Becoming Beautiful (Wattys2014)

| Chapter 21 |

Chapter 21

On Friday, I woke up determined. Noah didn’t come to gym class on Friday. These past few days, he attended class but he didn’t even look in my direction; it was just like things were before Marissa and I became friends. It hurt me how he simply dropped me from his life as if I didn’t matter and I bet I didn’t. Maybe he wasn’t kidding all those times when he told me that we weren’t friends. Did he ever think we were friends or did he just say it so I would shut up? I quit thinking insecurely and started thinking about Marissa’s party. I’d get to see Floyd again, so that’s a plus, even if I won’t be able to make Noah dance with me like I planned.

Now that I have my car back, since my aunt left on Wednesday (after she promised to come back this summer), I can go anywhere. Well, not anywhere but I can go where I want to with permission from my mother. After school, I attended the mural meeting, which is what I’ve decided to call it, and we chose a sketch hat we’re going to paint. It was drawn by one of my old tablemates, Elizabeth, and it was of a lion lying down with his head raised high.

We all took parts. A boy named James, who I had a long conversation with about music and authors, decided to be co-captain of this project along with Mr. Komodo. A few girls begged to be able to paint the lions mane and everyone else chose body parts. I offered to paint the face and everyone said that I could, so that’s what I’m contributing, I guess. We had Elizabeth use a special pencil to outline the lion on the wall. We worked for an hour on painting our portions of the lion. I painted some of his face, avoiding the eyes, mouth, and nose for right now. I just needed to get the color of his fur up there so it’ll blend in with the body. When we were dismissed, I thankfully exited the cafeteria.

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On Saturday, because Marissa was busy getting herself ready and making sure that everything was set up for the party, I decided to get ready myself. After all, Marissa taught me everything I know- which is a bit. After showering, I dried and curled my hair, which came out nicely if I do say so myself. I then put on my makeup which wasn’t much. In fear of messing up and having to remove it, which looks horrible (eyeliner and mascara specifically), I went easy on it. Even though I spent a good amount of time putting on my makeup and getting ready, I spent a lot of it dancing around and singing to the music playing. My mother came into my room a few times to yell at me to keep it down.

Once I was finished, I looked at myself in the mirror and nodded. Not bad. After getting into my flats, I glanced at my phone and nodded in approval. It only took me two hours, only an hour if you don’t count doing my hair. Having twenty minutes to spare, I decided to go to the kitchen for some soda. I walked down the steps, earning a whistle from my mom. “You look gorgeous, honey. Is Noah your date?”

I pursed my lips as I looked down at the floor, shaking my head. “We aren’t really friends at the moment,” I told her.

“What?” my mother asked, the teasing tone dropping from her voice.

“He said he didn’t want to be my friend anymore,” I shrugged.

“Well, why?” she asked and I shrugged again in response.

“I don’t know; he wouldn’t give me a real answer,” I told her. 

She frowned. “Well, what about that other boy? Floyd?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I’m not into Floyd.”

Grinning, she quirked an eyebrow. “So you were into Noah?” she asked.

“I thought we made that clear,” I told her as I poured myself some ginger ale.

“Maybe you should try and talk to him,” she told me, earning a snort in response.