1978, Chamberlain, Maine

Kelly Fruit Co.

June Third

Carrie bit into the burger. "Oh my..."

"I can't believe you haven't had one of these before." Tommy laughed, but stopped himself. He remembered what Sue said. Even if it's not mean-like, don't laugh at her.

"I didn't know what I was missing!" She grinned. The ketchup dripped down her mouth, baiting Tommy to wipe it off. It still dripped. Like blood. The blood still dripped in Carrie's mind. Her smile faded.

"I found out that Chris stuffed the ballot boxes." She said. "She wanted that blood to fall on us."

"Well, maybe... but- it didn't happen. She didn't win, right?" Tommy asked. "Someone out there is looking out for you."

"God?"

"Well uh..." Tommy started to stammer. He wasn't good at religion. He never was. "Maybe. Maybe it's God, maybe it's someone else. Point is, someone out there wants you to be happy, Carrie."

It worked. Carrie smiled, adjusting her crown. She still wore it on her head. Tommy had decided to turn his in at the end of the night, but Carrie wanted to keep hers. A memory of a perfect night. Of how Chris didn't win. Of something other than the drip-drip-dripping of blood on the stage.

"Hey." Tommy said. "Don't think about that right now. Right now, it's just me and you." He said.

"And me."

Both of the looked town the row of tables. Susan Snell was sitting alone, drinking a smoothie. "Carrie, were you voted Prom Queen?"

"Y-yeah." She stared into her lap nervously. Sue's mind filled with a mess of emotions, joy, pride, happiness, jealousy; they swam like fish in a bowl. But she remembered. She gave this to Carrie, she had no one to blame but herself. So she didn't blame anyone.

"C-Carrie, that's awesome!" She said, a grin covering her face. "And your dress... where did you get it?"

"I made it." Carrie smiled. Just like at the prom, she was starting to warm up to the others.

"Seriously? That's so cool!" Without really thinking, Sue sat beside Carrie. For some unexplained reason, they didn't feel awkward at all. "Think you could make something for me?" She asked.

"Oh, I don't know what kind of clothes you like, so-"

"I can show you, if you want."

"Okay... well, sure!" Carrie laughed nervously. "W-what size are you?" Carrie asked. "I mean, I know, I know that it-it's rude to ask, but-"

Sue laughed. "Oh, no, I get it. It's okay." She sighed. "But I am not saying it in front of Tommy."

Carrie messed with the hem of her dress, thinking. Sue shared the same thought. "We look like about the same size." Carrie was a little wider than Sue, but only a little. She was fairly well-built, if not the tiniest bit on the chubby side. "Maybe I could try on your dress as a starting point?" She asked.

"W-what would I wear?"

"My clothes...." She trailed off, confused. She had to remember that Carrie wasn't your average girl. She and Chris had often swapped clothes, even mid-day. But Carrie wasn't that type of person. She had to keep that in mind.

Meanwhile, Carrie was considering it. Sue's clothes were conservative by "normal girl" standards, but still too lewd for mama's standards. Then she remembered why she wanted to go to the prom in the first place. To be normal, just for one night. She wanted to be a whole person, accepted by others. She was already prom queen, she had been the center of attention at the prom, and for the first time in her life, it was in a good way. But would everything go back to normal on Monday? Maybe doing this, swapping clothes with Sue, maybe even making friends with her- would that make her normal?

"Why not?" She said. Sue was caught off guard.

"Oh! Okay then..." Sue stood back up. "Let's go to the bathroom."

That was the first night of Carrie's new life. One happy night, lead to a real friendship, lead to a normal life. But as happy as she was, swapping clothes with Sue in the bathroom, like a pair of real friends, somewhere in the back of Carrie's mind, The blood still drips.