of a headache to a large craggy rock by the ocean, just to think. She wasn't big on religion, but she found herself proffering deals to whatever god was in charge of these things: If he would only forgive her, she'd never be mean or petty again. She really would become the girl Eduardo thought she was, instead of the self-centered bitch she often allowed herself to be.

  She raised her knees to her chest and encircled them with her arms, breathing in the salt air. Her perch was surrounded by the Pacific, and the constant lapping of ocean against the stone was somehow soothing. A plan. She needed a plan. What was the best way to apologize? She had to figure out how to--

  "Hey, Sam."

  Cammie. Dressed way down in Earl jeans and a pink paisley Imitation of Christ T-shirt; she held a large envelope in her hands.

  "Have a pleasant evening?" Sam mustered all the energy she could just to ask the question. It wasn't much. She'd been sitting on the rock for a long time and hadn't even had enough will to check her watch.

  Cammie didn't reply; she just motioned at the rock with a gesture that Sam interpreted by scooching to one side so her friend could settle in.

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  "Could you find any
place more uncomfortable to sit?"

  "My ass has more padding than yours does. So, you and Adam took off early in a moment of passion? That's lasted until now?"

  Cammie shook her head. "Not exactly. It's been a strange night."

  "Tell me about it." Sam shook her head sadly. "Where's Adam?"

  "Home. I'm alone."

  Okay, that was strange. Normally, Sam would have pressed her, but she had other things on her mind. "Guess what? You missed Eduardo. He showed up to surprise me."

  "Really," Cammie replied. Her voice was uncharacteristically flat.

  "He caught me kissing Parker because ... I don't know. I was drunk."

  Cammie gave the smallest of shrugs. "Shit happens."

  Sam bristled. "Oh well. Thank you so much for all your love and support in my hour of need."

  "Funny, isn't it," Cammie mused, "how something can feel like the biggest thing in the world, but then in an instant, everything can change?"

  "What can be bigger than that? I just lost Eduardo--"

  "I've got bigger." She fingered the large envelope in her lap.

  "What are you talking about?"

  Cammie pressed her lips together. "Okay, I don't

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  know any way to say this but to say it. It's about my mother. She didn't kill herself. I'm sure of it."

  Sam put a hand to her forehead. Mental rewind. What did Cammie's mom have to do with anything?

  "What are you talking about?"

  Cammie tapped the envelope. "What's in here. I'd tell you to read it but it's too dark. Besides, no one in Hollywood reads, so I'll give you the coverage. Your mother was doing my father a long time ago."

  " What ? And what does that line of total bullshit have to do with any of the other bullshit that happened tonight?"

  "Forget tonight, okay?" Cammie begged. "Can you just do that for one goddamn minute?"

  Sam was shocked into silence. Cammie never begged.

  "Okay," Sam agreed cautiously, though she was skeptical. "My mother. Your father. Way back when. Prove it."

  Cammie hoisted the envelope. "In here is the police report about my mom's death. The papers were sealed, but Adam's parents got a hold of them...." She stopped, then started again. "It's pretty goddamn clear. The night my mother died, your mother was with her. She got picked up at the Carpinteria marina and dropped off there later. Your mom told the cops she did my father on the boat."