Define Normal

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Oh that,” I said, tapping my chin in thought. “Okay, why not?” I said and he grinned at me before moving in closer again, kissing me soundly on the lips, making me lose my train of thought.

“Seriously?” I said that night, looking at myself in the mirror.

“Definitely,” Abby said, nodding as her eyes moved up and down my body which was clad in a form fitting black dress that was definitely way too short for my liking.

“Stop that,” Elle said, slapping my hand away from the hem which I’d been tugging on, trying to pull it closer to my knees. “You’re stretching the fabric.”

“That’s the idea,” I mumbled, wincing at my reflection, seeing way too much skin.

“That is not the idea,” Michelle said, glaring at me through the mirror and my eyes connected with her perfectly rimmed blue ones. “That’s my dress, she pointed out, putting her hands on her hips.”

“Which explains why it’s so damn short on me,” I said, releasing the hem as Elle slapped my hand again. “Fine!” I shouted, glaring at the three girls in my room before moving to my dresser and rummaging through the drawers.

“What are you doing?” Elle asked but I ignored her, looking for something in particular.

Grinning, I pulled out a pair of small black spandex shorts. “Ta-da!” I said, holding the shorts up for everyone to see.

“No,” all three of them said flatly as I quickly pulled the shorts on under my dress.

“Take those off,” Abby said, pointing at my upper legs.

“Make me,” I replied, sticking my tongue out at her.

“You think I won’t?” Abby said, taking a threatening step towards me that I didn’t find very threatening.

“Come on, Abby, I need a place to hold my knives,” I said, trying to reason with her. Instead, all three girls groaned.

“She’s hopeless,” Michelle said, sinking onto my bed in defeat.

“Totally,” Elle said, flopping down next to the cheerleader. “But I think as long as she doesn’t open her mouth, she’ll be okay.”

I rolled my eyes at them before heading to my dresser and picking up my assortment of throwing knives and shurikens. “You guys are acting like this is our first date. Jackson and I are already a couple so I hate to break it to you, but he already knows what I sound like when I open my mouth.”

“Yeah, so he already knows you’re a freak,” Michelle said smoothly, examining her perfectly polished fingernails. “Which is why you have to look extra hot for him so that he’ll never consider leaving you.”

“Are we really friends?” I asked, giving Michelle a disgusted look.

“Obviously,” she said, giving me a cheeky grin from her spot on my bed. “You’re life would be horrible without me.”

“Right, I’ll just have to keep telling myself that,” I mumbled, turning back towards the mirror, taking in my long, light brown hair that fell in waves nearly to my waist and my brown eyes with their golden flecks that were lined with make-up that seemed to give them an exotic tilt. My lips were fuller and redder than usual and my cheeks had a healthy glow. The black dress was fairly simple, with three quarter length sleeves that covered the scar from the bullet wound nicely. The neckline was square with a slit right between my breasts that made me kind of nervous but considering that there wasn’t much there in terms of cleavage, I didn’t have to worry about that too much. My eyes traveled down, following the lines of my body to my upper thighs where I could see way too much skin but all in all, I didn’t look too bad.