One
Prom night was something I had been dreading for the past month. I, Kaylee Black, was not like all other girls. I didn't jump up and down at the thought of prom like most girls did. I was not one for dresses. Or sparkles. Or anything girly. I'd rather spend my time on the wrestling mat, even though my high school didn't have a girls wrestling team. Sexist pigs.
I guess part of the reason is because I was raised by my four older brothers, Colby, Carter, Cameron and Kyle; my parents died in a car accident when I was seven. All of them except for Colby was out on their own, in college, married, Kyle even had a son. But Colby rejected his acceptance to Harvard to stay behind and take care of me until I was eighteen... thank God I was already a Junior and only three months away from my eighteenth birthday.
So, anyway, I guess growing up with my brothers kind of toughened me up, taught me to fight, made me think girly stuff was wrong. Of course, no one would assume this from my appearance. Mu long blonde hair, green eyes, tan skin, and great body apparently made me one of the "prettiest" girls at Francis Howell Central in St. Louis. And yet, I hardly ever dated and spent most of my time on wrestling, volleyball, and softball. But prom? Something was just bound to go wrong...
"Come on out, tough guy." Sydney, my best friend, banged on my bathroom door.
"Ugh," I groaned as I stared at myself in the full-length mirror. Seeing myself in a red, sparkly dress... made me shudder. I was all for the short black one, all torn up at the bottom, along with maybe some awesome earrings from Hot Topic, but... I didn't get my wish.
"Come on!" Sydney said again, trying to yank open the locked doorknob.
"Okay, okay!" I opened the door, stepping out into the light of the hallway. Sydney gasped.
"You look beautiful!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"No, seriously, I've never seen you dressed up, Leelee!" (Leelee was Sydneys nickname for me.)
"This dress is God-awful." I whimpered, picking the long train up and walking into my room, staring at myself some more in the full-length mirror on the back of my door.
"Oh, come on, you look amazing. Maybe you wouldn't hate the idea of prom if you were going with someone you actually liked."
Okay, this was true. I agreed to go to prom with this dork, Mitchell Pinkley. Don't ask me why, because I had been asked by millions of hot guys, plus the quarterback on the football team. Maybe I pitied him.
"No, not even then." I decided. "Now, please Syd, can I get this monstrous dress off? I gotta get ready for school."
"Fine," she chuckled. "but if I see you in that black dress at prom, I'll-"
"You won't." I cut her off, shutting the bathroom door. I quickly threw on athletic shorts, a loose T-shirt, and threw my hair up in a ponytail. Yup, that was pretty much all I did to get ready.
When we finally got to school, I saw the one who made my world go round. Jack Simmons. No, not my boyfriend. Did I want him to be? Yes, possibly. But he had been my best friend since fifth grade, no reason to screw it all up now. Jack was the person I told everything to. Literally, everything. There were no secrets between us. Well, besides the fact that I liked him. I trusted him more than Sydney, more than my own brothers.
"Jack!" I squealed as I saw him standing by my locker.
"Hey, c'mere!" he opened his arms and I took to them quickly, squeezing his torso hard.
"How was your weekend?" I asked.
"Pretty good, except you couldn't hang out." he smiled down at me.
"Sorry, Sydney had me dress shopping all weekend."
"Oh, that's right, my little girly princess," he teased.
"Shut up," I giggled.
"Oh, go crawl in a hole, Jack," Sydney griped. Yeah, main problem, my two best friends drove each other insane.
"I want to," his eyes narrowed, "cause then, hopefully, I wouldn't be able to see your face."
"Oh, that was such a burn." she muttered sarcastically, rolling her brown eyes. "I gotta go." she turned around on her heels and stalked off before I could stop her. Oh well, if she wanted to be in a snit because she didn't like my friends, that was fine with me.
I turned my attention back to Jack. He was tall, very tall, muscular, sleek, brown hair, well, it could almost be considered black, actually, he was a little on the tanned skin side, brown eyes, amazing smile and was just... drop dead gorgeous, pretty much.
He was talking to me, but I wasn't hearing much of the words. But, then, the shrill sound of the bell broke through my wall.
"Oh, crap. I gotta get to chemistry. Love you, Kay." he started walking away, into the crowd of teenagers.
"I love you, too," I murmured. He wouldn't hear me. We exchanged "I love you"'s all the time, but they never meant what I wanted them to. It was just a friendly thing. Oh well, I guess I should be happy that I'm not that invisible girl in the back round that he doesn't know exists. At least I had something going for me in the sense that he most definitely knew me.
I started slowly making my way to geometry, though the halls were already nearly vacant. Maybe if I was late for class they'd take away my "privilege" of going to prom. Whatever. As soon as I walked into geometry, Mitchell hoped off the desk he sat on, weaseling his way through the people, up to me. His grin was so enthusiastic, it made me want to barf.
"Hey, Kaylee!" he greeted me excitedly, nearly yelling over the chatter in the room.
"Hi," I forced a smile at him. I felt kind of bad. I agreed to go to prom with this guy because I knew he really liked me, and I felt bad for him. With his abnormally large glasses, freckles and red hair, he was a reject to most girls in the school. But, if I went with him, would he think I was his... girlfriend? Ugh. I didn't have time to worry about it...
***
"Ugh, what a dull movie!" Jack complained as we exited the movie theater later on that night. It was good to finally have some alone time with Jack, since he'd been so busy with some "family issues" lately, even if he did hate the movie I picked.
"I kind of liked it," I said defensively.
"That's just because it had Ryan Reynolds shirtless," he laughed.
"That is not true-" I thought for a second, "well, yeah it's possible." I laughed along with him.
He took my hand, in a totally non-romantic way, and led me to a bench sitting near the ticket booth.
"So, how is the perfection that is Kaylee Black feeling about prom tomorrow?" he asked. I gave him my, "what do you think?" look and he chuckled.
"I'd rather be sitting at home, grinding a cheese grater against my forehead," I mumbled.
"Right, right." he gave me a superior smile and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. Best friend or no best friend, I was still desperately in love with him. And it sucked ass.
I sighed, squeezing our intertwined fingers harder and leaning into his shoulder.
"Tired?" he asked, patting my forearm. I nodded, yawning.
"Pizza?" I asked, thinking hungrily about the Little Caesars down the street. I looked up at his face and he suddenly seemed distant. This had been happening a lot the past few weeks. He'd randomly zone out like someone in another world was speaking to him telepathically. His eyes would go blank and his brows would furrow like he was frustrated. It was starting to freak me out. "Jack?" I snapped my fingers in front of his face, but he continued to stare out into space, his eyes wide, mouth hanging open. "Jack?!" I yelled, louder. Was this normal? I shook his shoulder, repeating his name into his ear. Finally, he came to, looking worried.
"I gotta go." he stood up quickly, causing me to fall on my side due to the fact I was using his shoulder for support.
"But, we were supposed to hang ou-"
"I know, I'm sorry, I just really gotta go." he cut me off, turning his back towards me and striding to the door. I just stared after him. I hate to admit, my feelings were severely hurt. I snapped out of it quickly though, also walking towards the exit.
When I got home, I avoided Colby, who didn't seem to show much interest in my life due to the two friends he had over and the beer bottles all over the living room floor. I crawled into bed, trying not to the think of what horrors the next day might bring... little didI know, sparkles weren't all I had to worry about...