Raven's DarkNess | ✔

Chapter Twenty Three

Oh, who was I kidding? I sighed loudly as I watched him laughing with his friends. He had so many friends and they were all so beautiful. All so perfect. He was also really gorgeous. Maybe if I had boobs then he would notice me? Or an ass? or clear skin and perfect teeth? I sighed harder. Even the moon couldn't work any miracles on my physical appearance. I had pretty hair but it was really hard to manage so I always had to keep it tied in some way.

I kept solving my homework and almost didn't notice when someone sat next to me. When I looked up, it was a girl from my Chemistry class - Yvie. She smiled at me.

"Hi, Rochelle!" She greeted, her perfectly white teeth shining like in toothpaste and flossing commercials.

"Hi," I responded awkwardly, wondering why Yvie Trevors of all people were talking to me. She was really pretty too. Her red hair fell in ringlets across her forehead and the rest of her hair was held in a bun.

"So I know that we've never spoken before but I came here to invite you to a party," Yvie slipped an envelope into my hands and her black nail polish was shining. I stared down at my chipped nails, cursing myself for still being unable to give up my bad habit of nail-biting. "My cousin's in town for the weekend and he apparently saw you somewhere and wants to meet you,"

"Your cousin?" I questioned, wondering who he was and if I knew him.

"Yeah, so just come, okay? It's at 9 pm. The address in on the card," Yvie stood up and brushed invisible dust off of her school uniform then started to walk away. Suddenly, she turned midway and called out to me, "wear something hot, Rochelle. It's gonna be an unforgettable night!"

***

When I walked into the party, I pulled my dress lower. Although it stopped a little above my knees, the weird glances I had gotten from everyone since I stepped in here made me feel self-conscious.

After I told Carrie that Yvie had invited me to a party, she told me not to go. She didn't like Yvie and said that the parties which were thrown by the crowd Yvie ran with weren't child friendly. I asked her if she wanted to come but she refused, stating that she had a debate coming up and had to prepare for that. When I asked her to lend me a dress because all I owned were pants and skirts that made me look and feel like a little girl, she sighed loudly in protest. But I wanted to come to this party. I wanted to know what it felt like to just have fun for once instead of studying or thinking about studying or planning how to study.

My dad stopped my music lessons and took my harp away because I didn't get into the first star school. According to him, I was very distracted lately but I wasn't. My room was reduced to a prison and for once, I just wanted to breathe. And now was the perfect time to breathe. My dad was out of town until Monday and my mom was in the hospital undergoing a knee replacement surgery after she had an unfortunate accident at work.

In essence, I was home alone and this party just happened to coincide with the one time I was free enough to be outside of my home past 7pm. Also, a part of me hoped that I would find Robin here. Maybe I would finally summon the courage to talk to him and ask him if we could be friends or something?

"Rochelle!" Yvie called out to me, her red dress as fiery as her hair as she weaved her way through dancing people to find me. She hugged me when she caught up to me, kissing my cheeks three times, a tradition of this pack's high society. She held a glass in her hands with something I knew was not juice inside it. "I really didn't think you would come! You look so cute!"

I smiled awkwardly when she said that. I was wearing a loose-fitting sea-green dress that wrapped around my bodice but was fled the base. The sleeves stopped midway between my shoulders and my elbows. It was a basic dress but not as kiddish as anything I owned. I also let my hair down for the day and held it back with pins. It stopped above my non-existent hips. I still wore my glasses because my father was against contact lenses but I really wanted them. I thought they would look better than huge glasses. My wedges clanked against the marbled floors as Yvie pulled me.