I showed up to school the next day in a much better mood than I had in the days prior. I was in such a better mood, that everyone seemed to take notice.
"Why are you so happy? I don't get it you looked like you wanted to murder someone yesterday and now you're a ray of fucking sunshine." Cole pointed out to me.
I just smiled and shrugged as he pulled out the video camera, and my happiness turned into annoyance, "Will you put that thing away? I'm sick of you filming every second of every day." I exclaimed, slamming my locker shut.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were okay with failing out history project. Last I checked you're little miss 'Straight-A Student'." He said sarcastically.
I gave him a look, "You have at least ten hours of footage already. I'm sure you can make do with what you have." I said.
He rolled his eyes and put the camera down, but did not put it away.
As we walked down the hall Cole spoke up again, "Seriously though, you seem to be in a much better mood. Is there a reason behind it?" He asked me.
"Lucas and I held a civil conversation and made up. So I'm in a significantly better mood than when we weren't speaking." I said.
Instead of the smirk I was expecting, his face went really serious, "Really?" He sounded somber, almost.
I gave him a curious look, "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked as we walked into english and sat down at our desks.
"It just means that you two are always on a spectrum. You two are either at one extreme or the other. And it's getting difficult to figure out where you two stand from day to day." He said.
I just gave him a confused look that encouraged him to continue, "Either you two are not speaking to each other, or you're so close you're practically a couple. It's getting hard to follow. And I'm sorry if this makes me sound like a dick, but I don't think you two should keep making up if it just means you're going to start fighting again." He said.
I was quiet as I thought about his words. He was right, Lucas and I were toxic for each other. But was that because of the two of us or just the shitty cards we'd consistently been dealt for so long?
Cole spoke up one final time before class started, "We're just all scared that while he's with Katie, she'll end up separating you two so much you'll be too far apart to come back together when that relationship finally ends." Cole said.
I thought about his words for the rest of the day. I didn't know what he meant by Katie separating us. There had never seemed to be any serious issues between Katie or I.
At lunch, Lucas sat down next to me. Mistake number one, "Hey princess." He said, stealing a french fry off my tray and popping it into his mouth.
"Hey. What are you doing here?" I asked.
He shrugged, "Sitting with my friends." He said.
I rolled my eyes but said nothing, just looked at my tray, "What's up with you?" he asked me lowly, taking note of my response.
"Nothing," I said with a shake of my head, "It's just...how does Katie feel about this?" I asked, looking at him.
His face turned serious, "She'll be fine." He said.
"I don't want to be the cause of a fight between you two. If this is something she's uncomfortable with, or doesn't want you doing unless she's with you, I think you should respect that." I said.
Lucas was quiet for a second before speaking once more, "Yeah...yeah I guess you're right. It's only fair," he said. A split second later he spoke again, "Oh yeah, we're having a party for my mom, kind of an early birthday, slash, cancer surviving party. It's at the house this weekend. She really wants you there, so do I. Will you go?" He asked.
I smiled, "I would love to." I said and he smiled before turning to the rest of the table.
Before he could say anything Tyler looked at him seriously, "Dude, your mom had cancer?" He asked.
Lucas's face turned serious when he realized he hasn't told them before. He nodded once, "Um, yeah. We found out a couple of months ago. She had surgery and they were able to remove the tumor completely. That was why there were quite a few days a while ago that I was a complete dick. I'm really sorry I never told you guys. I'd meant to, but I guess time just kinda got away from me." He said.
Cole shook his head, "Don't worry about it man, we're just glad she's okay. And I know I'm glad you're talking to her again." He said, as the others nodded in agreement and Lucas smiled.
"Obviously you all are invited to the party as well. That is, if you want to come, of course."
Maya smiled and seemed to speak up for everyone, "We'll be there."
"Awesome. My dad invited some of his business associates, so it's formal dress. It sucks but, when by dad does this, there's no stopping him." Lucas said with a shake of his head.
Maya and I smiled at each other, anything for an excuse to go shopping. The guys, however, did not appear all that excited to go shopping.
That Friday after school, Maya and I left straight from school to the mall, in search for dresses for Cassandra's party the next night. Lucas had assured me that he would watch Clara so Maya and I could have the entire afternoon and night to hang out and have girl time.
Maya found her dress fast. It was a floor length black dress with black jewels covering the bodice. It was very simple but she looked absolutely gorgeous. Mine, however, took a bit more time to find. There were a lot of dresses, but none of them felt quite right.
It wasn't until we were in the (literal) last store of the entire mall where we found the one. It was also floor length, like Maya's, except this one was gold, with sheer long sleeves covered in beautiful swirling lace designs. It had a high neckline and slit going up the left leg until about the middle of my thigh
"Ariel that dress was literally made for you." Maya said when I stepped out of the changing room
The employee who had brought the dress over smiled from the back, "She's right. It's perfect. Would you like me to bag it up for you?" She asked me.
I smiled, "I think so."
The next day, Maya and I got to the Hunter's house at nine in the morning. Tessa had asked me if I'd be willing to look after Clara while workers came to set up for the party. So, we brought our dresses, shoes, makeup, hair supplies and accessories over and left them in a guest bedroom.
We hung out with Clara for the morning, who was practically oozing with excitement over getting to dress up later on. Once 1PM rolled around, Tessa came up, hair and makeup done to help Clara get ready.
"Can Ariel do my hair?" Clara asked, she always makes it look really pretty.
Tessa smiled at her daughter, "Of course she can."
So I did Clara's hair, curling it and doing a half-up-half-down look. She then got dressed in a very pretty yellow gown, very reminiscent of princess Belle. She went downstairs with her mom, where the party had already started.
Maya and I headed to the guest bedroom and did our hair and makeup. I helped Maya into her dress and then she helped me into mine. After a quick photoshoot we were ready to head downstairs.
"We look hot af." She said to me with a smile as we opened the door.
We saw the foyer filled as we walked down the stairs as well as people spilling into the now open, makeshift "ballroom". We walked into the "ballroom" and spotted our friends, all of whom looked very handsome in their tuxedos.
Tyler was the first to spot us, and in turn smacked Cole and Miles, who smacked Alex and Aaron, who smacked Brian. We smiled at all of them as we walked over.
"You two look..." Cole trailed off as we reached them, searching for words.
"Beautiful. You two look beautiful." Miles spoke up to the two of us.
The others made noises of agreement, and we both smiled and thanked them. We chatted with them for a few minutes until those around us quieted down and we turned to see the cause of it.
It was Jason and Tessa standing at the front with Lucas and Clara, "Hello everyone, we just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for coming. This party is in honor of my son Lucas's mom, Cassandra. A few short months ago we received word that Cassandra had a form of brain cancer. Thankfully, she was able to fight in, and underwent an operation to completely remove the tumor, and is now cancer free," James paused as the audience applauded in support.
I spotted Cassandra at the front of the crowd, standing next to her husband and looking gorgeous, but also slightly uncomfortable, like she didn't want any of the attention being paid to her right now.
"So, I wanted to throw this party in honor of her victory against the disease, as well as her upcoming birthday. Welcome to the family, Cassandra, all of you, welcome. Enjoy the party everyone." Jason said before gesturing for everyone to resume.
I glanced over to where the Hunters had been standing and locked eyes with Lucas, who seemed to have already been looking over at me.
I smiled at him and he smirked back over. We both started making our ways over to each other and met in the middle.
"Hey princess. You clean up nice." He said.
I smiled and looked down briefly, "Thank you. I could say the same to you." I responded, looking him up and down in his charcoal black suit and silver tie.
He laughed lightly, "Thanks. Come on, my mom's been asking for you since she got here." He said, holding his arm out for me to take ahold of.
I grabbed ahold of it and walked with him, through the crowd. We landed in front of Cassandra, laughing with her husband.
She turned over to look at us and lit up when she saw who it was, "Ariel! Oh you came!" She exclaimed, wrapping me in a hug.
"Of course I did. I wouldn't miss it." I answered as I hugged her back.
She pulled away and looked me up and down, "You look gorgeous!" She gushed.
I felt myself blushing, "Thank you." I answered.
"Well don't let me keep you. Go and have fun with your friends." She said, gesturing with her hands.
"Come on princess, dance with me." Lucas said, holding out his hand once more.
I took it, and let him lead me onto the ballroom floor, where others had begun dancing.
"I have to warn you, I haven't ballroom danced in a while, so I'm sorry if I suck at this." I said to him in a warning.
He smirked, "I'm just happy you know how to ballroom dance." He said.
I shrugged, "My mom made me take lessons a few years ago because I needed to learn for a wedding." I supplied.
"Just don't step on my feet." He said as he laced one of his hands with one of mine, and placed the other on my waist.
I rolled my eyes as I placed my left hand on his shoulder, and we began dancing. He began leading me around the dance floor, being careful to steer me clear of the other dancers, and to keep us from colliding into each other.
"Not bad princess," Lucas commented as we danced, "I'd never picked you for the dancing type." He said with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes, "Very funny Hunter," I said sarcastically, dropping the subject there, "So, where's Katie?" I asked.
His smile fell ever so slightly at the mention of his girlfriend, "I didn't tell her about it." He said.
I gave him a curious look, subtly pressing for more information. He sighed, "I'm just...I'm not ready to show her this part of me. It's a big thing for me to do." He said.
I nodded knowingly, "I understand. It's hard to open up. I feel the same way." I said.
He smiled, "Im pretty lucky to have you princess," he said, making me smile, "it's really nice having someone who gets you as well as you get me." He said.
I returned the smile, "I could say the same about you. I guess we're both pretty lucky." I said.
He smiled, "That we are." He said briefly before catching me off guard by dropping me into a dip.
I smiled and looked into his eyes as he slowly stood me back up. We stared at each other, neither of us talking. Then, of course, someone interrupted.
"Sorry to interrupt, but if you don't mind I'd like to dance with my boyfriend." Katie said, crossing her arms, looking annoyed from right next to us.
A/N: HERE IT IS. I hope you guys like it! I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has been voting, commenting, and adding this story to their reading lists! It truly means the world to me. I never thought this story would be so popular and I am so grateful that you all are enjoying it! Because I'm really loving writing it!
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