The Orchestra {Complete}

6b: Totally Secret Agents

Samantha

"Can I help you with anything?"

Danni glared up at the shop attendant who was smiling at her politely before going back to flicking through the dress racks.

"We're doing fine, thanks," I answered for her. The woman nodded curtly before scurrying away.

"Can you just hurry up and pick something?" Danni groaned. "I feel like we've been here for hours. Being surrounded by so much glitter makes my skin itch."

"We've only been here for twenty minutes. I haven't even tried anything on yet," I replied as I examined a light blue dress.

Dani sighed and grabbed a dress from the rack at random. "Here, try this on."

I examined it and scrunched up my nose in distaste. It was bright green with a purple bow across the waist. "No thanks," I said as I hung it back up. "Green's not really my color."

"Of course not," she mumbled as she returned to her search. "What about this?" She tried again after a couple of moments. She held up a purple strapless gown with a silver jewelled belt. I pursued my lips in consideration.

"It is pretty cute," I admitted.

"Great," Danni exclaimed. "Buy it, then let's go get ice cream."

She started to strut towards the checkout desk, but I grabbed her by the arm. "Not yet, I have to try it on first."

"But... Mississippi mud..." She pouted. I swear she's as bad as a toddler sometimes.

"We'll go after," I promised. "I'll even buy."

"Fine," she said begrundgly and trudged along side me to the fitting rooms. She took a seat on one of the benches and pulled out her phone while I ducked into a stall.

After pulling on the dress I paused for a moment to examine it in the mirror. It fit well, and the color looked good with my dark brown hair. I decided to ask Danni her opinion. As soon as I opened the door she pushed her way in and shut the door behind her.

"What the hell are you umph-" She slapped her hand over my mouth. I gave her an incredulous look but all she did was put her finger to her lips.

"Listen," she whispered. I rolled my eyes, but out of curiosity did as she said. I heard some girls giggling a couple doors down.

"What do you think of this dress?" One of them asked. The voice sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place it.

"It looks great," the other girl replied. My eyes widened as I recognized her as Charlotte. "How about this?" Charlotte asked, presumably showing off the dress she was trying on.

"I love it," the other girl replied. "Cole will definitely approve." Me and Danni looked at each other and at the same time mouthed 'Called it.' "I'm still jealous you're going with him," the girl continued. "He's so adorable. He's like a puppy."

"Yeah, he's alright I guess," Charlotte replied with less enthusiam.

"Just 'alright'? Have you seen those dimples? They are more than just 'alright'."

"I know," Charlotte agreed. "But I don't really feel much of a spark with him. I guess he's just... not my type."

"Cute and sweet isn't your type?" There was a pause before the girl continued, "I guess that leaves more for me. But if you really don't like him that much then why'd you agree to go with him?"

"I don't know. He's so innocent, I didn't want to crush him," Charlotte replied.

"I hear ya," the other girl replied. "If your interested I'd be happy to trade dates. You can have Tommy. He's the opposite cute and sweet."

Charlotte chuckled. "Oh come on Gwen, you know you love him."

"Yeah, I do," the girl named Gwen replied. "Come on, let's buy these and get out of here. I could use a sugar fix right about now."

Danni and I waited for a moment to make sure they were gone before exiting the fitting room. "Well it looks like operation Charle has come to a close," I said.

Danni looked at me incredulously. "Are you kidding? It's only just begun."

"Didn't you hear Charlotte? She said she's not interested in him."

"Maybe now, but they're still going to homecoming together," she reminded me. "Just imagine, a slow song comes on, he asks her to dance, they're swaying to 'The Rhythm of Love', the mood feels right, he leans in and bam! Sparks fly. And you'll be there to witness it and tell me."

I rolled my eyes. "For someone who's never been in a relationship you have quite the concept of romance."

Danni shrugged. "I read a lot. But I guarantee you they'll be walking out of there hand in hand."

I scoffed. "Yeah right. After what we just heard there's no way. Poor Cole is going to have to learn about heartbreak the hard way."

"You wanna bet?" Danni taunted.

"Damn right I do. Loser buys the other ice cream. Deal?"

"Deal," she agreed, and we shook on it. "Mississippi Mud here I come."

~~

Danni's mom dropped me off back at my dad's house. After trying out a few other dresses, much to Danni's annoyance, I wound up getting the purple one. I still needed to get a pair of shoes, but if Danni had been forced to spend anymore time in that store she would have snapped, so I decided I'd go back later with my mom.

As soon as I walked in the door I could smell my grandma's chili cooking on the stove. I draped my dress over a dining room chair before walking into the kitchen. Grandma was rifling through the spice cabinet when I entered. "It smells good," I commented, referring to her cooking.

"I hope it tastes good," she replied. "I can't seem to find the garlic salt. I swear, one of these days I'm going to force your father to organize this place.

I poured myself a glass of brown stuff (Danni's name for peach tea) and had a seat at the counter.

"How was dress shopping?"

"Good," I answered. "I managed to find something. And it was on sale."

"You'll have to model it for me later."

My grandma had been taking care of us ever since my parents got divorced when I was 5. She and my grandpa moved here from Goshen, Indiana to help my dad raise me and my sister. When my grandpa passed away a few years ago, we all moved in to one house to make things easier on all of us. My parents have joint custody, so we spend half our time here and half our time at our mom's.

Sometimes I'm jealous of Danni and her simple life. It must be nice to be an only child and not have to constantly go back and forth between two houses.

"Where's Dad?" I asked.

"Still working. He called a little bit ago to say he'd be home at 7." I glanced at the clock. It was 7:08.

I sighed. This was pretty typical. Since my parents are split they both have to work full time jobs. My dad's job requires lots of late nights and traveling. My mom works retail, so she has unusual hours and often works weekends. I understand why they do it, but sometimes I wish they were around more often.

"What about Heather?"

"She's in her room."

The front door opened and I heard the heavy footsteps that announced my father had arrived.

"Is that your homecoming dress?" He asked when he entered the room instead of issuing a normal greeting. I nodded. "Who are you going with again? Some dude named Chip?"

I rolled my eyes. We'd been over this at least three times. "No. I'm going alone."

"Hm. Well make sure you're safe. And if there's drinking let me know so I can come join you."

I sighed and stood up, not wanting to have this conversation for the fifth time. "Let me know when dinner's ready." I grabbed my dress and headed to my room.

I don't even want to go to this stupid dance now.