City Lights, Country Nights

23.It's not funny, Cole

Liora stormed down the halls, her eyes darting from face to face until she finally spotted him—accompanied, as always, by his girlfriend Erin and their clique.

"I could literally kill you right now," Liora hissed as she reached him. Cole stopped and turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I didn't do anything this time," he said, genuinely clueless about what she was referring to. Liora was certain that this whole mess stemmed from the party Cole had brought Jackie to, while the others got off scot-free. Now she had to deal with it. "Oh, did it not go well?" he asked.

Liora handed him one of the pamphlets she was carrying. Cole took it and read it over before letting out a small laugh.

"This is good!" Cole said, looking at her. Liora took the paper out of his hand.

"No, it's not!" she hissed. "I'm not doing this. There's no way. This is stupid. I'm not wasting my time teaching a group of preppy cheerleaders how to dance."

"Well, it looks like you have to," Cole said, taking the paper back. "You have to create a dance that's newer, hip-hop, a crowd-pleaser that is both elegant and has a 'wow' factor," he said, reading off the paper.

"I don't even know them! And the one I do know, I don't like!" Liora said, gesturing towards Erin and the black-haired girl whose name she still didn't know.

"I just can't wait to see what you come up with," Cole said, nodding his head, trying to stop himself from laughing.

"It's not funny, Cole," Liora whined, as she leaned back and closed her eyes. She should have just let Jackie get in trouble, or said it was Cole, because it was him!

"Let me help you hand them out," Cole said. Liora shook her head.

"No, I'm not handing them out. I'm not doing it," she said as Cole took the pamphlets out of her hands.

"Look, Erin," he said, handing her one. "Here's yours, and Olivia," he continued, passing one to the black-haired girl and another to the Korean girl.

"Oh, this looks like a good idea!" Olivia exclaimed as she looked it over. Liora closed her eyes and rubbed her face. "Oh, what's the dance? We only have a month to learn it."

"Yeah, one month. That's not enough time to feel the dances out, to know what it's going to be about," Liora said. "Much less select the music, choreograph it, and then rehearse alone. Like, I don't know what these girls can do," she continued.

"And then you have the costumes and the props, and that alone takes forever to do. Then, after it's all said and done," she said, looking at them, "you have to do a technical rehearsal to make sure everyone is dancing at the same speed, and that's just not going to happen. Not in a month, no way."

"Well," Erin said, looking at Liora, "I can help you," she said. Liora was shocked; she didn't know what to say. Erin? Willing to help her?

"You?" Liora said, looking her up and down. "Want to help... me?" she asked. Erin just shrugged.

"Well, I know what everyone can do," she said. "You can make a costume, right? Just show me how, and I can do it." Liora just looked at her for a good long minute.

"You said it yourself, one person can't do it alone, right?" she said. Liora looked down. "So, what about two?" Why Erin said she would help, Liora didn't know, but if she had to do this, she was going to need help, as much as she hates to admit it.

"Okay, fine," Liora said. "We'll pick a day to... talk," she said, and turned to Cole before walking off. Cole followed behind her.

"Are you handing them out right now?" he asked. Liora shook her head.

"Will you please start it? I need to find Jackie real quick," Liora said. Cole looked at her before nodding.

"Math class?" Cole said as Liora let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, see you," she said and walked off down the hall to find Jackie.

"Hey," Liora said when she found her. Jackie gave her a smile. "You're going to that food drive, right?" she said.

"Yeah, after school. Are you coming to the house?" Jackie asked. Liora shrugged.

"I guess if you don't need me at the food thing," Liora said, looking over at her. "I've got this dance thing I've got to do, and I only have a month to do it," she said.

"I mean, you can come. It's just going to be me and Erin there, so," Jackie said. Liora nodded.

"Speaking of her, she willingly offered to help me," Liora said. Jackie gave her a look. "Yeah, I know, but I'm hoping tha—Hey!" Liora said when Jackie suddenly pulled her off to the side.

"Jackie, what?" Liora asked.

"Shhh!" Jackie hushed her.

Liora looked over and watched Alex walk past them. She then snapped her head back and looked at her sister.

"What was that?" Liora asked. "Are you avoiding him? Why?" Jackie let out a huff.

"I almost kissed him," Jackie said. Liora was taken aback. "I was drunk, and well, I—I don't know what to do," she said.

"Well, do you like him?" Liora asked, watching as Jackie slowly nodded. "So what's wrong?"

"I don't know, Rory. I just never really... well, you know," Jackie said. Liora let out a sigh. Jackie had talked to boys, yeah, but she had never really had a real, real relationship.

"Hey, just try, Jackie," Liora said to her with a smile. "I mean, I have seen the way he is with you; it's obvious he likes you," she said. Jackie looked down.

"It's a little cute, really," Liora teased. "I think you guys would make the perfect couple." Jackie's face turned red.

"Yeah, um, I'll see," Jackie said. Liora rolled her eyes but nodded as Jackie started to walk away.

"Oh, hey, Jackie," Liora called out to her, making her walk back. "When you were at that party and you were playing truth or dare, what were the rules about the person on the left?" she asked, Jackie looking at her for a moment.

"If you didn't want to do a dare or answer a truth, you could kiss the person to your left to get out of it," she said. Liora slowly nodded as she looked down. It made sense now, but she couldn't kiss Cole; the other night was too close. It would be different if he and Erin weren't together, or whatever they were.

Not that she cared about Erin, but being involved in a love triangle, either as the cheater or the person someone cheated with, was something she wasn't going to do because that would be her fault.

"Why?" Jackie asked. Liora just shook her head.

"Just wondering," Liora mumbled and looked at her. "I, um, I might come by later, but we've got to get to class," she said. Jackie nodded as Liora turned to go to math.