Prom Girl

One hug can fix everything

Im entering for the Watty Awards so please vote if you like my story, thankyou!!!!!!!!!

I was eating a chicken burrito in the cafeteria with Chloe when it all happened.  

'Hey, beautiful.' a hand came down on my shoulder, and I knew who it was without even having to turn around. I hadn't seen or spoken to justin since the restaurant incident, and I had a feeling he'd been avoiding me.  

'Justin, im really sorry-' I gasped. Something very cold, very wet, and very slimy, crashed down onto my head, giving me a permanent brain freeze and shocking me to the very core. I stood up, turning round to see the neon coloured slushy poised above my head, and Justin standing there with a grin all over his face. To my horror, I realised that the cafeteria had erupted into laughter, and I was aware of a hundred pairs of eyes staring at me. I looked at Justin, and all his sniggering friends.  

'Touché.'  

The smile faded from his lips and he replaced it with a glare. Smiling at him, I turned on my heel, and walked very slowly and very calmly out of the cafeteria.

I was just at the door of the girls bathroom when someone whipped me around by my arm. It was Justin. 

'What was that about? He shouted at me, and I looked up at him innocently, my eyes wide in mock confusion. 'What was what?' he narrowed his eyes. 'Dont play innocent. You just made me look like a complete fool in front of everyone.' I shrugged. 'All I said was that we were even. Even Stevens, ya know? Sorry if you did t get the reaction you wanted.' I made to go into the bathroom, but he pulled me back. 

'I am done with playing games with you, Sandy. You walk around like your some stuck up goddess, when everyone knows your friends have deserted you. Not to mention, your beg friending some of the geekiest girls in the school. How pathetic are you?' he spits the words in my face, and I see red. I am sick and tired of people shouting at me and insulting me, and I can feel hot, furious anger pulsing through me. Anger which I've kept contained but can keep down no longer.  

'Ya know what?' I take a step forward, so close that Justin has to step back. 'Your not one to talk. While you tell me about my faults, your friends are back there in the cafeteria laughing about what a twat you are. Yeah, that's right, your 'friends' the ones who are supposed to have your back? They're probably talking about a way to ditch you. At least I have actual people who know I'm there and talk to me. Your just another of those guys who tags along with the jocks to keep up his pathetic image. Everyone knows it, Justin. Your a nothing, in their eyes. And if I walk around like a stuck up goddess, the what are you? Some kind of a wind swept god? No. Your just a pathetic, dumb ass loser who has nothing in his life other then his looks. So while you tell me what's wrong with me, take a moment to think about you. And if you can come up with one good, genuine thing about you, then I'll happily take my hat off to you.' I stop, fighting for breath. Justin is staring at me, his eyes wide, his jaw open. I don't blame him. I can't believe I said that either.

'Sandy...' I brace myself for the next torrent of abuse to come. But the next thing that happens is so sudden, so unexpected, that I barely have time to think up a good comeback. 

He hugs me.  

One moment I'm standing there fuming, and the next, his arms are around me holding me tight. 

'Its gonna be okay, Sandy. I promise you.' and instead of pushing him away like I would have done if I hand been In such a state, I sort of melted into his arms, giving up. Huge gulps were coming out of me and I realised I was crying. 

'Im just...so tired of people putting me into labels. Im either the girl who betrays, the girl who lies, or i'm the label which I hate the most. The hot, effortless girl who can get any boy she likes. I'm sick of it all.' I sob onto his shoulder, not caring anymore that this I barely know Justin, and have deeply despised him up to this point, and that I've shown him the most embarrassing side of me there is. But to be honest, the arms around me are really quite comforting and warm, and quite nice actually, and I really, really, don't want him to let go.

* * * 

Two weeks later 

'Okay, heads up!' I open my mouth and a grape lands In it. Justin punches the air with his fist and holds out his hand. I sigh, swallowing and putting a fifty pee coin in his palm. 'Fine. You win. I can catch a grape in my mouth .' he chuckles, pocketing the fifty pee and reaching for a handful of my chips. I swat his hand away, and he does a mock crying face. I cant help but smile.

Me and Justin have been inseparable since that day after the cafeteria. i don't know why or how, but we seem to have become the best of friends. And everybody's noticed.

I dumped Chloe the next day. Very subtly, of course. I simply moved my lunch tray from her table to a table in the corner of the room, where Justin had arranged for us to meet. I have to admit I was nervous. I didn't expect him to come and the fact that I was the first one to be at the table only increased the butterflies in my stomach.

But then I saw him at the end of the lunch queue. His friends shouted out to him, pointing at a space at their table, but he ignored them, coming straight to my table. The cafeteria had gone quiet, the confusion clearly written across their faces. Wasn't this the guy who had poured slushy all over that girl Sandy's hair? Why were they sitting together? I smiled weakly at Justin, who smiled back. His friends were all staring at him as if he'd gone crazy, and Chloe was giving me an evil glare, whispering in her friends ears and looking back at me. But I couldn't care less.

'So...' My voice was suprisingly loud in the small hall. 'Looks like everybodies staring at us...' Justin smiled, turning around and surveying the staring crowd.

'Hey, everybody!' Justin stood up, and I hissed at him to get back down. He ignored me.

'Stop your staring and get back to your own pathetic lives! Don't you have anything better to do?' There's a murmur, and slowly,  people started to drag their gaze of us unwillingly. Soon, the hall is filled with chatter, but I bet that half of it is about us.

'You okay now?' Justin asks me, pickig at his tucko and casting me a concerned glance. I nod, smiling. 'Yeah, thanks.' He takes me by the shoulders, looking really serious.

'You just remember...I'll be there for youuuu, if your there for me tooooooo!' He bursts into the friends theme tune, clicking his fingers to the beat. By the end of it, I'm having trouble breathing from the laughter, and tears are rolling down my cheeks. That day I knew Justin and me would be great friends.

Now, I watch as he reaches into his bag, bringing out a comb and a mirror. Flipping the mirror open he sweeps back his hair, smiling at his reflection. I grin, snatching the mirror of him.

'You are so damn vain.' I  giggle as he tries to grab the mirror of me. Eventually he takes hold of it, tweaking my nose with his thumb and finger. 'And you are so damn cute.' He's really close now, and I feel myself blush as his hot breath fans my cheek.

'Hey, what d'you think your doing?!' I look up to see Reece standing over us, his face as dark as a thundercloud. Dang it! I swear under my breath. I've been trying to avoid Reece ever since I'd been hanging out with Justin. For some reason I had a feeling that the two of them wouldn't be a good idea.

'Reece, I-' He steps between me and Justin, grabbing Justin by the collar and swinging him up to face him. 'Thats my girlfriend your fooling with!' I stare at him in horror.

'Reece, put him down!' Reece ignores me. Justin glowers at him, shaking him off.

'Looks like your 'girlfriends' not interested, dumbass.' Justin spits back, rubbing his neck.

Then Reece throws a punch.

Authors note:

Hiya, peeple. I know I said this chapter would be longer but i kinda want to leave it on a cliffhanger! Sorry, i know its frustrating. Thanks for taking ur time to read this, I've now hit 100 reads! Ok, well, byeeeee xxx