Take Me Away... Oh Sweet Escape.

Chapter 1

1

Best friends are forever.

The day of the formal was stressful enough without the added worry of who your ex-boyfriend was going to turn up with. Your ex-boyfriend that everyone thought you had gotten over, but really you still made awkward eye contact every time you noticed him across the room, that one person that you never really get over no matter how many times you change your hairstyle. His name still gives me butterflies at each mention.

It's pretty lame really. We would text all day, every day. He was the first person I would look for when I got to school. I distanced myself from most of my friends during our relationship, shut my friends out. He wasn't just my boyfriend, he was my bestfriend. We made plans for our future; how many kids we wanted, where we were going to live, what colour the feature wall behind our bed would be and what we were going to call our goldfish. I trusted him with everything. I thought we were in love.

That theory was proven wrong when he started to become closer to Natasha. They said they were only friends with mutual interests. If I asked if there was something going on I was subject to being ignored for hours on end, like I was being totally ridiculous. So I left it, for fear of pushing him away. She would look me up and down whenever we crossed paths. Unless there was someone else around, in which case she would smile and say how pretty I looked today.

Jack didn't need me to push him away though. He already had his mind set. Our relationship ended with one text message; telling me that he'd found the girl he's been looking for. Natasha. My devastation wasn't far from the devastation Bella felt when Edward left her in the woods. I've always been looking for my prince charming, to come and sweep me off my feet as they say. The guy's I seem to get involved with more closely resemble a loser in aluminium foil. For months after we broke up, I would cry myself to sleep, I felt like a part of me had been taken away, and I was left.

Empty.

Just an awkward relationship that's meant nothing since the moment it ended, that's what everyone said.

"Hey, remember that time in year 9 when you dated Jack, you were so obsessed with him. And you two were so awkward, and that was the second time around, I mean the way you two texted anyone would have thought you were in love but in person you could barely look each other in the eye." She spread the bright red Kate Moss lipstick across her perfectly pouted lips.

"Pfft. I was not in love with him you idiot. I was only a kid then, last year I fell 'in love' with any boy kind enough to let me in front of him in the dinner line. Why did you have to bring him up anyway?" with that last statement I rolled my eyes at Ashleigh and added emphasis to let her know I was done talking about him.

That's the thing with best friends, sometimes you don't have to say exactly what you want; you both just tend to understand what the other one wants by the tone of their voice.

Not that we are still best friends. I have to admit, I was quite shocked when I received a phone call from Ashleigh, asking me if we could get ready for the formal together. I mean, we hadn't really spoken in weeks. Ever since she had decided she needs to 'make new friends, instead of limiting herself to spending recess and lunch with me'. Those new friends of course included Natasha and her four followers, although her relationship with Jack was long over, I still felt slightly betrayed.

At school it was like all those summers Ashleigh and I had spent together at my parent's beach house in Rhyll hadn't happened. I still can't understand how she manages to walk pass me each day with just a 'Hey babe, how are you?' in the hallway. But I have one more year of school left and I have bigger worries than ridiculous girl drama. It's more trouble than it's worth in the end.

A few months had passed since I had bought my prom dress; we were holidaying on the Greek Island, Corfu, when my step mother spotted a vibrant red floor length dress, closely resembling a Red Valentino, in an old vintage shop near the harbour. Placed upon my dark olive skin, my long dark wavy hair, and teamed with my black patent Tony Bianco's, I was a sure show stopper. We had some trouble when trying to find the correct sized dress, so we ended up getting a size small, my goal to slim down a little to fit into it by today was a goal I was proud to have achieved, yet I felt a slight stab of inadequacy stood next to the gorgeous blonde bombshell that was my 'best friend'. Her hair sat just short of her waistline. She looked just like a model.

"Who's this mystery date? I can't believe you still haven't told me! Like I'm all for surprises and everything, but I'm your best friend and you haven't even told me who your date is yet!"

"You'll see." She said with a grin protruding across her face, a grin that made me a little worried what to expect.

Had she somehow got in contact with some super hot celebrity like Chace Crawford or Ed Westwick? Sometimes I think the most ridiculous things. I guess I've always had a wild imagination, fairytales and all that. Anyway, we can only take people from our school. It's pretty much a tradition that the guys ask the girls that they want to accompany them, the left over, unwanted girls go alone. So I guess that's me. Unwanted. Alone. Oh crap! Where's my clutch?

"C'mon girls! Chelsea! Ashleigh! The car will be here soon! Are you nearly ready? Got your clutch from the airing cupboard? Stop running around! You're going to ruin your hair it took me ages to do that! And you're already sweating off your make up! Just walk! We don't want you to break your new hooker heels."

My mum is such a smart ass. All of my friends love her. Despite the fact that she's in her forties, she has long dark hair like me, and lovely skin and doesn't look a day over 35. They all join in with her jokes, mostly aimed at me. And if you are wondering why on earth my clutch is in the airing cupboard, just don't ask, I have no idea, most likely my little brother's idea of a joke.

"How's my beautiful little girl looking, the limousine is here! Is she ready yet?!"

Typical father. I'm 16, and he still calls me his little girl, he still pulls dollar coins from behind my ear, he still sends me messages when I go out just to see 'Is everything ok baby?' I like that he's not the kind of father that sits on the sofa drinking beer and watching the football. He's the kind of father that likes 'family time' when he's not busy working; playing board games and picnics at the park on Sundays. He's great. One thing I was blessed with is good parents.

I looked out of the window to see the stark white stretch limousine pulling up out the front of the house. I looked in the mirror to see a satisfying reflection. A quick look at the clock and I ran out the door, well, I attempted to. Being fashionably late is one thing but if we didn't get a move on, we would risk missing out on photos.

Butterflies gathered in the pit of my stomach. My hands began trembling as I gently swept my fringe to the side to avoid the build up of sweat on my forehead. With one last glance at mum, dad and my little brother Benny, I followed Ashleigh into the limo and sat on the fresh upholstery.

The limo ride was taking forever, yet when we finally arrived, I wished it could have taken even longer. We stepped out of the limo to a crowd of teachers, a mixture of old and existing students, along with the families of the students in my grade, the students themselves however, were in the process of assembling for a group photo. We proceeded over to the group photo that we were about to interrupt. Anyway, how dare they start to take photos without us?

There's nothing like the whole year staring at you upon your arrival. My humiliation considerably increased as I turned around to find Ashleigh gone, already squished in between her 'other' friends, leaving me to squeeze awkwardly on the end next to Joshua Salzeck. I was stuck on the end next to the fat kid that no one really talks to. He was on the end for a reason, and I just claimed my rightful place as a loner.

Oh yay.