Never Walk Alone

Chapter 14

The school dance rolled around too quickly that fall. I prepared myself, just waiting for Garrett to ask me. I felt excited and a little too much, but that was usual for everyone. We had been hanging out a lot now and I didn't expect him to really ask anyone else. It was pretty obvious now that I liked him and he liked me. So everyday until that Friday, I waited and waited for him to ask me. I even tried to get Darren in on the expedition. He tried his hardest without giving a lot of hints, but Garrett still didn't ask. Finally it was Friday. I was about to get him to ask me. So I walked with him to different classes and sat with him.
"What're you doing after school today?" I asked. I acted like I didn't have any idea about the dance. Although I'm sure it was obvious I knew about it. Everyone did.
He shrugged. I gave him a sideways look. Just what kind of game was he playing? When he began to talk to me, I searched his eyes for some kind of longing to ask me something. What was he waiting for? He was supposed to ask me now! I began to grow impatient when he didn't ask about it the entire rest of the day. Maybe he wanted to ask me at the dance. I clung on to that hope. I put on a cute outfit later that evening and my parents dropped me off at the gym. I gave a huge huff and walked to the door with Darren at my side. My family had agreed to drop him off since we lived so close by. Then the fear became to come to me. What if Garrett thought I was coming with Darren? I didn't want that to happen. So I walked in, trying to be a few steps ahead of Darren and trying to act as confident as possible.
When I finally caught sight of Garrett, my heart dropped to my feet. He was standing with a red-haired girl of medium height with a pair of skinny jeans and a pretty sweater on. Her hair was long and flowing over her back and she seemed in great conversation with Garrett. I stood idly by, confused and rattled. When he saw me, I tried to look off at the far wall. He began talking to the girl again and leading her off in another direction. I stared after, fuming. Of course I shouldn't have been mad at him; if he wanted to go to the dance with another person, then it was his right to! And it shouldn't have been a big deal, but still. So me and Darren were left there talking until some girl came up to him and he went off. A few times, people would walk by, complimenting my outfit and talking for a few minutes. But otherwise I was a total bust at mingling. I went by the food a couple of times, hoping to find someone to talk to, but the amount of people gathered around the table made me feel uncomfortable. Not to mention I was still the tiniest bit upset. But I swallowed it down and stood playing on my phone the next twenty minutes. I felt like an idiot, although I'm sure I did more than just feel like one. Finally I decided I would just leave; it was stupid to sit wandering around without anyone by your side. Darren came running up to me.
"Hey! Where're you going?" he called.
"Figured I'd just go home! It doesn't do me any good doing nothing,"
"Well.... You could stay here and I'll talk to you! We could possibly even dan-" he stopped suddenly and cleared his throat, "No, nevermind. That's a stupid idea,"
He quickly covered it up and smoothed his hair flat, but it stuck right back up.
"Well, if you're leaving, so am I," he said defiantly. He picked up his things and we marched out of the doors.
"There's just one thing we're forgetting; our parents," I said like it wasn't obvious.
Darren slapped himself on the forehead.
"Oh, yeah.... That's right. One teensy thing,"
I laughed. So we waited outside the gym doors until our parents arrived at seven and rode home.
One thought that shouldn't have crossed my mind caught up to me when Darren had said, 'We could possibly even dan- Oh nevermind, that's a stupid idea,'
I had quickly dismissed that whenever he said it, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed that Darren had been asking me to....
My thoughts were interrupted as my parents began to talk to us, asking about the dance. We answered halfheartedly to every question they asked, simply staring out the side windows.