Against Them But You

Chapter 2 - The Party

Night has fallen, and almost everyone from Kingsley Academy was getting dressed and pampered. A Bradley Salas party was being thrown; you’d be a fool to miss it.

The guys were washing up and doing their best to smell ‘magnetic’. The ladies on the other hand, were dressing up in high stilettos, tight dresses, and miniskirts. Not only was that enough, but there also had to be jewelry here and there, a dash of make-up on the eye and lips, and perfume drowning their body and hair.

“I have nothing to wear!” I complained to Skye. I was eyeing the reflection of tenth dress I wore in the mirror. The violet strapless lacey bodice hugged my torso in all the right places before falling just above my knees. “Jeez, this dress is all wrong!” I nagged, panicking as I skimmed through my closet again.

Skye stood up from my bed, she was as calm as ever. “I’ve said this before, and I’ll say this again. You. Look. Perfect!” she said as she put her hands on my shoulders reassuring me. “Since when did you care anyway?”

I turned my face away from her, blushing. Why on earth was I embarrassed?

“Get out of Crilley you’re kidding me!” She squealed all of a sudden. “I knew it! I knew it you would eventually fall for him! I just didn’t know it would be this soon! Tell me everything! When did you start feeling like this?” She bounced in her place like a little child.

I looked at her in disbelief. “I do not! I just simply don’t want to make a fool out of myself. Plus, having a good dress will annoy Natasha and Emilia.”

“Whatever, believe whatever you want to.” She told me before falling back onto my bed.

I rolled my eyes and went to stand in front of the mirror again. I stared at my reflection not really concentrating on how I or the dress looked like. Instead, I was asking myself if Skye was right. Am I really doing this because of Bradley? Do I not know how to choose a dress because I wanted to impress him?

I shook my head, yeah right! He was my best friend, I had no feelings of that sort towards him. I turned around and grabbed my purse. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” I asked Skye.

She looked up at me from her phone. “Yep, I’m pretty sure. I’m leaving anyway for a movie night over at Meghan’s place.”

“Oh okay, anyway, I have to leave. I’m kind of late.”

“Being fashionably late never hurts.” She winked at me before I left.

Bradley’s house was just next to mine, so walking wasn’t an issue. His parents were out of town, in Los Angeles for a photoshoot to be precise. Brad’s mom landed a modeling job a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t be surprised though. His mom was stunningly gorgeous! Brad was just a pool of genes.

Loud music was beaming from Bradley’s house. His front yard was crowded with people, all of them talking and exchanging numbers. The backyard wasn’t jammed any less. You could see various people dancing around the pool all dressed classy like. I walked up to his house heading towards the door. The closer I got, the more packed I could see his house was. As I walked up to his place, I could feel people staring at me, whispering as they did.

I awkwardly looked down, trying to avoid any eye contact. Inside I saw Bradley standing on the middle of the table with a bottle of root beer in his hands. Not only that, but Natasha was right next to him, his left arm around her waist. “Bottoms up!” He yelled before taking in a drink. Natasha was standing there cheering him on, screaming as he drank.

Grimacing at the scene, I continued walking in, hoping Bradley would see me, get down from the table, and go back to his senses. Walking around was kind of hard work, each step you took there was someone dancing next to you. I made my way through the crowd and reached the kitchen, thankfully, it was less jammed. I opened up the refrigerator looking for a drink. So far all I could see was some coke and beer.