Watching Her

Chapter 4: Say goodbye to heels

"Oh shut it, he was actually cute to me." Adriana huffed as she tried to find the makeshift path we had once created throughout all these years while stomping through bushes. I giggled, my shoes dangling from my hand as I tried to follow her voice in the dark. 

Santa Maria had always made clear when our curfew had been with the help of the street lights that would shut down at ten p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and nine p.m. on Sundays because of the upcoming start of the week. 

"Just because they see it as a rest day, doesn't mean we have to." Adriana had once snarled a bit too loud in our English class, gaining an hour worth of detention the next Sunday. As she had always been a strong atheist, despite of her parents strong beliefs, she had never understood certain rules of our school. I did understand them, but it didn't mean I followed all of them. 

"Did you actually find the path or are we lost?" I couldn't suppress my laughter, holding my hand in front of my mouth as I tried to remain quiet for the sake of both of us not getting caught by one of the night guards. After shushing me, I saw the sparkles of her dress in the moonlight, moving so wildly while she tried not to break one of her favorite gowns. Walking through a forest had never been an enjoying activity to do, but barging in through the front gates wasn't an option either. 

"No, we're nearly there." I had already taken off all of my heavy jewelry in the bathroom before we had left to search for a cab, Mr. Graham not being able to answer any of our calls. The sticks lying on the ground made my feet hurt from time to time, but they were still better than my heels clinging to my skin all night, torturing me with every step I took. 

"See? The fence!" Adriana shook the chain-link fence to prove her point before I could get ahold of her arm, stopping the noise that her movements made. She had at least managed to get me a little less drunk with my fear of being caught, but it didn't help at all. 

"See? The guards are finally paying attention to us!" I complained and she let go of the fence, now searching the hole we had once made in our freshman year. My vision was still in need of glasses, not being able to help her as I held onto the next best tree to help me stand and not tip and fall onto my best friend, something that would've gotten us enough attention.

"You," she paused, still leaning over, "are the drunkest girl I've ever met, Ms. Winterson." 

"Oh fuck off. You aren't any better with your dancing, the guys nearly stood in line for you. I could've earned good money with that." Earning a donkey kick onto my left leg, I took a step backwards, nearly tumbling into the next bush as I complained about her childish acts. 

"Found it!" Ariana exclaimed after a while, crawling through the hole, me following after her. The concrete floor felt hard and cold under our knees, as we tried to stay in the shadows. There weren't any soldiers seen near us, but they couldn't be far away either. 

Even though summer was blooming, the night breeze felt cold as it blew my tangled hair away from my face while I tried to regain stability in standing. My feet, now finally adjusting to the feeling of rough stone beneath us, tingled a little as we looked around us. 

We had chosen this spot to sneak out of the property because of the poor lighting, but it was currently our greatest enemy as we tried to remember the way back to our dorms. The tingling feeling from my feet went through my legs, leaving goosebumps on my thighs as it continued to go up to my stomach and my arms. I knew this wasn't because it was cold, I had no reason to whine about the temperature because of my sweater, it had to be something different, a feeling I couldn't let go.

"What now?" Adriana asked bluntly as she held onto my wrist while taking off her shoes a little too late. I couldn't do more than shrug, this feeling, this sensation just wouldn't let me go right in this moment, but we weren't able to have many more minutes of silence until the guards would come, followed up by a visit to the headmistress office in the morning.