The Last of the Pure

Fifteen

When we walked through the door, I immediately felt overdressed. There were plenty of girls in dresses, but something about my dress and my hair and my makeup made me feel like I was putting on a show.

I spotted Josh, standing with a girl whose name I didn’t know, but I recognized as a grade below us. He made eye contact with me and I smiled slightly, which he returned, until his eyes landed on Samuel who was still holding my hand.

“I’m getting mentally lynched, just so you know,” Sam chuckled, his breath brushing against my ear. I gave him an apologetic smile, but he just laughed more.

“Nora, you look great,” someone said behind me. I turned around to see David, standing with one of the girls from the cheerleading squad. She was wearing a short, puffy teal colored dress that was stacked with green and blue tool, the bodice covered with sequins.

“Thank you, David. You both look great,” I smiled to the short blonde he was standing with and she gave me a tight lipped smile in return. I towered over her, almost a foot above her, I would guess, but the look she gave me kind of scared me, like I should be watching my knee caps the rest of the night. “This is Samuel,” I used my free hand to gesture to the boy standing closely beside me.

“Hi Samuel, I’m Katie,” the girl extended her hand, giving Sam a much bigger smile than she had me.

Samuel muttered, “Nice to meet you,” turning to me quickly. “We should find Serena,” he said.

I nodded quickly, trying to hide my amusement, and he tugged me along with him.

When we found Serena and the boys, she was already out on the dance floor with Nate, both of them going crazy, while Thomas and Paul stood off to the side watching both of them.

“Dear God,” I muttered, seeing Serena doing something I’d once heard my dad refer to as “the shopping cart.” She was really into it, and Nate seemed like he was as well, which surprised me. I’d never seen either of them act like this. “Are they drunk?” I asked Paul who was watching Serena with a small smirk.

“Not in the least,” he chuckled. “They’re always like this. I don’t know what it is about parties, but Serena and Nate go insane. We were invited to a wedding once and they were both going at it, Katherine had to beg them to get off the floor so the bride could dance with her dad.”

The song switched suddenly, going slow, and Serena made her way back over to us, Nate following closely behind.

“Come on, Sammy,” she said, grabbing hold of Samuel by the elbow. I gave him a thumbs-up and he reluctantly let go of my hand and followed Serena onto the dance floor. Paul came to stand in front of me, raising his eyebrows, and extending his hand to me.

I sighed overdramatically and took his hand, winding my arms around his neck while his hands went to rest on my waist.

“I’m glad you’re around, Alexandra,” Paul told me, smiling down at me a little bit. “Serena needs someone like you to put her in her place from time to time, but still be her friend. I think we all do,” he laughed a bit.

“I’m glad you all like me,” I laughed loudly. “I’ve always been terrible at making friends.”

“I could see that,” Paul smirked a bit. “You know, if you actually tried, maybe you wouldn’t have such a problem.”

“Trying is overrated,” I said dramatically.

Paul and I danced for the rest of the song and when it changed, Thomas came up behind Paul  and tapped him on the shoulder.

“My turn!” he smiled when Paul turned to face him.

Paul shook his head, pulling me closer to him and glaring at Thomas.