"Ok...so I screwed up...now what?" Abby spoke out loud, directing her question to the ceiling. Without even realizing it, Abby had known the answer all along. As if she was floating, she made her way to her room and started digging through a folder of college acceptance letters. When she reached the one that was labeled Harvard, she pulled it out. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was only 9:30. Pulling out a sheet of paper, she started writing.
"1. Call Harvard, see if my scholarship still stands. 2. Get a newspaper, start looking for new jobs. 3. Call parents, make them forgive me. 4. Thank Justin..." After writing that she set down the pen and looked out her window.
"Thank you Justin...wherever you are."
After Ves and JC had retreated to their car, Eric turned into a mad man. He demanded that Audra and him go to his car, but Audra stayed put. Eric pulled on Audra's arm, making it turn bright red. The more she protested, the more he squeezed.
"Get in the car!" Eric screamed at her. When Audra refused, Eric took both hands and slapped them on her shoulders, jamming her into the passenger side.
"Eric! I don't wanna go with you! Why are you being such an asshole?" Aud cried, rubbing her arm to make the swelling go down.
"I'm the ass hole? You wanna explain to me what you are doing around that loser Festeva–" Eric growled.
"It's Vesteva!" Audra corrected, sounding annoyed. Eric shoved the key in the ignition and sped out of the school parking lot. Audra looked out the window, tears brimming her eyes, and waited for the night to end.
Suddenly Eric pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned off the engine. He leaned over and pulled Audra to him. Urgently, he pressed his lips to hers. Audra squirmed out of his grasp.
"What are you doing?" she yelped. Eric didn't bother answering, he just grabbed her shoulder, making the strap of her dress fall down. Without a moment's hesitation she rolled her shoulders back trying to regain control, twisting and turning her body. When his one hand slid off of her right arm, she quickly raised her fist to his face. Though not being strong enough, he reacted by getting ready to pounce on her. She reached for the car door, pulled herself out, and broke into a run. She felt Eric's presence behind her, but she kept running. She felt his strong grip on her upper arm and started screaming. It wasn't long until his fist exploded in her face, sending her mind into a dizzy spell.
Vesteva's dress blew behind her as JC and her sprinted to the now moving limousine. The clatter of dress shoes followed behind them filled with screams of JC's name and comments. The limo made a circle around the parking lot and halted right in front of the two. Standing in amazement, Vesteva watched as all the girls in their Homecoming dresses, some dragging their dates along, came speeding towards the two of them. It was something that she had never seen done before, except when she saw The Bachelor which was a terrible movie that she fell asleep half way through.
Opening the door, JC poured himself in first in a hurry, thinking that Vesteva was right behind him. He sat himself down in the middle of the seats with his chest panting up and down quickly. Closing his eyes, he put his hands down next to him to calm himself down and hold himself up from falling forward. Able to feel the cool wind coming from outside, he sneaked a peek opening his right eye just a bit to see Vesteva still standing out there. Crawling over the seat he gripped her wrist that was by the door and gave a pull to tell her to come in. Turning around with JC's hand still on her wrist, she climbed into the car with some difficulties while JC slammed the door behind her. The outside tinted windows blocked them from people peering in as they began to drive off slowly.
Pulling her wrist back from JC, she got herself situated a little distance away next to the window. Her make up was all washed off her face except for a few marks of mascara that laid tainted on her cheeks. With her brown eyes that sparkled, she watched out the window as the girls raced after their limousine never being able to catch up. The cries of high voices were still audible while Vesteva's eyes followed the crowd. No matter what she did, she was still always on the outside, never with the group.
As the school disappeared from the distance, Ves's attention was brought back into the limo. Though she should be clamoring with happiness that she was in the limousine with a person who was famous, she couldn't believe that he didn't tell her. Wanting to cry from the terrible night, she thought about the all the girls, fighting a losing battle. Taking a glance over to JC, he was looking straight back at her. With dejection in his eyes, he lifted his hand up to her cheek to try to clear the mascara mess. Bringing her arm up and pushing away, she slid her hand into his placing it between them on the leather seat. Her anger then seeped out.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Vesteva darkened her eyes, gaping right into his which she didn't do often.
His fingers arranged themselves more comfortably on the seat, folding them between hers. " You know... I, I just wanted to be with someone that didn't know who I was, I wanted to feel normal for once." JC explained, then his expression tensed up. Repeating in his mind the incident earlier, he had a question himself. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't volunteering? Now, you lied."
Vesteva looked out the window trying to ignore the question at first, then turned back with a fresh tear running down her face. Trying to hold them back in, she licked her lips and chapped them together. " Yeah... right... if I told you I was there because I'm 'depressed' how would you have reacted? Hi, I'm Vesteva and I feel like I shouldn't be living anymore," laughing to herself, she could just picture herself standing there and introducing herself that way. Continuing on, " I didn't tell you for the exact same reason. To you, I was Vesteva, something I've never been to anyone before. I wanted to feel normal for once."
Ves sobbed, lowering her head closer to her lap as she said that last sentence, repeating JC's exact words.
JC slid over to the seat Vesteva was sitting on and stopped right next to her. He tried grabbing her attention so she could lift her head but she refused. Dragging out his index finger he lifted her chin and she obeyed, coming up with their eyes closed. Softly wiping her tears off her cheeks, now grabbing the mascara to go along with it, he slipped his hand around the back of her neck. Petting the soft end of her hair to the neck, he gave a smile and with her eyes closed, she could feel the presence of his grin. Applying the faintest pressure, he drew her close until their mouths were just centimeters apart. Never opening her eyes, JC closed the small gap with his lips. He brushed them lightly against hers, then pressed his lips firmly to hers. After a few seconds, he felt Vesteva return their first kiss. Her hands found their way around his neck and his glided around the backless dress.
Having her first real kiss, everything was absorbing in her mind so quickly. Pulling away leisurely, she placed one hand lightly against his chest and backed away. Opening her eyes for the first time in awhile, in the darkness she could see his blue eyes shine and see everything that she ever wanted.
"You wanna talk about it J?" Lance questioned, sounding concerned. Justin was slumped over in the seat, staring at nothing. Justin just shook his head. Getting angry, Lance groaned and pulled the car to the side of the road. "You know Justin...you've been acting like this the whole week...either talk about it...or I'm driving you right back to Abby's."
" Fine! Fuck! Just keep driving home," Justin snapped. Still looking out the window, he started from the beginning. As he retold the story, he started feeling better about the whole situation. Right in the middle of retelling the trip to Abby's work, Lance suddenly slammed on the breaks, almost sending Justin flying through the window.
"What the hell?" he said while he regained his posture.
As soon as he could see what was happening, he saw Lance flying over to a guy and a girl. Lance efficiently grabbed the guy away from the blonde, sending his fist into the guy's jaw. Justin got out of the car and ran over to Lance who was now sending punch after punch into Tuxedo Boy. Justin grabbed Lance's two arms and held him back. It could easily be seen that Justin was stronger than him, but he was having a hard time controlling Lance.
"Lance! Cool it!" he screamed. Finally, Lance stopped squirming and retreated to the girl's side. Justin helped Tuxedo Boy to his feet and then he scrambled away. Justin turned to see Lance picking up the girl in his arms and bringing her to the car. Justin ran to open the door and Lance laid her in the back seat. The two continued home in silence.
The drive back was longer but it seemed a few seconds through their midst. When the limousine finally pulled up to a stop, JC got out first, holding the door out and waiting for Vesteva's hand. When she gave out her left, the corsage that he had given her was tortured with missing petals and it was flat against her wrist. With her hair still tightly brought back, her brown curls bounced as the wind pushed them.
Glancing from side to side, Vesteva didn't recognize any of the area. A lake was placed in front of her that stretched not too far, so much open space that you could run for miles and never be caught. Breathing in the scent of the evergreens from the forests, leaves rustled against the pavement, wiping against their legs. Taking Vesteva's hand and not letting go, he brought her over to the house where the boys were staying. It was two levels but elongated a long length with it's wooden sides looking like you were in the middle of nowhere.
" We will just be a minute, I want to introduce you to the other guys," JC voiced with a smile. Vesteva didn't give any expression back, being dragged in the house by him her body hit heat. The warmth of the house sent chills down her back, while she took off around the room. Her hand slipped out of JC's, walking towards the living room where the fireplace, couches, and Chris sat. His cautious and confused look turned into a welcome smile once he recognized who she was. " Chris, this is Vesteva... vice versa. Are any of the other guys home?" he introduced.
" Lance took the car out and Justin is at Abby's, and Joey is... well somewhere around here." Chris replied, having no actual place on where everyone was. " We've actually met before, at the hospital, when you left your incredibly.. WONDERful sister with us." Putting the more emphasis on the compliments. Walking towards the closet in the living room, JC rolled his eyes at Chris's comment. Grabbing his leather coat, he walked back over to Vesteva, pushing her out the door.
" It was nice to meet you, again!" she cried right before JC's chest covered her view and the door was slammed behind them.
Standing outside in front of the door, Vesteva pressed her warm hands against her arms while the chills ran up and down her body. The night was clear with each star looking as if it was shining right on her. A low crescent moon was placed right above the trees, making it glaze across the small lake. The smell of pine midst the air. Staring out into the empty space while JC closed the door behind them, Vesteva took off with wondering eyes.
Hearing the sound of her heels walking away from him, he turned around to see the purple dress walking off to the deck. Swinging his coat over his shoulder, he walked in rhythm after her, following her footsteps.
With the days getting shorter, the sky grew dark through Joey's eyes while he walked outside in the places he never set foot yet. The next house set nearly four miles away from their house, giving plenty of area for Joey just to be alone. Sitting with this back to the side of the garage and the lake right in corner eye view, he breathed in deep breaths to bring in a memory. Considering this a vacation, he has done nothing at all except sleep, watch television shows that he hasn't seen in months, and drive a few places with the guys. His energy has been lacking and his head has been feeling dizzy at times.
His mood was a complete difference from what it use to be, but in the end it was all going to add up. Even the guys were beginning to notice for once, making himself feel good. All the tabloids, all the news that flutters around about himself and his personal appearance has gotten to him in the past couple months and now he has finally been making a difference. Everyone knew him as the happy go lucky type of guy, always making people happy when they are down. Though no one ever tried considering thinking about what he was feeling, unless he showed it to the others. That never was an issue.
In the slight distance, he could hear the sound of heels pattering against the pavement, but he couldn't see anything. Pushing himself up to his feet, in the grass he made his way silently to the corner where he could hide himself, yet he could see the purple dress in view with a tuxedo following right behind her. He knew that that was JC and Vesteva, knowing that he took her to her Homecoming but he never expected that they would return back home. Keeping his eye on the two, he kept himself quiet so the two didn't know he was there.