The Hair Tie

Chapter 9

You know how in the movies, when you walk into dances, a random spotlight is focused on you, and now everyone's looking at you? You're walking down the steps, looking all stunning, and all eyes are still on you until you reach the bottom of the stairs where a boy is waiting for you. Yeah, well I didn't want that. But sometimes, things don't go your way.

We walked in casually, expecting no one to notice that we came in. However, a light suddenly focused on us, and everybody turned to look. There weren't any stairs to go down, thank goodness, since the dance was just in our crummy gym. If I did have to go down stairs with this many people staring at me, I'd trip, even in my half-inch heels.

The student body started whispering for some reason, and Chelsea, Amber, and I just looked at each other. We all had the same look of confusion. I wonder who everyone was looking at, and it better not be me. I got enough looks during school, and I didn't need it during my last high school homecoming dance.

Nonetheless, we went our merry-way and finally walked into the sweat-stenched area. The spotlight didn't follow us and everyone went back to their business.

Meeting up at the snack area with the guys and Jessie, we approached them and started interrogating them. "Why was everyone staring? Do we look weird?" Chels asked while inspecting her outfit.

"No, you guys look great.." Aidan responded breathlessly. He was looking at me weirdly, and I fidgeted under his stare.

"Um, Aidan? Is there something wrong?" I inquired, suddenly feeling even more self conscious. Was my dress wrinkled? Was my makeup already messed up? Did I randomly have some toilet paper under my heels? I lifted up one of my feet and checked if anything was under there. Nope, nothing. I checked the other, and there was nothing there either. I looked back at him expectantly.

"N-No, there's nothing wrong... You just look.. Amazing."

"O-Oh.. Thanks," I smiled while looking at the ground. Oh God, I was blushing profusely. This was bad, really bad. I hated it when I blushed. "But that still doesn't explain why people were staring at us, and who they were staring at specifically."

Amber put her arm around my shoulders. "I think it's obvious, Drew."

"Then who?"

"You."

***

It was now 9:45, and the dance was ending soon. Some people already left, while others were somewhere in the school doing who knows what. Our group was still hanging out in the gym. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, this is the last dance of the night. Grab that special someone and hit the dance floor!" The DJ yelled over the microphone.

I stayed seated, not wanting to do a couple's dance. Also, my feet were hurting from jumping and dancing around so much. I hate to admit it, but I actually had so much fun tonight. Usually, I'd think that homecoming dance was stupid and boring, like the game. I didn't much fancy football, but I was all about that school spirit, plus my friends threatened me to go, which was why I went to the homecoming game yesterday. And I was right, the game was boring. We unsurprisingly won, and I wasn't even watching the game; I was just hanging out with friends again.

But tonight was different. It was actually amusing and interesting. Maybe someone spiked my drink? But I didn't feel dizzy or buzzed, so maybe I did have genuine fun. I didn't know why I felt ecstatic. It was probably everyone's energy rubbing off on me.

I felt a sudden tug on my arm, and I looked up to see that Aidan was the one who did it. "C'mon, let's dance."

My eyes widened and my mouth was agape. He did not give me time to respond as he pulled me to my feet and dragged me to the dance floor. Once there, he placed both of my arms around his shoulders, and he placed his hands on my waist. There was a considerable amount of space between us, and I wanted it to stay that way.