Savior (Book One)

Chapter Three

Sighing, I leaned back in the chair I was sitting in, my eyes following a couple of teenage girls who all were talking excitedly about prom. I looked back to the curtain Anabell was hiding behind, bored out of my mind.

After the talk with Mr. Robbins, Bud had picked me up and informed me that he was going to drop Anabell and I off at one of the boutique stores so that Anabell could pick out a dress.

I’ve been here for about an hour and have seen only about four dresses so far. All of them so far had been “no’s”, mostly because they were either too short, to showy, or just plain…ugly. Though, I would never tell Anabell that. Besides, who in their right mind thought that highlighter yellow was a good color? It wasn’t. In my opinion, it was one of the ugliest colors out there, next to puke green and murky brown.

I perked up when I heard Anabell throw back the curtain, revealing her in a pink mermaid dress that faded down to a cyan color, the top part of the dress being covered in clear sequins. Around her arms was a sheer sash that had the same ombre effect as the dress. All in all she looked…utterly gorgeous. My heart literally clenched at the mere sight of her, and I could only watch in silence as she walked over to one of the body mirrors to check out the dress. She turned around to look at the back of it, then shifted her emerald gaze towards me, in question.

“Well? How does this look?”

“B-beautiful.” I stammered out, my cheeks burning red.

Anabell blinked before her cheeks turned a nice shade of pink. She cleared her throat and looked away from me, her eyes going back to the mirror. “You really think so? Personally, this is the most comfortable dress I put on so far.” She looked at the dress for a few more seconds before she nodded towards herself and patted her thighs. “Yup. I think this one is it.” She then looked down at the price tag, glancing at how much the dress cost, and scrunched up her nose. “More expensive than I hoped, but it’ll have to do.” She gave me a small smile before she walked back behind the curtain to change.

I bit my bottom lip and looked at the tiled floor, my heart racing. Gosh, Anabell was so gorgeous. She was sweet, too. Basically the perfect woman, and yet, I was too shy to tell her how I felt. My heart felt heavy at that. Not to mention that I wasn’t even going to get to dance with her.

Cody was the only one with that privilege.

“Sky? What are you doing here?”

I blinked and looked up, catching sight of my Hispanic friend, Sarah. I stood up and wiped my hands onto my pants, my thoughts long forgotten as I smiled sheepishly at the other girl. Sarah was looking quite beautiful today, with her long dark curly hair pulled back by a headband, her large brown eyes outlined with eyeliner.

Even with her beauty, I still didn’t feel the pull with her as I felt for Anabell. I guessed that it was because I knew Anabell longer, spent more time with her. I didn’t spend too much time with Sarah other than in school, or very rarely, when we all hung out together and went out to eat, or something. So even with her beauty, I couldn’t help but compare her to Anabell.

Sighing, I scratched the back of my neck, nodding my head in the direction of the curtain. “I was helping Anabell find a dress.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her full lips. “Isn’t she in Tenth grade?”

I nodded, sticking my hands into my pockets. “Yeah. She was asked by Cody.”

Sarah scoffed with disbelief and threw her hands up in exasperation. “That asshole? Anabell shouldn’t be going with someone like him. Gosh, what was she thinking?!”

I shrugged and glanced back at the curtain, briefly wondering why Anabell was taking so long to change. I looked back at Sarah, curious as to why she was here as well, seeing as she was in the same grade as Anabell and me. Did someone from a higher grade ask her too? I voiced my question and Sarah laughed, waving her hand in the air in front of her.

“Me? No. I’m here for my cousin. I’m trying to help her find a dress.” Sarah moved beside me and pointed somewhere to the left of us. “See the short girl with the red hair? Yea, that’s her. She’s in twelfth grade.”

My mouth opened in an “o” shape, my head nodding in acknowledgement. I turned my head and watched as Anabell walked out from behind the curtain, the dress in her arms. She caught sight of Sarah and looked at her curiously as she walked over to us. “Hey Sarah, what’re you doing here?” She asked, standing by my side. A little closely, if you ask me. Not that I was complaining, or anything.
“I’m here with my cousin. The little redhead over by the poufy dresses.” Sarah responded, blowing a dark curl out of her eyes.

Anabell blinked and nodded, pursing her lips as she glanced at me. “Cool. Hey Sky, I’m going to go pay for this, ok? Can you help me put the other dresses back up please?”

I nodded and gave her a small smile, rubbing my arm with my left hand. “Yeah, sure.”

The brunette nodded and walked away, leaving me with Sarah. Sarah scrunched up her nose, placing a hand on her hip. At my curious glance, she shook her head and gestured to the curtain. “I can help you with cleanup duty if you want.”

I shrugged and followed her as she went into the curtain to gather the dresses. I took what I could carry and followed her out of the dressing room. We were in the middle of putting up a rather ugly dress when Sarah spoke.

“So, I heard that you were going to prom. Did you get asked by an upper classman?”

I blinked, glancing at her as I hung up the dreadful yellow dress. I was curious as to why she asked, but I wasn’t going to say anything about it.

Instead, I shrugged and followed the Hispanic girl over to another row so she could put up a short pink dress. “Not really. I just helped out on some of the decorating and Mr. Robbins said I could go for free, despite me not being in a high enough grade to go.”

Sarah pursed her lips and hung up the dress, turning towards me. “Oh that’s cool. Say…do you have a date to go with? I mean, I’m just curious.”

I looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. Did…she want to go with me? I mean, I was planning on going by myself. Besides…why would she want to go with me? I don’t speak to her as much as I do my other friends, mostly because she was usually busy.

At least, that’s what I was assuming she was trying to get at. Why else would she ask? It couldn’t be mere curiosity. She had to have a reason, right? Or was I looking too far into this?

Instead of trying to think myself into the grave, I merely pursed my lips and shook my head, avoiding eye contact with Sarah. “Not really. I was planning on going by myself. Why do you ask?” I glanced at her through my lashes and was surprised to see her blushing and looking shyly away from me. Wait…did she have a crush on me? I mean, that was what I was getting from her, right now. I furrowed my eyebrows and stared at her curiously as she shifted her feet.

“Well…I was wondering if you’d want a date to go with.”

I blinked and put the dress I had been holding up onto the rack, my eyes never leaving Sarah’s form. “You…want to go with me? Is that what you’re asking?” Well…Anabell had a date, right? Besides, Sarah was my friend, if I said yes, we’d only be going as friends anyway. I held no romantic interest for her. Not to mention that Anabell looked almost…jealous that Sarah was talking to me. What harm could it do, right? I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Besides, if Anabell could go with Cody, then I could go with Sarah. As friends. I pursed my lips then smiled, nodding my head.

“Sure. You can come with me if you want to.”

“Really?” Sarah looked both relieved and bewildered, as if she thought that I would say no, or something. Which, why would I say no? She was my friend, right? It’s not like I had a date to go with. Well, technically I did now. I wonder how Anabell would react. Would she be jealous? I doubt it. Her date was much more…”manlier” than me. I was probably nothing but a friend in her eyes.

Why was I thinking so much about this, anyway? I really needed to have a talk with my brain for trying to overthink basically everything.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts before I smiled widely at Sarah. “Yeah, really. I’d love for you to be my date to prom, Sarah.”

A/N: Here's another chapter!! I hope you all enjoy it!