Chemistry

Chapter 34: Homecoming

"You know he's right, right?" Kendra asked flipping through the channels of her television.

"Yeah," Tiara whined clutching Kendra's turquoise pillow closer to her chest. "But it's so hard."

"What's hard?" Kendra asked. Her eyes stayed glued to the screen.

"This! I already told him that we should just be friends. And every time he sees me around Daniel, I give off hints."

"Stop with the hints. He's obviously not getting them," Kendra demanded.

"And that's my problem?"

"It is now," Kendra bluntly stated. Tiara sucked her teeth. She never meant for any of this to happen. But she did and she had to own up to it. "All you gotta do, is cut Brandon off."

"We can't even be friends?"

Kendra shook her head. "Not right now at least. You guys are too deep in water. The feelings haven't gone away yet and if you continue to go on like this, it's just gonna end up as a hot mess."

Tiara threw her back against the headboard of Kendra's bed. Everyone's been telling her what she should've already known. "What about the dance tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah," Kendra murmured letting her shoulders fall. "It's too late to drop out of the homecoming court, isn't it?" Tiara nodded a sad nod. Not that she wanted to drop out. She wanted to win. To actually be somebody before she graduates. "Well," Kendra started. "I say just go to the dance with Brandon, and then after that, end all connections."

Tiara pondered on the plan for awhile. "Is that even right?"

Once Kendra got to a decent show, she laid back on her bed and prepared to watch. "What isn't right is ditching the boy the day of the dance. That's kinda f*cked up if you ask me. But what also isn't right, is leaving Daniel to dance by himself." Kendra realized that the two situations were contradicting, so she could understand how Tiara was feeling stuck. "At the end of the day, it's your life, your decisions. If it's in your power, try to make the right ones."

* * *

The last time Brandon and Tiara had spoken to each other since Monday afternoon was last night. Which wasn't unusual anyway since the last time they texted was before Tiara told him they should just be friends. He had texted her while she was staying over Kendra's to ask her what color her dress was. He never texted back after she told him.

Friday morning, Tiara decided to stay out of school to be pampered for the dance, as well as about half of the student body.

She sat in the chair of a hair salon getting her hair done at around 11:00 that morning. She winced in pain every time the lady accidentally stabbed her scalp with the needle. It was he first sew in. She wasn't prepared for so many accidents.

To distract herself from the tightness of her scalp and the pain of the needles, she pulled out her cell phone. She was shocked to find out that her campaign posters had been retweeting around the twittersphere since she went to bed last night. And it was the first thing that popped up on her timeline. Seconds later, her timeline refreshed itself, and her picture was below none other than Kaylee's campaign picture. She rolled her eyes at the sight.

It was obvious that the true race was between Kaylee and Tiara. Everyone knew it. Even the other two girls running for the position knew it. But that didn't stop them from posting campaign ads. They were just never seen because no one retweeted or reposted them.

The schedule for today was a hectic one. Hair appointment first, then an eyebrow arching, a nail appointment immediately after, and then finally a shower before getting dressed for the dance.