Falling to Pieces

Chapter 9 - Flowers and Paint

----Edited Version----

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“Jess, will you go to the Ball with me tomorrow?” Landon handed me the red roses that were previously placed in his arms.

                 I stared back at him, completely slack jawed. Landon Castillo was asking me to the Ball on Saturday? How is this happening? “Uh,” I stuttered, still in shock. Was this a joke? I mean, what do I say? I briefly looked away from Landon and became aware of all the people that had their eyes glued to me, awaiting my answer. “Sure,” I said, giving him a small smile.

                 “Great!” Landon grinned, his lips slowly compressing as a moment of awkwardness settled in the atmosphere. “I’ll call you tonight? You know, to figure out the matching stuff?”

                 “Oh, yeah,” I nodded, realizing that I had only a few hours to find a dress. “I’ll talk to you then.”

                 He shrugged, “Alright then, see ya.”

                 The second he was out of sight, a voice shouted from behind me, “Someone’s got a date to Ball!”

                 I twirled around and grunted at the short, brown haired boy. “Shut up, Tyler!”

                 “Hey, you do!” Tyler stated enthusiastically.

                 “Jess, what just happened?” Chadd’s voice beamed from a small distance. I peered behind Tyler and noticed Chadd briskly walking towards to us—his eyes wide open and his eyebrows raised.

                 I plastered a confused expression onto my face. “Landon asked me to the Ball tomorrow?”

                 He lightly swatted my shoulder, “I know that, dummy; I just saw it happen. But what I’m wondering is what happened to Za—”

                 “Have you asked Caroline to the Ball yet?” I questioned abruptly. Phew, close call. I quickly glanced at Tyler, who didn’t seem to have caught what had just happened. It was evident from what happened on Monday that Zach hadn’t said anything to Tyler about our encounter. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him—it isn’t my place to tell him—especially this way.

                 “Uhm,” Chadd paused, attempting to read my expression, “Yeah, I asked her. It wasn’t as fancy as Landon’s though.” Chadd winked.

                 “Landon?” a familiar voice asked.

                 “Yeah, Landon asked Jess—” Chadd’s facial expression dropped as he gawked behind me. “Oh shit,” he whispered bringing his wide eyes back to mine.

                 I spun around, instantly finding myself face to face with Nicole, her lips puckered in a doubtful way. I studied her slowly angering face for no more than a second, quickly shooting my head back around as I passed Chadd a stressed expression. “You fix this one,” I muttered to him. “Tyler, let’s go.” I lightly yanked Tyler arm, pulling him the opposite direction of Nicole and the mess that was about to come.

                 We scurried out of the building in less than a minute due to my abnormally fast walking.

                 “Wow,” Tyler remarked as we made our way down the stairs, “What was that all about?”

                 I groaned. “Don’t ask; too complicated to explain. Let’s get you home, though, I have dress shopping to do apparently.” A frown emerged on my face, “I don’t even want to go.”