Chapter 64 Sweet Torture
676words
Or drown us if that didn't work.
I was sitting in the cafeteria with Ember, Ella, and Poppy, snacking on a gooey cheese pizza slice, when Derek approached our table.
"Hey." His eyes slid over everyone at the table before settling on me. "Mind if I talk to you for a moment?"
Ember made a choking sound, and Ella fell into a fit of giggles. Poppy only stared at Derek as if he had sprouted three heads.
"Sure." I got up from the table and followed him to a vacant corner in the cafeteria. "What's up?"
"Look, there's no other way to say this, so I'll just go ahead and ask." He rubbed the side of his head, seemingly nervous. "Do you have a date for the charity dance?"
"Well, yes and no," I hesitated. "I'm going with Poppy and Ember."
We didn't plan on going, not at first, but Ella was persistent.
Almost as if reading my thoughts, he asked, "Ella's not going?"
"She's got a date."
"Would you like to go with me?" he asked. "We can still hang out with them too. You know, I thought it would be great to go with you. I mean, if you don't mind?" He laughed nervously, saying to himself, "I should stop talking now."
I hesitated for a moment, glancing back at my friend's table. "I don't know—"
"You can go hang out with your friends whenever you get tired of me," he teased.
I considered it for a moment, thinking what harm could it do if I went with him. If it all tumbled downhill, I could leave with Ember.
I smiled with my mind made up. "Fine."
He paused. "Is that a yes?"
"Sure," I said. "We can go together."
His face broke out in a grin. "Perfect."
***
Thursday after school Poppy, Ella, and I went into town to shop for dresses to wear to the charity dance. If we knew what lay ahead of us, we would have done the dress-searching sooner. The weather was a nightmare.
I shrouded my body beneath my jacket from the spewing rain, trying to keep up with my friends. We splashed our way through a river of water in the street to reach the store. By the time we stepped into Sammy's Garden Boutique, my shoes were soaked.
"Shouldn't we—" I hesitated by the door. "I don't know, clean our shoes?"
Ella waved me off. "They don't care. Trust me. Come."
Poppy's brows shot up. "You sure? Because if I had to clean up after other people constantly, I'd be pretty pissed off."
The shop assistant by the counter lowered her magazine, chewing loudly on her gum. "You can go in like that. We have someone who cleans at the end of the day."
I opened my mouth to protest when Ella grabbed me by the arm and tugged me after her. "Told you."
The shop assistant didn't bat a lash as we sloshed our way into the isles of clothing racks, unbothered by the fact that we left a trail of mud.
"Ember is so missing out," Ella started. She pulled out her cellphone and took a few pictures of dresses out on display. "I'm sending her these. So she'll see what she's missing."
I sighed, stepping back. Due to obvious reasons, Ember presented a random excuse not to be there. She looked forward to this outing, and the disappointment in her eyes was evident when she informed me she couldn't go.
Ella wasn't helping by rubbing it in Ember's face.
Poppy came to the rescue by snatching Ella's phone. "Hey, there's a dress with your name on it."
Ella twisted around to glance at what Poppy was pointing at and squealed. "Hell yeah!"
Poppy rolled her eyes as Ella dashed down the aisle. "She doesn't understand that people get sick sometimes. She means well, but Ella's a complete B right now."
