During the day, I counted sixteen guys—one Prince Charming, one Round Table Knight, one Egyptian warrior, one Luke Skywalker, one magician, one Indiana Jones, one soccer player, two zombies, three vampires, and four I had no idea what or who they were supposed to be—who came on to me and asked me to accompany them to the big Halloween Ball tonight.
Right, because I was going.
I wanted to go, but not with them. Of course, how could I? If sixteen guys hit on me during the day, how many would do it during the ball? Besides, I knew Audrey and Jonah would be there, since this was one event hosted by the Greek houses. I really didn’t want to bump into them there and cause another scandal that surely would be the spark for Audrey to spread more lies.
I sipped my coffee, low in a corner booth at the coffee shop, when a few ATN girls sat at a close table. They hadn’t seen me yet, and hoping not to be found out, I turned my face away and pulled my scarf over my hair.
“Audrey said that.” I recognized the voice. It was Evelyn, one of the new pledges.
“Yeah,” another girl said. “She was specific about it.”
“What else did she say?” a third girl asked.
“That the Brazilian slut is out to get all of our guys,” girl B said.
What the hell? They were talking about me. I didn’t want to hear them talking about me. However, there was no way I could get out of the booth without them seeing me.
I pulled the edge of the scarf over half of my face and glanced to them.
“The Brazilian slut can’t possibly bag all of them,” Evelyn said.
“She’s going to try,” a girl with red hair said.
A blond girl got something from her purse, looked at it, and then shoved it inside again. “She would have to sleep with half a dozen every day to accomplish such thing.”
“According to Audrey, that’s normal for her,” Red said.
What? They couldn’t believe that. That was impossible. Who would sleep with six different guys every day? Even one different guy each night? Who even wanted that? Credo.
And why the hell was I hiding? I had nothing to hide. They could say whatever they wanted about me. I had my sacred place to go to cope with whatever they tried to say or do. I pulled down the scarf and sat straight.
“Worse than her throwing herself at our guys is how they are after her,” Evelyn said. “Joana’s boyfriend and Kimberly’s boyfriend broke up with them. They have been after the Brazilian slut ever since.”
“I know,” Red said. “It makes me sick to see them all hitting on her day after day.”
“Wait.” Blondie stopped, searching her purse as Evelyn reached to the side to fix something on her sandal. She saw me, and her eyes went wide. “Isn’t that strange? Audrey says she’ll sleep with all the guys, and the guys are coming after her, but we haven’t heard about the b—”
Evelyn slapped Blondie’s hand. “Shhh.”
“What?” Blondie snapped.
Evelyn jerked her head toward me. The others turned to my table, and her eyes matched Evelyn’s.
Without taking my eyes from them, I stood and walked to their table. “Glad to see how much you girls care about me that you can’t stop talking about me.”
Mimicking them, I flipped my hair and walked out the coffee shop. I rushed to my dorm building, afraid that if Audrey or any other ATN girl appeared before me, I could do some real damage.
I was about to enter my building, to retreat into my room for the day and pretend I didn’t know about the ball, when a girl stepped in my way. She wore a huge red wig, a lacy mask, and a fancy dress.
“Excuse me,” I said.
She laughed. “It’s me. Phoebe.”
I stared at her. Now that she said it, I could see the traces of her face, but if she hadn’t mentioned it, I would have never known. “Meu Deus, you’re unrecognizable.”
She took off her mask. “Precisely my point.”
“What?”
She gestured to the large bag in her hand. “I’ve got something for you right here.”
***
I twirled before the mirror hanging from the wall in Phoebe’s dorm room, not believing my eyes.
“Told you it would work,” she said in a proud tone from behind me. Her reflection stared back at me from the mirror. With her hands on her hips, Phoebe admired her work.
It totally did. With a blond wig, a black mask, and a fancy dress like hers, nobody would know it was me, unless I told them, let my accent slip, or took off my mask.
“You’re a genius!”
She smiled. “I know.”
“Kevin doesn’t know about it, right? I mean, you didn’t tell him I’ll be in a costume like yours?”
“No. I told him you were staying in.”
“Good. It’s not that I don’t trust him, but you know, the less risk …”
“I know. Don’t worry. I won’t tell.”
“Thanks.”
She squealed. “I can’t believe we will be able to dance and drink and laugh together. Hmm, we should come up with a fake name for you, and how I met you, in case Kevin asks who you are.”
“Oh, good thinking. I’m just some random girl from one of your class. How about you call me Liz?”
“Simple. I like it. Now, Liz—” She offered her arm to me. “—are you ready to go to a ball?”
I took her arm. “Totally.”
Chapter Sixteen
I was half expecting the ball to be in a gym, since that was where high school proms were—I watched too many American movies. I was glad to be wrong.
Phoebe and I entered the administration building, and followed the crowd to the ballroom on the first floor. Big, double doors opened to a large room with a tall ceiling, fancy chandeliers, and hardwood floors. Black, purple, and orange streamers hung from the ceiling, reaching the tables—also with black, orange, or purple cloth—bordering the dance floor, forming a cozy canopy enveloping the disco ball. Across the room, the band—in ghost or skeleton costumes—played a popular song on the stage.
The place was quickly filling up and I was amazed, watching everyone wearing costumes. Witches, fairies, devils, angels, princesses, doctors, naughty nurses, pirates, Disney and Pixar characters, and everything in between. If we were in Brazil, most people would wear normal clothes.
“Let’s grab some punch,” Phoebe said, tugging my arm to a long table to the left. People milled around it, grabbing finger food and drinks.
There was spiked punch, for those older than twenty-one, and regular punch. University employees stood close to it, carding when they felt necessary. Of course, Phoebe and I were carded, and Phoebe had to go for the non-alcoholic version. We would remedy that soon.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the plastic goblet from the man who served me. I waited until Phoebe had hers and extended my goblet to her. “To having a good time.”
She smiled. “To having a great time.”
I took a sip of the drink, savoring how it began sweet, and then turned into a slight burning, one that begged to be repeated.
I hadn’t drank alcohol since that party at The Bat—when all this mess started. I hadn’t been out, danced, or had a good time since before that. I sighed in delight. It had been too long and I missed this.
Phoebe took my hand. “Let’s dance.”
She dragged me to the dance floor as the band began playing “Gotta Be Somebody” by Nickelback. We moved to the beat, doing our best not to spill our precious drinks. The ground thrummed under me, and I felt the rhythm in my veins. Bah, I really had missed this.
When the song changed, I realized her man was missing. “Where’s Kevin?”
“He had a late class. He’ll text me when he gets here.” She waved her cell phone at me. The time she had with me, she would spend watching her phone, and then he would arrive and they would be all over each other, and I would be alone.
I wasn’t mad at her. I probably would have done the same if I had a man of my own. That was why jealousy made
its way into my chest. Because I wanted a man of my own.
No, no. No time for pity parties now. This was my only night out in God only knew how long, and I wouldn’t mope around.
My eyes wandered around the crowd. I didn’t recognize anyone. However, that didn’t mean much since, one, I had not met a lot of people here, and two, they all wore crazy costumes and makeup, making it difficult to recognize them.
After three songs with empty glasses, I leaned close to Phoebe and yelled over the music, “Going to get a refill.”
Nodding, she handed me her glass, and I weaved to the table/bar. The place had noticeable more people now than twenty minutes ago. Would they limit the number of people entering? The ballroom was huge, but I doubted it could host one eighth of the student body living on campus.
There were three older men handling each punch bowl now. I stopped at the end of the line and waited my turn. With nothing to do, I swayed to the music and looked around.
I regretted it the moment I saw a flock of the ATN girls entering the ballroom wearing matching pink schoolgirl outfits with the sorority logo on the left side of the shirt. Audrey and Sarah led them, and I couldn’t help but gawk at their costumes. The baby pink shirt was tied in a knot under their breast, most of the buttons undone, and the plaid skirt barely covered their butts. They had on hooker heels and high baby pink socks, ponytails, and too much makeup. Everything about them screamed DO ME!
And they called me slut.
Shaking my head, I started turning away, but The Bat caught my attention. They entered the ballroom right behind the ATN and they were all—wait for it—dressed as bats. Black pants, black T-shirts, a cape that was supposed to pass as wings, pointy ears, and fake fangs. So original. I hoped they didn’t wear this every year, but I had a feeling they did. Like a signature thing.
However, one guy among them was in a different costume, though I knew it wasn’t a costume at all. Beside bat Jonah, Garrett strolled in wearing jeans, a plaid T-shirt, a thick belt, cowboy hat, and boots—with spurs.
I ducked behind the guy next in line, but then remembered he wouldn’t recognize me unless I spoke to him. And I wasn’t going to speak to him. Letting out a long breath, I relaxed. Ten seconds later, it was my turn and I got two refilled goblets. Weaving through the now heavy crowd with two full glasses was a feat. I almost spilled all of it over me more than once.
By the time I finally made it to Phoebe, Kevin was with her. He had his hands around her waist, and they looked at each other as if there was no one else in here. Once more, jealousy assaulted me.
Feeling ashamed of my feelings, I downed one of the drinks in one big gulp. I was about to turn and go hide in a corner, or leave and go to my dorm, when Phoebe clutched my arm and pulled me closer.
“Hey!” She disentangled herself from Kevin and took the full glass from me. “What took you so long?”
I smiled and gestured around. “Have you seen this place? It’s full.”
She nodded, and then introduced me to Kevin. We began dancing again, and soon, a couple of Kevin’s friends joined us. One of them tried to catch my attention, but I kept glancing around, looking for some other guy.
I finally found him at the edge of the dance floor, close to the stage and to the table with the alcohol goodies. He stood beside Jeff and Jonah, each with a drink in hand, scanning the crowd.
As if he knew where to look, Garrett’s eyes found mine. I ducked to hide in the crowd.
“What happened?” Phoebe asked.
She was Kevin-less. “Where’s your man?”
“He went to grab us more drinks. Now tell me what happened.”
“Jonah and Garrett are here.”
“Oh. Where?”
“Over there.” I pointed with my finger, making sure it was hidden from anyone else. Of course, she elongated her neck and tried to find him. I pulled her down. “Don’t look now!”
“They won’t see me, and even if they do, they won’t recognize me.”
“True, but I don’t want to make them wonder. All I need is for them to be curious about us.”
“Well, one of them can go to hell, I agree, but the other.” She grinned. “The other can take you to paradise.”
I slapped her arm playfully. “Phoebe!”
“What? I call it how I see it.”
My cheeks warmed. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me, it is. I bet the others don’t notice it, since you’re always so careful not to show anything about you.”
When she put it that way, I felt like there were fences—built by me and by everyone in my life—around me. Fences carefully placed to keep me safe or to drive me crazy. Family misunderstandings, insecurities, living alone, fake friendships, stereotypes, and lies—my fences.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t want to show myself, but because of a misguided stereotype and lies, I couldn’t be me. I could only imagine if I had showed up dressed like the ATN girls. They were envied and glorified. The men drooled and the other girls wanted to be them. If it were me, I would have been crucified on the spot. They would call me slut, whore, relationship wrecker, and much more.
Kevin came back with our drinks, and I downed mine again. I could feel the buzz building, slowly but steadily, and if I kept drinking at this rate, I would have to be carried to my dorm. And since I didn’t have anyone to do that, I should stop.
“I’m going to buy a bottle of water,” I told Phoebe.
She nodded and I zigzagged through the crowd. I stepped off the dance floor and the maze opened up a little bit, but I halted. Garrett was seven or eight feet from me, beside a table where Jonah and Jeff and some other guys and girls were seated. Wearing the same barely there outfit as her sisters, Jennifer from ATN stood in front of him, her hand on his arm, and her chin turned up to him.
I ordered myself to breathe, and keep going. A step at a time. I could do this.
One step. Two steps. Three steps.
Not resisting the fight in me, I kept checking on him, afraid he would wind his arms around Jennifer and lean over her. He nodded to something she said. She blabbed, and he took a sip of his drink—whiskey, I would bet—before looking around. As if pulled by a magnet, his gaze fleeted over me, but he did a double take and paused, narrowing his eyes at me.
Heat crawled across my cheeks and I turned my head, pulling the blond hair to hide my face. I joined the line and prayed for the line to move fast.
Why was I so afraid he would recognize me? Did I think he would tell the others it was me? Not really. I mean, I would like to think I knew him well enough to trust him with that, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t really know him that well.
I paid for my water and turned around, focused on not looking his way, not wondering what he would do to Jennifer, not caring either. As soon as I reached Phoebe, Kevin, and his friends, I shoved my water bottle into a guy’s hands, grabbed Phoebe’s half-full glass, and downed it, knowing Kevin would have given her spiked punch.
With wide eyes, Phoebe leaned close to me. “Hmm, what happened?”
“Saw Garrett talking to Jennifer.”
“Oh.” She smiled at her boyfriend. “Baby, could you please refill our glasses?”
He shot me an annoyed look before smiling at her and nodding. He said something to the guys, and then disappeared through the crowd.
“Tell me,” Phoebe asked.
Rage and jealousy surged through my veins as I told her how he was flirting with Jennifer, but he looked at me as if he knew me.
I had no right to feel this way, but it hurt. Seeing him flirting with some girl hurt. I wanted to write a sign that said “unavailable” and hang it around his neck. However, the sign was a lie. Just because I was drawn to him, just because I felt something for him, didn’t mean he wasn’t free to flirt, kiss, and do whomever he wanted to. He was completely and absolutely free.
When Kevin returned with the drinks, he gave one glass to Phoebe and one to me. I sipped it while dancing—and scanning the crowd for
Garrett—because I really didn’t need to be drunk in less than thirty seconds.
A shove pushed me forward, and I bumped into one of Kevin’s friends.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, stepping away from him.
I turned to yell at whoever had pushed me, but froze when I saw it was Jonah and Audrey.
He took a step away from her, and she grabbed his arm, pulling him back.
“Come on, Jonah,” Audrey said, her voice slurred. “You can’t just not want me anymore.”
“Why is it so hard to believe?” he asked, his tone harsh.
With a grin, she gestured to herself. “Have you seen me?”
He rolled his eyes and started moving again and looking around as if searching for someone. He hadn’t taken three steps before Audrey stopped him again. “Audrey, let me go.”
Audrey dropped her hand from him and put them on her waist. “She’s not here.”
“Who?” he asked, feigning innocence.
“Do I need to say her name? That Brazilian slut.”
“How do you know?”
She shrugged. “I would have known. I know almost everyone here, and they would tell me if she had come.”
I pulled my huge blond hair over my face for good measure and continued listening.
“What’s your interest in it?” he asked.
She leaned closer to him. “So you won’t fall into temptation.”
He showed her that same cocky smile I had seen before. “She’s the one all over me, Audrey.”
I gasped. If the music from the band weren’t loud enough, they would have heard me. I pressed a hand to my mouth.
“You have to back off, Jonah. I don’t care about any of it.” She clutched his arm. “Please, give up. Tell the others you’re out. Don’t ruin what we have.”
“We have nothing. We haven’t had anything in a long time.”
“We could have again. Remember? It was great. So good. Please, don’t sleep with her.”
“Enough.” He pulled his hand away. “Go bother someone else. I want to enjoy this party.”
Breaking Fences (The Breaking Series) Page 14