Cliffhanger at the end :)
Cuatro
Let's just say the rest of the day went by super slowly. Maybe it was because I wasn't having fun, you know the saying, time flies when you're having fun. Or maybe it was because I couldn't rollerblade if my life depended on it, and I am not joking in any way.
First, I dropped a customer's ice cream in front of her, and she was already a little irritated by the fact that I was a little late at making it. Then after that embarrassing experience, I slipped and tripped right in the middle of the aisle, thankfully it was out of everyone's sightline so no one saw me, at least I don't think anyone saw me. But what I thought was the most horrible and humiliating thing I did was the elbowing of Hunter. I elbowed straight in the stomach while trying to hand a guy his chocolate ice cream. Instead of going right like I was supposed to, I went left instead and my sharp elbow went right into Hunter's abdomen, but it was surprisingly hard.
By the end of the day I was exhausted and couldn't wait to take a shower and go to bed. It would just be so wonderful.
After I ate dinner and closed up the diner, I dragged myself upstairs, I literally had to drag myself upstairs because my legs felt like lead from wearing the rollerblades for such a long period of time, even with all the breaks in between I still felt like the day dragged on forever. Even with Hunter by my side, it really didn't help much.
"Alice you did great today," My mom patted me on the shoulder after we were upstairs and alone.
"Yeah ok," I grumbled. Then I walked into my room and shut the door. My bed looked like a huge marshmallow with unicorns dancing around it farting out rainbows. I flopped onto it and closed my eyes.
My goal for this weekend was to master the skill of rollerblading. It couldn't be that hard right?
----
My mom was nowhere in sight the next morning. What a surprise. She claims she'll spend time with me but always disappear in the morning.
Today she had left a note on the counter for me, saying she would be back late tonight or even tomorrow morning. The diner would be left in charge with her co-manager.
What was I going to do this entire day? Talk about boredom. The view outside the window indicated that it was slightly cloudy and it also looked like a thunderstorm was about to happen, going to the beach today would not be the best idea...
I walked back into my room and realized I had a pile of clothes thrown on the ground; I might as well do laundry.
As I threw all my clothes inside the washing machine I couldn't help but think back to yesterday, why was that guy at the diner all by himself so early? And I swear he was here the day before too. Another thing that bothered me was the look Olivia gave me when she walked past me. Did I do something that made her angry? I should be the one who was angry at her, she not only took the skates that I had my eyes on, she also had a very horrible attitude towards everyone.
The more I thought about it, the more angry I became and I roughly shook the pair of shorts I had in my hands and slip of paper fell out of my pocket.
I recognized it right away, it was the slip of paper Tami had given me that day on the beach, it was about some party and it was today. I had completely forgotten about it until just now.
There was something different about the slip of paper though; there was a number on the back that I had not noticed before. It was a phone number to be exact, and since I was bored out of my mind I decided to call it.
After a few rings, a voice spoke up.
"Hello?" It was Tami.
"Tami, this is Alice, you wrote this num-" I was interrupted right away.
"Yes, I know. I wrote the number on the back of the paper. Now that you called..." I could almost see an evil grin begin to form on her face.
"What Tami?" I said carefully.
"We're going to go shopping!" she squealed and I cringed, holding the phone a few inches away from my ear to avoid going deaf.
"Excuse me?" I asked, shocked. Did she seriously just say the word with such...excitement? I've never been the girly girl of the group and I definitely did not enjoy shopping that much, of course, there's those days when I feel like buying some clothes but other than those particular days, I usually dread shopping days. Especially since I feel so awkward shopping with my dad.
"For the party tonight of course, it's not some party where everyone gets drunk, you know. It's to celebrate for our last year in high school!" she explained. Oh. I guess it wouldn't be that bad then if it's just to celebrate.
"Exactly why do we need to go shopping then?" I almost regretted calling her. Could I take it back?
"I'm almost certain you have no dresses at home, am I right?" she definitely sounded sure.
"Um..."
"I was right!" she sounded excited. "Ok, meet you at the diner in ten minutes,"
Then she hung up. She hung up on me, can you believe this?
I slowly began to interpret what she just said. Meet you at the diner in ten minutes. Holy crap that was really soon! I quickly tied my hair up and changed into some shorts.
By the time I had gotten downstairs, Tami was already leaning against a wall waiting for me. Well, she was texting someone, most likely Leo. She was giggling like some girl who was in love, which she is, I'm sure.
I coughed a little to get her attention and her head snapped up.
"You know Alice," she said once we were in her car, "you're really pretty, especially your grey eyes, they're so...distinctive and unique. I haven't seen eyes like yours before,"
"Thanks but I'm sure that's not true. They're just grey, they make me look emotionless, at least that's what a lot of my friends say,"
"Puh-lease, those are definitely not your real friends if they said that," Tami said with full-on sass.
"Your sassy side is scaring me a little," I half chuckled. I was still a little unsure about whether I should go shopping with Tami because just by looking at what she was wearing right now, you can tell what kind of stores she spends her time going into.
"Alright ok," she puts up a hand to stop me but there's a smile evident on her face, "let's talk about what we're going to wear tonight,"
I groaned, "Do we have to?"
"You really aren't like most girls are you?" she shook her head in disbelief, "not to brag or anything, most girls at this party would die for a private fashion session with moi,"
"Is that right?" I was impressed. She must be good, really good.
"Mhm," she nodded. I surveyed what she had on today. Nothing too fancy in my opinion, just a crop top with a pretty white skater skirt and a pair of sky blue vans that matched her top. "Stop trying to change the subject Alice! What are you going to wear?"
"I don't know, is this supposed to be a formal party?" I asked.
"Well...semi-formal. Like for you, I think you should a wear a strapless lilac dress, purple compliments pale blue and grey eyes like yours. Plus, I know exactly which store to go to. So that's good," her eyes widened all of a sudden. "Oh My God. It's my jam!"
The song on the radio was Problem, by Ariana Grande and apparently, it was her jam.
Her arms flailed wildly around her and she was a mouthing the words, it actually looked pretty legit and soon I was joining in, both acting like lunatics.
"That was cool, it's been awhile since anyone's done that. They're all too cool for being weird," she frowned, "which is really odd because there's nothing wrong with being cool and weird at the same time..."
"I know right!" I exclaimed, my friends back in England always made fun of me for being socially awkward and I never knew what to say. If I ever go back, that's what I'm going to say to them.
The mall soon came into view and we both hopped out of the car and made our way inside.
-----
After nearly two hours of walking around aimlessly (at least to me it was) Tami finally decided to settle with the lilac coloured dress she told me about in the car. It was the first dress we looked like! Honestly, we could've saved so much time, and I mean a whole truckload of time if we had just stuck with her first choice. It wasn't even that expensive to my surprise and I was able to pay for it with just the cash in my wallet.
"It's a little too...revealing, don't you think?" I ran a hand through my hair as I looked at the dress again, we were sitting in the car and the dress was in the backseat.
"Revealing? It's not even-"
"But what if it falls down?" there were no straps and that was what scared me the most.
"Honey have you never worn a strapless dress before?" she placed a hand on my shoulder mockingly.
"Actually as a matter of a fact, I haven't," I said proudly but quickly shrunk down after seeing the look on Tami's horrified face.
"You're seventeen right?" she asked as if to make sure.
"Um yeah,"
"Wow,"
-----
The party itself looked so glamorous. Especially the house, I wonder who's it is. There were people streaming in from all four directions when we arrived I could hear the music already even though we were nowhere near the house.
"You sure about this? Don't I just look ridiculous? It's just a party and I'm not even part of this school," I frowned and looked down at my outfit. I was wearing the dress Tami and I had bought and some flats because I refused to wear heels. My hair was curled and I even wore a little bit of make up.
"Ridiculous? You have got to be joking me, honestly," Tami scoffed, "you look hot, and plus, even if you aren't part of this school now, you will be soon so chill out. Everyone here is nice, well, Olivia is an exception,"
Oh crap, was Olivia going to be there?
"Is Olivia going to be here?" I asked, hoping for a certain answer.
"Yes, argh. She's going to be all over Lawrence, obviously," she rolled her eyes after she pulled the car to a full stop. I gave off a little shaky laugh. Right, Lawrence.
We went in quickly and at the doorway Tami met up with Leo who was waiting at the door. Tami was right; everyone was wearing formal dresses and suits. Leo had on a black suit with a red bow tie.
"I'm just gonna go now," I told Tami and Leo quickly. I didn't want to be annoying; they were each other's dates after all.
Inside, there were people swaying to the music, people conversing and what I realized is that most people here had dates. The house itself was very modern. Everything was square and its corners were so sharp. The walls were a pasty grey colour and the couches were made of black velvety material. The ceilings were so high too.
As I walked up I felt my lips crack and I was parched so I walked over to the drinks table, there were a types of wine and beer, and then there was fruit punch. I felt a little adventurous so I mixed some wine with a cup of fruit punch and took a big sip. It was delicious.
"Hey," a voice spoke up beside me and I turned around.
It was Hunter and boy did he look good. His dark hair was gelled up slightly and he was wearing grey dress pants with a very pale pink button up shirt with a black tie, he looked totally preppy, especially with his blue eyes glistening until the light.
"H-hi," I sputtered. Gosh, when will I ever learn?
"You look beautiful tonight," he said flashing a white smile at me.
"Uh, what. No, I mean, thanks?" I wanted to slap myself that moment, literally. I felt my hand move up to my face but I stopped myself.
He chuckled a little, "well, if you need anything just let me know. I'll be around, somewhere," he grinned again before walking off towards a group of guys all winking and making weird sexual faces at him.
Ah, boys.
I looked around and I didn't spot Olivia, which was a good thing because I didn't want to see her and she might give me that look again. Avoiding her was probably the best thing I could do right now.
"Yo," Tami appeared behind me.
"What are you doing here?" I gasped.
"Excuse me?" she gaped at me.
"Why are you here? You should be with Leo; he's your boyfriend. Not me!" I looked at her exasperatedly. How could she do this to him? Obviously I'm a little glad she's here, no, really glad she's here; I don't really want her to be spending time with me.
"C'mon it's ok, we've together for almost three years," she smiled.
"No, it's not," I said stubbornly.
Then Tami did what I never expected her to do in a million years. She laughed at me, like actually laughed, she was almost toppling over with laughter.
"What's going on?" I whispered loudly through gritted teeth after she calmed down and everyone around us had stopped staring.
"Nothing," she shrugged still trying to hold in a laugh or two.
"You can't seriously do that," I laughed dryly and gave her a glare. "You can't do that and they say nothing," I mocked her for that last word.
"My voice doesn't sound like that," she frowned.
"Oh whatever, stop changing the subject!" I gave her a little nudge on the arm. "C'mon tell me, what's wrong,"
"Nothing's wrong. It's just, well, someone's been staring at you the moment you've got here," she sputtered and looked at me.
"Who?" I looked around and saw no one.
"Stop, it's ok. Seriously," she told me but I could tell she was still dying inside because she was keeping something from me.
I narrowed my eyes, "Tami. Tell. Me. Now,"
"Fineeee," she dragged the last letter for as long as she possible could. I can't believe she's still stalling!
"Tami,"
"It's him," she pointed at a space behind me. I spun around. "Lawrence,"
Holy cheese crackers, it was the soup guy.
Another chapter for you guys! Hopefully I'll be able to update soon :) The plot will pick up the next chapter so stay tuned!
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thanks
summer