A Friend's Love

Chapter Eighteen: Mask

I looked in the mirror one last time before dashing out my door. My dress was pale blue, with a full skirt that fell to the floor. Silver gems and fake diamonds decorated the top half of my dress and were scattered all over the skirt. It was sleeve-less, and when I twirled, my skirt floated around me like I was underwater. My mask was pale blue to match my dress. It was decorated with silver designs and fake diamonds. My make-up was perfect. My hair was wavy and decorated with fake, miniature diamonds. (How Alise had managed to do that, I had no idea.)

I slipped on my mask, adjusted my hair and dress one last time, and smiled. I felt like... a princess.

Alise honked her horn one last time and I ran out the door, grinning and holding my dress up so it wouldn't drag in the dirt. The butterflies in my stomach were multiplying by the second, but when I climbed into the car and saw Alise's confidence, I felt my confidence rising too. I knew I couldn't control how Jake would react, but at least I knew what needed to be said, and I planned on saying it. This night, would be perfect. It had to be.

When Alise dropped me off in front of the gym, I saw Jake and another guy, who was probably Kyle, climb out of the car behind us. I ducked my head, completely forgetting I had a mask on, and rushed inside before they could see what car I'd gotten out of. That would ruin everything!

My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking by the time I got to the doors of the gym. I gave them my invitation, signed my name where they asked me to, and hooked my arm through the arm of my "escort", who happened to be a Junior I knew from band. He led me into the "Ballroom" and I caught my breath. Even though I'd been helping with decorations all month, I hadn't realized how beautiful it would look when it was all put together.

The lighting was dim. Twinkling, white lights were strung everywhere and silver glitter was scattered on the wooden floor. The corners of the room were occupied by little round table with white table clothes. Music was blasting and there were already quite a few people walking around the room.

Steven, my escort, led me over to a table and bowed before he kissed my hand and left. I sat down for a second longer, admiring the spare masks, silver glitter flakes, and tall, white lit candles that decorated my table, before getting up and walking over to a table with food and drinks.

Once I filled a cup with sweet tea, I scanned the room and spotted Liz right away. Her auburn hair stood out no matter what mask she wore.

She looked gorgeous. Her gown was jade green and strapless. It had crystal jewels below the bust, and the skirt fell to the ground, the fabric gathered and shimmering slightly. Her mask was the same shade of green, with gold stencil and colored jewels on one side. On the other side of her face, there was a gold leaf decorated with more jewels. Liz's auburn hair was swept back into a loose bun, and there were single curls cascading down the side of her face.

Liz was talking to a group of people when I dragged her away. She took one look at me, squealed (which is something she never does) and muttered some apologies to the people she was talking to. And then she squealed again. "Amy! You're gorgeous! Ohmygosh your hair is amazing! And your dress. And your mask! Ohmygosh!"

I laughed. "You look so beautiful too Liz! Those boys will definitely be asking you to dance like crazy tonight!" She giggled and then we started talking about random things. We roamed the room, admiring masks and gowns, until the principal got up on stage. After running through a list of rules no one paid any attention to, she announced that the Halloween Dance had begun.

It was tense and edgy at first. No one really knew what to do. But then someone requested a song everyone knew the dance to. It was sort of the ice-breaker. After that, everyone was laughing and goofing off. Liz danced with more guys than I could count, and I did too. I really was enjoying myself. But the whole time, I was waiting. Waiting for the one song I wanted and needed to hear. I could still remember the afternoon Jake had randomly picked out "our song." We'd been watching some action movie on the couch when he'd jumped up and ran into Alise's room. I barely had time to wonder what he was doing before he was back with Joey's laptop in his hand and a huge grin on his face.