Chapter 3: The Alternative It was Sam! I couldn't be more glad to see him. “What are you doing here, I thought you moved schools months ago?” “I didn’t like it much so I practically begged my parents to send me back.” I couldn’t believe he was back. I wiped my smeared mascara and jumped into his arms. I hugged him so tight I didn't even know if he could breathe. “Missed you too” he wheezed. “I heard there was a Halloween party tonight at Adrien's,” Sam reminded me. How could I show up to that place after what happened at football practice!? Of course Sam didn’t know what happened. But how could I tell him? Even thinking about it made me sick or even worse, I wanted to cry. Number one rule in attending a public high school, DON”T CRY AT SCHOOL. I’ve made that mistake before. It was 7th grade lunch. I had gotten a brand new white graphic tee from Walmart the day before. I was so excited to wear it. Unfortunately Kreed, the school's number one bully at the time, spilled his sloppy joe all over my white tee shirt, clearly on purpose. I didn’t know what else to do but collapse on the ground and cry. I cried until my eyes burned. But when I looked up the whole grade was circled around me. Laughing, name calling, pointing. It was a nightmare. Ever since that day I’ve known not to cry at school. I put on a brave face for Sam and told him I was willing to go if he was. Thankfully he already had a costume picked out, he was going to be an army soldier. He had always liked anything war related since I can remember, so I wasn’t surprised. “I’ll pick you up at 8:00”. I was shocked. I had never been picked up before. I quietly nodded my head and went to art. When I got home I knew I couldn’t go to the party dressed like this. Everybody would recognize me as the girl who wore a cat costume to school. So I had to dig through the trunk for any other costumes, ANYTHING. There sat in a vacuumed sealed plastic bag was another costume labeled Elodie’s Halloween costume, 2027. Thank goodness there was one more costume left. I unzipped the bag to see a beautiful blue Cinderella- like dress. I was perfect. Also wrapped inside the folded costume was a mask. I knew it! The costume was for a masquerade. I slipped on the costume, curled my hair, and did my make-up just perfectly. Then I heard a car honk. I was Sam, just in time. I ran down stairs in excitement. When Sam saw me, his eyes shimmered. “You look amazing,” he spoke. “Are you ready?” “More than ever” We left not long after 8:15. The party started at 8:30 so we were just in time. Everyone was there. The whole school. “Well aren’t you getting out?” Sam asked. “You go ahead, I have to do a few touch up’s” He shrugged and went inside , leaving me out in the dark chilly night. I was touching up my lips when I heard him. “Well isn’t it little miss concussion” Adrien said as he appeared out of the shadows. “Looking gorgeous tonight, let me open the door for you” He walked over and pulled open the car door. reaching out a hand to help me out. My face turned bright red and felt like it was burning. He kissed my hand. I wanted to faint. One second I’m the laughing stalk of his tiktok account, the next I’m his little princess. I pulled my hand away as he lowered it from his face and walked myself inside still flustered from what just happened. When I got inside there was everything you might expect from a party. Drinks, people jumping into a pool fully clothed, even loud music nearly deafening you. This wasn’t my kind of party but where else was I supposed to go. My house was nearly 20 miles from here. I turned to see a kitchen island filled with food. But it wasn’t just on the island. It was everywhere. On the ground and on the walls. I turned the other direction to see people dancing to the metal rock playing on the speaker. It was starting to get really hot so headed towards the backyard. Then I saw it. I-It was Sam, he was kissing M-Mckayla. IN THE POOL. For some reason I wanted to collapse but I couldn’t. I stood frozen. Jealousy for some reason built up inside me and all of a sudden, I didn’t care. I didn’t care how far the walk was, I was going home. I stormed towards the front door. But I was stopped by Adrien. “Hey, where are you going? The party just started” “I’m going home” “ Well, let me take you home” He didn’t know where I lived and he barely knew who I even was. There was no way I was saying yes to this. I tried to run out then before I realized I squeezed my wrist. Not just a small squeeze. A tight man handle the squeeze. Then he whispered in my ear, “ I wasn’t asking”.
CAN NOT wait to post chapter 4 in a few days