Chapter 21

On Friday, I woke up determined. Noah didn’t come to gym class on Friday. These past few days, he attended class but he didn’t even look in my direction; it was just like things were before Marissa and I became friends. It hurt me how he simply dropped me from his life as if I didn’t matter and I bet I didn’t. Maybe he wasn’t kidding all those times when he told me that we weren’t friends. Did he ever think we were friends or did he just say it so I would shut up? I quit thinking insecurely and started thinking about Marissa’s party. I’d get to see Floyd again, so that’s a plus, even if I won’t be able to make Noah dance with me like I planned.

Now that I have my car back, since my aunt left on Wednesday (after she promised to come back this summer), I can go anywhere. Well, not anywhere but I can go where I want to with permission from my mother. After school, I attended the mural meeting, which is what I’ve decided to call it, and we chose a sketch hat we’re going to paint. It was drawn by one of my old tablemates, Elizabeth, and it was of a lion lying down with his head raised high.

We all took parts. A boy named James, who I had a long conversation with about music and authors, decided to be co-captain of this project along with Mr. Komodo. A few girls begged to be able to paint the lions mane and everyone else chose body parts. I offered to paint the face and everyone said that I could, so that’s what I’m contributing, I guess. We had Elizabeth use a special pencil to outline the lion on the wall. We worked for an hour on painting our portions of the lion. I painted some of his face, avoiding the eyes, mouth, and nose for right now. I just needed to get the color of his fur up there so it’ll blend in with the body. When we were dismissed, I thankfully exited the cafeteria.

<<>><<>> 

On Saturday, because Marissa was busy getting herself ready and making sure that everything was set up for the party, I decided to get ready myself. After all, Marissa taught me everything I know- which is a bit. After showering, I dried and curled my hair, which came out nicely if I do say so myself. I then put on my makeup which wasn’t much. In fear of messing up and having to remove it, which looks horrible (eyeliner and mascara specifically), I went easy on it. Even though I spent a good amount of time putting on my makeup and getting ready, I spent a lot of it dancing around and singing to the music playing. My mother came into my room a few times to yell at me to keep it down.

Once I was finished, I looked at myself in the mirror and nodded. Not bad. After getting into my flats, I glanced at my phone and nodded in approval. It only took me two hours, only an hour if you don’t count doing my hair. Having twenty minutes to spare, I decided to go to the kitchen for some soda. I walked down the steps, earning a whistle from my mom. “You look gorgeous, honey. Is Noah your date?”

I pursed my lips as I looked down at the floor, shaking my head. “We aren’t really friends at the moment,” I told her.

“What?” my mother asked, the teasing tone dropping from her voice.

“He said he didn’t want to be my friend anymore,” I shrugged.

“Well, why?” she asked and I shrugged again in response.

“I don’t know; he wouldn’t give me a real answer,” I told her. 

She frowned. “Well, what about that other boy? Floyd?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I’m not into Floyd.”

Grinning, she quirked an eyebrow. “So you were into Noah?” she asked.

“I thought we made that clear,” I told her as I poured myself some ginger ale.

“Maybe you should try and talk to him,” she told me, earning a snort in response.

“Yeah I already tried that- it didn’t end well,” I replied.

“Maybe you should try harder,” she told me.

“I don’t want to invade his space. I don’t want to be that girl, you know,” I told her.

My mother bit her lip. “Sometimes, two people who care about each other need space.”

“I'm getting annoyed because I seem to be the only one who tries in our friendship, or lack thereof," I muttered.

"Who knows? Maybe he'll surprise you and realize that he was wrong," she told me. I simply shrugged in response as I stared at the floor. Patting my shoulder, she smiled. “All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t give up on him.”

Nodding, I put my cup in the sink, fixing my purse on my shoulder and twirling the keys on my finger. “I’m not. I just said I was getting annoyed. I can deal with annoyance.”

Although this scene was supposed to make me appear cool, I failed when my keys went spiraling towards the ground. I grumbled as I picked them up and walked towards the door.

<<>><<>> 

“Flats, Kenna? Really?” Marissa asked as I entered the event hall where her party is going to be hosted in less than an hour.

“Yeah, I went the safe way. There are going to be people here from school. If I fall on my face, I’d never hear the end of it from anyone,” I told her.

“I didn’t invite Troy and Ronnie,” she assured me and I rolled my eyes.

“Thanks for that,” I told her. “So are you excited?”

She nodded her head wildly. I slowly looked around. “Why are we the only two here?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” she told me as she sat across from me at the random table I took a seat at.

“About?” I asked, sliding my purse from one side of the table to the other.

“Noah,” she told me, “Are you mad at him?”

“For what? Embarrassing me in American Literature and putting an end to our short-lived yet fun friendship? No, of course not,” I sarcastically remarked. 

“What I meant to say is: are you going to stop trying?” she asked me quietly.

“Trying to what?” I asked her.

“Get to know him,” she answered, “He’s letting you in! I mean, it may take a while, but it’s happening! I think this could help him a lot!”

“I’m not done trying, but for now, I’m going to give him his space,” I told her.

“I think he’s had enough space. This entire week, he came home from school and sat in his room,” she told me with a shake of her head.

“Awe, he missed me,” I cooed as I placed my hands under my face. “That or he didn’t want to be around you. I’m hoping for the first one but it’s probably the second.” I sat back in my chair.

She shot me an annoyed look before sighing. “Look, all I’m saying is that you should try and talk to him. He even tried to back out of coming tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “We all know that you wouldn’t let that happen.”

“No I would not,” she grinned in response.

<<>><<>> 

Before I could process what was happening, the party was in full swing. People were dancing and singing along to the music playing, which was currently a rap song. I haven’t seen Marissa since our talk earlier, which ended with her telling me to just tell Noah how I feel. I responded with a loud laugh. He denied my friendship; I have no doubts that he’d shoot down my request at a date, or better yet a relationship. Besides, I want to see if he makes the first move to fix things.

Marissa planned this out well. The party decorations are mainly white, black, and gray, but there are purple balloons everywhere. She said that she did this because any color, no matter how bright or dull, looks great with black, white, and gray. And I have to be honest, it’s true. Floyd, who managed to wiggle his way through the crowd, found me and grinned. “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks Floyd, you look great, too,” I smiled.

“So how are you? You know, school, friends, Noah, the fight you had with him, your dog with the girly name?” he asked as he stood in front of me, a can of Pepsi in his hand.

“How’d you find out?” I asked him. “Marissa promised not to tell anyone.”

“She didn’t tell me,” he replied in a matter-o-fact tone. “Noah did.”

“Did he now? And what exactly did Noah say?” I asked, placing my hand on my waist.

“Calm down, he didn’t say anything bad,” Floyd shrugged, “He just told me the basics.”

“Did he happen to say anything about the reason he cut me out?” I asked, licking my lips as I stared at Floyd.

For a moment he didn’t say anything and he just stared at me. When I realized that he was looking at my mouth, I coughed awkwardly. Blushing, he looked away. “N-no, he didn’t. All he said was that he wasn’t friends with you anymore.”

I nodded, looking around. “That’s unfortunate.”

“Why? You don’t know?” he asked me and I shook my head.

“No, he just got all angry at me,” I shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while but nothing comes to mind. I treated him the way I’d want to be treated if I was drunk.”

“Well, if you want to talk to him in a secluded area, he’s in the bathroom right now,” he told me.

Nodding, I walked towards the narrow hallway that leads to the bathrooms, which were on the same side of the wall. I stood against the opposite wall, waiting for Noah to come out. When he did, I quickly pushed myself off the wall and when his eyes landed on me, he sighed. “You again,” he murmured.

“Me again,” I nodded awkwardly. “So are we going to go on like this or are you going to tell me why you’re actually ignoring me so we can try to fix it?”

“Did you ever consider the possibility that maybe I don’t want to be your friend?” he asked.

I scoffed and shook my head, surprised with the amount of confidence in my voice. “I may not know you as well as I wish I do, but I know enough about you to know that you wouldn’t have dealt with me for that long if you didn’t want to be my friend.”

Rolling his eyes, he went to walk away but I quickly stopped him by grabbing his arm. He quickly shrugged me off of him, turning around and looking at me with an annoyed look on his face. “What?”

“I know that you despise physical contact and I wouldn’t have to resort to that if you would just listen to what I have to say,” I told him.

He just stared at me and I waited for him to say something but he didn’t. He quickly motioned for me to speak and I opened my mouth before noticing a girl exit the girl’s bathroom and give a flirty look towards Noah. I shot her a glare before going back to Noah, whose eyebrows were raised. Okay, maybe that was a bit obvious. I ignored his look and began talking.

“I don’t know why you’re mad at me. I know, I know, we’ve had this discussion before and it ended up with you ending our friendship. But you wouldn’t let me talk, so I decided to wait a week, hoping that you’d cool down,” I explained, “Obviously that week didn’t matter because you still have that annoyed look on your face and your eyebrows are furrowed like they usually are when you’re angry. Anyway, all I want to say is that I’m sorry.”

“How are you sorry if you don’t even know what you’re supposed to be sorry for?” he asked me.

“Well, I know that this argument isn’t going to be resolved if I don’t apologize. And honestly, I miss our friendship. You probably don’t because you dropped me quicker than a hot potato, but I know that you enjoyed our friendship,” I told him before grinning, “I mean, how could you not? I’m kind of a big deal.”

The corners of Noah’s mouth went to quirk up but he held back and I grinned, pointing to his lips. “I saw that smile. Don’t fight it, Noah. Smile!” I told him, widening my arms until each of my hands were hitting the wall. Noah quickly shoved my arms back against me as a crowd of girls walked past me, entering the bathroom.

“You’re kind of creepy, you know?” he stated as a small smile played on his lips.

“How so?” I asked him as I motioned for him to walk beside me towards the main hall. We reached the room filled with people and I glanced at Noah for a response. He had his hands tucked deep into his pockets and his eyes were focused on the floor.

“You notice the little things,” he replied.

Wrinkling my nose, I looked at him. “Are you going to make a reference to One Direction now?”

He glared at me while I laughed. “No, I’m not. I was just saying that you notice small things,” he told me.

“Like your sense of humor?” I asked with a grin.

“No, like your brain,” he responded, catching me off guard.

“Wow, you’ve gotten sassier this past week,” I told him.

“So what was that back there?” he asked me as he leaned against the wall. I stood beside him, staring up at him as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

Although he gave a vague description, I knew exactly what he was talking about: the girl I glared at after she gave Noah a flirty look. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Oh, look! If it isn’t Floyd! Hey, Floyd!”

I disappeared into the crowd, heaving a sigh of relief as I was absorbed by the group of tall people. I managed to see Marissa standing beside Eric. “Hey,” she greeted.

Eric smiled at me and I returned it before turning my grin back to Marissa. “Guess what?”

“What?” she asked.

“You were supposed to guess but I guess I’ll tell you,” I shrugged, “Noah and I are friends again.”

“Really? Already?” she asked as she glanced at her phone. “We’re only an hour into the party! Did you put something in his drink?”

“What? No! I apologized!” I told her.

“You flirted with him, didn’t you?” she asked with a smirk on her lips.

“No,” I defended.

“What? Yes you did! There is no way he would’ve let you off the hook if you wouldn’t have flirted with him!” she told me.

“I used my humor and wit,” I told her, “And a dab of sassiness.”

“You have him wrapped around your finger,” she told me and I rolled my eyes.

“If only I can get him to dance with me,” I murmured.

“Just ask,” she told me.

“You can always use the jealousy card,” Eric shrugged.

I looked at Eric and nodded. “Good idea,” I grinned before walking into the crowd. Noah was standing where I left him but he had earbuds in his ears. I walked up to him and waved my hand in his face. He glanced down at me before looking the other way. Seriously? Are we back at square one? Daringly, I reached up and grabbed an earbud out of his ear.

“Just when I thought I had gotten rid of you,” he muttered as he cut off his music.

“Wow, thanks,” I dryly stated. “Anyway, I was thinking—,” he cut me off.

“Don’t strain yourself,” he reminded. I reached out and shoved his shoulder and he chuckled, allowing me to continue.

“Like I was saying, I was thinking that maybe you can do me a favor,” I told him, earning a groan.

“Is this why you wanted to be my friend again? So you can ask me for favors?” he asked.

“No, and you’re probably going to say no but it won’t hurt to ask,” I murmured, “Do you want to dance with me?”

“Do I?” he asked with a grin on his face. “Oh wait, no,” he responded, going back to his phone.

“Noah, that wasn’t funny!” I hissed, feeling the cloud of excitement in my stomach slowly extinguish.

“I thought it was,” he shrugged.

“Come on, why not?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I don’t like dancing,” he responded.

“Noah, come on!” I whined. Glancing at me, he shook his head. “I’m going to go ask someone else, then,” I told him.

“Kay, have fun,” he shot me down once more. I stared at him for a minute.

“I hate you so much,” I snapped.

“You obviously don’t,” he laughed.

“Well, you don’t hate me either,” I stupidly replied.

“I beg to differ,” he quickly replied.

“Why won’t anyone dance with me?” I complained.

“Well, you only asked one person,” he rejoined. Because you’re the only person I want to dance with.

“Because I don’t really know anyone else,” I lied.

“Ah, glad that I’m your last choice,” he told me.

“You’re not my last choice, close to it, but not quite there,” I told him.

“Who’s your last choice?” he asked.

“James,” I shrugged.

Quirking an eyebrow, he glanced up from his phone. “Who?”

“This guy that I had a conversation with about music, authors and conspiracy theories; he gave me his number but I never got around to calling him,” I admitted.

He nodded. “Why don’t you?”

I glared at him. “I think I will.”

Glaring one last time, I stalked off in Marissa’s direction, hearing him laugh as I did so. “Did it work?”

Scowling, I shook my head. “No, that idiot even had the nerve to tell me to go dance with someone else.”

Marissa snorted, shaking her head. “Well did you tell him that you don’t want to dance with anyone else?”

“That would’ve made me sound clingy,” I muttered. As if I didn’t already seem clingy- I practically asked the guy to dance ninety times! “Besides, I’ll just find someone else to dance with,” I shrugged as I looked around.

“Start out with Floyd; he knows a few people here that’d be willing to dance with you,” she called as I walked away. I nodded, giving her a thumbs up over my shoulder. I walked about, looking around as I did so.

“Floyd!” I called when I saw the familiar boy. He turned around and gave me a toothy grin.

“Is this about wanting to dance?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded, “I was just about to ask you.”

“Well, I can’t, I’m sorry,” he shrugged.

“What?” I hissed.

“Noah asked me to make a fool of you by saying no,” he responded.

“He did?” I asked, earning a nod in response. “Come on, just one dance. Who will it hurt?”

“Probably me and anyone surrounding us. Your elbows are like knives,” he shivered, earning a playful punch from me.

“Come on, one dance,” I told him with a smile on my face.

“Why should I?” he asked.

“Why shouldn’t you?” I retorted.

Sighing, he agreed so I grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the crowd of dancing people. “I should warn you- I’m not a very good dancer,” he admitted.

“I’m not either,” I told him.

We danced to the song playing, flailing our arms and jumping around. We laughed a lot, not only at ourselves but at the people around us. It was pretty fun. It would’ve been even more fun if I had a chance to dance with Noah.

<<>><<>> 

“Didn’t get a dance with him?” Marissa asked me as I stood in front of one of the many mirrors of the bathroom.

“No,” I responded as I sprayed myself with perfume.

“Figures,” she shrugged, “he’s a terrible dancer.”’

“But I am, too,” I muttered. "We can be terrible dancers together."

“When I say terrible dancer, I really mean it,” she shook her head. “You would think that because he likes music and can play instruments, he has a sense of rhythm but no. His legs are so long that he has trouble guiding them.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Enough talk about your brother. How are you doing, Marissa?”

“I’m tired,” she sighed, “But I’m having fun.”

“Are you ready to open the gifts?” I asked her, running my hands down the sides of my dress. On Monday, instead of crying about my lost friendship, (I convinced myself that I’d get it back) I went online and bought Marissa’s big gift, which was a little late but it’s sitting in a gift bag on her gift table. Let’s just hope no one else bought her the same gift- that’d be terrible.

“Yeah,” she grinned. As we exited the bathroom and entered the main hall, she was rushed to the stage by her mother.

Everyone began clapping as she stood there and I cheered along. “Kenna!” I whipped around to see Floyd waving me over as he stood beside Noah. I stood beside them as we watched Marissa get on stage.

“Thank you all for being here tonight!” she smiled. She began thanking individual people for making this party happen. I was surprised when I heard my name being called from the stage and I grinned. A year ago from today, I probably wouldn’t even be here. I’d be at home- sitting in my room, watching television, or practicing my piano.

“Why are you smiling?” Noah asked from beside me. I looked at him and shrugged.

“Is it a crime to be happy?” I asked.

“When your smile is that ugly, yes,” he retorted with a small smirk on his lips.

I punched his arm, enjoying the feeling of being able to touch him without seeming weird, only violent. “Shut up, your sister’s giving a speech,” I told him.

“What’d you get her?” he asked me in a whisper.

“Things,” I responded with a shrug.

“Hey, you two, if you can stop talking, that’d be great,” Floyd grinned at us before motioning towards the stage where Marissa stood, speaking loudly.

We watched as Marissa began opening gifts. This is going to take a while.

<<>><<>> 

Marissa didn’t open many gifts; in fact, she only opened about ten, which were from her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, relatives, and her parents. “I’m going to open the rest of the gifts later at my house; thank you guys so much for bringing me gifts! And now, we can continue the party! And everyone, please dance!”

As she dropped from the stage, she came walking over to us. Without any warning, she looked between me and Noah. “You know, it’s really rude to flirt while someone is speaking.”

I began blushing profusely as I shot her a deathly glare. “Come to the bathroom with me, Kenna.”

“That’s like the third time you two have gone to the bathroom. You should see a doctor; your bladder is all messed up,” Floyd called.

“I don’t have to pee,” I muttered, watching as Noah sipped his Sprite, completely oblivious to his surroundings as he stared at his phone over the can.

“So you’re going to take a crap? Aw, that’s gross!” Floyd said. Noah, who I thought wasn’t paying attention, began coughing on his drink, leaning over and placing his hands on his knees while Marissa laughed and dragged me off to the bathroom. I didn’t get a chance to see if he was okay.

I squealed as Marissa pulled me into the bathroom. “Okay, so here’s the plan. In about fifteen minutes, a slow song is going to start playing. Hopefully, everyone takes my advice and starts dancing. Maybe Noah will dance with you.”

“Or we’ll just stand off to the side awkwardly,” I told her, being realistic.

“Well, we’ll see in fifteen minutes, won’t we? Now, let’s get back out there,” she told me, pulling me towards the exit. We walked back towards the guys who were talking.

Floyd gave us a confused look as he saw us walking back over to him. “You guys pooped already? It usually takes me about thirty or forty minutes.”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust as Noah, yet again, began choking on his drink. Once he recovered, he looked at Floyd. “Dude, really?”

“What? I was being honest!” Floyd shrugged.

“Too honest,” Marissa shook her head. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find Eric.”

She grinned at me as she walked away and Floyd noticed. “What was that?”

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. “Nothing,” I shrugged.

“It didn’t look like nothing,” he responded.

“How about you go somewhere with your messed up bowels?” I snapped.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” he grinned.

I glared as he walked away. I stood beside Noah silently as we watched the crowd of people get larger and larger; more people kicked off the wall and went and started to dance. We were the only ones against the wall on our side. Everyone else was dancing and mingling. As expected, the slow song began to play and I awkwardly looked around.

Lukas began approaching us and I felt my stomach clench. This can’t be good. He had a sly grin on his face. “Hey, you two, why aren’t you out on the dance floor?”

“I’m here because I don’t like dancing; she’s here because she just loves annoying me,” Noah insisted. I glared at him and he smirked, causing Lukas to laugh.

“I’m here because no one asked me to dance,” I shrugged casually.

“I wonder why,” Noah muttered quietly.

“Shut up,” I snapped.

“Why don’t you two dance?” he asked.

Noah laughed. “I don’t think so,” he muttered.

I just rolled my eyes at Noah’s comment even though my heart clenched in my chest.

<<>><<>> 

The event hall slowly cleared out at 11:00 PM. I never did get my dance with Noah, although I danced with Floyd and another boy who had approached me shortly after the slow dancing incident and asked me if I would like to dance, to which I agreed. I sent a glare to Noah, who casually looked the other way as if it didn't even happen.

Dana, Chloe, Noah, Floyd, Marissa and I stayed at the event to watch Marissa open a few more gifts. She decided to open Floyd’s gift first. After telling Marissa that he had the same one, he allowed her to open it. It was a t-shirt that said ‘I’m with stupid’ but on the back, he had a picture of Marissa with blonde hair.

She cringed and tossed the shirt back down. “My blonde stage? Really, Floyd?”

Chloe had a scowl on her face and I held back a snort. “I find that offensive.”

We all looked at her and her blonde hair, all aware of the fact that Floyd was joking. After he had the shirts made, he told me that his last girlfriend was blonde. “Of course you do,” Floyd mumbled from beside her.

Dana was quick to jump in to stop the argument before it could start. “Open my gift now!”

Marissa nodded, taking the pink gift bag off of the table. I watched as she opened each gift with precision. She would grin and hug the person or thank them after she opened each gift. When it was her turn to open mine, I smiled at her.

As she opened the purple bag, she grabbed the CD and smiled. She also clutched the headphones and nodded, muttering a “finally” and I just nervously grinned. Lastly, she seized the envelope and opened it, squealing when she saw what was inside.

Chloe looked at her. “What is it?” she asked.

“Two tickets for One More Try!” she replied.

I grinned smugly as Noah rolled his eyes. “Wow,” Noah mouthed.

Chloe squealed along with Marissa. “Who are you inviting?” Chloe asked her.

Marissa smiled. “Well, Kenna got them for me so I’m inviting her.”

Chloe frowned and I quickly shook my head. I listened to some of their songs on Monday and I don’t really like them. “You don’t have to bring me! Please,” I whispered the latter and Noah and Floyd snorted. Dana nodded her head quickly at me as if telling me that that she feels the same way. Marissa and I may get along well but we have completely different music tastes.

“Are you sure?” Marissa asked, earning a nod in response.

“Okay, want to come with me, Chloe?” she asked the blonde who grinned and nodded.

They began talking excitingly as I looked at Noah, daringly bringing up a topic that’s been on my mind for the last few days. “Hey, Noah, when are you going to help me buy a guitar?”

He looked at me, slightly shocked, and then he shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well, are you free tomorrow?” I asked him and he nodded.

“Sure,” he replied. “What time?”

“Noon?” I suggested and his head bobbed up and down. “Where should I meet you?” I asked.

“I can always pick you up,” he informed me and I felt butterflies flutter in my stomach as I nodded.

“Okay that’s cool,” I nodded and he did the same.

“Okay,” he muttered quietly.

"Hey, Noah?" I asked him with furrowed eyebrows.

"What?" he asked me.

"You didn't give me a hard time about that," I smirked. "Why not? Is it because you feel guilty about trying to end our friendship?"

"Shut up," he muttered and my smirk widened.

In a crowd, we all exited the event hall, walking towards the practically deserted parking lot. After saying our goodbyes, we all got into our cars and I sighed as I sat in mine. After a few seconds, I grinned widely, high fiving myself. Nice job, Kenna.