Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 31
Prom was tonight.
Was I nervous? Hell yeah. Scared? Of course. Excited? Well... yeah I was.
Yesterday, John came up to me and told me that Jace didn't want me to go. Of course I wasn't surprised, but I was surprised that he had actually sent a messenger to tell me. Sadly for Jace though, that just made me want to go even more.
Lots of guys had asked me out, but I told them all no. I told Daniel that Jace didn't want me to go. He got pissed, and said that he would accompany me. John also said he would keep me company, when he realized that I was planning on going anyways. They were both Juniors, so I would be able to go. That was the one thing I hadn't really figured out at the time. Since I was a Sophomore, I had no idea how I was going to get into the Junior/ Senior Prom. When Daniel reminded me, when he said he would take me, I had to say yes.
John hadn't found any new information about human mates. He said he would continue searching after prom.
"Ouch!"
"Oh come on, I didn't even do touch you."
I pouted a bit, "Still."
"You're a strange one, you know?" Abby said.
When Abby had found out I was going, she started jumping up and down. So she and the african american girl, Liz, we're doing my hair and makeup.
Hailey was sitting in the corner, laughing at me. The other two girls, the dark blond girl, Chloe, and the valley girl, Jenna, were at friend's houses.
It was about two hours before prom, and Liz and Hailey were already done. We were all walking around in robes. When we went down to go get a snack, we had scared a group of girls when we all walked in with avocado masks, in our robes, and our hair either wrapped in curlers, or towels. When Abby finished with me, Liz would do Abby's hair and makeup.
I wanted my hair to look more natural, so they were using one of those wand curlers to fix up my own beachy waves. Abby was doing my hair, because, as I had already known, she was a bit of a hair stylist. Surprisingly though, Liz was quite the makeup artist, even though she rarely ever wore makeup. So these two were in charge of hair and makeup.
I reached out to pop a chip into my mouth, but Liz slapped it away, worried I would ruin the makeup she was working on. Hailey had the largest smirk on her face as she watched me pout. I poked my tongue out at her, and she opened her mouth, ready to say something.
"Stop it you two! Why do you both act like immature children?!" Abby snapped, before Hailey could talk.
"Immature is a word boring people use to describe fun people," I muttered under my breath.
I didn't think anyone heard me, but Hailey suddenly cracked up. I looked into the mirror, and saw Abby glaring at me. I immediately looked down at my hands, which caused Hailey to turn into a cackling hyena.
When they were done with me, I didn't want to look in the mirror. Not until I had the dress on, which was kind of hard because the bathroom was covered in mirrors. I moved out of the way so Liz could start on Abby. Liz started pinning up her hair so she could straighten it. I walked over and sat by Hailey on the floor. Since both she and I failed at walking in heels, Abby made us wear them.
"Wanna play a game of cards?" Hailey asked me as she shuffled them in her hands.
"Sure, which way?" I asked.
"Spit."
I nodded my head, and she split up the cards. I set up the cards in front of me. We started our game, but a knock on the door made us falter in our fast paced game.
"Come in!" I yelled, and we started our game.
"Everyone descent?" Emily asked.
"Yeah?" I asked.
Since when did any of us care if we were decent. We would walk around the top floor in nothing more then a bra and shorts. I slapped down a jack on top of the queen before Hailey put down her king. She gave me a dirty glare, but I continued by piling on a ten, followed by a nine.
I heard the door open, and then heard footsteps coming towards the bathroom.
"Eliana?"
"Hm?" I asked too focused on the game. I flipped over one of my cards, and slapped the ace onto the two. I was now down to four cards, so I scooped them up in my hand. We ran out of things to do, so we spit again. Hailey put down two cards. I put my seven down, and Hailey put down her six. I slapped down and five and a four, before she put in her own five. We were now at a tie. One to one. We were waiting tensely to spit, not sure if when we moved our hand to spit if the other one would slap the smaller pile.
"There is somebody to see you," Emily said.
"Ok," I said once again only half paying attention.
"Eliana-" Emily started, frustrated, before she was cut off.
"Don't break into a sweat over a game of cards," A male voice teased from behind.
It was that split second, that I was distracted. Hailey realized that too. She tossed her card down so fast, and slapped the smaller pile, that I didn't even have a chance to try to slap the smaller pile. She started cheering, and pushed the big pile towards me with a large smirk on her face.
I turned to glare at the person who had distracted me. I met Cole's smirking face, and my glare hardened. Emily must have left while Hailey had won.
"You just made me lose a round!" I said frustrated.
"Thanks!" I heard from behind me. I flipped Hailey off. She started to laugh at what a sore loser I was.
"No problem," Cole said.
I tried to be the mature one for once, and ignored them both by holding back my snarky remark. I started shuffling up my cards.
"So, what did you want?" I asked.
"Can't a guy just come here to hang out?" He asked innocently.
"Not you. Now what do you want?" I asked again.
"Somebody's in a bad mood."
"Yeah, we made her sit still for a full hour while we did her hair and makeup," Abby said, dragging out the full hour.
"That explains a lot," Cole said. He looked back at me. From the expression on my face, he probably decided to stop teasing me. "I brought your mask and gloves."
"Thanks," I said as I got up, and retrieved the bag in his hands. He walked out towards the room, and I followed. I sat cross legged on my bed, while he sat on the edge.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked me, all humor gone from his tone.
"Oh, so now you don't want me to go?" I asked teasing him.
"Eliana-"
"Yeah. I want to show him that he can't control me, even though he doesn't want to be with me."
"But what if you push him too far. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt again," He said. I thought about what he was saying.
"Yesterday, Jace sent somebody to tell me that he didn't want me to go. That really pushed me to the limit, and now I have to go. I won't get hurt anymore, because I won't let him get close."
I really hoped what I was saying was true. The last thing I wanted was for him to actually hurt me again.
"Fine. Go put everything on, I want to see how it all looks together."
I went into the walk in closet, and turned on the lights. Inside hung my dress. I slipped off the heels so they wouldn't rip the dress as I got into it. I unzipped the cream colored cover. Deep red fabric spilled out. With gentle fingers I got the dress off the hanger, and pulled it on myself. I zipped up the back, and slipped back on the heels. I then turned around, and looked at the mirror on the door. I let out a shocked breath.
The girl in front of me could not be me. I was plain. The only pretty thing about me were my sapphire blue eyes. She looked magnificent. Totally cliche, but I really did not look like myself. I had to touch my face, to make sure it was my own. Every feature had been enhanced. My hair spilled around my bare shoulders, in thick dark gravity defying curls.
But the dress... The dress was a deep blood red empire waist chiffon dress. It was a corseted one, but covered enough cleavage to make it modest enough. It hugged my curves, but fell loosely to the floor after my waist in thin layers. It had small silver sequins thickly lining the corseted top, almost hiding the red, but thinning out and blending in with the rest of the gown, in swirling patterns. It lay perfectly and in harmony with my pale creamy skin. The dress brought out the red highlights in my curly hair.
But the most extraordinary part was my eyes. My usually sapphire blue eyes, somehow looked almost silver now. The way that the makeup was done, and the dress itself, seemed to make them look silver.
I felt a lump in my throat, as I looked at myself. Something was going to happen tonight. Whether it's for the good or the bad, I'll find out tonight.
Just breath!
I looked around again, and my breath caught in my throat. Just breath! Just breath! I yelled in my head.
"You coming?"
I set my foot gently out of the already open car door. I tested out the ground, which I knew was solid, but was still being careful, as if I expected it to blow up. When it didn't I continued out the car.
An arm popped out in front of my vision. I followed the tuxedoed arm up to Daniel. He was smiling at me, and it was his usual infectious smile. I smiled back at him, and wrapped my own gloved hand around his.
I looked around at all the people getting out of their cars, and walking into the large gym that was booming with music.
Daniel helped me walk when he realized my legs were so shaky.
"What are you afraid of?" Daniel asked.
I turned to look at him. I looked at his face, and realized what a great friend he really was.
"I'm afraid of... Well it sound kind of stupid, but I'm afraid if I go in there, I'm gonna get hurt."
He gave me a thoughtful look, but then led us on. The gym was breathtaking. Everything was set up like an enchanted forest, and all the people in gym were wearing masks. I couldn't recognize anybody. This must be the perfect prom theme for many.
After about an hour of sitting stubbornly at the side, while munching on chips and salsa, Daniel convinced me to go out and dance. I slid back on my mask, before following. It was one that only covered the top half of my face. It was mostly black with patterns around the rim and the eyes, looking like wings, in silver glitter. It was all held by a silver ribbon, that I covered up with a layer of curls at the back of my head.
As I followed Daniel, I glared at the back of his head. At first I just danced around lamely, but when one of my favorite songs came on, I couldn't help dancing for real. Daniel had never seen me dance like this, so when he saw his eyes bulged out. I felt the bass beating in my chest, the rhythm in my legs. When the song finished, I was jittery with excitement.
After another couple of songs, Daniel went to go get us some punch. I continued dancing, surrounded by people I didn't recognize.
Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey," somebody said into my ear.
I spun around ready to punch whoever it was, but when I pulled my fist back, I realized he was expecting it. His large hand closed around my fist that was meant to get his jaw. I growled, and suddenly he started to chuckle. I knew that voice. It was... He pulled off his mask, reveling an amused John. John started laughing even harder at the look on my face. I glared playfully until he stopped laughing.
I hopped up onto my tiptoes so I could reach him, and muttered into his ear. It was too loud to talk normally.
"Hey, did you just get here?" I asked.
"Here you go."
I heard Daniel half yell half talk as he came up behind us. I got down from my tiptoes, and took a glass from him.
"Thanks," I said as I took the punch from him.
"Hey dude!" John said, and they did that weird dude hug.
I started to take a sip of the punch as they chatted, but suddenly spit it out as I tasted it's real contents. It sprayed all over a girl who was grinding with her boyfriend. Her loud shriek stopped the people around us who were dancing.
"I am so so sorry!" I apologized shocked. I backed up into John's chest.
"What the hell!" she yelled, enunciating every word. "That was disgusting!"
Her boyfriend looked rather amused as he held onto her waist. He was silently laughing, but when she spun around on him, he sobered up. She glared at him, and stormed off to the bathroom, giving an even nastier glare. Her boyfriend started laughing again, before he composed himself and followed her.
"What was that?" John asked, spinning me around.
I gave him an innocent look, but he narrowed his eyes at me. My face dropped.
"I wasn't expecting it to have alcohol in it."
"You weren't expecting that the punch was spiked at a high school dance?" he asked looking rather amused at me.
"Yeah?" I said unsure. "Hey, I thought the teachers were patrolling it."
"Haha! Good one!" Daniel shouted as he came up to my side.
He patted me on the back, nearly knocking me over because of these wobbly heels. Daniel burst out into laughter.
I continued drinking the spiked punch. Once I had finished my cup, I felt even more jittery, and started dancing. After more drinks and dancing, a slow song finally came on. All the people who didn't have a date moved off to the side. I was one of them. I had gotten separated from the boys, so I was completely on my own.
I looked out at the many young couples on the floor. I looked around trying to spot anyone that I knew. No, I was lying to myself. I was looking for Jace. I knew even if he had a mask on his face I would still recognize him.
At first I didn't find him, but when I did it felt like I was punched in the gut. I literally had to reach over and hold onto the table to help support myself.
"You ok?" a girl next to me asked.
I swallowed, but it stuck in my throat. I tried again, but it still didn't clear. I just nodded my head. The girl gave me a weary look, before looking away.
I looked back out, and he was still in the same position. He was towards the center, and had his head leaned down over a tall blond headed girl. Keila. I now knew which side she had chosen as I watched him kiss my ex- best friend.
I was still watching them, and suddenly Jace pulled out of the kiss. He looked around, and then took a few small steps back. He started telling her something, and I watched as she too started taking steps back, shaking her head. She bit her bottom lip, before she started arguing back. Jace was becoming furious. Suddenly she ran off. Jace reached out like he was trying to stop her, but she was already gone. His outstretched hand started to run through his tousled hair, in frustration. He turned away, and marched off to the side.
He just told her off. I had an idea why, and I had a sneaking feeling it had to do with me. I didn't even realize how big my grin was, until I turned away. My heart was swelling with joy, and my chest and stomach was tingling. Well that might just be the punch. I wanted to go find Jace, but I knew I shouldn't yet.
I turned away, still grinning, and ran off to go find the boys. I realized it would be a lot harder to find them. I ran around because of how hyper I had become, and ran right into a hard muscled back. Now if I were lucky, then when I had looked up it would be one of the boys, but I'm not. So when I looked up I saw a furious boy with a huge punch stain across his chest.
Oh shit! I was dead. I took a gentle step back, acting as if he would charge at me if I made a sudden movement.
"I am so sorry!" I apologized, while backing up slowly.
"What the hell?!?" he yelled at me. His friends were laughing at him and me.
I gave him a sheepish look, but his eyes only darkened. Great, he was a werewolf. I spun around, and took off running towards the dance floor.
I was pushing people out of my way as I ran past. Lots of people were yelling at me. I was actually surprised I hadn't tripped in my heels and dress. As I was running the light chiffon fabric was following me like a flag at my legs.
I looked over my shoulder to see if he was still following me. There was nobody running through the sea of people in my direction. That was when I ran into another hard surface. I lost my balance, and started to fall before an arm wrapped around my waist. He pulled me up, but froze when I was nearly up to eye level. I was still not standing up straight, but he was just frozen leaning over with his arm supporting me. His deep sparkling emerald green eyes staring straight into my own silver looking ones.
"Eliana?" Jace asked, his voice sending shivers down my spine.
"Eliana?" Jace asked again when I didn't answer. I could tell he could smell me, so there was no point in asking if it was me.
"I..." I started to explain, but my voice came out in a whisper. I couldn't quite seem to form a coherent sentence.
He blinked furiously, and then set me up right.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, his hand still on my waist.
"Um..." My mind drew a blank, but when I looked into his eyes I realized he wasn't angry. He was just shocked. I looked down at the ground, slightly embarrassed.
"Eliana, look at me," He said tenderly. What was up with him?
I looked around at our surroundings first. We were out on the dance floor, and the fast paced music had bodies swaying around us. When I looked back at his face, I saw what was in his voice, was expressed on his face.
"What do you want?" I asked, my voice once again barely above a whisper.
"I am so sorry for the way that I have treated you."
I pulled away from him. He reached out for my hand, but I shook my head. I wasn't going to let him hurt me again, but that didn't mean I couldn't get answers. Yeah I know. I was deceiving my mate, but he was no better than me.
"Jace that's just your wolf talking. It's not really you. The real you would have run off in the opposite direction as soon as you sensed me near by," I said with strength in my voice.
"No I-"
"We both know it's true."
"It's not Eliana, I've realized-" He started.
"No! That is what every guy says to the girl they messed up with. I am not going to be one of those girls. The ones that you can tell you've realized you made a mistake, and then come running back," I said with just as much strength as before. "I saw you with Keila. So don't you even dare say you've changed!"
"Just hear me out!" He semi-yelled, to be heard better over the pounding music.
He grabbed my arm, and pulled me back to him. He yanked a bit too hard, so I tumbled into his chest. I let out a frustrated sigh, and pulled out from his chest. I tried yanking my arm free from his grasp, but his fingers wouldn't budge. I turned away from him, as I continued to pull.
"Don't cut me off. Just stay, and listen. Please!"
I don't know what it was, but for some reason I stayed. I blame the mate connection thing for that. I turned around slowly, and gave him a look, telling him to continue on.
"If you saw me with Keila then you must have seen me tell her I couldn't anymore." I nodded my head, and he continued on.
"What I told you at the pizza shop was all true. Well other then the parts I had said about your family. I don't like to admit it, but it is. I started to realize that it was a mistake. All that I had done to you was a mistake. It took that instance when I told you the truth to really realize it." I started to open my mouth to point out something, but he beat me to it. "When I lashed out at you, I had panicked. I hated the way that you could control me. Now I realize that you are supposed to. That's part of being mates. I can't continue to blame you for what your family had done, especially now that you no longer live with them."
"And if I did, would you still feel the same?" I asked. He was quiet for a while, and I feared he would say no.
"Yeah, I would. I don't give a crap anymore who your family is. If we are meant to be, then I should stop fighting fate. You had only lied to keep yourself safe, so I can't be mad at you for that. So that leaves me with nothing left to be mad at you about. Now it's just my arrogance that was making me act the way I was," He paused for a moment.
"How do I know that it isn't your wolf that is speaking right now?" I asked.
He thought about it for a bit.
"There is no actual way to tell, but you will just have to trust me."
I looked at him long and hard. Could I let him in? I told Cole that I wouldn't, but I wanted to. Could I trust him not to hurt me? He suddenly pulled me closer, his mouth by my ear.
"Please forgive me. Trust me again," He pleaded.
His breath tickled my bare neck, as he talked. I pulled away from him, and looked at his face. He had on a puppy dog face, and I couldn't resist. I felt a smile tug on my lips, but I covered it up.
"Jace, you never had it in the first place," I stated.
His face fell. I couldn't hold back the goofy grin anymore. I felt it slip on, feeling in place on my face. He looked at me confused.
"You know, your entire speech was really cliche," I pointed out with the ridiculous grin still on my face.
"Don't most girls like cliche stuff?" He said sheepishly.
"Yeah, they do. But I'm not most girls."
"Yeah I've realized. That's why I can't figure you out," He muttered.
"So what do you say?" He asked me.
I placed my hands on his shoulders, and reached up to my tip toes, which is really hard to do in heels. I leaned in close to his ear.
"I'll give you another chance, so don't screw it up." I was about to pull away before I remembered.
"By the way, not everything that you had done was a mistake. The one thing you shouldn't apologize for was that kiss," I whispered into his ear, then got down from my tip toes. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and his arms tightened around my back, pulling me closer. He leaned down, and his soft lips met mine. It was soft and slow kiss, but still warmed up my chest, and made my whole body tingle. We didn't deepen it though. I pulled out of it before it could go any further. He looked a bit disappointed at how short it was, but didn't complain.
"Let's dance!" I yelled, grabbing his hand and dragging him deeper into the dancing crowd.
Just then my favorite song came on, Can't Hold Us. I smiled as I started to dance with Jace. I didn't see the boys for a long time after that. After a LOT more dancing, and punch, a slow song came on. This time I didn't get off of the dance floor. I just looped my arms around Jace, and leaned into his safe warm embrace. I rested my head on his shoulder, as we did that weird slow dance.
What was I doing? I thought to myself. This was the first time that I had really allowed myself to think about the situation. I know that this is a bad idea, so why am I still here.I was going to get hurt. I remembered the words I had told Cole. "I won't get hurt anymore, because I won't let him get close." I had already broken my words. I let him get close. Something after that night a few weeks ago I had promised not to do.
I pulled away from Jace, and looked up at him. He looked back at me. Usually if a girl does this, then that means that she wants to be kissed, but Jace must have seen it in my eyes. That was not what I wanted to do. He realized I was fighting an inner turmoil, so he just kept his mouth shut as I thought.
I knew that by letting him back in, I was going to get hurt. I just knew it. If it was intentional or not, it was going to happen. He could feel differently about me tomorrow. That would be painful, too painful for me to deal with. I couldn't let him in close, so he could rip out my heart again. I just couldn't.
I stopped dancing, and took a step back. I wasn't going to allow myself to get hurt.
"Eliana?" He asked.
"I'm sorry," I said biting my lip as I felt the prick of tears in my eyes. "I can't do this."
Then I spun around, and ran off. I pushed my way through the sea of people, knocking many over, but I didn't care. I had to get out of here. I couldn't breath properly.
"Eliana!" I heard Jace yell out from behind me.
I ignored his voice, and pushed open the side doors. My eyes adjusted to the darkness immediately. I passed by a few making out couples., and ran into the woods. Once I was under the cover of the trees, I didn't stop. I just kept running. I heard my name being called again, but I just kept going. The thick undergrowth kept trying to trip me, but somehow I didn't fall, even though I was in heels. I finally reached a clearing. I stopped in the clearing, and listened. I didn't hear any other noises other then the natural soothing ones, and my pounding heart. I fell down to my knees, and focused on catching my breath, and not crying. The woods surrounding me, and the cool air helped me focus. I felt safe here. The woods were somewhere I belonged.
I was so stupid. I knew that this would happen, even if I denied it. I ripped off my heels from my aching feet, and threw them onto the soft ground. I was going to get hurt, but I had actually caused myself the pain this time. Not Jace.
Jace. He was probably so worried.
I shouldn't have ever come. What was I thinking, going to this. I thought I could just go, and everything would be perfect. I was so stupid. I ripped the mask off of my face, and threw it into the trees. Who had I been fooling with this. I had thought that I could have the perfect night.
I heard a twig snap from that direction, and thought nothing of it. Just the mask falling on the thick foliage. After another moment, I heard another twig snap. I looked up in that direction. I tried to see, but it was too dark in that part of the woods. Suddenly I saw white fur. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. What the-
Suddenly the white fur moved, and a huge paw came out from the foliage. Followed by another, and then a giant head. A wolf's head. A werewolf. His lip curled up, showing a sharp row of canine teeth. Teeth that were capable of snapping my neck with minimal pressure. His eyes as black as could be, and looking directly at me with vengeance. A nasty looking scar going from the corner his left eye, down his face. I knew he was a rouge from that scar.
That was when I remembered the dream. The one I had in the dungeon. The one with this white wolf chasing me in a red dress. This red dress. That was why it was so familiar.
My eyes widened as I realized exactly what this rouge was here for. To kill me. And according to my dream, Jace too. I felt my hands start to sweat. I slowly got up, so I was ready to run.
That was when the white rouge lunged at me, ready to kill.
Cliffhanger!!!!!!!!!! so what do you guys think of this chapter? Will Jace come save Eliana? What about what happen between Jace and Eliana? And Eliana's reaction? Annoying right. I would LOOOOOVE to hear what you guys think.
Check out the dress on the right. I imagined it to look like that, but in a deep red. What do you think of it? Really it didn't take too long to find it, becuase I typed in long red dress, and this popped up.
Check out my new cover! donadee made this cover! So a special thanks to her. I just fell inlove with it. She also made another one that is really awsome, I hope I can get it up on the side to show you guys.
Sorry, I am really tired and hyper, so I am blabbering. Or atleast in my head it feels like this is all going a mile a minute. That didn't make any sense. :l
Please Vote and Comment!!!!! Thanks you all so much!