Allergic to Roses

CHAPTER ONE

HARLEY

I tried to ignore the fact that I was in a ballroom dress and instead on the fact that I was standing out like a sore thumb in my bright red gown, as opposed to the swirls of black and white surrounding me.

Needless to say, I was attracting more attention then a celebrity on the street.

My two friends, Ainsley and Jordan, were standing by my side, their black dresses glittering in the cheap fluorescent lighting of the ballroom dancing class.

My crazy mother was always trying new things, and her being the best friend of both Ainsley and Jordan's mothers, they decided to sign us up for yet another one of their test-runs.

I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of this one.

Not only was I wearing a bright red dress when I wasn't supposed too, but I had a mask covering half my face, while the air around me reeked of Justin Bieber and One Direction perfume, the intoxicatingly suffocating smell of too-cheerful adolescents drowning me.

"Well this is great," I sarcastically muttered to myself, walking alongside Jordan as she gushed about a certain celebrity.

"Harley!" she protested loudly, "AxelRose is said to be coming tonight. The Axel Rose. His mom is apparently in charge of the company that gives the dance lessons and he's back from Los Angeles."

I rolled my eyes and watched smugly as Ainsley did the same. "He's just a guy. Probably a spoiled little rich kid, too."

Jordan's blue eyes widened to the point where I didn't think it would be possible to get any larger. "Just a guy?" she echoed in disbelief. "Just a guy! He isn't just a guy; he's a millionaire movie star! Not to mention he's beautiful and his body is to die for-"

"Jord," I interrupted, "You're going to have an asthma attack." I patted her brown hair with my hand mockingly.

"Hey," she moaned, fixing her styled hair back into its bun, "You're messing up my hair!"

"You just want it to look good for Axel," I said cheekily, flashing her a big grin as I sat down across the table from her.

The tables were set up in a circular fashion, and the white cloth covering each one gave off an elegant look. 'Elegant' seemed to be the theme of the dance class tonight.

Jordan murmured out another Axel Rose fact and I ignored her, focusing my attention to the drink I was swirling around in the wine glass.

"Why can't we at least drink real booze," Ainsley said suddenly, voicing my inner thoughts.

"I mean," I butted in, "There really isn't that much to do here."

Jordan sighed, "Our moms signed us up because it's supposed to be a fun mixer to get us to want to take the classes. This is basically a giant promotion."

"Typical of our moms."

"No, their typical was when they made us scuba dive because they wanted to see if it actually lowered cholesterol," Ainsley said, laughing at the memory.

We all laughed, reminiscing, and almost didn't notice the middle aged woman walking up onto the stage, holding a letter and a white microphone.

"Well," she said into the mike in an overly peppy voice. "I have the list of designated dance partners! I know you're all very excited, so I'll read them as fast as I can."

"I thought this was a fun class," I mocked Jordan and she just shrugged, muttering about how she hoped she was partnered with Axel.

The lady started rambling off names, but I was too busy looking at the various black and white decorations set up to pay any attention. Each of the tables had a bouquet of white flowers, with small petals littering the room. Off to the side there was a stage, where the lady was standing on now, and at the ends stood bouquets of balloons, tied to strings that flowed down elegantly to the hardwood floor.