The Life of Esther Jameson

Chapter Eleven

"We should get going." I snapped out of my thoughts as Kade spoke up. We both stood up from our chairs and walked towards the door.

"Have a good night," she said to us as Kade pushed it open for me. I smiled at her and passed by Kade even though he was holding out his elbow for me to hold onto. We drove only a short distance to get to the school. A large banner was hanging from the front gates that read:

Summer Soiree 2015

I took a nervous breath and wrung my hands together. My heart was beginning to race and I wasn't really sure what I was going to do once I immersed myself in the party environment. Kade locked the car and walked up beside me.

"Are you ready?" He asked. I laughed nervously and hesitantly nodded my head. He smiled and offered me his arm for the fiftieth time tonight. But this time, I latched on and squeezed the fabric tightly.

"Everything is going to be fine," I tried to reassure myself. Without a second thought, I let him pull me away and guide me up to the doors in front of our school's gymnasium. I could feel an upbeat song vibrating under my feet as we got closer to the doors. He pushed the doors open and it was like I had been introduced to a whole new world. There was an invisible breeze of wind that pushed my curls back when the doors opened.

"Wow," I breathed. In the center of the gym was an ocean of dancing bodies dressed in several colors along the spectrum. On my right, several students were socializing and happily drinking what looked like punch, while other girls sat on some boys' legs and giggled in a way that was insanely annoying.

Kade wandered off to greet and conversate with his colleagues, leaving me to stand by myself, not knowing what I was supposed to do. I forced myself to walk over to the drink table and try to blend in. I shuffled over to the dispensers and poured myself a cup of lemonade.

"Snips!" A familiar voice exclaimed.

I turned around and faced Dimitri.

"Oh, hi!" I greeted. "Where's the other two?"

He waved towards some tables loaded with food. Naturally, they were already pigging out.

I raised an eyebrow while sipping some lemonade. "So, who's your date?"

Dimitri instantly blushed. "Um, no one. I was actually contemplating taking Zelina..."

He got no further before I infamously choked on some lemonade and spat it out. Fortunately, nothing splashed on his suit. Unfortunately, everything ended up on his face.

Jasper and Kenith chose that exact moment to pop up at our sides.

"Yo, dude - oh, hey, Snips- what happened?" Jasper asked.

Dimitri sighed and reached for a clean napkin from Kenith's plate. "I just told Esther that I was planning to ask Zelina."

"Oh," Jasper wisely nodded. "And she decided to bless that with lemonade and saliva."

"I thought you guys were over!" I defended myself.

Wiping his face, Dimitri replied, "We are, but there was no one else I could really ask! Well, except you, but it was kind of obvious that Pretty Boy had first dibs."

"You're not wrong there," I relented, pointing over my shoulder to Kade, who was talking among his super smart scientific comrades.

"Besides," he continued, "We three promised Jackson that we would watch over you guys."

I groaned out loud, exasperated again. "I already have Jackson mother-henning me all the time. I don't need three more babysitters!"

"But Snips, who else will clean your spit-ups?" Kenith smirked.