Black and White Converse

35 | Pre-Dance Jitters |

Maddie -

Sighing, I blew yet another balloon. Nia had been going all out to get the dance underway, seeing as it was in about five hours.

"Maddie!" Chloe called, walking over to me.

I glanced in her direction, and sent the blonde a small smile. I hadn't told her that I found out more about Josh's past, but she didn't really need to know.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we should have pretzels or tortilla chips?" Chloe asked.

I rolled my eyes, and shook my head. How would I know? I was just a girl who was forced into this for extra credit.

"Um, I dunno. Ask Nia," I shooed.

Chloe snorted, and skipped away to go after Nia. I tied up the balloon, which was the twenty second balloon I blew up in thirty minutes. Yup; I felt accomplished.

I absentmindedly blew more balloons as I thought about my relationship with Josh. It was my duty to ignore him after Lin had told me those awful things, but it seemed as though he was also avoiding me.

It made no sense to me how Josh tore my walls down, only to put his up. He spent months trying to gain my trust, show me he was worth it, only to ignore me during the time when it mattered most?

I chuckled bitterly to myself as I let the balloon drop to the floor. As Paige said, Winter Formal was everything. Maybe even bigger than Prom, and Josh wasn't even emotionally with me to share it.

A voice in the back of my head nagged me to forget about Josh, seeing as he was a walking case of trouble. But I liked trouble. I liked trouble a lot.

"Hey Maddie?" A voice said, breaking me out of my daze.

I snapped my head up to meet the gaze of the person, who turned out to be Adelia, a fiery redhead with clear blue eyes from my English class.

"Yeah?" I sputtered.

"Can you help me set the streamers up? I know you're not that tall but everyone else is doing something and you just kind of looked...," She trailed off.

I shrugged my shoulders, knowing where she was going. I nodded feebly, and followed her across the gym where two long ladders were set up.

"The white and blue ones?" I clarified.

Adelia nodded, and we both pinned up the streamers for the next hour. We made small talk, and I wished I had talked to Adelia more this year, and maybe I wouldn't have been deep in this mess.

"Okay guys, it's almost time for the dance! You can leave and do whatever, because I don't care! Just get out of here!" Nia hollered.

Everyone hastily left the gym, mostly girls, in a hurry to capture the time they had left to get ready for the dance. I climbed down the ladder, slow and steady, but Adelia did the opposite.

She hurriedly breezed down the ladder, skimming through the handles, before something drastic happened; her belt hoop got stuck into one of the streamers.

Adelia let out a loud scream (as well as the other girls watching) as she scrambled to get ahold onto one of the handles. My eyes widened, and I acted on impulse. Adelia's ladder leaned forward, almost taking her down with it, before I grabbed her hand and swung her into my ladder.

The only sounds in the gym were the heavy breaths of Adelia and I, processing the events that happened just a few seconds ago.

"Holy. Shit." Adelia whispered, sitting on the ladder.

I realized I was still holding her hand, and quickly let go, only to look at clammy fingers. I wiped the sweat on my jeans, and took an audible gulp.

"I think we should get down now," I muttered.

Adelia agreed, and we both made our way down, carefully this time.

A girl who I barely recognized engulfed me in a hug. Natalie? Natasha?

"So glad you're okay! I don't know what I would've done without you," She cried.

What? I wanted to poke her right in the eye. I wasn't the one that almost broke a spine, Adelia was! I didn't even know her either, which made the whole situation more aggravating.

Only a few people saw the scene just now, and most of them were over with Adelia making sure she was okay.

From what I overheard, she had a bruise on her hip, and a cut on her right cheekbone from when I grabbed her, and she swung her face right into the ladder. Ouch.

"Uh, thanks? And I'll see you later at the dance, I guess," I told her as politely as I could.

She smiled brightly and let go of me. Who the heck was that?

----------------------------------------------

"Oh my God, Addy almost like, died in the gym today!" Paige squeaked, scrolling through her Facebook home on her gold iPhone.

I rolled my eyes as Chloe unraveled my hair from the curling iron, letting it tumble down my back in soft waves.

"Wait, what? I was in the gym today," Chloe wondered.

Paige eyed Chloe weirdly, then glanced back at her phone. I had finally convinced my Mom to unground me momentarily for the dance, which was a huge win for me.

"Crap! Maddie, when were you gonna tell me you saved Addy from the ultimate death?" Paige shrieked, slapping me harshly on my arm.

I winced and stuck my tongue out playfully at the violent blonde. Chloe snickered at our childish ways.

"When did this happen, though?"

"A few minutes after Nia turned all hulk on us," I joked.

Chloe laughed, being the only one who understood my joke.

"Adelia said she can't go to the dance cause she's in the hospital," Paige sighed sadly.

"Aw, she would've looked so pretty," I chirped.

Chloe and Paige nodded in agreement, and I finally saw the finished product of my hair. I looked beautiful.

"Wow, Maddie! You look... hot," Paige breathed, standing right next to me in the mirror.

I squealed and hugged my two best friends, who excitedly hugged back.

Nothing can ruin this night. Not Mom, not Sasha, not Brooke, not Josh.

But yet, Josh always finds a way to ruin my plans.

And tonight was no exception.

Oh. My. God. I'm about to cry. BWC is going to end in literally one, or maybe two (if you're lucky) chapters. Jesus Christ I will miss this story...

60 votes & 20 comments for more y'all