"HENRY DID that to you?" Fredrika exclaimed as the girls were looking at the hickey on Mae's neck.
"Stop yelling!" she said, putting a hand on her neck to hide the mark. "Do we notice it a lot?"
"It depends how you define a lot, but I would say it's the only thing we notice." Stella laughed.
"Did you guys hook up?" Felice asked.
"What? No! We just hung out."
"Oh, yeah, that totally figures." Stella mocked.
"Can you just help me hide it?" Mae rolled her eyes.
The girls went to the bathroom and Fredrika and Felice took out some makeup to hide the hickey.
"So you're going to the ball with him then?" Sara asked.
"Yes."
"I can't believe Henry wrote this letter. Like seriously, who knew he was such a romantic?" Felice declared.
"I still haven't found my secret admirer." Fredrika complained. "Seriously, why doesn't he tell me who he is? That's the whole point of the evening."
"Who needs men anyway? We can just all go together." Madison shrugged.
"I told Henry I would go with him. And I kind of really wanna go with him." Mae muttered. "Sorry."
"Don't be. You guys look so cute together." Felice smiled.
"And here you go! We don't see anything anymore!" Fedrika exclaimed.
Mae looked at herself in the mirror and her friends really had managed to hide the whole mark. "That's awesome! Thank you."
"We should go now or we gonna miss the bus." Stella looked at her phone.
The girls ran out of the school. Henry and a bunch of boys were playing football on the lawn in front of the entrance. Mae stopped when their eyes met and he smiled and waved at her.
Felice grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her behind her. "Come on, we're going to miss the bus!"
Mae turned her head back to Henry and quickly waved back before starting to run again.
They went into town and shopped for almost two hours. They all found what they needed for the ball. They had invited Elisa, even if she wasn't going to Hillerska, so they could all spend the afternoon together.
When they had found everything they needed for the party, the girls went to buy something to eat and asked Mae to tell them in detail what had exactly happened with Henry.
"Well, we were just hanging out, working on that presentation for history class, and when we were finished he asked me if I had gotten his letter. He told me he likes me and asked if I wanted to go to the ball with him, I said yes, and then he asked if he could kiss me, and I said yes again." Mae smiled, her cheeks turning red because of the memories.
"Ugh, this is so cute." Fredrika declared. "How did he kiss you? Was it good?"
"Oh, it was really good." Mae nodded. "He was really sweet, but like really passionnate too."
"We can see that by the mark on your neck." Felice joked.
Mae laughed and threw a fries at her. "Shut up."
She barely touched her fries but she still ate an apple. Her friends exchanged glances and then Stella leaned across the table to speak to her.
"Look, Mae, uh, the girls and I noticed that you weren't eating very much and we're a little worried."
Mae looked at them in surprise before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I know. But it's okay, I'm working on it."
"Are you sure?" Elisa asked, sliding a hand on her best friend's back.
"Yes. It's an eating disorder, I know. I talked about it with the nurse and I'm working on it. I'm trying to start eating normally again."
"I'm so sorry." Felice told her.
"No, it's fine, I swear. Now that I realized what it was I can try to get better."
All of her friends got up to come over her and hug her. Mae smiled as she found herself in the middle of the group hug and she realized how lucky she was to have these girls in her life.
★
Mae and the girls went down to the reception room where the ball was taking place. The lights were flashing, the music was loud and everyone was already dancing. They were all wearing period outfits and wigs, it was really fun.
Mae saw Henry approaching them and she walked towards him as well. He smiled, taking her hands. "You look nice."
"You too." she smiled.
"Okay, you dance a song with us first and then you can stay with your lover. We'll give her back in a minute!" Felice exclaimed, grabbing Mae's arm to pull her into the middle of the floor with the rest of their friends.
Felice, Fedrika and Madison dragged her away while Stella and Sara were talking a few meters away. Felice called out for them to joined them and they danced together until the song ended.
"You can go now, I see you're dying to go see him." Felice teased.
Mae laughed and quickly hugged her before walking back towards Henry who was talking with two boys from their class. He waved them goodbye when Mae approached and walked up to her.
"Hi again." she said.
"Hi." he smiled.
They stared at each other for a second before he leaned over to put a soft kiss on her lips. She smiled back and put her arms around his waist to come closer and kiss him again. When they pulled away, he put an arm around her shoulders.
"Did you have fun with the girls today?"
She nodded. "Yeah, that was really cool. I told them about my eating disorder."
"You did? That's great, I'm proud of you!" Henry exclaimed, taking her in his arms.
She hugged him back with a smile. She liked how he never judged her and was just so supportive. She just liked him a lot.
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