Being Popular 101

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

The week had come and gone much too quickly.

It was about an hour before the party that Anna had mentioned to me at the beach. I didn't want to go. Things between Tom and I were still pretty tense and I really didn't feel like socialising with a bunch of strangers.

Lucky for me this week everyone was really busy with school work so nobody noticed the distance between us. The situation hadn't gotten worse but it sure hadn't gotten any better. The most I had said to him in 6 days was "did you do the practice essay?" which he had replied to with a blunt "yes."

I didn't know how to make it better. Every time I got close to him, somehow he would manage to be talking to someone else or he would just pretend I wasn't there and walk off.

At the beginning of the week I had been patient but soon I had just gotten fed up with his nonsense. It was just getting rude now, and Tom wasn't the sort of boy who just flat out ignored people. What I said must have really hurt him.

I sat in a chair in our cramped bathroom, facing away from the mirror as Julia bustled around me doing my make-up. Tonight I had told her that she could do it however she liked to me, a decision I was now regretting.

I had grown so used to trying to blend into the crowd at high school and it was a whole new experience for me to try and stand out. From the amount of make-up she was caking on, I felt like I was going to resemble a clown.

I had my hair down in its loose natural curls, with a few strands pinned back from either side. I was wearing my tight black jeans, 6 inch, light brown ankle boots that Anna had lent me and a grey singlet with gold sequins around the neck.

I felt absolutely ridiculous! Who wears stuff like this to a party. But from the look of what the others were wearing I guess the answer was everyone.

Julia finally stepped away from me, happy with her work. I was scared to look in the mirror. But when I did, I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. Don't get me wrong I would never do this on myself but I was impressed with Julia's handy work.

I had dark smoky eyes with a hint of gold in the corners that matched my shirt and natural, pinky lips. Aside from the eyes everything else was quite natural, including the fine layer of foundation that hide the annoying freckles on the bridge of my nose.

I stumbled around the room, looking like a newborn giraffe, in my massive shoes that I could probably knock someone out with. I watched in awe as the other girls got ready in expert time, not needing any help like me. They were so well practiced, it made me feel ashamed of my lack of skills.

Eventually we were all as ready as we were every going to be and it was time to leave. Sophie had to practically drag my reluctant self from our dorm.

2 hallways down from the room that the party was in, we could already hear the music. Surprisingly I began to get excited, this was the first college party I had ever been too. As we round the corner we saw people all teeming in the hallway. They were all here for the party!

We made our way inside, with a lot of pushing and shoving, and finally got to a table where there were drinks. I took a cup, full of a dark brown mystory liquid. I noticed Julia and Sophie had already run off, leaving me and Anna by ourselves.

At first I thought all of the guys around us were staring at Anna, which was understandable, with here long brown hair and large blue eyes, but I soon realised that they were looking at me too. Their predatory gaze started to make me feel uncomfortable, so and sank back into the crowd and leaned against one of the back walls.