V e r o n i k a ' s P o i n t o f V i e w
I didn't know what a macarena was until tonight, but I did know that is was fun and I liked it.
Laughter filled the air as I jumped around, dancing with my friends to the song currently playing at the Winter Dance. My brunette curls bounced off my shoulders while a giant smile was plastered onto my face. I was having fun, despite the pain in my shoulder from getting the crap beat out of me yesterday at the hockey game.
I awoke this morning to a bruise on my shoulder as large as my fist and the same color as my purple-blue toned dress I was currently wearing.
It was kind of scary to see a bruise that large that contrasted so strongly against my skin, but luckily with the help of some makeup I was able to cover it up so that no one would suspect a thing.
Even though it was throbbing with pain with every step I took, I wasn't going to let it ruin my first high school dance experience.
Besides that, so far everything about the night was going great. Aiden was even being his old usual self, which was nice for a change. Lately he'd been acting so odd and getting into fights, but he genuinely seemed happy at the moment which made me happy. I missed this Aiden.
"Look who it is!" Celia squealed as a tall figure dressed in a black tuxedo entered the venue the dance was being held at.
The twinkly lights hung around everywhere nearly blinded me for a moment as I quickly turned to see who it was, but once my eyes met the familiar pair of green orbs a grin crept its way onto my face.
"You came." I said as he casually approached our friend group.
Harry shrugged and quickly sent me a wink, "I promised."
My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion for a moment as I tried to figure out what that meant. He promised? Who did he promise?
Last night was kind of hazy for me because I was so sleepy, but I was beginning to think more happened than just Harry bringing me up to my room like I assumed.
Harry chuckled at my confused expression and turned to everyone else. "Why'd you stop dancing? Come on!"
He then began moving around the dance floor like a goof. Lately he'd been acting so strange too, but now he seemed comfortable and happy. I couldn't contain the laughter I was trying to keep inside, so I erupted into giggles and began dancing along with him and everyone else.
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An hour later I was just as giddy as I felt when I first arrived. However, I was dehydrated from all the dancing so I excused myself and made my way over to grab some punch.
I was pouring some of the liquid into a cup when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
The tap was somewhat light, but it was on my bad shoulder and it caused me to flinch for a moment and nearly drop the punch.
I sighed in relief that I didn't spill anything, and turned to see who was trying to get my attention.
The infamous smirk and strong smelling cologne of Zac Rowley was the last thing I expected to come face to face with.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, not even giving him a polite hello.
His smirk widened, "Hi to you too, babe."
I rolled my eyes, "I'm not your babe."
He shrugged, "You could be if you wanted to be. You're still just as fine as the first time I saw you."
I laughed a dry laugh. "And you're still just as cocky as the first time I met you."
A grin rose from his lips he had previously been biting. "See? We make a good match."
"In your dreams." I replied, shaking my head as I began moving away from him and back to my friends.
He was like a dog though and just kept following after me as if I had him on a leash. "Damn right you're in my dreams." This statement was followed by a wink which made me cringe.
"Gross. What are you even doing here?"
"Came here with some chick who begged me to go with her." He replied will a roll of his eyes.
I smiled. "Oh, good. Then go be with her and leave me alone."
He smirked once again. "She's too easy, whereas you're a challenge and far more interesting. I like you."
I rolled my eyes. "Well I don't like you."
He laughed. "I think you should dance with me."
Now I laughed as well because he literally was insane. Why on earth did he think I would dance with him? I didn't even like talking to him, or looking at him - no matter how attractive he may be. He definitely was good looking, but the fact that he knew that and was so arrogant just made him a turn off.
"I think you're out of your mind." I finally replied while he still lingered near me as I searched for my friends in the crowd. I saw Celia and Luke, but they looked like they were having a good time together and I didn't want to spoil their moment.
I had no idea where Harry, Aiden, Ben, or Vince were though.
"Can't find your lovers?" He stated, shifting the conversation as he observed me.
My face twisted into a disgusted look at his comment. "They're not my lovers, oh my gosh."
He chuckled and kept going. "Yeah, okay. They both look at you like you're the last slice of pizza."
My eyes blinked and I avoided looking at him. Was he trying to get under my skin? Because it was working.
"I heard they've been starting some fights over you. Even got a player injured yesterday because they were too busy fighting to help out their own team member. Ben, was it?" he questioned.
Alright, now he was entering the danger zone. I wasn't going to discuss the drama between Harry and Aiden or how Ben who was really me got hurt. I refused to. My eyes continued to scan the crowd for them so that I could get away from Zac. "Look, I'm not talking about my love life with you or discussing anything about what happened at a hockey game. I don't even like hockey. So just leave me alone, okay?"
He nodded. "Okay."
It was quiet between us for a few seconds as music blasted in the background. I preferred the music over having to listen to Zac. Unfortunately for me though, it seemed to be impossible for him to keep his mouth closed.
"Sure you don't want to dance with me?" He questioned.
I clenched my fists. Stay calm, Ronnie.
"For the last time, I am sure."
He shrugged and sent me a smirk again. "I might have an idea where your friends are."
Now this struck my attention. I quickly turned to him and sent him a glare. "What did you do with my friends?"
The smirk didn't leave his face. "I didn't do anything. But I did see them a few minutes ago."
I groaned. "Well? Where did you see them?"
He shook his head. "Tit for tat, Rons."
What the hell?
I narrowed my eyes. "Excuse me?"
He chuckled, "You know: you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."
If my eyes could narrow even more, they would have. I was beyond confused and disturbed. "Excuse me?" I repeated again.
"I'll tell you where your friends are if you dance with me." He finally replied as if it were obvious.
Oh. That's what he was getting at.
I shook my head, "I told you, I'm not dancing with you."
He shrugged, "Fine by me, I'll just stand here with you all night."
I crossed my arms, not giving into his threat. I'm sure he would give up eventually and leave me alone. "Fine, go ahead."
About five minutes later I couldn't take it anymore. No one was answering their texts and Zac would not stop talking to me, even though I wasn't even listening.
"-so then I was like oh my gosh, bitch, Pitbull isn't even that bad. Mr. Worldwide drops some mad beats sometimes, you know what I mean? Maybe I should make a request to the DJ to play Hotel Room Service. I can get down to that song, like turn up for what haha."
When I didn't answer him, like I'd been doing the past five minutes, he just kept going.
"Do you not know that song? It's the one that's like 'we at the hotel, motel, holiday inn" he kept singing, and I really tried to tune him out, but it wasn't working.
"Your man just left, I'm the plumber tonight, I'll check your pipes, Oh, you're the healthy type. Well, here goes some egg whites. Now gimme that sweet, that nasty, that go-" he was dancing and singing loudly right beside me. It wasn't even the same song as the one playing and I just couldn't take it anymore so I stopped him.
"Oh my gosh, you've got to be the most annoying living thing in the entire macrocosm. I'll dance with you once if you promise to stop whatever it is that you're doing. Please."
He smirked and grabbed my hand, leading me over to the dance floor. "I knew you wanted me."
My eyes went wide and I stopped moving, letting go of his hand. "Nope, I can't do it."
I began walking away from him, but then he started singing again and was alternating part of the lines to put in my name so now people around were looking. I groaned and turned back around to him, not even looking at his face.
"One song, that's it."
With my awful luck, as soon as those words left my mouth a new song started playing. And it was a slow song.
"Damn it." I cussed under my breath, shaking my head. I just had to get through about three minutes of this, that's all. I could do it. Maybe.
I didn't have to look at him to know there was a smirk on his face as he wrapped his arms around me. I kept my arms by my side and continued to avoid looking at his face. Two minutes and forty three seconds left approximately.
As we continued to "dance", I felt his hands start to move lower past my back and I bit my lip in frustration. I quickly reached back behind me and moved his hands so that they were back in a respectable position.
"Nice try, asshole." I stated, glaring at him.
He chuckled, "I figured it was worth a shot."
"Ronnie? What are you doing?" A voice questioned as someone approached.
I looked up to see Harry and sighed in relief, sneaking out of Zac's arms. I didn't have to dance with him anymore because his tit for tat thing was useless now. I didn't need his help. "Oh thank goodness."
Zac stood there just staring at me and Harry for a moment.
"You can go now." I stated, waving him off.
He rolled his eyes and turned on his heel while I turned back to face Harry who was giving me a strange look. "What was that about?"
I shook my head, "Don't even ask, please."
He lightly laughed, "Okay, I won't."
Silence grew between us while couples around kept dancing to the slow song that was still playing. Before I was even sure if I actually wanted to ask, I felt myself subconsciously reaching a hand out to Harry. "Wanna dance?"
I then realized that it would probably be weird if we danced to a slow song, so I began to take my hand back. "I just thought because everyone else was and we're kind of just standing here but we don't have t-"
He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around my waist gently, which shut me up. He didn't even say anything, just began to sway along to the music with me.
The space between us was small as our bodies pressed together with my arms wrapped around his neck and his around my waist. I felt comfortable in Harry's arms which was something I wasn't expecting to feel. I almost didn't want the song to end because I was enjoying myself so much even though we weren't even speaking.
I felt like I was floating, but the image of Aiden walking through the doors towards the back covered in blood that I happened to catch while spinning made that feeling go away.
Suddenly, I broke away from Harry and ran as fast as I could through the crowd to Aiden.
Once I reached him, he was nearly collapsing onto the floor. He leaned against the wall and was squinting because it looked like he got punched in the face among other places.
"Aiden, what happened?!" I asked in a panicked tone, leaning down to his level to see what was wrong.
He shook his head, "I'm sorry Ronnie."
"Sorry? Sorry for what?"
He looked at me and tried speaking even though it looked like it hurt him to talk. "For messing.. everything.. up. I ruined... things... between... us."
I was at loss for words. I didn't know what to say to make him feel better. Confusion and empathy were the main emotions I felt because I didn't know what was going on, but I wanted to try to understand.
"Aiden, it's okay. We're friends still." I replied, lightly placing my hand onto his.
He shook his head and coughed. Then he lifted his other hand up and slowly caressed my face with it. "But I love you, V."
I blinked, not really sure how to react to that. He loved me?
A small smile emerged from my face out of habit because no one had really ever told me they loved me before and meant it.
I wasn't sure how I felt about Aiden still, but I did know he was a good guy. I didn't want to hurt his feelings because I knew I couldn't give him the same response back.
However, before I could give him any sort of answer at all, I felt his soft lips begin to press against mine.
I didn't really kiss back because I really wasn't expecting that. I must have given him the wrong idea by smiling after his comment.
"Aiden I..." I began, but he shook his head, getting my message loud and clear by not reciprocating the kiss.
He coughed again. "I get it, you don't have to explain."
His coughs were beginning to sound painful and I tried to go back to focusing on what had even happened to him in the first place. "Aiden we need to get you help."
He looked like he was about to protest as he tried to stand up, but then nodded when he realized he couldn't do that. "Okay."
I put an arm around him and began leading him over to the school nurse who was here as a chaperone. While we walked, I bit my lip. "Do..do you know who did this to you?"
He was quiet for a few seconds and looked away from me. He almost looked uncomfortable when he finally gave me an answer.
"Harry."
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i rewrote this chapter so many times omg. i finally decided i liked the route of this one out of the others so here it is ! hopefully it was alright
thanks for reading/voting/commenting !! this chapter is dedicated to mcbastard bc ur still reading this story like a year later lolol thank u <3
Questions
1. How do you feel about Zac?
2. Do you think Harry really beat up Aiden? If not, who do you think did then?
3. Any predictions for next chapter?
** and lol i made this edit for this chapter a while ago and feel like i need to post it bc i get a good laugh out of it now and hope u do too like LOOK AT SEL'S SHOULDER I TRIED SO HARD TO MAKE IT ACCURATE tO RONNIE lmao hate myself ok bye