New Ways

EIGHTEEN

Sigrid

The week passed by very quickly, I felt. The freshman ball was a breeze, considering that it was the first event organised by the Student Union that I was directly involved in as a vice president. The freshmen enjoyed themselves, so did I and the rest of my crew. I wore a black halter neck open back long dress to the event and when Amery arrived and noticed that we were wearing the same colour, she rolled her eyes at me and stomped away.

At the end of the evening, in an attempt to reconcile Amery and Jean-Pierre, I had deliberately asked Derek to dance with me and pushed Jean-Pierre to Amery. The girl gave me an "I will kill you" glare but took Jean-Pierre's hand anyway. The pair danced through the last song of the evening and Jean-Pierre ended up in tears as Derek and I assumed that Amery had apologised and the two best friends were back together again.

On Monday morning before class started, Amery had stopped by my locker as I was trying to get my books out.

"Morning, Amery. What can I do for you today?"

Amery leaned against the locker beside mine and took a deep breath. "I need you to come over tonight."

"I have a girlfriend," I teased.

"You do?" She frowned, a hint of disappointment mixed with surprise showed in her striking blue eyes.

"Yeah but she doesn't mind," I teased again, smirking as she pushed my shoulder lightly.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Amery clicked her tongue, slightly annoyed now. "I need you to help me with the drafts for the 20th anniversary event."

"This early? The event's two months away."

"Did you only train your volleyball team two days away from the championships?"

"Fine, you win," I held up my palms in the air, admitting defeat. "Time and venue?"

"7 p.m. I'll text you the address later."

After school ended, I had plenty of time to go back home to shower and get changed. While getting ready I spoke to Kate on the phone. Apparently she was at the beach with her siblings, catching up. Kate had a younger sister who was still in high school and an older brother who was studying at a community college nearby. They were really funny and laidback people, just like Kate was. And they always bugged us to quickly get married to each other.

I hopped into my skinny ripped jeans and pulled a white v-neck on. Slid on a few layered necklaces down my neck and pushed into my white sneakers and by the time I was done I hopped into my blue convertible before starting the engine.

"You sure you don't want to bring some chapati for your friend?" My dad yelled from the porch, my mom hitting him lightly on his shoulder when he laughed.

"Have fun, betee! Don't be back home late!" My mum called out in her thick British accent as I drove off.

"Don't be back home late!" Kate mocked from the other line. I had put her on loudspeaker but she hung up soon after I told her that I was going to drive. I had told her where I was headed to. She didn't mind and told me to have fun with Amery.