Little Dove | Daniel Hayward

15.

"It is brilliant. You organized such a cool do!" Aspen praises, looking around. "Nobody in London does this anymore. Good job, Lee."

"Lee?" I ask, making Aspen look at me. "Wow, you guys must be pretty close."

Leo avoids my eyes, but Aspen smiles brightly at me, "yes. We're childhood sweethearts after all."

"I'm Hayley. And you?" Hayley asks, trying to fake a smile.

"Hi!" Aspen says cheerfully. "I'm Aspen. So nice to meet you."

"Apsen and I pretty much grew up together," Leo says, looking down at the floor. "Uh, we've known each other since we were five, right?"

Aspen smiles dreamily and rests her head on Leo's shoulder, "My dad's a diplomat and our family moved to LA when I was in kindergarten. And it was a nightmare at first, but I met this guy. Do you known how many songs he's written for me?"

Hayley frowns. "No. How many?"

"Hundreds, maybe?" She responds with an arrogant smile. "Anyway, my lifelong dream was to study singing at the London Conservatory. So we decided to have an LDR."

"And LDR?" I ask curiously.

"Long distance relationship," she explains. "You know it's really ironic that it was me who suggested he apply to this school in the first place. Isn't that funny?"

"Hilarious," Hayley and I reply in sync.

I look back at Hayley then at Alex, who leaves the room. My gaze returns to Leo and Aspen, who are conversing hand in hand.

I scoff silently and walk over to Daniel, taking a seat beside him.

He gives me a half-hearted smile. "Hey."

"Hi," I respond. "Did you see that Aspen girl?"

He scoffs, "what a show off."

"Looks like you've got some competition," I say with a smile. He nudges me playfully, trying to hide his smile.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Aspen turned out to be a narcissist," I mutter, watching as she boasts about studying in London to anyone who'll listen.

"Aspen's a narcissist? I guess her and Leo are a match made in heaven," Daniel jokes, earning a laugh from me.

I see Hayley and Alex return. I turn to Daniel, "I'm gonna go check on Hayley. See you later."

"See you."

I walk over to Alex and Hayley and shoot Hayley a sympathetic smile. She rolls her eyes in return but stops midway and looks behind me.

I turn to see what she's looking at and notice Aspen walking into the stage.

"Hi, everyone," she says shyly. "This has been such a wonderful evening for me and I just feel that I want to give something back to all of you. I would like to sing for you this aria by Puccini which I. . . so fancy. This is for a special someone who opened my eyes up to a whole new world of music."

I cringe as she looks at Leo lovingly and begins to sing. To he fair, her voice was beautiful. Until she hits the high note.

Sophie walks up to the stage and shoos her off, then takes the microphone. "All right, Eagles, Ravens, it's time for our annual Halloween dance-off! Let's all get into a circle. We'll take turns dancing in pairs and the couple that gets the loudest applause wins!"

Everyone cheers as we gather into a circle. Alex and Sophie are the first to dance, then it's Tammy and some other guy. A few more couples dance and the dance-off finally ends.

Someone walks over to us with a pillow that holds a plastic crown and tiara.

"Okay guys, time has come. You all danced beautifully tonight. But I think you can all agree with me on this one that the prize goes to the most unexpected performance of the night," she says excitedly. "Max and Emma! You're our new king and queen. Congratulations!"

I cheer along with the rest of the students as Max and Emma walks forward to recieve their crowns.

Everyone walks onto the dance floor to slow dance but I step back and sit with Hayley and Jackie.

"Great party," Jackie announces sarcastically.

"I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins," I say lazily, laying back against the seat.

"Have you ever seen that Jim Carrey movie? You know, the artsy one?" Hayley asks.

Jackie shakes her head.

"Anyway, in that movie, there's an agency that erases memories. Especially ones that have to do with relationships," Hayley continues.

"Finally a movie I'd like to see," Jackie says. "I wouldn't mind erasing the past two hours."

"Forget the past two hours," I mumble. "I just want to erase Aspen's singing. I think my ears are infected."

Jackie and Hayley laugh humourously.

"Yo. What the hell do you think you're doing dancing with Brooke in front of everyone?" The sounds of Daniel's voice catches my attention. I look over at the food bar and see Daniel towering over Alex, with Brooke standing between.

Being the nosey person I am, I rush over to see what's happening.

"You're making a fool out of yourself," Brooke snaps.

"You know what? You ain't nothing but a liar anda cheat," Daniel replies carelessly.

"Hey, leave her alone," Alex says.

"Excuse me?" Daniel says before picking up a cake and throwing it at Alex. Luckily Alex ducks it in time, making it smash against the wall.

He knocks the food off the table and turns to Brooke, "you and me? We're done."

"Oh you took the words right out of my mouth," she spits as he storms off.

"Way to go man," Leo smirks. "That was impressive."

I grin at Alex and we both pick up a cake, smashing it onto Leo's face. "Now that's classic," we say in sync.

"What the bloody hell is going on-" Aspen is cut off by Jackie, who shoves a pie into her face.

I smile proudly at Jackie who gives me a lopsided grin in response.

Before all hell breaks loose, I leave the hall and return to the clubhouse with a satisfied grin on my face.

Daniel sits on the couch, grumbling to himself angrily. I walk over and take a seat beside him, "trouble in paradise?"

"Well, there's no paradise anymore," he sighs. "But I'm happy. Brooke and I were only together to please our parents and now that she's gone, there's nothing stopping me from getting what I truly want."

His chestnut eyes stare into mine softly as he leans forward. His eyes quickly flicked to my lips as he lays his hand on mine.

My stomach lurches and I feel like my heart will fall out of my chest. My breaths get heavier and my palms get sweaty.

Before we can get any closer to one another I look away, coughing awkwardly. Daniel looks away aswell, a soft chuckle escaping from his lips.

I give him a soft smile, then yawn. He throws his arm around me, allowing me to lean my head on his shoulder.

My eyes close as I let a dreamless sleep engulf me. Just as I drift off I feel a paid of lips kiss my forehead gently.

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