Ensnare

Chapter 2

The next night Leah drove home me home again. The dance started at seven, so we’d decided to get an early start on getting ready. Maggie had decided to tag along and would be showing up later.

            As we walked through the door way, my aunt Linda called out from the living room.

            “Don’t stay out too late remember,” She appeared in the doorway.

            “We haven’t even left yet, Aunt Linda,” I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I headed towards the stairs with Leah in tow.

            “I mean it, Laura. Be home before midnight. It’s not a good night to be out.” She placed a hand on her hip and ran the other through her frizzy brown-orange hair. What did that mean? Why was it a bad night to be out? She was always saying weird little things here and there. I’d learned not to ask what she was talking about. She always replied with ‘oh nothing. I just want you to be safe’.

            Once inside my room, Leah threw her dress down on the bed. “What was your aunt talking about?”

            “I don’t know. She’s always going on about weird things.” I flicked on the light to the bathroom to go plug the curling iron in.

            “Do you want to order a pizza?” Leah asked.

            “Can we get pepperoni?” I flopped down on the bed beside her.

            “Hmm, yeah why not. The pepperoni’s already made, can’t un-kill whatever animal that was.” Leah was the most lenient when it came to being a vegetarian. She missed meat, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

            “You could apply that concept to all meat, Lee,” I laughed as she picked up the phone and punched in the number for pizza.

            Half an hour later the pizza arrived, followed closely by Maggie. We all grabbed a slice and dug in. Maggie pulled the circles of meat off her slice before taking a bite. Had Emily been here there wouldn’t have been any of this meat-eating. I savoured the moment, meat without a lecture. This was nice.

            Between the three of us, the pizza was gone in ten minutes. Our hair, however took much longer. I went about curling mine while Leah got Maggie to braid hers for her. When she was finished, Maggie hurriedly straightened her own. Dresses were pulled on and pictures snapped.

            I slipped in the wing shaped earrings I’d gotten with Leah before running out the door. We were already twenty minutes late. Leah drove past the speed limit all the way to the dance. We all hurried inside which proved hard for Maggie who was wearing stilettos. We paid at the door and headed down into the dark where the music was ebbing from.

            Inside the gym coloured lights flashed and lasers bounced off the smoke that filled the air. We caught sight of Emily and Cass and headed over. April had a date and was out dancing on the floor to the loud music.

            “Hey,” Cass squealed as we joined them. She was barely audible over the throbbing music. Emily’s date returned with punch in each hand. He gave one to Emily and stood awkwardly at the edge of our circle.

            My friends tried to talk over the loud music, but it proved easier said than done, or rather thought than done. Cass and I headed out into the hallway for a breath of fog free air. It seemed like the smoke machine had been set to suffocate.

            We passed by an overly affectionate couple in the hallway and circled back to the gym. Shrugging we went back into the smoggy room. Our friends had moved to the dance floor, Cass and I danced over to them.