Fracture

Chapter Eleven

Time shot by like a light.

Julian had left me alone. And the craze quickly died down after a few days when the seniors realized that we we'rent really dating.

One morning, the alarm on my phone rang in its usual, annoying tone. Grumbling obscenities under my breath, I grabbed around blindly for my phone so I could stop the noise. The glow of my phone lit up my face as I squinted.

August 16

A strange feeling of dread creeped up my throats as I suddenly remembered that today was August the sixteenth, the day of the "grand" party everyone in Westwood was talking about, and I had absolutely nothing to wear.

I dialed in Gabriel's number, not because she was the first person who came to my mind but because I knew Tiana would still be asleep at 7am in the morning. Gabriel sort of struck me as a reserved person, not exactly shy but I always had the impression that she kept her feelings to herself more than she should. I knew that if Gabriel kept her feelings bottled up for too long, she would explode some day.

And internal rage wasn't healthy, my psychiatrist told me once.

Tiana, on the other hand, would shriek and laugh and did whatever she felt like doing. 

"Hello?"

Her voice sounded raspy and gross, like how everyone sounded in the mornings. I cleared my throat, afraid that my voice would come out that way as well.

"Do you..." I paused momentarily, suddenly forgetting what I wanted to say. I shook my head as if it would help to clear my head.

"Do you have a dress I can borrow?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Geez, Cass you sound really stressed out. If you don't want to go to the party, you don't have to. It would be selfish to drag you along just because we wanted to hang out with the other kids y' know?"

No, I didn't.

I was starting to wonder if she was sober or not.

"It's a chance to hang out with you guys whole-heartedly," I lied, "Besides, I already told my parents."

The real reason I wanted to go was because I felt out of place in Westwood. I thought going to the party was an opportunity to meet new people, and feel involved.

"Yeah. Yeah, Cass you there?"

"Right here."

"I have a few prom dresses in your size, come right over."

I wanted to get out of bed and maybe hitch a ride from Dad, since he was going to the city and Gabriel's house was somewhere along the route. I lied there staring at the ceiling, procrastinating for minutes until I couldn't stand the smell of my own breath any longer. I rolled off my bed and crashed onto the floor, cursing loudly.

Real soon I was in Dad's Minicooper, cruising down the road in total silence, until, of course, he started talking.

"Have fun," he said, peering into the rearview mirror to look at me.

"Mmm."

"No eye contact with boys."

"Mmm."

"No alcohol."

"Hmmppp."

"No showing cleavage."

"Dad!" I shouted, because I did not expect him to say it out loud.

"Alright," he sighed, " have fun."

We pulled over at Gabriel's, having to stop somewhere along the road as Tiana's Benz was parked in an inconsiderate manner in front of the house.

I knocked on the door three times and looked behind my shoulder to see if Dad had left. He didn't, and pretended he wasn't looking at me when I turned around.