Alice Adams

Alice endures an awkward dance with Frank Dowling, whose mother clearly disapproves of her and wants him to dance with 'better' girls like Mildred Palmer. When Frank explains his mother's preferences, Alice realizes she's become a consolation prize—someone he settles for when the popular girls' dance cards are full. The evening takes a painful turn when Alice spots Mildred with an attractive, wealthy man named Arthur Russell, who appears to be courting her. Alice feels an instant attraction to Russell and bitterly resents that Mildred, already blessed with everything, gets him too. What stings most is discovering that Mildred never mentioned this important relationship, revealing their friendship isn't as close as Alice believed. After Frank's domineering mother drags him away to dance with other girls, Alice finds herself alone. She must now perform one of the most humiliating acts required of young women in her position: the art of appearing to have an escort when you don't. She arranges chairs and adopts expressions to suggest someone wonderful will return any moment, that she's alone by choice, not abandonment. The chapter reveals Alice's tragic trajectory—she was once genuinely popular at sixteen, but now at twenty-two, she's desperately maintaining an illusion of desirability. Her performance is perfect because she's had two years to master it, learning this cruel skill as her real social standing crumbled around her.