Books On Hold

The Enemy

I stepped onto the rough, gray pavement as an old, black ally cat scurried under my flashy high heel. I thought to myself, wow that cat has more freedom then me. Pathetic.

My name is, Katrielle, Kat for short. I'm your everyday seventeen year old junior in high school except for one thing. I have an extremely overprotective mother. I'm not allowed to leave the apartment or even walk next door to my best friend, Natalie's apartment without mother's permission. Talk about pathetic. Any teenage girl who has lived in New York City all their life would know that this isn't the slightest bit normal.

I could feel the tears welling up in my chocolate brown eyes, stinging and blurring my vision. Why can't I go out with my friends on Friday nights like normal girls? It isn't fair. That's why tonight I am actually sneaking out. I don't care if mother worries, let her worry. I don't care.

Natalie always took way too long to get ready. I was getting very impatient. I quickly yanked my IPhone out of my sparkly, gold pocket book. 6:47, great. She was supposed to meet me here on these very steps seven whole minutes ago, now we are going to be late to the homecoming dance. Tonight was our school's annual homecoming dance, I'd like to say I'm excited to talk to cute guys or dance with my best friend, but I'm not, I'm excited to finally do what I want to do without mother around to say no. It was also our neighboring high school, our rival's dance across the street. Actually, I take that back, West High is more than a rival they are our enemies. To even talk to one of them would be considered a crime by the student body. 6:50, awesome, now we're guaranteed to miss the beginning. I slumped down towards the pavement to sit on the steps when Natalie burst through the front doors of our apartment building.

"Sowry Irmm lawte!" she grumbled, shoving the rest of her turkery sandwich in her mouth.

"You know you're gonna mess up your lipstick, right?" I smirked.

"I don't care anymore, let's go!"

I jumped to my feet stepping forward to grab her hand, scrambling to hail a cab.

As we whooshed past buildings I starred in awe at all the restaurants and shops, letting my curiosity take over, my gaze travelled to every inch of every building we passed, taking in all the new sights. I had never really had a chance to actually explore the city and this was probably my only chance. I was surely grounded when I returned home and was going to be lectured on how dangerous my little plan was.

I looked beside me, realizing I hadn't inspected what my friend was wearing. She wore a royal blue, short, puffy dress with lots and lots of gems decorating the top, and sparkles that shimmered as they gave you the allusion that they were dripping down her dress. It was remarkable. "You look beautiful, like really beautiful," I smiled at her.

"Aw, thanks girly! You're dress is amazing! I love the sparkly flowers how they appear to wrap around your body! So cool."

Natalie and I knew fashion. We're practically experts. We spent out weekends and summers, reading up on fashion tips and the newest trends. Fashion is more then my hobby it's definitely my passion. Well that is, second to writing. Writing is what I live for. Mostly just creative stories, but I also write the occasional poem. One day I hope to accomplish my dream of becoming a real writer. Nobody knows of my extreme passion for writing except Natalie. It's best kept a secret since it seems all that my mother is interested in is my future in the fashion world, making the big bucks. Sure I have talent, but writing is just something I really live for.

When I was younger, mother and I used to walk down the streets of Manhattan and explore the tents and tables set up on the streets. I admired the artists. They did what they loved and didn't care what others thought because they were free to be themselves. Why can't I be like that? I'm a coward. I'm afraid to tell my mom that I'm going to neglect my amazing fashion talent and the big bucks to write for a living. Mother would be absolutely furious with me. As far as she knows I will be attending the best college in the country to major in fashion design, little does she know she is completely wrong. I plan to attend an amazing college with a major in creative writing or journalism and then become a best selling author. Boy, is reality going to smack her hard someday far in the future. I might as well smack her with a double decker bus!

The car came to an abrupt stop across the street from the huge building that would be hosting our school's dance. "This is it" I whispered.

Natalie smirked, "C'mon  there's a party waiting for us!"

We giggled and quickly handed over a generous amount of our money over to the driver.

Thanks!" We both squealed as we slammed the cab door. Within two seconds of us stepping up onto the curb the cab was already long gone, speeding down the packed streets in search of another customer.

I snorted, glancing at Natalie, "Someone must be in a hurry.

"Must be. I barely had both of my fabulous heels out of his cab and he sped off." I looked at her shoes and we both laughed, thinking of her ridiculous shoe comment and how ridiculous the city drivers are. We started to cross the busy street when reality started to creep back to me. "Natalie?"

"Yeah?" she glanced at me cautiously.

"What am I going to do when mother realizes I'm gone?" I whispered.

We kept walking for a few moments before she responds. "Well here's what I would do. I would change my name, move to Mexico and open up my own churro shop!" she giggled.

"Nat, I'm serious, Mom is going to kill me. I'll be locked in my room until I'm forty!" I said to her, making a point of how serious I was.

I could see the corners of her lips rise. "Kat, she won't ground you until you're forty. Besides you'll turn eighteen in a year and then you can make your own decisions." my best friend suggested, obviously trying her best to cheer me up.

"But-"

"Kat, stop. This night is meant for you to have fun, not to worry the whole time." she snapped.

"I know. You're right." I sighed glumly.

I brushed a loose strand of hair out of my eyes, taking in the beautiful view of the ballroom. I had never seen anything like it before. The walls were covered floor to sealing in beautiful, shimmering, gold streamers.The sealing revealed a huge sparking disco ball, spinning slowly to the beat of the music. It took me a moment to realize that my jaw had dropped. I quickly shut it, but uncovered a huge ear to ear, bright grin.

"Kat?" Natalie whispered.

"Yeah?" I responded, still in awe over the brilliant decorations.

"You know I'm always going to be here for you, right?" my best friend barely even whispered.

I turned to her, my smile even bigger than before, "Duh!" and with that I grabbed her hand and practically skipped through the front doors.

"Kat. slow. down!" Natalie huffed.

"Sorry, I got a little excited." I giggled, grabbing two cups filled with punch from the table, handing one to my friend.

"Cheers, to friendship and always being there for each other" I smiled lifting my cup.

"Cheers!" my best friend grinned.