White Teeth Teens

22. Little White Lie

What a week! I feel like I'm on cloud-nine. Ben meets me after every class and walks me to my next one. We eat lunch together. Sometimes Ben sits with me and the girls, sometimes I sit with Ben and the guys.

Allison doesn't eat lunch with Fred because she says it's good for a couple to spend time apart and just hang with friends. Maybe I'll do that at some point but I mean, it's not even been a week that Ben's been my boyfriend!

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On Saturday afternoon, Dad drops me off at Allison's house. When I texted Val and Allison this morning asking them what I should wear, Allison insisted that she style me. No matter how many times I tell Dad that, he keeps eyeing me in the car. "You sure you can wear that to a dance?" I'm literally in jeans and a sweatshirt.

"Make sure your brothers behave," he says as I leave the car.

Allison's Schnauzer acts as the doorbell before I even reach the door. I hear the patter of quick feet and Allison's little brother opens the door. He picks the dog up to and lets me in.

"They're upstairs," he says. I thank him and take off my shoes. There's giggling and Ariana Grande music playing and I follow it to a room full of pink.

Allison and Val give me hugs and drag me to the bed.

"Can I do your make-up?" Val pushes her glasses down the bridge of her nose to inspect me.

Allison chucks purple fabric at me. I pull it off my head and hold it up, letting it fall into shape. It's a dress with a t-shirt top that flows from the waist outwards to the knee. It's as dark and bold as amethyst—and it matches my sneakers.

Allison points to a door with a long mirror. "Bathroom's through there. Try it on."

I take the dress into the bathroom and close the door behind me. I stare at my reflection. My face is pale with just a splotch of pink on each cheek. My hair is sticking up in different directions and my fingers get caught in the knots. I turn my back to the mirror and take off my clothes, squeezing myself into the dress. When the bottom hem touches above my knees, I take a breath. The dress doesn't feel tight. I turn around, ready to cringe—but then my eyes soften at the girl in the mirror. My waist looks small and the dress juts out so when I move my hips, it sways side to side. I bite my lip and smile.

"How's it look?" Allison shouts.

I open the door and walk out. Allison and Val's eyes open wide and they both nod their heads in approval.

"Are you guys good with braids?" I ask, picking up a strand of my hair.

Allison raises her hand like she's in the classroom. She pushes me back into the bathroom and starts brushing my hair with her brush. "Can you braid this," I pick up a clump of hair to the left of my forehead, "into a ponytail?"

"Easy," Allison says. She reaches for a hair tie and starts to braid.

Jess and I never did stuff like this. We were both tomboys in basketball shorts and big t-shirts. We watched silly movies and talked crap about everyone else in our grade who went to parties. Like it was our choice that we didn't go, not that we weren't invited.

What would Jess say if she saw me now? I mean, if we were still friends... Would she point and laugh at me?

"Done!" Allison says proudly. I run my fingers over the braid and tug on the silky strands at the end.

"It looks great," I say.

Val's applying her make-up at Allison's vanity when we come out of the bathroom. She changed into a three-quarter sleeved black dress covered in silver stars that match her silver Keds. She looks at us through the mirror.