Anarchy [ Watty's 2016 ]

XI: Alex

It took about two hours for both of us to get ready. The last hour was Jade stuffing as much food into her mouth as she could before she had to put on makeup. I was rather impressed by the amount of grocery shopping my parents would have to do to replace everything.

I'd changed into the dress and, partially against my will, Jade dragged me into the bathroom so she could do my hair. "Since when did you know how to style hair?" I asked her with a sideways glance.

"Since when did you know how to cook?" she retorted, referring to the last breakfast I'd cooked—four days ago. I was relieved to see Jade's smile return; I noticed, too, that her eyes had brightened as well—it was rather easy to tell her mood based on if her eyes were hooded or bright—so I could now see faint green flecks across her pale silver-gray eyes. It made me happier to see my friend recovering from the week's events. 

Since I had no reply, I just shrugged. She smirked and returned to my hair. After twenty minutes, she'd finished, leaving me with loose curls and a braided crown. Before I could even comment on it, she pushed me out of the bathroom and told me to wait in the living room. I obeyed, albeit grudgingly.

There was a substantial amount of door opening and closing, but eventually, Jade came back out of the restroom, wearing a knee-length dress of her own. It looked similar to the one I was wearing in terms of style, although different in terms of the fact it had thin straps; the dress darkened to a red-violet at the bottom, with the silk ribbon around the waist to match. Her russet-brown hair was set back in a bun, with ringlet curls framing her face.

I whistled. "Impressive."

She smiled faintly. "Thanks. You aren't too bad yourself." She winked, and I tried to stop myself from bursting out laughing. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful; Jade snorted, which led to both of us laughing uncontrollably.

When we finally calmed down, I managed to say, "By the way, where'd you get the dresses?" It was something I'd been wondering since she'd shown me the dress.

"Well, y'know," she shrugged nonchalantly. "I bought 'em at the mall the other day. While you were still in the hospital."

"Oh," I said. I glanced at the time—it was eight-thirty; homecoming started in thirty minutes. "You don't actually expect us to walk all the way to the school in these?" I gestured to our shoes—although we were both wearing flats, it wouldn't be very comfortable walking two miles to the school in dress shoes.

She laughed off my question. "Of course not! That's why I got us a ride!"

I raised my eyebrow, but she didn't offer any explanation. She simply grabbed my arm and guided me outside, where I spotted a silver BMW i8 parked on the side of the street. Someone exited the car and walked up to us, holding the keys in his hand. He gave the keys to Jade, who smiled and thanked him.

"I'll be here to pick it up tomorrow morning," he told her. She nodded, and he turned on his heel and walked away.

"What was that all about?" I demanded. I was getting tired of surprises, and the dull pain in my chest wasn't helping, either.

Jade grinned and motioned at the car. "Rental car. Pickup/drop-off service. I'm driving. C'mon!"

Before I could protest, she ran to the BMW and hopped in the driver's seat. I grumbled, but followed her, taking shotgun. When I buckled in, Jade smirked and turned the ignition. "You ready for homecoming?" she asked.

I knew it was rhetoric, but I answered with a nod nonetheless. She nodded in return and started driving.

There was an unusually large amount of people attending homecoming. To my surprise, a number of those same people greeted me cheerfully when I stepped out of the car. I could only reply with nods and faint "thank you"s.

I glanced at Jade, who shot a smirk back at me. "What's going on?" I asked.

She opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a familiar voice. "Well there you are!"

I whirled around to find Damien dressed in a black button-down silk shirt, black dress pants, and a red tie. His auburn hair was combed back. He smiled, and I made a sound like a cat being strangled underwater. Jade's snicker didn't help. I finally managed to say, "Hey, uh, is there something I'm missing here? What's with all the people? Barely anyone goes to school events."

Damien shrugged. "I'm not quite sure. I guess they all heard about your recovery from that car accident the other day. Everyone was pretty worried."

Car accident? Is that what Jade sold that off as? And why would people worry about me? I'm not that popular. "Oh, uh, yeah. It was—"

"Anyways," he cut me off, "we should get going! We don't want to miss the announcement! You're already late!" He dragged me off into the auditorium, where names were being called out. It took me a moment to realize they were naming the winners for homecoming prince and princess.

I froze solid when I heard the final vote announced.

"And the votes are in! This year's homecoming prince and princess are...Damien Elliot and Alex Nichols!"

  I hadn't even known I was in the running. What the hell? Everyone started cheering; the DJ put on a slow song, and a circle formed around where Damien and I were standing. He smiled and held out his hand. "May I have this dance?"

I blinked back to my senses and nodded faintly, taking his hand. We fell into place—my left hand on his shoulder, his right hand on my hip; he gently held my right hand out. I bit my lip, silently thanking Jade for forcing me to take dancing lessons with her the year before.

As we danced, we slowly stepped closer to each other before taking a slightly larger step back for each turn. I couldn't help but notice the bright gold flecks in Damien's amber eyes, or the way he smelled like cinnamon. Whenever he smiled at me, his cheeks would dimple.

The song was starting to end; we stopped moving away, and changed from the formal positioning to just my arms around his neck and his around my waist. Our faces were mere inches apart. Suddenly, he closed the gap with a kiss. I was caught completely off guard, but I didn't push away. His lips were soft but firm. A hushed silence fell over the crowd—at least, I thought so. I couldn't hear anything but the sound of my heart beating out of my chest. It was a moment I wished would last forever. And just like that—

"Just what do you think you're doing?"