Miss Quick

Chapter Ten

I'm not sure why, but I really didn't want to put this necklace back where I found it, or even turn it in to see if someone lost it. I slipped the thin chain over my head. The pendant slipped under my shirt, hidden, and the light dimmed. Then it faded until you couldn't tell it was there.

I frowned and pulled the necklace back out to look at it. When I held it in my hand, the light shone again, bright as ever. But then I let go, and the light faded, almost politely.

Then I heard a voice. "Ari! Are you down there?"

It was Evelyn. "Yeah, I'm here," I answered.

"Come back up, we're gonna get a picture of the four of us before the party starts!"

I grinned, knowing that had been Evelyn's idea as well. "Coming!"

***

The party was a blast. We had decorated the cafeteria to look like a haunted maze, and at the middle there was a DJ, who was actually just a student with a technological ability. But it meant the music was good, and I had a lot of fun dancing. I had told Tara about the animal theme even though she wasn't in the me, Evelyn, Josh and Chaste group. But she came in an owl costume that had a lot of fabric, and I thought the costume and the owl both suited her. I actually hadn't been sure if she would come at all, so I was glad.

Soon I got tired of dancing and went to find somebody to talk to. Camille was over cracking up with her friends, who were dressed like vampires. Tara was talking to Becca and Laurie.

Evelyn and Chaste were nowhere to be found. I saw Josh, though, and went to talk to him.

"How's the party?" he asked.

"It's great, I think we did an awesome job on the decorations," I said.

"Me too," he said, smiling. "Want to dance?"

It sounds cheesy, but actual butterflies erupted in my stomach. "Sure."

We went out to the dance floor and caught half of a good song. Then the DJ put on a slow song. That's when I noticed how many couples that were dancing together.

To my surprise, Josh stepped closer to me and put his hands in my waist. I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't think of anything to say. So I just smiled and hesitantly put my hands on his shoulders.

My heartbeat was fast, feeling Josh so close to me. I hadn't ever really slow danced with anyone before, and I isn't know where to look. But I saw Josh smiling, ad figured I must be doing okay. I smiled back. But I was very aware of when he stepped a little bit closer to me.

The song ended and a new one started. Someone bumped into me from behind, startling me out I my daze.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Josh whispered.

"Sure," I said, a little disappointed, since I figured he meant off the dance floor. But he surprised me, once again, by leading me out of the cafeteria.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Do you know somewhere private?"

The sentence made more butterflies shoot into my stomach.

"Somewhere other people can't accidentally stumble into?" he continued.

"Well..." I bit my lip. There was one place I knew of. Josh followed me down the stairs to the bottom floor.

***

I found the hidden door to the secret room and led Josh up the stairs. He looked around in surprise. "How did you find this room?"