“You guys need to chill” I said holding Rashad and Derek back. Mom parked in front of the hall they were using for the debutante’s ball and rushed in to help the rest of the chair out.
“Chill? How aren’t you angry?” Derek ran a hand through his hair
“I am but this debutante’s ball is a big deal to mom. We can’t let this get in the way” I sighed
“Well good on you, Dr.Love” Rashad said sarcastically and walked into the hall. Derek looked at me and followed him
“Welcome, welcome” A bright eyed blonde sang as we walked through the doors, “Please check in with the table monitor to see where you will be sitting to consult your designated ball coordinator” I stared at her blankly as she pointed to a middle aged woman wearing a pant suit off to her right
“Okay…Lawson’s? You’re at table 15” She smiled at us. Mom had arranged for the three of us to sit together and while, at first, I was happy about that, now it was more of a curse. I glumly followed Derek and Rashad to one of the large round tables filling up the room. At the head of each table was what I supposed were the ‘ball coordinators’. They were all holding clip boards and all had ear pieces and walkie talkies
Derek sat two seats down from the ball coordinator with Rashad beside him and me on the other side of him, one space from the coordinator
“Hi ya’ll, I’m Shay. Let’s just wait for the rest of the group to show up and we will begin” our coordinator was a pretty brunette who had a slight Texas accent, a heart shaped face and Taylor swift curls cascading down her back.
“Who needs em” Derek grinned slowly at her and I knew he liked her. Ugh
The room began getting packed and I noticed a couple of familiar faces sitting at our table. I recognized Dayan Martin from bio with her tall gazelle like frame and poofy black hair, Mason Ward from chem with his perpetual ‘I hate you’ glare, and Rebecca Swenning from English with her beach blonde locks.
“Who knew you’d be here?” A deep voice whispered in my ear. I turned to find Brad smiling down at me. He was wearing a crisp white button down and slacks.
“Well it depends on whose asking” I grinned, “is this your table?”
“Unfortunately not. I’m at table 19” He said pointing across the room to where ten kids or so sat. Among those ten kids was, as my luck would have it, Cynthia
“Great” I muttered
“Yeah” He smiled oblivious to my sullen state, “Catch you later. Hey Shad, Hey Derek”
My brothers didn’t even acknowledge his presence.
“I can’t stand that guy” Derek muttered once brad had walked away
“Since when?” I laughed slightly
“Since he started playing you” Derek said giving me a wicked grin
“Bro” rashad said in a warning tone
“Your right” Derek shook his head and looked onwards.
“The famous Lawson’s all in one place? To what do I owe this serendipitous surprise?” Lucas said in mock shock. He stood at the edge of the table in his usual ensemble; Plaid shirt, Henley tee, jeans and his chuck Taylors. It worked on him
“Hey dude” Derek laughed.
“Sup” Rashad nodded at Lucas
“There’s an empty seat right here” Shay chirped patting the seat beside her…and me
Lucas sat down and soon our entire table was full, save for the seat on the other side of Shay
“I hate when people are late” Shay mumbled looking at the seat.
“Testing, testing” A new voice sounded at the front
“Hello, I’m Susan Munk, head of the ball committee, and I’d like to welcome you all to the first ball meeting of the 2013 year” Lucas’s mom stood at a podium in the front looking immaculate in a cream pencil skirt, red blouse, and matching cream blazer. Her dark hair was pin straight and her lips formed a bright red heart on her face.
“As you can see, there are tables around the room. At each table is one ball coordinator and their job is to debrief you of your duties and will act as your leaders. Any questions, opinions, and ideas will be given to them and they will teach you all there is to know for the next three weeks leading to your ball.” Mrs. Munk was the epitome of calm, cool, and collected.
“This is your time to shine, so don’t be shy. Your ball coordinators are here to help YOU, alright?” Mrs. Munk looked round the room meaningfully, “Let’s get this show on the road”
The room filled with excited applause, from the moms, and nervous glances, that was us.
“Alright ya’ll. First off imma need you to sign your first and last names on this sheet of paper to ensure that you guys were, indeed, here the entire time” Shay smiled, showing off incredibly white teeth
“I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign” Derek muttered flirtatiously Shay reddened and busied herself with the rest of the kids at our table. She was obviously older than Derek, by how much I wasn’t sure, but I could he took it as a challenge
“Sherry” I coughed loudly and instantly Derek sat up straighter
“She’s here?” He whispered out of the corner of his mouth
“No but that’s no excuse to flirt with other girls” I sighed. Sherry lived with her single mom, who couldn’t afford things like the debutante’s ball, so she usually skipped out on events such as this.
Derek gave me a sour look and I was just about to say something witty when a shock of black hair at the end of the table stopped me. Anger so deep and blazing coursed through me and I found my feet moving at a speed of their own
“Ashley please come back” I faintly heard Shay call out but I was on a mission
“You scumbag” I spat looking Alex in the eye
“Good morning, to you too” Alex said confused. He looked around the table and shrugged his shoulders
“I know what you did” I said and I saw his Adams apple bob up and down. I was working hard to not punch it
“And what’s that?” Alex raised his eyebrows mockingly. A chair scraped back and soon I saw Derek and Rashad standing on either side of me, “What is this? The Lawson mob?”
And that’s when I lost it. I punched Alex in the jaw so hard that I felt my bones reverberate.
“Dude” He swore and made a move to push me but Rashad gave him a swift clock to the nose and Derek finished it off with an elbow to the stomach. Alex crumpled to the ground in a heap
“No, it’s the payback council” I spat turning around…to the whole room staring at me slack jawed
……………………….
“Why?” Mrs. Munk ground out. We had been sitting in her ‘office’ for an hour while she tried to pry the information out of us. Mom stood in the corner of the room staring at me and the boys disappointedly.
A knock saved us
“You said you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, Alex. Have a seat” Mrs. Munk ushered Alex to the farthest seat from the rest of us. He was holding a bloody towel to his face and I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction
“What kind of ammunition would you have to gang up on your own teammate during my meeting?” She shrieked, “Alex, do you know?”
“No. Last I checked we were all good” Alex replied
“Oh, he knows what he did” I scoffed rolling my eyes
“Ashley!” Mom gasped, “Stop this behavior right now”
“I knew your little change wasn’t for the better, your still a little hooligan on the inside” Mrs. Munk said disgusted
“Susan” Mom said warningly
“I’m sorry but it’s true! What kind of justifiable reason could they possibly have to do such a vicious thing?”
“That’s what we’re going to get down to the bottom of” Mom stared at us, “You guys are in a whole lot of trouble”
“We’re in trouble?” Derek boomed, “God, this is so stupid”
“What I think is stupid is that human beings would have to resort to such low levels” Mom huffed
“What I think is stupid is that you have absolutely no idea what’s going on in your kids lives!” Derek shot back. I sucked in a breath. This was about to get ugly
“What are you talking about?” Mom asked slowly
“Why don’t you ask the creep who secretly dated your fourteen year old daughter” Rashad yelled. Mom and Mrs. Munk audibly gasped
“I’m gone” Rashad stood up and motioned for me and Derek to get up also.
“You are not going anywhere until you explain this!” Mom yelled, “Alex what are they talking about?!?!”
“Uhm…I…Uhm” Alex tried shrinking into his seat
“What a joke. We'll just walk home” Derek muttered bumping Alex’s chair before following Rashad out the door
“Come back!” I heard mom calling for us
........................
“You told mom?!?!!?” Abby yelled when we got home. Mom was probably still at the hall trying to understand the bomb Derek had thrown
“Yeah, we did” Derek said unapologetically
“How could you? You promised!” Abby looked close to tears
“No, Ashley promised.” Rashad muttered flopping on the couch
“You guys suck!” Abby cried running up the stairs and slamming her room door
“Totally” I muttered to myself.
:) HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER. VOTE, COMMENT AND LIKE :)
S.O.T.D: BEST SONG EVER: ONE DIRECTION aka MY FUTURE HUSBANDS....YES ALL FIVE
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