The Winter Ball was coming up.
Our school was obsessed with dances and balls and celebrations of every sort. Therefore, they threw one everytime they got the chance (because everyone loved getting the occasion to prove to everyone else that they were the best looking and had the best fashion sense).
Every year, a few weeks before the Christmas break, the school would hold its annual Winter Ball (cue cheers). The annoucement had been made this morning. The ball would occur this Friday: The school staff obviously thought the students would enjoy having only five days to get themselves a dress or a tuxedo.
"I'm thinking of asking Savannah Williamson," Noah announced at lunch. Savannah was a cheerleader. I'd say she was pretty nice, but I'd never really talked to her. "Though she'd probably rather go with some dumb jock."
"Dude," Thomas laughed, never one to take these things seriously. "You're a dumb jock."
Noah rolled his eyes and laughed sarcastically. "Very funny."
"Why would you want to go with her, though?" Kelsey interjected, catching, as I had, Amanda's dejected look.
Only Kelsey and I knew of Amanda's crush on Noah. She'd told us in tenth grade and the feelings had never left her. Amanda had known Noah since she was about five, because of her twin brother. Thomas and Noah had been friends for a while (they weren't in the same kindergarten class as Amanda, and Kelsey and I went to a different school) when Thomas invited him home one day. That was when Amanda and Noah officially met. By the time first grade came around, the three were inseperable. As for Kelsey and I, we became best friends in third grade when I defended her against some boy who'd made fun of her for carrying around her teddy bear everywhere she went. We met the three best friends in seventh grade. The five of us instantly clicked, and that was the start of our everlasting friendship.
It was only in 8th grade, when Noah got his first girlfriend, that Amanda realized her feelings for her best friend - and yes, it took two years for her to tell Kelsey and I.
"What do you mean?" Noah asked Kelsey with a frown. Clearly, he hadn't expected any of us to be against the idea of him going after some girl.
"Don't get me wrong, she seems nice and all, but... You barely know her."
I nodded in agreement, proud of Kelsey for thinking of this argument of the spot like that. "Kels is right. I mean, have you ever even talked to her?"
"Of course," Noah huffed. "She cheers at my basketball games." Thomas cleared his throat, to which Noah rolled his eyes. "At our basketball games.
"Thank you," Thomas said cheerfully.
Noah's face lit up so suddenly I almost fell out of my seat. "There she is!" he exclaimed. We all turned our heads to see a girl wearing white jeans with a black leather jacket over a bright pink tank-top walk through the cafeteria's entrance, her long brown hair up in a high ponytail that swung with every step she took. Ignoring the gazes of many, Savannah made her way to the short line to buy her lunch. "This is my chance," Noah said, getting up. "Wish me luck."
"How about no?" Amanda muttered, her chin in her hand as she walked him walk up nervously to the cheerleader.
"What's with you guys, today?" Thomas asked Kelsey, Amanda, and I. "Do you want him to be dateless or something?"
"Not exactly," I mumbled, too focused on Noah and Savannah to even register exactly what Thomas was saying. Amanda got up abruptly as Savannah smiled brightly and nodded at Noah. They hugged and Amanda walked out of the cafeteria without another word. Kelsey quickly got up and I followed, leaving Thomas alone at the table.
"You are so oblivious," I told Noah angrily as I walked by, not even pausing to hear his reply.
Kelsey and I only caught up with Amanda when she stopped at her locker.
"Hey," Kelsey breathed. "Listen, Noah's an idiot. I mean, seriously, you're beautiful, you're smart, you're talented... He just hasn't paid enough attention yet."
"It's not because he hasn't paid enough attention, and you know that as well as I do," Amanda murmured, keeping her eyes fixed on the inside of her locker. "It's because I'm one of his best friends. It's all he's ever seen me as. I bet he thinks of me as his little sister or something."
"So?" I spoke up, going for another tactic. "Personally, I think it's time you move on. I mean, what's the point of you wasting your time and feelings on him? Go for someone more... open to have feelings for you."
Amanda scoffed. "Like who? Plus, it's not like you can talk, Chloe."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You and Logan McCloud," she said and my eyes widened. "You've been obsessed with the guys for what? Five years?" Four, my mind immediately corrected.
"What? I wasn't obsessed! And how do you even know about that?"
"You were staring at him, like, all the time," Amanda said. "We were bound to notice at some point."
"We?" I repeated, starting to panick.
"Kelsey and I. As far as I know, the guys never noticed." I was slightly relieved to hear that.
"Anyway, Amanda, if you end up without a date, I could just cancel mine and go with you," Kelsey, who'd been asked to the ball by some guy in her science-for-geniuses class this morning, offered.
"No, no! Don't do that! I wouldn't want to ruin your night," Amanda objected. Kelsey assured her that Amanda wouldn't be ruining anything, but she wouldn't hear it.
"Then I'll go with you," I told Amanda. "I don't have a date either."
"But you will," Amanda pointed out, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You and Logan McCloud have been getting pretty close. I bet he's going to ask you to go with him."
"I agree," Kelsey said, nodding confidently.
"Well, you guys will be disappointed. Logan and I talked for the first time, like, a week ago."
"That doesn't mean anything. Look at Noah and Savannah," Amanda said bitterly.
"Still," I insisted, though I couldn't help hoping that I was wrong. "Logan would never ask me out."
"I think you're wrong on this one, Chlo," Kelsey told me and Amanda agreed. "You just wait and see."
-/-\-
It was Wednesday. The ball was in two days. Logan still hadn't asked me to go with him. I was losing hope.
It didn't help that Amanda and Kelsey kept asking me if Logan had made his move, even when I'd promised to notify them if he did.
Worse than all, the only time Logan and I talked was between seven and seven thirty so that I made sure he ate dinner. Other than that, we exchanged awkward smiles at school when we made eye contact. That was it.
"So, do you think he'll ask you tonight?" Amanda, who now had a date (some guy in her dance team had asked her yesterday), asked me as we made our way to our cars after school.
"Amanda, could you please drop the subject?" I pleaded, sick of having her remind me that the guy I liked didn't like me back. "He's obviously not interrested. Otherwise, he would've had asked me by now."
She shrugged. "You never know," she said, but dropped the matter as Thomas stopped his car infront of us and rolled down the window.
"Ready?" he asked Amanda. I raised an eyebrow. Amanda and Thomas had their own cars and always rode to school in seperate vehicles, because they always argued over music and other stupid things.
"I'm getting the tires changed on my car so I had to catch a ride from him," Amanda explained, making her way to the other side of the car to get to the passenger seat. "See you tomorrow!" she called once she was seated, peering at me from Thomas's window. "Call me if anything changes!" She winked.
"Bye, Chloe," Thomas waved curtly - if not coldly - before speeding away.
"Bye," I muttered to no one.
"Chloe!" A familiar voice stopped me from going any further than a few steps. I turned around, almost not daring to get my hopes up, but there he was, his dark hair in a dangled mess, running toward me as he avoided students as best as he could.
Logan.
"Hi," I greeted him, trying not to look uncomfortable. The last time I'd talked to him without being obligated to had been last Friday at the hospital, and that hadn't been one of our greatest moments together, to say the least. "How are you?"
"Fine. Better," he panted, his eyes darting across my face. "Listen," he breathed, but I stopped him before he could continue.
"Catch your breath, Logan. I'm not expected anywhere."
He nodded, his eyes suddenly looking anywhere but at me. For some reason, that bothered me, so I racked my brain for something to say.
"So... we haven't talked in a while, huh?"
He frowned. "We talked last night," he said as he slowly stopped fighting for breath. I wondered how long a distance he'd ran.
"No, I mean... I know, but like, we haven't talked without having to talk... If that makes any sense." What was I saying? I should just be glad he was talking to me again. I was such an idiot.
And yet, he seemed to understand exactly what I meant. "Yeah. I wanted to talk to you, it's just that you were always with your friends and it felt weird to just walk up to you when you weren't alone. Plus, I feared you were angry with me."
"Angry with you?" I echoed, disbelieving, but then I remembered. Let's just say I hadn't left the hospital on very high spirits, Friday night.
"Yeah. I acted like an asshole at the hospital, and I wanted to apologize."
"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for. You were upset, I get it."
"Still," he insisted. "I'm sorry."
"Logan, I swear, it's alright. Now, was that all you wanted to tell me, or...?" I prompted. I didn't want to seem like a bitch, but his apologies weren't what I wanted to hear. I'd moved on quite a while ago.
"Actually, no," he blurted just as I was about to take a step backwards.
I froze. "What's up?"
He took a deep breath. "Alright, so listen, I know the Winter Ball is coming up and all the girls dream of going but honestly I'm not very good with crowds. If I was, I'd totally ask you to go with me, but..." he trailed off and I nodded slowly, not quite sure where he was going with this. "You see, the thing is, I'd really like to get to know you outside of those daily Skype calls of ours," he admitted and I felt like my heart had skipped more than just one beat. "So... what I'm trying to ask you in; would you like to skip the Winter Ball and go on a date with me instead?"
Let's put it this way: Would I like to skip the annual "Who looked the best and who has the hottest date?" contest to go on a date with the guy I've liked since 9th grade? The answer was easy: HELL YES!
"I'd be delighted to," I smiled at him, fighting the urge to bust into a happy dance right there.
Logan let out a breath of what seemed like relief (had he been nervous to ask me out? The thought itself made me want to jump around, squealing) and he returned my smile. "Awesome." His smile turned into a grin and I force my face to stay the same. There it was. His genuine, happy smile I'd missed so much. It was finally back. And I'd caused its reappearance.
This day couldn't get any better.
-/-\-
"I'm going on a date with Logan McCloud!" I announced as soon as Amanda's face appeared on my computer screen.
"What? How? When? Where? What happened?" she stammered.
I recalled to Amanda my conversation with Logan.
"Wait, so you're not going to the ball?" she questionned once I was done.
"Nope."
There was a moment of silence, then Amanda squealed. Very loudly. I was grateful for my previous choice not to wear earphones. "OH MY GOD! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" She gasped. "We need to go shopping! Where are you going?"
"He wouldn't tell me." I shrugged. "He told me to dress casually, though, so sorry to disappoint but no dress will be needed."
Amanda placed a hand over her heart and shook her head. "You poor, innocent soul. Dresses are mendatory on dates, regardless of what you're doing. It's just a matter of what kind of dress you're going to wear," she explained as she took out her phone and started typing. "Are you busy?" she asked me, not looking up from her phone.
I glanced at my alarm clock: 4:47PM.
"Not for another two hours. Why?"
"Kelsey and I are picking you up in ten minutes. We're going shopping."
-/-\-
There ya go! Sorry for not updating last week. I was busy and will be for all of May, but I'll try updating as often as I can. Hopefully, it'll all slow down once June comes around. Also, I haven't double check for spelling mistakes, so please forgive any typos you might have noticed.
See you next week!
- ProfessionalDork