A Poppy In The Stars

Chapter 05

I woke up hearing my phone ringing on the bedside table. I looked at the clock to see that it's still five in the morning. I groaned as I turned to answer my phone.

"Hello?" I sounded so sleepy, but I didn't care.

"Oh, are you sleeping?" Jacob's voice came through the phone and reached my ear. I wanted to slap him in the face for asking such a ridiculous question.

"Of course I'm sleepy, you idiot! Look at the time!"

"Sorry." He somewhat sounded very urgent. "Just that I wanted to ask you something."

"And what exactly is it?" I asked.

"Are you free this evening?"

"Um...I guess so, why?"

"We are having a party down the street, at my place. You want to come? I mean, you haven't been to a party for a long time now, yeah?"

I felt so awake with excitement rushing in me. My lips curved into a very happy smile. A party? Really??
"Yes, I'd love that, thank you very much!"

I almost heard the smile on Jacob's face. "Good. Then come with Eva. She'll be there to pick you up at about six. Be ready, okay?"

"Okay." I said and we hung up.
________________________________

The dress felt comfortable enough as I walked in it in my room, closely watched by my mom and Eva.
"Oh....you look so pretty and adorable, Hope!" Eva clapped her hands and said.

I went in front of the mirror. The dress fitted me perfectly. It was a midnight blue dress with very thin sleeves, and it's long enough to touch my knees. I looked decent enough with my hair draped over my shoulders in slight curls.
"Do you think my hair looks-"

"How many time do I have to tell you?" Eva cut me off and stood behind me. She was wearing a tight sleeveless red dress that's shorter than my one. Her hair was tied to a bun on top of her head. "You look fine!"

"Thanks." I simply said.

"Shall we go then?" Eva asked, taking her purse from the bed.

I nodded. "Yeah, okay." I took hold of my purse which was on the dressing table. "Let's go."

After bidding mom a goodbye and promising her to be back before 10.30, Eva and I drove off in her car towards the party house.

It was obviously crowded. People were dancing and talking and laughing....so much noise. Music played, but not so loud. No alcohol is allowed, so it was a pretty decent party.

"Of course," Eva started as we walked into the house. "No popular kids here. Only the average."

"That's a good thing right?" I asked, searching the crowd for Jacob.

"Yes of course it is." She said as we finally spotted Jacob dancing with Harry and drinking soda.

"Hey, guys! Hope, you came!!" Jacob said as we walked towards him. Harry turned and smiled to us. He is this boy who doesn't talk but keeps to himself. He tried to comb his black hair with his fingers, but Jacob stopped him. Harry's hazelnut eyes gleamed as Jacob's hand touched his shoulder.

"How are you doing, Harry?" I asked. He is much taller than me and Jacob, so I had to crane my neck to look at his face. You can say that he's handsome, but mostly..cute. He smiled.

"I'm doing great. I heard that you got off from clinic and that they let you out? That's great news! And it's kind of a big deal to see you in a crowded party, no offense." He shouted through the noise.

I smiled and shrugged. "Oh, none taken. Thank you, by the way."

Eva took hold of my hand. "You want to grab something to drink and leave these two love birds to dance?"

I laughed. "Yeah sure." I said and turned to Jac and Harry. "See you in a bit."

We walked down to the kitchen and grabbed some soda to drink and walked back to the living room.
"Hey, Charlie's here." Eva said. "I should probably go talk to him."

"Yeah, okay." I said. "Im going to the balcony to get some fresh air, if that's alright."

Eva nodded and walked away as I made my way towards the balcony. To my surprise, there was no one there. I went over to the railing and looked up at the sky.

"Stars are unusually bright today." Someone said, making me jump. I turned to see Jasper standing beside me, looking up at the night sky. His brown hair was messy as always, but his blue eyes were unusually bright. I cleared my throat and moved a step away from him.

"What do you know about stars?" I asked.

"I'm a star gazer." He replied. "I love analysing the night sky."

"Well, I do too." I said and looked up at the sky. He was right. Stars are unusually bright today.

"You look pretty nice." He suddenly said. I looked at him, but he was still gazing up at the stars. He was wearing a simple black t shirt with blue jeans and white sneakers. It suited him well.

"You look good too." I said back. He turned to me.

"I'm sorry for what I said the last time I met you. It wasn't nice."

"Yeah, it sure wasn't." I agreed.

He closed his eyes and sighed, but opened them again. "I didn't mean it, you know. About you being weak? It just sort of came out."

"You should probably consider what you're going to say before you actually say it. Because it can hurt people pretty bad."

There was a slight pause as we looked into each other's eyes. "Did I hurt you?" He asked.

I sighed and looked back up at the night sky. "It doesn't matter now."

"Yeah, it does. Just tell me, did I hurt you?" He asked again.

"What do you think?" I asked without looking at him.

Silence. Moments passed in silence. Finally I turned to see him looking at me with a very worried look in his eyes. He sighed and nodded.
"Yes." He said. "I think I did hurt you. And I'm so so sorry. I really didn't mean that."

I smiled. "I think we started off badly. What we need is a better start, don't you think?"

His thin lips curved into a very bright smile. "Sure."

"Okay, so... let's start again. I'm Hope Williams. You are?"

He laughed softly. "I'm Jasper. Jasper Alby."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Jasper."

"Yeah. It's nice to meet you too, Hope."
Alrighty then! Here we go again!!