The Cinderella of Cherry Park

Chapter 2

I got into my car with my friends in the back and Michael next to me. I drop Jasmine, Hazel and Piper off at their houses. Then, I drive Michael to football practice and me and Jordan sit in the bleachers to watch. Her boyfriend, Jack, is on the football team so we sit together on the bleachers. "Oh my god, Anna, will you please give me a makeover! You always look absolutely gorgeous. I don't know what..." Jordan gushed on and on as I watched Michael score a touchdown. He looked in my direction and winked. Aww, I thought. He is so cute sometimes. After that, I waited for him in the gym. "Hey, cuteness. How'd you like it?"He'd snuck up behind me and gave me a heart attack. "Hey." I breathed. "You gave me a heart attack." I walked to my car with Michael because Jordan was going to Jack's house. "Hey, want to come over?" I asked. I was so scared he would reject me. I mean, he asked me out only a day ago. Literally. "Sure. Sounds like fun." He said. I let out a big sigh of relief.
We sat cuddled on the couch. We were watching my favorite movie. After the movie he had to leave. I looked at the clock. Oh my god, it's 2 am! I realized just then how utterly exhausted I was. I dragged myself up the stairs, but eventually collapsed in the hallway. I woke up. Oh crap it was 7 am! I was like an hour late for school! Wait, I thought, it's a Saturday. So I trudged down stairs. There were at least 20 texts I had missed. Amidst them was Hey u busy tonight-Jasmine, Wanna sleepover?- Hazel, and Hey babe wanna go see a movie tonight? There's one at 9- Michael. I had a stage 10 case of the butterflies. Did he just ask me out on our first date? And even more important, did he just call me babe???!!! I couldn't believe what I was reading. Oh my god yes yes yes yes yes I was thinking. But I replied, Yeah, sure. Sounds cool. For the rest of the day I just sat there getting ready. I tried on 7 different outfits, but decided on my frayed skinny jeans, a tight black shirt that went just above my belly button. I had begged my mom for a belly button piercing, and after weeks and weeks of begging, she finally gave in. I had a small diamond stud in my belly button. It went great with the black shirt and diamond encrusted hoops I had. I curled my hair so it was voluminous and wavy at the top, and curled at the end. I put on my makeup which took, like, an hour. I heard a knock on the door and "Good evening Mrs. Levenge. I'm here to pick up Anna." I put on my last item. My cherry red lipstick. I picked up my black clutch and headed downstairs. "Well, goodbye. Have fun Anna." My mom winked. "Mom..." I said with an obvious nod towards the stairs. We went outside and got into his black civic. "Well, don't you look gorgeous." He said. I blushed. My face was redder than a tomato at this point. "Thanks. You're not looking too bad, yourself." I said confidently. He had a mock expression of hurt on his face. "Anna...how could you?" We both laughed. We arrived at the movie theater at 8:50. "Perfect timing." He said. We bought popcorn and candy. He payed for all of it. We got a big bucket of popcorn to share and 2 bags of Sour Patch. Turns out we had somethings in common. Halfway through the movie, the girl leaned in for a kiss on the screen. The moment their lips touched, I looked at Michael. He was holding my hand. We watched the movie as they pulled back. "I love you." The boy in the movie said. I turned and looked at Michael. He was leaning in. I closed my eyes and leaned in too. I waited for what seemed like a decade. I opened my eyes and realized his were farther away then they were before. "I'm sorry, Anna. There's somebody else. I couldn't stand lying to you." I couldn't believe it. I got up, spilling popcorn everywhere, and ran out of the theater. "Anna, wait, I-" I didn't get to hear the rest because I was already out the door.