The Daughter of Apollo

Chapter Seventeen: Double Date Ditchers

Chapter Seventeen-Double Date Ditchers

"Just get in the dress!" Lana screeched at me through the door.

"No way! I'm not wearing a dress!" I yelled back, defiant.

Here, I'll catch you up to speed. After quietly sneaking my way back into my room, being pounced on by Meg and Katie, chased down by a psychotic Lana, I had managed to lock myself in the bathroom with Lana banging on the door trying to get me in 'the perfect dress'. As far as I could tell, it was fancy and hot pink, and came straight out of Lana's closet instead of mine. I had Meg on my side though. When she first saw it, she looked exactly how I felt.

"Open the door! " Lana demanded.

"It's not even my size!" I shouted back, looking for escapes and excuses.

There was a paused, thoughtful silence on the other side of the door. I could almost see Lana tapping her chin in thought.

"You're right. What was I thinking? And it'd look horrid on you. Pink is not your color. It's a wonder that red is..." Lana rambled, her words jumbling together as she started talking faster and faster. "...won't have a dress! And if you don't have a dress, you can't go on the date, ruining our plans! I have to find you a dress! Katie help me look for a dress! I need to find her a dress!"

Plans? What plans? I'm not sure I want to know...I could hear Meg and Katie coming over to the door, a thumping sound resonating outside.

"What was that?" I called.

"It's all right!" Meg called back. "Lana's asthma acted up! She's fine, she just needs her inhaler!"

A retreating of footsteps followed her voice as I sighed in relief and finally opened the door. I saw Katie propping Lana up against the wall.

"She'll be fine...I think. I'm not a healer, so I really can't help here," Katie said, sounding apologetic.

"It's not your fault that she has asthma. It's her fault for getting overly-worried," I joked.

"Not the time for jokes." She scolded. Whoa, buzz-kill over here. How'd she and Travis fall for each other, anyway? She's a total no-nonsense person and he's all about it. Weird.

"Sorry, sorry," I held my hands up in surrender. "So...how'd you and Travis get together?"

Katie blushed a strawberry scarlet. "Oh...uh...he just annoyed me a lot, and I annoyed him, you know?"

I wanted to say 'No, I don't know.' but decided against it. "Ah. I was just wondering because, you know, he's all jokes and then you're really serious and stuff." I felt really awkward talking with Katie, not only because I didn't have a clue what to say, but also because she felt like my complete opposite. Sure, she was cool I guess, but even a small joke irritated her. So, naturally, I was glad when Meg came back with Lana's inhaler. After a few puffs of the thing, Lana was talking again, but still felt really dizzy.

"You know, that pink dress was terrible," Meg announced.

"Thank you!" I nodded my consent.

"But, I think I have a better dress, and Jay and I are close to the same size."

Ahh, best friends. What would I do without Meg Andrews? Katie seemed happy about the dress change, and Lana managed a weary smile.

"Is it the one I'm thinking you're thinking of?" Lana asked slowly.

"The one we bought-"

"When Jaycee was-"

"And it's in the back of-"