𝐒𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 | 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭

07

Thursday, October 10, 2013
Dakota's Point of View

Last night, I hung out with Nathan for a little while longer but he eventually left for the night. I think he wanted space, which I totally understood.

Tonight, we are supposed to leave after the party. I was so nervous. I did tell my dad I was coming home with Nathan, but he probably thinks we're just visiting. When I tell him I wanna stay, with Nathan, he'll probably get angry, he worked hard to get me into Blackwell. But at the end of the day, I know my dad loves me and would be there for me, so I wasn't too worried.

I picked up my phone off my nightstand, I had a missed text from Nathan.

Private Number: Tonight's the night, can't wait to ditch this shithole with you Seattle

I lips curved upwards into a smile and I felt my cheeks heat up. I guess I couldn't wait either. I decided to text him back.

Me: You ready for the party first?

I didn't even know what I was going to wear to this party. I guess I'd ask Nathan what he was wearing and build off of that.

I had two classes today but decided I wouldn't be attending them, Nathan and I wouldn't even be here next week, tomorrow even, so what's the point?

I started to pack my clothes back up, I guess it was good I didn't throw away my packing boxes. They kind of just stood in a corner of my dorm.

A few hours went by and my room was fully packed, if Nathan suddenly changed his mind I would be so angry for getting my hopes up and making me waste all this time packing my dorm up.

I heard a knock at my door and in came Nathan, "Woah," He said. "Getting excited, aren't you Seattle?"

"I guess so," I said looking around my dorm.

"What are you wearing tonight?" He asked switching the subject.

"I was gonna ask you," I answered. "I don't know what to wear.."

"Go talk to Amelie, I'm sure she'll have some good advice," He said. "I'm no fucking fashionista."

"Are you going to class today?" I asked him.

"Probably not," He said. "What about you?"

"Definitely not."

"You're gonna have a lot of fun at this party," Nathan said. "Trust me, I've been planning this is behind the scenes for the past week."

"Y'know my Quinceañera took forever to plan, months even?"

"Quincea-what-a?"

"My quince," I said. "When girls turn fifteen in my culture, we're considered women."

"Oh okay," He said tapping his chin and looking around my room.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go see if Amelie's up then," I said. "You wanna come?"

"Sure," He said.

We left my dorm and walked down the hall to Amelie's.

Nathan knocked on the door to Amelie's. Amelie opened it, yawning, "What's up you two?"

"Good morning sleepyhead," He said opening the door past her and walking in, I followed. "No Warren."

"Not this morning. Caught me on a lucky morning," She said sitting back down on her bed.

"Anyways," Nathan said and motioned to me to talk to Amelie.

"Oh, yeah!" I said. "So, basically, I've never been to a party before so I really don't know what to wear to the party tonight, or if I even have anything."

"You came to the right place," Amelie said. "I've been partying for a while because of this one." She pointed to Nathan with her chin as she stood up and went to her closet. "I think red would look against your skin tone, don't you think?"

"Actually, that was color of my quince dress," I nodded.

"Knew it," She laughed pulling out a red dress. "It's a bodycon dress, it will hug the shape of your body."

"Perfect," I said grabbing it. "I'll return it tonight after the party."

"Don't bother," She said. "I'm sure you'll look better in red than I ever will with my pale skin."

"Thanks Amelie," I said.

"Look at you two," Nathan said. "My girls."

Amelie looked at me and smiled. Then she mouthed words to me. I think it was "thank you" however I'm not entirely sure.

"We're gonna leave you alone now," Nathan spoke up amidst the sudden silence.

"See you later at the party," Amelie waved goodbye as we left her room.

"That went well," I said as we walked back to my dorm.

Nathan checked his phone, not responding to me. I grabbed his hand and looked up in his face, it seemed like it was tensing up, "You okay?"

"I have to go do something. See you at the party tonight?" He asked.

"I won't see you for the rest of the day?" I asked confused.

"No, no," He said in a panicky tone. "I don't think so."

"Nathan, what's happening?"

"Just, fucking leave it alone Dakota," He said angrily before storming away.

I was just left standing alone in front of my dorm. I looked around, Victoria, Juliet, and Max were all in the hallway staring at me. I didn't say a word I just walked into my dorm and shut the door.

Who could he have gotten a text from? I was so confused and I wanted to help. Should I go to Amelie? She probably doesn't know about us leaving tonight and maybe this has to do with it?

My mind was racing with thoughts, I just needed to calm down. Maybe I should go shower.

I grabbed my toiletry bag out of a miscellaneous box. I headed towards the bathroom with a change of clothes, but not the dress, it was too early to be walking around campus in just a red dress.

When I walked into the showers, Victoria was in there, "Hey new girl," She said. "So what, are you and Nathan like together now?"

"I guess, yeah," I said walking to the shower at the far end of the room, I only liked to use the very last one.

"How'd you do it?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked in response, turning around to face her.

"Y'know," She started. "To get him to settle down, he wouldn't do that for anyone."

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I guess he just liked me a lot?"

"Sounds like you're not too sure."

I shrugged and she continued, "You guys gonna be at the party tonight?"

"Yeah."

"I'll put you on the VIP list, consider it my apology," Victoria said. "I didn't realize how much you meant to Nathan and he's like my brother so.. yeah."

"Thanks," I said. "And I'm sorry for taking that dumb picture of you."

"I guess I kind of deserved it," She laughed. "Anyways, au revoir new girl."

Au revoir? I had no clue what that means. I am way too uncultured for this boarding school, but I guess it didn't matter since I'd be leaving tonight anyways.