Put Up Or Shut Up

The Party Scene

(Here's to the fast times; the times we felt alive; to all the nights that we forgot to get back home.)

It was only a few days 'til Easter break, but we were all sick of school and wished the holidays were starting early because all the teachers were telling us to start our revision for finals week. We all groaned unanimously as Mr Hendrick talked about it in our final assembly of the half term, telling us how important these exams were and how it could 'ruin our future' if we didn't study hard for them. I rolled my eyes, resting my head on Alex's shoulder as he droned on about achievements and failures of Dulany as Jack toyed with an elastic band and I could see in his eyes he wanted to use it to catapult something at our head to stop his boring speeches. When he finally finished, Sofia Sharp got onstage with all the other cheerleaders, including Kara to talk about the final football game the Dulany Lions were playing this season tonight and that we should all come to support our team and be proud using a cheesy song and dance routine. We all rolled our eyes as Rian looked up at Kara smiling, and enthusiastically cheering when they finished.

Before coming to sit with us at lunch, Kara was speaking with Sofia over at the cheerleader's table, every so often they would both look over to us and Kara would nod her head, and when they finished their conversation they blew each other air kisses, making me groan. "Ugh, WHY do girls have to be so....girly." I said, shuddering at the idea of me being a cheerleader and liking the colour pink a little too much. The guys laughed before Jack added "Girls are meant to be girly Jen, you are one of the rare exceptions that doesn't like fluffy bunnies and all that shit. That's probably one of the reasons Alex likes you so much, you aren't high maintenance." He said, gesturing at Rian who glared and threw some fries at him before Kara sat down and kissed Rian on the cheek. "He cutey." She said, making his go all red as we laughed. "So, Sofia was telling me about the awesome house party she's having after the game tonight, and she wants us all to come. I asked about Zack and Matt, and she said they're okay to come too, so you guys up for going?" She asked, looking over at Alex and I more than the others. The table was silent for a few moments before I nodded, smiling at her and taking Alex's hand under the table. "Sure, it sounds like it could be fun." A smile grew across her face and she clapped her hands together "Yay! I can't WAIT! Jen, we're going shopping at Towson afterschool to find you a cute dress, but we'll drop by your house to get some money first." My eyes went wide as I begged the guys silently to get me out of this, but if anything they made it worse. "Yeah, it's time we had an all-guy practice so no one gets distracted." Grieco teased, elbowing Alex in the arm and raising his eyebrows at Rian.

"I've never seen Jen in a dress, so yeah. Lets have her looking all nice and girly." Jack teased making me glare at him. "Cool! So if I meet you in the car park after school?" Kara asked, oblivious to the teasing that was going on. I nodded, dying inside at the thought of a girly shopping trip. "Sure. Sounds...fun."

For the rest of the day I psyched myself up for the girly shopping trip that was waiting for me after school that day with Kara. The game went well, with the Lions winning by 46 - 42 and we all cheered as Kara and the cheerleaders did their victory routine but I was dreading what was happening afterwards. Don't get me wrong, I love Kara to pieces and we're like sisters, but I hate girly things, dresses, heels, and I especially hated shopping. I plastered on a fake smile as I walked over to Kara in the school parking lot as she was giddy with excitement. Before we got in the car, she told me she'd told the other guys to all meet at mine, and asked if she could also get ready with me so she could 'do me up properly'. I reluctantly agreed, so we went to her house to pick up some things like make-up and accessories before heading to mine to drop that stuff off as I got some money off Mom.

When we got to Towson town center, Kara eagerly pulled me along by the arm to a clothes shop that seemed to be full of dresses and was decorated all pink and sparkly, this was my idea of hell. I groaned as she dragged me in, making me hold out my arms as she placed about 30 dresses in them, and they weighed a hell of a lot more than I thought they would. After thoroughly going through each rack at the store and making sure I had almost every dress, she pushed me into a changing room and demanded I try them all on. I pleaded with her to not let me try some of the dresses on because I thought they were horrific, but she wouldn't back down so in the end, I tried on each and every one until we came across what she called 'The One'.