Brightsider's Secrets

The Gala

I stood there, staring at myself in the mirror, wondering if this was a good idea or not. It's definitely not a good idea, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to do it. I sighed and ran my hand through my straight black hair out of nervous habit. My hands shook as if I had had way too much caffeine, which I had, and my face was extremely pale. I attempted to straighten my crappily done bowtie and as I looked down at my stupid tux that Mandy forced me to rent. I gulped nervously in anticipation of what was about to happen.

    I thought back to Mandy's excitement towards the gala and how I had completely shut her out for the past two weeks. It wasn't fair. She had done nothing wrong and I made her feel like she had. I sighed and walked out my door, knowing what I had to do.

    I walked to Mandy's door and stood sheepishly in front of it. I rose my fist in the air, hesitant to knock. I slammed my fist against the door, wincing at how loud it was. I did this twice more, then began nervously playing with my hands and rocking back and forth on my heels.

I stood silently, waiting for the door to open.Confusion filled my thoughts when Mandy didn't come to the door; it was very unlike her. I rose my fist and began to knock again when the door swung open. There stood Mandy in knee-high fuzzy socks and cupcake pajamas.

"I'm sorry, I was ju-" Her sentence cut off short when she noticed me. Mandy seemed shorter than usual, though her face was hard and all of her playfulness was gone. My heart dropped when I saw her expression: she hated me.

    "Look, I'm so sorry Mandy-"

    "It's Amanda." She cut my apology off suddenly. I stood there for a second, totally stunned. She sighed, noticing the change in my expression. "What do you want, Wesley?" I gulped.

    "Well," I paused trying to think through my words carefully, "Amanda, I wanted to know if you would like to attend Mr. Leinster's gala with me. I knew this girl who was really excited for it, but she seems to have... moved on."

    She stood there silently looking right into my eyes. It was as if she were searching for something. Finally she cracked a small smile that I knew she had been holding back.

    "Well, I guess I did just buy a really pretty dress." She giggled and grabbed my hand to pull me into her apartment. It still had the same smell: cinnamon rolls and happiness. It gave me an instant headache just walking in the apartment. She needed to learn to tone it down a bit in the candles and air fresheners department. The smell was so overpowering that it was just a matter of time until I passed out.

But this isn't about me, I told myself, I need to be there for her. She dragged me to the couch and pushed me onto it.

    "Wait here." She held up her hands, motioning me to stay, before running off into her room. I looked around Mandy's small living room/kitchen. Nothing had changed, even the picture of her, Adam, and I at the Twenty One Pilots concert was still up. It made me smile, that night was probably the best night of my life. My mind wandered back to when the three of us met in eighth grade. Things were so much easier then.

    "Mandy," I yelled to her, "I'm so sorry about-"

    "Just close your eyes, silly!" she yelled to me. I rolled my eyes, but did as I was told. Her footsteps echoed on the hardwood floor as she ran towards me. "Okay, open!" Her voice was filled with excitement.

    I blinked a couple times,trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light, and then noticed what she was wearing. It was a bright blue, floor length dress covered in sparkles. Her smile grew wider as she spun around and the tulle skirt flowed around her. It only had one sleeve, and it was made with the same light blue material that wrapped around the upper part of the dress. The dress matched her blue eyes perfectly.