Who are you behind the veil?

2

Helena P.O.V

At lunchtime, I told Ally my story with the boy at the lockers. She laughed and jokingly told me that I was very stupid, that I had missed a very good opportunity to make a friend, or even something else. I do not like it very much when she says those things, she encourages me to do new things, but many times I'm afraid to say no or don't do what she wants, Ally is very outgoing, is like my exact opposite. Although she always listens to me, I think she doesn't really take me seriously. But at the end of the day, after seeing everything that she does for me, I end up thinking that they are only ideas of mine, that I think things that are not. Ally has been my best friend all my life, and she only wants the best for me. She is the one who accompanies me to go anywhere I need, to who I call when I have attacks of anguish, seriously, it is not a person to which I must be afraid. But nowadays, I am afraid even of my shadow, kind of stupid, I know

-Well, next time when you have the opportunity, don't waste it like that. I love being your best friend, But I'm bored of being your only friend, you should go out more, with different people.
-I don't know, Ally, I just don't feel comfortable
-If you always say that, you'll never know
-I just know, believe me
-Well, there's a party on Friday's night, I'm going, you should go too. Don't be a baby, you should do it. You're 16, when are you going to go live your life?
-I don't know, maybe
-YOU HAVE TOO, it's sad to go everywhere without your best friend, do it for me, please?

I hate when she says that, it's like she gives you all the pressure and you just can't say no. I guess I'm going, if I feel uncomfortable, I call my mom, if I'm really bad, I don't care if people call me a baby.

Friday afternoon, I go to Ally's house to get ready for the party. Actually I feel kind of excited for this, maybe this time things will go fine, maybe for one night I will be a normal teenager.

Ally shows me different crop tops, all flashy and provocative, just like her. But in the end I decide on a simple yellow mustard crop top, it does not show much of my body and it seems to Ally that something else is better, something more sexy or coquettish. But she already convinced myself to come, I'm going to dress as I want to feel comfortable there.

If there's something I like about these things, it's makeup. It feels so good, for a second, a shy girl becomes a bad bitch or whatever she wants. Makeup is art, you can do whatever you want. Anyway I do something subtle and nice, I like to make up like youtubers at home or with Ally, but I prefer not to call attention in public. Whatever I do, my makeup stands out much more than the outfit, it gives me a bit of shame to think that maybe it's a lot, but I look at myself and something happens that does not happen to me very much; I do not dislike how I look.

Caleb, Ally's brother, takes us to where the party is. It's at Sean's house, a rich kid with parents who travel all the time. When we were kids, he was very kind to me, but for a while now he has been getting into trouble, neglecting his studies and grades and drunk every night. In those moments, I'm very grateful that my parents have been always looking after me, because I know that I could never lose control like that with my parents supporting me.

Sean's house is enormous and the music is so loud that it can be heard a block away. When we entered I got a little dizzy because of the neon colored lights and how crowded it was. First I felt a little bit awkward, but then I realized everyone was having a good time and no one was really looking at me so I started dancing with Ally, I was having an amazing time when a boy took her out to dance and I was left alone, very uncomfortable and when I had spent a lot of time by my own and I did not see her in the crowd I went to a dark corner, hoping nobody would see me. But someone exclaimed; Hey! This is my corner
I get scared an apologize like a million time and the voice in the dark said;
-Oh, you're the sorry girl that hit me with the locker
-I'm sorry
-you apologize a lot, have you noticed? Please don't say sorry for that. you apologize a lot, have you noticed? Please do not apologize for that. So if you should ask for forgiveness is for not telling me your name the other day, that was rude, you know?
-I'm.... sorry I guess. My name is Helena Valdez
-A Latina ¿huh?
-I hate when people say that. I was born here, so was my parents. My grandparent was half Mexican, but that's it. We don't have any Latin customs. I'm so American like you
-Didn't mean to offend you, Helena is actually a beautiful, very poetic name.
-Thanks
-I'm not really into partys, I prefer talking with someone. But you don't answer a lot, do you?

Maybe, maybe, this time I would do it, do it fast Helena, don't overthink everything.
So we started talking about places, about wild California and metropolitan Seattle, about series, about books, about future, about a lot of things. He was actually very clever, and that deep conversation was way better than the party. For once, I didn't want it to end, but it was time to go. The night was a blast, by the time that Ally call me trough the cellphone, Matt and I had already exchange numbers.