**Short-ish I know, but I just really wanted to get this part out for you guys! Hope you like!
He leaned forward yet again. "I bet I can change your mind," he whispered against my lips. I jerked my head back. "In. Your. Dreams. Now let me go before I have to kick your ass."
"You couldn't even if you tried. I just beat you remember?"
The joking atmosphere seemed to disappear. "I'll just go for your soft spot."
His face fell. He looked me dead in the eye. "You have no idea what my soft spot is."
I shook my head and pushed past him. A couple steps ahead I turned and glanced back at him. "I know more than you think I do." As confusion settled over him I headed back towards the dance. I didn't want to, but I knew that I had to. I quickly figured out where I was in the maze and exited it. It seemed that I would never be able to be truly lost in there.
As I reached out for the ornate door handle I cursed. My hands were covered in dirt. I glanced down at my dress. There was a rip all the way up from the ground to my hip. I had blood on my arm where he had cut me. I hadn't even realized it. As I paid closer attention to my body, I felt the dulled aches and pains. I had pushed my body further than it wanted to go. I was sore and I felt like hell, but I couldn't go sleep right now. My body wouldn't be able to calm down that much so soon. Apparently I would have to try and clean up a little before heading back into the dance.
I wandered through the hallways for a while before I heard the music of the ball. As I was following the sound back I almost ran into a couple of girls. Apparently my senses were really worn down too.
"Shea! I mean, uh, we'll just keep going now," Mary tentatively finished.
"Yeah, see ya later," Katie added.
"Wait." Both of their gazes latched onto mine. I couldn't help but notice an intelligence behind their eyes that was rare. "I'm sorry. I've been a zombie bitch lately and I'm sorry."
"We forgive you, of course," they replied at the same time. I smiled thankfully at them. At least I had them back as my friends.
"Holy Shit!"
"What happened to you?"
Two sentences, one thought. If anything, they've grown more alike. I smiled at them again. "I guess you could say I... got some sense knocked into me."I laughed at my own private joke. I smiled sweetly at them.
They glanced at each other and then back at me. "What do you want Shea..."
"Do you think you two could help me get cleaned up before I head back into the ball?" There was no doubt that I would need the help.
"Fine."
"But you better tell us what happened in the mean time. You look like you just got in a fight."
"That's because I did," I replied, chuckling. Both of their jaws dropped. I gently shut them. I grabbed their hands and started tugging them along behind me. At the same time they seemed to regain their composure.
"With who?" Katie asked. I looked to see Mary listening in earnest. Her own question was apparently just asked for her.
"I'll give you one guess. It's really not that difficult to figure out."
"Bat boy!" They exclaimed.
"I couldn't help but laugh. "Since when do you two call him that? I thought that was just something that I called him while everyone else stuck with Batman."
"We tried calling him that all the time to see if we could get a reaction out of him,"
"But we never could. He just ignored us. He was almost as bad as you Shea."
