Present Perfect(26)

“I think your hair would look awesome pinned up. Oh, and you can wear my diamond teardrop earrings that Mom and Dad gave me for my sweet sixteen,” Emily said enthusiastically.

“Whatever you want to do is fine.” My voice was monotone.

“For someone going to her first big dance, you don’t seem very excited.” I just shrugged my shoulders. “So what time is Noah picking you up?”

My chest tightened. I never told her who I was going with. I just told her I was going to the dance. “Noah’s not picking me up.”

“Why not?” she asked, eyeing me in the mirror while she brushed out my hair.

“Because I’m not going with him.” She stopped brushing for a few seconds, a look of confusion crossed her face.

“Oh, sorry. I just assumed…”

“Well, you know what that does,” I said.

“Why aren’t you going with him?”

“Because I didn’t ask him.”

“Are we going to keep doing this or are you going to explain why you’re not going to your first dance with Noah?”

“I just didn’t ask him. Besides, he’s not really happy with me right now.” I shifted my gaze down to my lap, breaking it from Emily’s. I was afraid if I said anymore I would start crying.

She stopped what she was doing and leaned against the vanity in front of me. “You want to tell me what happened?”

I couldn’t speak. I was on the verge of breaking down now. If I opened my mouth to say one little word, I wouldn’t be able to hold it together. I just shook my head. With the tips of her fingers, Emily tilted my head up to look at her. Tears were already swimming in my eyes.

“Talk to me, Manda. What happened?”

“I don’t know what to tell you. I just know that he hasn’t talked to me in three days. He doesn’t answer his phone and he ignores me at school.” I wiped a tear from my face. It was a good thing she hadn’t done my makeup yet.

“There has to be a reason. That doesn’t sound like Noah. You can tell me. I won’t say anything.”

I debated whether or not to open up to her. It wasn’t that we weren’t close, because we were, it was just embarrassing to admit the problem was me. I was a loser and a screw up. I had screwed up my friendship with Noah.

“Things are changing and I…um don’t know what to do.” My voice cracked and a few tears spilled.

A slight smile played across Emily’s face. “It’s hard when your best friend becomes a very cute boy, isn’t it?” I didn’t respond. She could see in my eyes that she was spot on. “Is there a girl that Noah likes?” I nodded. “Do you like her?”

“No, I don’t. She’s not good enough for him.” I looked away from her. I wasn’t exactly lying. It was just Emily didn’t realize the girl we were talking about was me.

“Is that why he’s mad?”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“Sweetie, I know it’s hard and it doesn’t feel right now like things will work out, but they will. You and Noah have something extremely special, you always have. Nothing will ever come between the two of you for any length of time.”

“Thanks.”

“Let’s finish making you the hottest girl at the dance tonight.” She hugged me and got right back to work.





The minute we pulled into the parking lot, I felt like I was going to be sick. I was nervous about everything, the way I looked, socializing with Vincent, seeing Noah and Beth together, and just plain seeing Noah. I constantly tugged on the taffeta flowers that were stitched to my skirt during the ride over here. The cherry on top of my nerve sundae was the fact that I was sitting in the back of my parent’s car. I wanted Emily to drive me here and pick me up, but my parents insisted. They said that since I was meeting Vincent here instead of him picking me up at our house, they wanted to come and see us together and take pictures. I agreed, after all it was my first dance. This whole dance thing was already a nightmare and I hadn’t even gotten out of the car.

Dad parked and escorted me and Mom to the gym where the dance was being held. As we got closer, I saw a barrage of flashing lights as Vincent’s parents took picture, after picture, after picture. He really wasn’t a bad looking guy. Some would even say he was cute, in a nerdy sort of way. He had on a dark sports jacket, khaki pants, and a light blue button down shirt with a paisley bow tie. Not exactly GQ material, but it worked for him.

Vincent saw me walking towards him. I smiled as I saw his mouth drop open and his eyes blink a few times, like he was amazed at what he saw. I knew I probably wasn’t, but I felt pretty for the first time in my life. Emily had done a fantastic job for what she had to work with, which wasn’t much. Vincent and I stood there suffering as both sets of parents took what felt like a million pictures of us. Finally, we said our goodbyes to them and headed inside.

With every step I took towards the entrance, my stomach flip-flopped. The entrance to the gym actually looked nice, with an archway decorated with white roses and tiny white lights.

When we first entered, it was difficult to see anything before my eyes had time to adjust to the dim lighting. White columns were placed at each corner of the basketball court, strung with the same tiny white lights. Balloons in the school colors of white and navy blue had been tied everywhere. The DJ was setup at the farthest wall and a table with punch and snacks was set against the wall opposite of him.