Silver Stilettos

16 | ain't no party like a high school party

Matt, as I'd suspected, had noticed my absence, and to make up for unceremoniously ditching him to rendezvous with Dom and Fen, I spent the next few weeks on a determined mission to convince him our friendship hadn't run its course.

Reed, for the most part, was content to give me space, retreating into himself. We still spent time together, but it felt rote. Like memorizing Civil War battle dates or naming all the presidents of the United States. Something that had to be done, something to tick off on a to-do list.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but restless was the best word I could think of to describe Reed's increasingly erratic behavior. His grades slipped and the stale smell of day-old cigarettes clung to his hoodie. Kissing him was like frenching an ashtray.

"Mayuri, are you going to Reed's party tomorrow night?" Emily asked one day, catching me at my locker at the end of a Friday.

"Oh, I—"

"Well, of course you are!" she trilled, winding her necklace around her pointer finger. "Look who I'm asking." She eyed me with a hint of a smirk.

I curled my toes inside my Converse, feeling my toes scrunch against the canvas. "Actually, I'm going to a corn maze," I said, delighting in the kaleidoscope of emotions that flashed across her expressive face. 

Not bothering to hide her surprise, her wet pink tongue glistened between the plump folds of her mouth. "But what about..." Her auburn hair fanned across her shoulders as she ruffled her hair, loosened the textured waves to lay across her back. Her eyes darted between me and Reed, who was twirling his combination into the lock, backpack slung casually over his shoulder.

I turned to look at him. He was further down the hall, face was angled away from us. His shoulders were hunched almost to his ears. Something told me it wasn't just the weight of the backpack that had him looking so...lurky.

A smile forced its way to my lips. "Reed understands."

"Right."

Her wide-eyed, innocent expression didn't fool me. I didn't say anything else, knowing that she'd come here for a specific purpose, and that, given enough dead air, people would find a way to fill the silence. A useful trick to bear in mind when talking to people who beat around the bush, as long as I remembered not to nervously babble in their place.

"I'm having a little get together at my place tonight. Just us girls," she confided in a low voice. "I didn't want my little soiree to clash with Reed's."

Was she trying to make me beg for an invite? Or maybe, because of being Reed's girlfriend, I had an implicit invitation? I stayed wisely silent, still not sure how to navigate the social sphere of popularity.

"I forgot to tell you earlier," she continued, after I didn't rise to her bait. "But I hope you can be there."

"Yeah, I don't—" I grabbed battered, dog-eared textbooks and dropped them into my pink Jansport backpack. "I don't think so. I have a lot of—" I stopped myself before I said something social suicide-inducing, like studying.

"Great!" she chirped, not even listening to my refusal. "Listen, I'll text you the address. Come at seven and have dinner with us."

"Will your parents be there?" Mine would want to know.

Emily's eyebrows shot into space. "Uh, no?" Her fingers stopped toying with the necklace. She glanced around as if afraid someone had overheard.

Reed turned around, face drawn, eyes looking unfocused. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but even as I opened my mouth to call out to him, he brushed past us without even a nod.