girl afraid (not permanent title lol)

chapter four - anita

I pull into the driveway, and Barb gets out of the car. "Thanks, Anita." She says. "No problem, thank you for letting me dress at your house, Barb. You didn't have to do this." I smile.
     "Seriously? No problem, girl." She replies, and I chuckle. I don't see Carol's car, she must not be home yet.

_________________________________________________________

"What were you thinking of wearing?" Barb asks me, and I pull out the creased outfit from my bag.

     "You do know we're going to a party, right?" She winces at my outfit. "What's wrong with it?" I ask. It's a long purple jumper and tight jeans. I somehow shoved brown boots into the bag, and Barb looks like she's about to throw up all over it.

     "What size are they?" She asks, and snatches the jumper from my hands.

     "A size six?" She asks, and looks me up and down. "Not really, I got it a size up for comfort. I'm a size four." Her eyes lit up. "Great! Same size. Take a look in my closet, you can return it later," she told me. "Really? Thanks, Barb," I say. She smiles.

I pick out a dark purple long-sleeved dress that shows off my curves, and pair it with black heels. I put on minimal makeup, some blush and mascara, and let my curls go natural.

"Wow." Barb says, after she finishes teasing her hair. "You look amazing," she says, and I beam. My cheeks go darker pink. "Thanks, you look great, too." I return.

     She smacks her lips together and grabs her purse. "You ready?" She asks, and I nod. I fix my hair one more time, and leave Barb's room.

     "Carol, we're leaving now!" She shouts. "We?" Carol walks past, and then stops when she sees me coming down the stairs. She has a lit cigarette in her mouth. I didn't realise she smoked.

     She looked me up and down, smirked, and then looked back at Barb. "Have fun," she said, and wandered back to the kitchen.

     A slight blush rose to my cheeks, and I don't know why.

After picking up a few other people, Barb finally parks the car at a random house.

     "Where are we?" I ask Barb as we all walk in. She laughs. "We're at Sean's," she says. Ah, the boy from school. "Okay, thanks," I say. We walk into the house.

     "Barbarella!" Sean yells when Dana walks in, spilling his drink on the floor. "Ebs! Bianca! Sam!" He high fives all of them, but then stops when he gets to me. "And- New Girl." He looks at Barb, and then me. Barb, then back at me. He raises his eyebrow and holds up his hand, and I clap it. "New Girl!" He yells excitedly, and we all raise our hands, spreading out to get drinks. Except Barb and I, as she promised to show me around first before leaving me to 'mingle', or whatever else she said.

     We both poured drinks, and she turned around to lean on the table. I did the same. She pointed to the door.

"Those there, those are Ethan and Tabitha," she tells me. "They're like a 'power couple' or whatever, but they cheat on each other all the time. They know, so it's not that big of a deal, but if you want a hookup with someone tonight, chances are: Ethan's your guy," she finishes. Wow. I nod, unable to say anything. I don't know what to say.

     She points to the other end of the room. "That there is Linda Petersen, not to be confused with Linda Powell. Linda Petersen is the devil-on-earth, so don't be friends with her, because if you talk to her about anything personal, she will spread it around like wildfire, and if you tell her about any guy, she will go after him. Linda Powell, however, is amazing. She's truly lovely. No harm done there. But, the boy next to Linda Pete, he's single and totally not interested in her. He's made it clear but Linda just doesn't get it. His name is Frank and I think he's cute, but some may disagree. I don't know what your type is yet." She supplies. I nod.

Barb takes a big gulp of her drink. "I'm gonna go mix with some people, I've told you about some. Good luck, you got this!" She pats me on the back and walks away, before retreating back to me. "Also, if you need any of us for whatever, come to me. If you can't find me, go to Ebony, Bianca or Samuel. Sean won't be around and I don't know if Alicia is here yet, but try find one of us, okay? Okay." She confirms, and continues to walk.

I nod my head along to the music, taking swigs of my drink every now and again, but I don't know what to do. I'm trying to muster up the courage to talk to somebody, but honestly? I don't think anyone here looks remotely interesting.

     I don't want to admit it, but, I kinda want to talk to Carol again. She seems fun, based on when we were talking earlier. That might sound weird, though.

     I take my drink and set it down onto a table next to somebody. "Hey," I say, and they turn around. It's a boy, and he has dark black hair and blue eyes, and reminds me of Danny from Grease.

"Hey," he looks me up and down, chewing on something. Gum, I think. He smirks at me. "How are you enjoying the party?" He asks. He's looking at me weirdly, and suddenly I can feel my skin on my bones.

     "I-um-It's fine. What about you?" I ask. "Fine," he replies. He looks me up and down again and I feel shivers down my spine. "You're new, right?" He asks. "Yeah," I reply, "I just moved here from a few towns over," I say. "Oh, right, cool," he nods.

     "Hey, Wren, we're playing Pong. Want a game?" A boy with blonde hair asks. Wren – apparently – looks at me, as if to ask 'is it okay if I go?', and I nod. "Nice chat, see you later!" I say, and he walks away.

     I pick up my drink, and I don't remember anything else that happened for the next three hours.