Where's Casper?

The ball

*Casper's POV*

I wish I were dead, spinning around the ballroom with Caspar, pretending to be a couple. I hate him so much right now!

Jacks is here, too, and I just found out he has two girlfriends. They're really pretty, one having rose-gold hair and big, silver eyes, and the other one honey blonde hair and hazel eyes, and I think I might be jealous. If I were as pretty as them, maybe I would've wanted to be a girl instead of a boy.

I step on Caspar's foot, and he smiles. He clearly isn't ok. If he would've been, he would've at least frowned a little bit. His face is annoying me, and I think I will never look in a mirror the same way again, knowing I resemble him.

The melody switches into a much harder one, and I'm already tired of dancing. I can't do it. I've only had one dance lesson, and I took it when I was six. After that, the dance professor got out of the room, swearing to never come back to assist such a disgraceful human being. Ever. I may have stepped on his foot intentionally once... or twice... or four times. Anyway, I really didn't want to take that damn dance lesson.

"I always take my girlfriends to balls with me." Jacks brags, holding one with his right hand and one with his left. "They don't have any problem with me having two."

Yes, they don't have any problem because when I went to the bathroom I saw the two of them kissing while he wasn't there. I know they are doing this because they want to take his money, but I can't say it matters to me. Anyone who wants to hurt Caspar or Jacks is my best friend.

Right now, I'm all alone, sitting in a corner at a table. Caspar left with one of his "friends," who is a tall, olive skined boy named Apollo who looks about 21 and is the host of this ball. I don't know what is going to happen to me, but I heard Apollo is the crown prince of the North and is going to change some laws, allowing distant cousins to get married. Honestly, I couldn't care less.

I notice a girl who is also standing there alone. She's pretty. Incredibly pretty. I've said "pretty" too many times in this chapter, I know, but there's no way of describing the girls in the ballroom. She has rich, brown skin, and her arms are tattooed with dragon scales. I might say hello.

"Too much agitation around Apollo, right?" I ask her, stuffing a whole cupcake in my mouth. It's disgraceful, but it'd be worse if I walked around with whipped cream on my face the whole night.

"Yeah, I know." She answers, glancing at me, surprised. "I'm Ariel, but friends call me LaLa. You and I seem to be the only ones around here who noticed it."

"Casper." I shake her hand. "You're really pretty, you know?"

She smiles, blowing her hair out of her face. Tonight, like many other nights that will follow, it's Nocte Neverending, where Apollo will choose a queen, but she doesn't seem interested in becoming one.

"You're joking. You're the prettiest girl in this whole room, and you're here with the most wanted guy! He told everyone you're with him."

"I'm sorry, but I think you got it wrong. Caspar is my cousin, and I think he's far from being the most wanted."

"I'm not talking about Caspar. I'm talking about Dante."