Delilah

Chapter 9

"Wake up!" I'm being waked up all of a sudden by a big pang on the table. I look up with my groggy eyes to see the teacher-in-charge. I turn my head to see Charlie also woken up. He smiles at me while scratching his now messed up hair.

"Detention is over. You may go home now."

We say nothing as we get our phones back from the basket it was stashed in. We have our backpacks hanging on our shoulders as we both leave the detention room only to see Soo Young waiting outside the room. She gets up happily and wraps her arms on mine. "You were waiting?" I asked her.

"Yeah, thought we should go dress hunting. I drove here today so it should be fine. I told my mom and yours earlier. Said we should be back before 9. It's 4 now. Let's go."

I look at Charlie after talking to Soo Young. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure. I can call Sam and Julian to come. We'll leave early to go for practice."

"Great! Let's get in my car." Soo Young said to him cheerfully.

We get into Soo Young's Jaguar. She's rich as hell. Charlie sits at the back chatting away on his phone. He smiles after a few tapping and goes back to his normal face. "Sam and Julian are coming. They said to meet them at Starbucks at the mall."

"Sure. I could grab another cup of joe." I agree.

We drive in silence until I switch on the radio to break the silence. It takes a 10 minute drive from school to the mall. We sit at Starbucks while Charlie orders a latte, frappucino and a cup of tea. We sit and wait for Julian and Sam.

Out of nowhere, two girls, probably about the same age as us, come up to Charlie as they start batting their fake eyelashes at him. He gives them a smile, continues on his tea and ignores them immediately.

"Hi, I'm Sarah and she's Julia. Do you want to get some shots at the bar, then maybe come over to my house?"

Whores. They're whores.

"Sorry I don't drink. I'm underage."

"It's okay. It's just a shot or two. We're underage too." says Julia with an insistent tone.

He puts down his tea down very gently on the table, he grabs my hand, runs his hands through his hair which makes them swoon and intertwines his fingers with mine. He then pulls me close and gives me a kiss on the head. I look at him, shocked.

"I thought I could make you two leave quietly, but you were, unfortunately very insistent. I could get a shot or two but you should ask for permission from my girlfriend first." He gives them a smile again.

"Oh you have a girlfriend." they give me bitchy stares and I smile at them sarcastically, mouthing 'no'.

They stomp their foot and they leave. I push Charlie away, kicking him under the table. "What? Seriously? Girlfriend?"

"Sorry. You were the closest to me."

"That's the best excuse you can give me?"

"Yeah," he says and continues on his tea. "You're hopeless." I say at him rolling my eyes.

I'm enjoying my latte when Sam and Julian come up to greet us. "Hey girls. Charlie." They say in unison.

We nod to greet at them as they pull chairs to sit at our table. Sam sits beside Soo Young and he puts his arm on Soo Young's chair. She gets up, pulling my arm. "Let's go dress hunting. Now that Charlie has company."

"Are you guys okay here alone?" I ask them worriedly.

"Sure. We'll be fine." Julian says while shooing us away.

*****************

"Ooh! Isn't this beautiful?" Soo Young says as she gets a dress from a rack.

It was stunning. It was navy blue, with a sweetheart bust that has little diamonds running across the top. It cinched in a little above the waist and it flowed down to the floor gradually becoming sheer as it went down. It was extra special than mine but I liked mine just the way it is. I love it simple. Who knows though, prom is still 1 month away and I might just change my mind. Soo Young tries it on in the fitting room with a pair of lacey white pumps and a gold bangle. Her hair was let looses to flaunt her natural curves.She stepped out, and the dress looked even better than it was hanging there.

"How do I look?"

"You look gorgeous!" I said to her giving her a hug.

"Really? Then I'll buy it. How much is it though? Could you check the price tag? My daddy said the budget is between 100 and 500."

I nod my head and I stand behind her. I check the price tag that hangs right on top of her spine. I pick it up...Holy crap. It's 400. This doubles my dress price. "It's 400. Are you sure you want this? I mean it's really expensive." I stutter at my words.

"It's fine. This is money I earned myself throughout the months I've spent working part time when I was in Korea. I converted it to USD, but it just wasn't enough. So Daddy helped me a by adding another hundred bucks or two." She smiles at me. She's not rich anymore.

She's filthy rich.

"Let me get this off, then we can pay and get back to the boys." Soo Young says. She goes in to the fitting room ad comes out in her daisy romper with loafers for a shoe. She puts the dress on the counter and the saleswoman smiles at her, scanning the price tag for the dressing, shoes and bangle.

"It's a total of USD 400."

"Here." Soo Young says as she passes the credit card to the saleswoman.

She scans the card and gives it back to her. She then folds the dress and stuffs it in the paper bag.

On our way out, we're stopped by two senior boys. We ignore them and continue to walk back to Starbucks.

"Hey girls. You want to hang?" one of them says.

"No thanks. We have somewhere to go to." I push away their invitation.

"Oh come on. Its just for awhile." The other one says as he grabs my wrist.

I glare at him. "Ooh! Having a glaring contest here aren't we?"

I shake his grip away, but he stills grabs it. "Will you let go?!" I scream at him. "I don't think I-"

The boy that grabbed my wrist was stopped in his tracks. I turn to see him lying down on the ground. The other one has already ran away. Charlie saved the both of us. He gave the guy a good lesson by punching him in the face. Charlie pulled me into an embrace. I was shocked at first but I hugged him back.

"I heard some screaming while the three of us were waiting for you at Starbucks. I didn't know it was you." he whispered in my ear. " I was so worried." he says again.

"There's no need for you to be worried Charlie. I'm fine."

"I was so worried that you might be hurt." he adds again. He pushes me onto his body, putting my body against his. I can feel his chest rising and falling as he breathes. We hug in silence as he gives me kisses on the head. I just love how he hugs me and embraces me, almost enough to make me fall in love.