Cheat Sheets

Chapter One

Chapter One:

Without having to deliberate or try on any others, I know without a doubt that this is my dress. This is the dress that I, Keira Joanna Greene, will kiss Josh Walters in for the first time during the slow dance of our prom. He’ll take my hands and lead me into the slow dance, he’ll blush a little and one of the teachers will tell us that we’re standing too close, then once they’re gone, he’ll shyly drag me to his chest and sneakily grant me a kiss. Under the fairy lights, surrounded by swaying figures I, Keira Joanna Greene, will receive my first kiss.

I just feel it!

We’ve been dating for two months now – which for Josh is a huge thing – and Josh has dropped enough hints that he wants us to move on from hand holding onto ‘something else’. I can’t wait to see his expression when I let him have ‘something else’. When we kiss for the first time, he’ll forget all his other make-out sessions with the slags that he used to affiliate with. Those memories of sex with the other girls will all just be a distant illusion. This kiss will spark the beginning of true love, and one day when I’m Keira Walters, we’ll tell our children of the first kiss we shared during a slow dance at prom and how the rest was history.

Stripping out of the dress with a triumphant smile, I quickly slip back into my Star Wars shirt and denim jeans, exiting the changing room to beam at my best friends, who all three look disappointed that I’m not modelling the dress for them.

“Why aren’t you in that dress Keira Greene?” Jennifer pouts, sending me a cross look whilst jumping to her feet and furiously gesturing at the dress laid over my arms.

“Because” I stick my tongue out at her “it looks amazing, I’m getting it and you can all see me in it the night we prepare for prom. So there.”

Kami shakes her head at me and skips up to pull me into her side for a well needed hug. “Well, you’ll look gorgeous in it anyway. I just can’t wait for Josh to see you in it; he’ll drop dead on sight! Girl these curves…”

I feel uncomfortable with her hands on my aforementioned curves and squirm away a little. No matter how hard I exercise or diet, I’ll always be a thick girl. Believe me. I work out every day for at least an hour, consume less than seven hundred calories and still I can’t shift any weight. My curves are just another reason why I’m bullied by Josh’s ‘friends’ and why I’m totally out of Josh’s calibre.

Josh is perfect in every way. Hair: blonde, teeth: straight and white, body: to die for. Whilst I… Am not.  Josh has a social life and being thrower for the football team, he’s in with ‘that’ crowd. It was practically social suicide when Josh asked me to be his girlfriend not two months ago. But love conquers all as they say.

After paying for the dress we walk out of the shop feeling pretty damn proud of ourselves, and when Kami suggests we see the new Bruce Willis movie, I’m more than happy to get in as many hours with my girls as I can before I see Josh tonight.

We take our seats in the back – my favourite place to take in the whole of the screen – and Jennifer’s hand instantly dips into the popcorn bowl in my lap.

“Hey!” Kami protests by slapping Jennifer’s hand away, sending curls of popcorn to the clean theatre floor in the process as Jennifer clutches her poor hand to her chest. “Don’t grab handfuls at a time you slob or you’re just gonna eat it all.”

I chuckle at them. “Girls, girls, sharing is caring.”

“Share my ass.” Jennifer mumbles under her breathe before ramming a handful of popcorn into her gob.

The theatre is virtually empty with only a few people dotted around us, so when half way through the movie a couple come running in and take seats a couple of rows in front of us, my eyes are on them. Without even shedding an eye for the movie, the couple are latched onto one another by the mouth as if breathing as one body. It’s a disturbing scene to witness. “Ew. Are they going to come up for air anytime soon or what?” I snort in disgust and nudge Kami and Jennifer in the ribs.