Cupid's Arrow

Cupid's Arrow - 14.

Emily had planned on ditching me from the start. I just knew it.

I watched, mouth agape as Emily walked off with Carly into the mall, leaving me alone right in the middle. It was a good thing I actually knew where everything was at the mall. Plus, she'd ditched me right in front of Forever 21, so I was okay. She'd just have to figure out her method of transportation to go home with, because she sure as hell wasn't catching a ride with me. She'd go home with Carly. I didn't care what my heart had to say, my mind was settled.

I'd been acting like this for the past two days. We hadn't ended up going shopping yesterday because I needed a lot more time to let things sink in. Be it family issues or my current situation with Evan, I didn't know. Whatever it was, I just needed it to sink in. I spent half of last night crying myself to sleep because I had the idea that Evan and I wouldn't work out in the end; I had the feeling we'd broken up without even speaking, and it hurt. It still did, but I'd gotten my head together so I kept it to myself.

I walked into the store with my head held high, boots clicking on the tiled floor. I regretted ever giving Emily the chance to leave me in the first place; I was doing this for her after all. She would be the one to tell me what to wear and what would be the better choice. The Valentine's Day decorations all over the store didn't help me one bit. On instinct, I walked over to wear the red dresses were. Hopefully, one would catch my eye, and if none did, then I'd be damned.

I walked round the store and a few dresses caught my eye, most of them were a little above my budget, and a few below it, but they were beautiful nonetheless. All I had to do was pick one, and that proved to be the biggest problem. I was lucky that I even found a few dresses that impressed me; usually I'd just give up and improvise with whatever dress I'd abandoned at home.

I took out my phone and went over to Emily's chat. I opened it and started typing furiously. I made sure I gave her a piece of my mind. Angry texting was something my father had taught me to do to get something off my chest. Emily would not be happy to be on the other side of it.

I felt a tap on my shoulder just as I was about to hit send. I whipped my head around to meet the ocean blue eyes of Dawn from the Tigers. She and I had talked a lot during our meeting with the whole dance team and we got along well. I took note of the fact that she was always so cheery and vibrant.

"Don't tell me we're both shopping for the dance late," she gushed out, slapping her cheeks. "It's like five more days 'till the dance and I've got nothing ready. Besides my date, of course." She flipped her blonde hair to the side. She picked a dress up from its hanger and handed it over to me. "You look like you need help, and lucky for you, I'm a fashion expert. Those dresses are cool. But this would look fabulous on you. Trust me."

The dress she picked out looked nice to me. I took it from her and checked around it for a price tag. I was so sure I almost fainted when I saw the price. "Jesus, no, let's talk something less than a eighty bucks. This is just robbery at this point." I put the cloth back on the rack and sighed, wiping away a tear.

Dawn pursed her lips and eyed the dress. "Well, if you don't take it, I will. I think it'll be nice if I wore this, too. Dylan will faint when he sees me, oh my God. I'm definitely taking this." Dawn threw it over her elbow and pulled me out of the store once she'd paid – in cash, might I add – and took me to another store.

"I read your article, Sam, and God, you made us look so good. Like, you made the Wolves look good, too, I guess, but damn, you've got some writing skills on you. I also like how you weren't partial at all, and Jess is gonna love it!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me into another store just like Emily had done to me when it was time to get out of the house.