by Grace Reagal
***
“Bye, Robin. See you later.”
I get out and close the limo door behind me before Robin can get out and do it himself. He laughs, and waves. “Bye, Kitty.”
Technically he is my mom’s driver, which is the only reason he is doing this. Dad couldn’t really get mad at him because he is supposed to follow Mom’s rules.
I suddenly feel ridiculous wearing a backpack with my dress, but I quickly brush it off. Wiping my mouth so that no remains of the banana bread can be found, I walk up the grand stairs of the school. The front door is already crowded with people.
As my eyes adjust and I’m able to see everyone under the night sky, my heart jumps to my throat and I feel like throwing up.
I thought this was a simple dance.
“My dad bought me this Chanel gown for, like, two thousand bucks! He’s, like, the best dad ever!”
“Oh my god. Girl, is that an Alexander McQueen clutch?”
“Don’t hug so hard! These Louboutin heels are killing me already. I don’t want my makeup smudging too!”
This was not a simple dance.
Chapter 13
Caterina
I am the poor one now.
Everyone is dressed up like they are at their own weddings.
Slowly, I make way through the crowd at the front door to look for Mell. Once I sign in at the door, I walk with the crowd of bodies toward the gym. The hallway is so loud I can barely hear my own thoughts.
I think I catch people throw several looks of disgust at me but I can’t be too sure because I keep moving. Without thinking, I click CALL.
I need someone to talk to me right now because I am feeling anxious with this many people.
“Kitty?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“You at the party?” I have to press the phone close to my ear to hear Mell.
“I am, and you didn’t tell me—”
“I can’t hear you!”
I scream louder into the phone. “I said why you didn’t tell me how seriously everyone took this? They’re all dressed up like adults!”
I hear laughter in my ears and in the background someone yelling, “Get off the phone!”
“Kitty, I gotta go, but I’ll be there soon. Just find Chase and stick with him, okay?”
“But I—”
Beep. Beep. She has already hung up.
Oh, God.
I shove the phone in my backpack. By the time I look up, I’m already at the gym. The whole place is decorated with lights and stars hang from the ceiling. They really had gone all out.
But since I have no other dances to compare it to, maybe this is the norm.
“Kitty?”
I spin around and find Chase looking down at me with surprise. He is dressed in a tux and even had a bow tie. He looks so handsome I almost want to kiss him. Blushing, I mentally slap myself.
Bad Kitty, bad, bad, bad.
I look around and catch the eyes of girls walking to their tables with their partners. The look they give me is what I assume everyone in this place is thinking.
What kind of alien are you?
Chase looks down at me expectantly, his blue eyes shining under a spinning ball. Does he look almost disappointed?
Well, there is nothing I can do to change that now.
The best thing I can do at this point is own up to what I’m wearing. I love these shoes. They are comfortable. This dress is as risqué as I can without feeling like I’m naked. And the backpack…that was kind of hard to explain.
It can hold a lot more things than a purse!
Yeah, okay.
I look up at Chase and laugh, tucking my hair behind my ear. “I look weird, don’t I?” I yell up at him.
He laughs too. “A little!” He looks down at my shoes and raises his eyebrow.
I shrug. “I like them!”
A rap song has started and the sound in the room gets louder. I nod to him and start walking toward the tables in the back. “Did I disappoint you?”
“What? I didn’t hear you!”
I turn and lean into his ear and say louder, “Did I disappoint you?”
He laughs, dimples appearing in his cheek. “You look really pretty. I was just surprised. But…”
I don’t hear what he says next because someone bumps into me. “Oh, shoot, sorry!” I exclaim, jumping away from the person. I look up and find a random girl smirking at me.
“It’s whatever,” she says before she turns to her friend and laughs.
She’s wearing a long white gown and her friend has jewels in her hair.
Sigh. I guess they are judging me too.
But I can’t see how what a stranger is wearing is any of their business. I roll my eyes and try to walk away, but she starts talking again. “What are you wearing?”
By this point, I’m starting to get less irritated and angrier. Before I can answer, though, I feel Chase getting closer and suddenly he has his arm around my shoulder. To the two girls, he says, “She’s wearing whatever the hell she wants. I don’t get how that’s any of your business, Jammy, is it?”
The girl blushes and stutters, “I was only saying…”
Her friend tries to add on, “She’s wearing her—her backpack! Sneakers! It’s, it’s—” Her face twists at me in disgust.
Chase looks at them, confused. “I don’t get it…are you her mother? Why do you care?”
I have to keep myself from laughing as they stutter themselves away from us. They soon get lost in the crowd, and I turn toward him, smoothly removing myself from his hold. I don’t like people touching me.
“Thank you.” I beam up at him genuinely. “I don’t know them, I don’t know why they care.”
He laughs, adjusting his bow tie. “The dance is a pretty big deal. We haven’t had one in a long time because of some shit last year.”
I nod, walking toward a table. “So you’re mad at me too?” I mutter, sitting down at the nearest empty one.
I don’t think he hears me over the music, but apparently, he does. He sits down next to me and taking my hand in his he says, “Don’t feel bad.”
I turn toward him with a chuckle. “Oh, I don’t feel bad.”
He looks taken aback. “Oh?”
I shrug. “This is what I chose to wear, and I like it. If you don’t, then I’m sorry.”
He laughs. “Well thank God I like it then, huh?”
“Do you, though?” I look around. “I mean, have a look around. Every girl looks like a million dollars.” I’m really not being insecure, it is just a fact.
Chase smiles at me sweetly. “You look amazing, Caterina. I don’t care if you’re wearing sneakers. I don’t care if you don’t have a thousand-dollar gown. I couldn’t care less about any of that. In fact, it’s refreshing to have something different.”
I think I’m smiling wide enough to break my face.
He leans toward me and brushes a hair from my cheek. “You look beautiful,” he repeats and I can’t take it.
I turn quickly away from him and play with the hem of the table cover. “So, the weather.”
He laughs. “What about it?”
And before I have to answer, I hear Mell’s voice in the back say, “Out of my way, bitches!”
Smiling widely, I turn from Chase to her. She’s wearing a simple white crop top with short jeans. She has matched the outfit with long brown cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.
She was demolishing the Student Dress Code with every ounce of her being.
Yes, I read it. The whole handbook.
When she sees me, she laughs. “Awesome shoes, K!”
Once she gets closer she says “Hi” to Chase and plops down next to me.
“I like your outfit, Mell.”
“What you mean is, you’re thankful someone else besides you doesn’t look like a bride.”
My eyes widen. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”
She laughs. After a moment she seems to remember something and tur
ns toward Chase, “Hey, is there any alcohol today?”
He frowns. “Nah. They’re confiscating everything at the front door.”
I sigh and mutter. “Thank God.”
Mell groans. “Ugh. But how am I going to get through this night?” She spins on her seat looking at the dance floor, “The music is for some thirteen-year-olds. The food costs like a million bucks,” she turns to Chase, “and there’s no alcohol?”
Chase shrugs. “Basically…unless…” He trails off.
A group of people start sitting at our table.
One of the guys says to Mell, “I heard the Nikolaevs might be bringing some tequila.”
The girl with him adds, “Yeah, but I’m pretty sure that they’re making people pay, like, fifteen bucks for a cup of strong alcohol.”
I roll my eyes.
Is that really a surprise?
Everything about Valentin screams illegal.
I feel Chase get tense next to me. And suddenly everything starts clicking. Chase calling Valentin a dick. Valentin not wanting me to go to the dance with him. Chase getting weird every time they are brought up.
I turn toward him and whisper, “Do you have an issue with Valentin?”
Chase seems startled at my question. “What do you mean?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Every time they’re brought up you get…weird.”
“I don’t get weird.”
“Uh…you totally do. Is he like your frenemy?” I laugh, poking his shoulder playfully.
Chase does not laugh.
“Okay, then!” I pat him on the shoulder and turn toward Mell. “Do you want to dance?”
She’s still talking about alcohol, I think, because she has her wallet out, probably checking how many twenties she has. She gets up after a moment, and shoving her wallet in her pocket screams, “Hell yeah!”
The people at the table laugh. I feel Chase’s hand on my arm. I look down at him and shrug. “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk, but I came here to dance!” Mell grabs my other wrist and starts pulling me away. I give him a peace sign, and leave him shocked. “Talk to me when you’re in a better mood!”
Mell pulls me into the crowd, laughing mirthfully. “You just ditched your date to dance with me. I love you.”
A remix to some popular song is on and has some sick beats. I start to dance a bit, feeling a little bad. “I don’t know why I did that. But he and Valentin have some issues and I have a bad feeling I’m stuck in the middle of it.”
Mell doesn’t answer. She starts doing some pretty cool dance moves, and grabbing my arm, spins me around. “Ah!” I feel a little dizzy but in a good way.
“Come on! Move more than your arms!”
“Uh, okay!” The music pumps harder and I try to find dance moves appropriate to match it. Slowly, I start doing the Macarena.
I look around. Everyone else seems to be grinding on each other.
Mell bursts out laughing, watching me. She tips her cowboy hat toward me. “May I have this dance?”
“Why? Since I suck?”
“Yes, yes.”
And like that, she takes both my hands and gets me in a slow dance position. The song changes to something a little slow, but it’s still hip-hop. I yell in her ear, trying to keep from laughing, “I don’t think this is the song for a slow dance!”
“It’s the song when I say it’s the song!”
And just like that, we start doing some serious moves. She spins me around and leads me into some old styled dancing. “You’re good!” I yell when the music dies down. I can see people looking at us, but at this point, I don’t care.
She winks, the cowboy hat still covering most of her face. She has her hair up, and her makeup is on point. “I know!”
Suddenly, she moves her hand on my hips so that she pulls me toward her and tips me back like the scenes in those old-style movies. “Whoa!”
By the end of the song, I’m so into dancing that I don’t notice that a crowd had formed around us. I am so hyped up with adrenaline, music, and the loudness of everything that I don’t care.
Mell is an absolute star. It is obvious that she is really good at dancing because her moves are not something to mess with.
She sings the words to the rap with no shame and her body moves like it’s second nature to her. The rap gets faster so she bends down in front of me, and starts twerking on me.
Oh god.
Everyone around us erupts into cheers and laugher, and suddenly I don’t care. I go with it, laughing. I personally don’t know how to twerk, but it is cool having someone do it on you.
I want to make a dirty joke, but I know she won’t hear me, and I would probably mess it up from my lack of knowledge on the topic.
She moves away from me to another guy at the edge of the crowd. I start doing the Macarena…for reasons I do not know. I had done it earlier and Mell had laughed at me. And everyone around us had been grinding against each other. This is probably the worst move I could make.
But at that moment, drunk on perfume, sweat, music, and laughter, I don’t care. I was just so happy that I was part of a group. A normal group of people. Kids. No billionaire children.
I thought people would laugh at me.
That’s what happens at first, but then people start singing along for me.
A Spanish girl pops up in the crowd and starts singing the Spanish part.
Everyone jumps in the chorus. Mell is chanting with them while doing some salsa in front of me like a pro. The people on her side are clapping along to her moves.
It is the most refreshing thing I have ever experienced in my whole life.
I feel good.
Nobody watching seems to be judgmental. Everyone is just trying to have fun.
“Aye! Get it, Kitty!” Mell’s voice penetrates the crowd, making me laugh.
But suddenly all the cheers and clapping quiets down. The song changes to something much slower.
Suddenly, I hear two male voices say at the same time, “May I have this dance?”
I freeze and so does Mell next to me. We both spin around, her with irritation and me, scared.
Nate is in front of her watching her with a genuine smile. He seems like he’s in a trance as he pulls up her cowboy hat to get a better look at her face.
And in front of me?
Valentin steps forward from the crowd. I try to sprint away from the scene, but his hands grip my waist tightly and he pulls me toward him. “Oh, I wasn’t asking, Kitten.”
Chapter 14
Caterina
My heart thumps against my chest and fear shoots through me as I see Valentin’s gleaming eyes on me. “Good dance moves, Kitten.” It’s obvious he’s making fun of me. I had been doing the Macarena for God’s sake.
But, like my clothes, I decide to own up to it.
I shrug, trying to think of a way to get out of his hold without making a scene. “I know.”
His smile grows.
I can’t really see him in the dark room, but I can see he is dressed casually, in a black t-shirt, black jeans, and some boots. He is also wearing a cap, which just adds to his arrogant persona.
My mood immediately plummets as I struggle to get his hands off my waist.
Gosh, he is such a touchy person. I am a stranger, I don’t know why he feels like he has ownership over every single thing he comes across.
“What are you doing here?”
His infuriating grin grows and I wish I could punch it off.
I smirk.
I had done it once; it wouldn’t be so hard to do it again.
He starts dancing slowly to the music and I have no choice but to follow him. Literally. I literally had no freaking choice. He is holding me by the waist and lifting me up from the freaking ground whenever I refuse to move.
“I came to start the real party. You coming?”
“Coming where?” Darn it, Cat, why are you asking?
He grins at my curiosity. “My house. In about twenty m
inutes the real thing is about to start.” He scoffs, “This pathetic excuse of a party makes me want to vomit.”
I scowl. “Well don’t do it on me.” I jerk from his grip, and he finally lets go, laughing. “What’s wrong, Kitten? Are you scared?”
What does he think asking that is going to do? Make me say, “No, I’m not scared! You know what? I’ll come to your party to show you. Yeah, that’ll show you!” I know he is baiting me.
I look around and see that people are still ogling at us. I don’t know why they are letting a dance that they’d apparently been waiting for a whole year go to waste by watching other people dance.
Not that Valentin and I are dancing.
Not that I want to. At all.
And I know girls say that when they like a boy, but I really, really hate Valentin, like really despise him.
I swear.
Valentin looks past my shoulder and snaps, “What the fuck are you guys looking at?”
To my deep relief, everyone scuttles off. Some, pretending they haven’t been listening in, start awkwardly dancing. It would be amusing if I wasn’t in this situation.
Valentin turns back to me and winks. “You’re welcome.”
My jaw drops open. “Are you kidding? You’re the one who got me into this in the first place.”
“If my memory serves me right, you were the one looking like a drunk uncle, doing the Macarena in front of everyone.” He looks like he is about to burst out laughing.
I grit my teeth.
I don’t let him see the embarrassment that seeps into my skin when he says those words. In the dark, he can’t see my humiliation.
He is right. I had looked ridiculous.
Now I know dancing in front of people is a mistake. I should have just stuck to moving awkwardly for the night like everyone else. This is my first dance, what do I know anyway?
I cock my head at Valentin, trying to force up a condescending smile. “You know, I actually thought you were really attractive the first time I met you.”
He looks taken aback, maybe from the change of conversation or my declaration. “You did?”