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It was the winter formal and Terry had devised a plan to get Hannah and Clay to dance together. She honestly didn't understand why Hannah found a particular interest in Clay out of all of the cute guys that loomed around Liberty High's halls.
"When you see him, you approach him. Don't wait for him to go to you, he's far too skittish to go to you first." Terry informed as she gave her ticket to the bouncer at the front door.
Hannah nodded silently. Terry's high heels clacked against the tiled floors annoyingly. It drew much more attention than needed, but, somehow, Terry was accustomed to the lingering eyes.
Hannah quickly disappeared into the crowd after spotting Clay, leaving Terry all alone in the middle of the dance floor. Due to her height, Terry couldn't spot her brother in the small sea of familiar students that attended her high school.
Terry began to back up so that she could gain a better view of the crowd, however that only made things worse. Her vision wasn't exactly the best, and the further away she moved from the crowd, the blurrier the faces of people seemed to get.
Terry huffed in frustration and turned around, tapping the nearest person's shoulder to gain their attention. "Excuse me, do you know where Zach Dempsey is?" Terry asked.
The boy she had asked quickly turned around, shooting her a bright smile. "Hey, you're Zach's little sister aren't you?" The boy chuckled, nudging Terry.
Terry shot him a smile in return. "So, you know where he is?"
The boy nodded and pointed over to a pack of boys all huddled together like they usually were. Terry took a few moments to observe the boy before turning her attention to the location of her brother. She couldn't help it. The boy looked too nice to not admire. She didn't know how she hadn't noticed him before, they must've not had a class together.
"Are you checking me out?" The boy chuckled. Terry coughed and broke her gaze, spotting her brother then diverting her attention to her shoes.
"Ahem— uh, no... yes? Maybe..." Terry admitted shyly, biting the inside of her cheek in embarrassment.
"Sorry." She cringed, waving him off and spinning on her heel to leave.
The boy chuckled. "Don't worry about it," he flipped his imaginary hair, "I'm used to it." He joked.
"You're an idiot." Terry giggled, beginning to walk away.
"No, I'm Jeff, Jeff Atkins if your dirty." Jeff winked at Terry, receiving a small laugh from her in return.
Once Terry made it over to her brother, she swiftly opened his jacket and plucked the flask from his pocket. "Hey!" Zach exclaimed, attempting to snatch the flask back.
Terry unscrewed the lid and took a few gulps before returning it to her brother. "Look at you, Terry! You're getting to be more fun than your brother now." Bryce joker, playfully punching Zach's arm. A few encouraging comments were dispersed among the crowd about Terry as well.
"You shouldn't be drinking." Zach ignored his buddies' comments.
Terry rolled her eyes. "Okay, dad." She joked, walking away. The little bit of tequila that she absorbed was already making its way into her system, causing her to feel unbalanced and dizzy. Justin Foley noticed her quickly intoxicated state and grabbed her up before she fell as she walked away from the group.
"Someone started their drinking early tonight." Justin chuckled.
Terry shook her head. "I swear I didn't. Zach put something in that tequila!" Terry exclaimed, rubbing her temples.
Justin scoffed. He carefully led her back to her brother, where he would keep watch on her. "Dude, take care of your sister." Justin chuckled.
Terry groaned. "I'm totally going against all of my beliefs by acting like this. I'm not a damsel in distress, I can help myself!" Terry ripped away from Justin's arms and slowly made her way to the bleachers, where she could rest and sit down while she waited the for the brief intoxication to leave her system. Zach simply shook his head in disapproval, acting as if he wasn't the one who distributed the alcohol to her.
Another figure sat next to her after about five minutes of Terry sitting alone. "Hey." The deep voice made Terry to look up and focus her eyes on person who was speaking to her.
"Jeff, right?" She asked.
The boy nodded, then paused as he listened to the song that was playing. Terry listened in too. It was a mellow, sweet and slow song that any two people could dance to. Terry knew what Jeff was about to ask next, it was as if it was scripted for boys to ask a woman to dance when they were interested in her. But, Terry loved to bend the rules, so, before Jeff could say anything else, she went ahead and asked first. "May I have this dance?"
Jeff ran his tongue over his bottom lip and laughed lightheartedly. "You sure are different than any other girl I've ever known." He mentioned.
"I hope that's a good think." Terry smirked, standing up and holding out her hand for Jeff to take. He accepted her offer kindly by taking her hand and following her out into the middle of the dance floor, where the two spent the rest of the night dancing— at least until Zach noticed the two and broke them up.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Zach pulled Terry away from Jeff.
"Zach!" Terry exclaimed, shoving her brother. She could smell the same alcohol that tinged her lips earlier on her brother.
Zach stared down Jeff. "Let's go, Ter. You shouldn't be giving yourself to any boy that just wants to have sex with you." Zach defended his sister.
Terry palmed her forehead in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry." She mouthed over to Jeff.
Jeff waved her apology off, as if he were saying that it was no problem. Terry nodded at him as a goodbye, then pulled her brother along— taking him home without another word being exchanged between the two.
