Her Safe Haven

Chapter 44 - The Party

Previously on Her Safe Haven: Gray left for Las Vegas following his fight with Winter after her breakdown in St Louis. Winter went back to school and managed to distract herself with Lakeside Festival Preparation. On the other side of the story, Seth told Jonah that he had no chance with Winter because of Rohan, and Jonah thought it might be time to move on, after all, so he started going out with Helena. Kai was devastated at this so he prolonged his 'Friends with Benefits' arrangement with Riley. To refresh your memory on the "Love Polygon": Dylan -> Riley -> Kai -> Helena -> Jonah -> Winter <-> Rohan. An arrow symbolised romantic interest.

On the second week of the festival preparation, Lakeside High decided to throw a party to celebrate the cooperation of the student body committee of Lakeside and Dews High, consisting of more than three hundred people involved in the planning of the Lakeside Festival.

Being the rich school that they were, Lakeside High did not go halfway — they splurged and booked the biggest ballroom in the Four Seasons Hotel. That Saturday night, they decided to throw the ball of their students' lives.

Winter came in her long blue dress and white heels, and Rohan stared the moment his eyes saw her. Jake almost snorted at this, because Rohan never stared so blatantly at anyone before with his eyes in awe and his mouth wide like this, but after looking at Winter, Jake understood why.

Because he too, would stare at how beautiful and different Winter looked outside that too-big plain uniform of hers with a bit of make up and her hair curled up in a sideways pin.

"You look very pretty today..." Rohan murmured in her ear before he kissed her hand in greeting at the foot of the stairs to the hotel entrance.

She blushed and looked down at his compliment, her heart beating harder she had to hold on to his elbow not to lose her footing under his intense stare. 'Thank you,' she smiled and let him lead her up the stairs, waving her goodbye to a smirking Caleb sitting in his car.

The girls had prepared for the party together in Winter's house, because with the Homecoming cancelled this year due to their principal being "still in a bad mood" after the senior prank the previous year (what nonsense was that?), this was their first formal dance of the year, and the girls were excited to dress up and be pretty for the night.

But Helena's father booked a private make up artist for her, and last Riley heard, Helena would get ready alone with Jonah at her own place, so she wasn't there with them. When Riley brought up the topic, it was the first time Winter found out that there seemed to be something going on with Helena and Jonah.

She was surprised, and at first a little bit hurt that none of the two told her anything, but after the group received a picture from Helena of herself in a pretty white dress, smiling shyly with a grinning Jonah photobombing the picture behind her, Winter smiled and decided that, if the two were happy, she would be happy for them, too, despite the petty confusion she was feeling at the moment.

The girls then went on to choose their dresses.

Riley decided on a safe black short dress, with it being "more open" and, according to her, more suitable for the tomboy that she was. Though Winter suspected it might have less to do with Riley being a tomboy than a short dress being more... uh... accessible. (But Winter decided she couldn't really blame Kai if something did happen, anyway. Riley looked absolutely gorgeous.)

Tria, on the other hand, confident as she always was, decided on a striking half-cut red dress and a bright red lipstick. While Rose decided to go more conservatively in her sweet pink dress. Since Tria's boyfriend was in another school, Tria and Rose decided to go to the dance together, which Winter thought was cute.