Ah, the masquerade ball. The one occasion where our school successfully makes us bond with people from all walks of life. Where we, the males, go up to a masked female, of any sort, and we dance the night away, so that we can actually spend time with everyone amicably. 

Probably the only school dance that I am going to this year, other than prom. The others just blast bad music, with overpriced food and cheap dollar store decorations. With Pete and I attending, he knows how to annoy me by consistently yapping about it in my left ear as I try to do some homework for AP chemistry. 

"Oh gosh, I really don't want to get Sonia. I know she's going to criticize me about my clothing choices, for sure. Watch her whisper it in my ear as we dance, and I can't do anything about it as I'm stuck there for an hour," Pete says, while I roll my eyes. 

"There are literally 100 other girls in the grade. Why are you so focused on Sonia? Do you have a crush on her?" I ask, as I write down the chemical formula for something. Pete pretends to vomit on the table, while holding his throat and making retching noises. I start to laugh at Pete's overacting. 

"I think what I ate for lunch nearly came back up. Why would you suggest that? I don't need someone who will argue with me on why my dance moves aren't coordinated enough!"

I roll my eyes. "You're being dramatic. Sonia isn't that bad. If you don't get on her nerves." 

He gives me the, "really?" look. "Yeah, everything I do gets on her nerves. Asking her a math question? Gets on her nerves. Borrowing a pencil? Gets on her nerves. Breathing too loud? Gets on her nerves. Existing? It gets on her goddamn nerves. This isn't a win win situation here."

 I flip a page. "Well, to be fair, you've gotten on her nerves. by constantly teasing her about being Russian, insulting her blonde hair... do you want me to go on?" 

He rolls his eyes. "If you want. I'm too tired to argue with you." I roll my eyes. As I'm reading my book, Sophia comes over, with her textbook in hand. Her loose dark hair gracefully frames her face, with her deep brown eyes shifting to see all her surroundings. 

"Sonia's just checking out a few books. She needs to look at some things for college so that her personal essays are going to turn out fine. She really wants to go to Princeton with me so that we can ride out those four years together, and so that she won't have to cry herself to sleep every night with someone she doesn't know," she says, and I chuckle. 

"Fair enough. I really hope us 4 get into Princeton together. As much of a pain in the ass Pete is, I can't live without him," I say. 

Pete looks at me, and just goes, "awwww. You love me! Why don't we marry already?" Pete asks, as he puts his hand over his heart dramatically. I roll my eyes. 

"Sorry, bro. We both know that you're waiting for the day you and So-," I start, but he puts his hand up. 

"Continue that sentence, and I will vomit all over you and Sophia. Trust me, it won't be pretty. You don't want that to happen," Pete advises, and I nod. 

"Touche. Smart boy." I turn back to Sophia. "So, tell me, are you going to the masquerade ball?" 

She nods. "Of course. After all, it's the last one before I go to college. I want to make it the best one so far." 

I put a bookmark on the page I was reading and close it."I like that." the bell rings. I place the book in my bag, get up, and sling it over my shoulder. 

"I'll see you later, Sophia," I tell her, as she smiles. "See you too, Ray," she tells me, as she takes her things and walks out of the room. Pete gathers all his things and he walks with me. 

"Will you just admit that you like her already? You're not helping this situation by constantly lying to yourself," Pete nags me, as we walk to our classes. I roll my eyes. 

"You can bug me as long as you want, but I'm not going to budge. Don't you worry," I say to him, and he rolls his eyes. 

"If I said it once, then I said it a thousand times. You like Sophia, and you are too scared to admit it. I can read you like you're a book written in German. I don't know why you don't have the balls to admit it, but you are going to regret not telling her soon enough. Don't come crying to me when she's found someone else and you've lost your chance to tell her you like her," Pete tells me, in the tone my mom uses when she has the feeling I'm screwing myself over on something. 

Before I have a chance to argue, Pete turns swiftly on his heel and walks toward his class, which is only a few doors down from my fifth period. When he goes in there, I go inside my fifth period, with his words still ringing inside of my head.

********

(One month later)

I smooth out my dress shirt, and dust it off so that nothing is on it when I go. Last year's bags under my eyes have lightened a little bit, because this year doesn't make me want to rip my hair out. 

The very minor facial hair that I have is represented on my face by some sparse light stubble on my chin and jawline. I look at the time on my clock, which reads, "5:23." Considering the dance starts at 6 only, I'm very much ahead of schedule. I stride out of my room, to the living room, where my brother and mother are sitting. My mom's eyes widen when she sees me. 

"Oh, Ray, you look amazing! So polished!" my mom squeals, as my brother rolls his eyes. 

"Lame, Ray. You look so boring. That stubble on your face? Pfft," Randy says, as I smirk. 

"Well, this face caused Sophia to drool over me at lunch last month, so there's that," I say, as my mom chuckles a little bit . Randy rolls his eyes again, and he goes back to doing his homework. 

"She was actually drooling?" my mom asks. I shrug. 

"That's what Pete said. It wasn't visible. But then again, he did say I was drooling as well, so I shouldn't be talking," I say, and she shakes her head. 

"I was talking with Mrs. Klein the other day. And she was telling me that Pete thinks that you absolutely, 100%, like Sophia. And Ray, I'm not mad at all for you liking Sophia. She's the sweetest girl ever, with such an angelic personality. My problem is that you're not admitting it. Why?" she asks me. I scoff. 

"Because I don't like her that way. She's one of my best friends, and one of my favorite people in the world. Nothing more than that," I say, and my mom rolls her eyes. 

"Ray, I am your mother. You were in my stomach for nine months. I raised you. I know exactly what your language and mannerisms mean. I know you've liked Sophia since you saw her in 7th grade. I know it was a very awkward time for you, because of the whole childhood friends thing. I know you wanted to go talk to her, but you didn't want to because a) you didn't want her to not remember and make a fool out of yourself, and b) you had a crush on her, that never completely faded away. Don't lie to me, Ray. But most importantly, don't lie to yourself," she says. 

When she mentions that, the memories start flooding in. The faint, yet only memory of us building Hot Wheels in our friend, Rob's, living room, along with our other toddler friends, Henry and Vince. Seeing her when I was in line to get my schedule, and remembering, but being unsure if she remembered me. 

The awkward stares we gave each other across the room in the classes we shared, knowing the situation we were in, but we didn't have the balls to go up and talk to each other. 

The day at the straight A tea where everything changed, and we actually talked for the first time. That day was the start of a long, amazing friendship that I wouldn't trade for anything. Ah, what memories. 

"Ray, are you still listening?" my mom asks. 

I'm snapped out of the little trance, and I nod. "Yeah, sorry, what was that?" 

She sighs. "Okay, do you want some tea, first of all? Second of all, tell me, do you like Sophia? And be honest."  

I sigh. "First of all, I'm going to say the same thing that Dad says. Tea tastes like Satan's toilet water." 

She chuckles. "What have you been doing in Satan's toilet?" I shake my head. "But, don't avoid the topic. Do you like Sophia?" That's when I sigh again. 

"That's the problem. I don't know," I say, in a very honest tone. She comes over to where I'm standing, and looks at me. 

"Why? What are you so conflicted about? Is this about the crush you had on Victoria?" I gulp. Slowly, I nod, and my mom sighs. "You're not completely over her, are you?" 

I bite my lip a little bit, and I nod. I can't lie about it any more. Not to my mom, at least. She's like a human bullshit detector, much like Sonia. She can sense it from three miles away. 

"Oh man, I should've known. This is going to be messy. Poor Sophia was terrorized by Victoria growing up. You just made things 10x more complicated." 

I sigh. "I know, I know. It's not easy for me either. It's not easy to let go of a crush. It's pretty hard. But I'm so confused right now. Sophia's the best thing that's happened to me, but I still can't let go of Victoria. What do I do?" I ask, and she puts her hand on my shoulder. She looks into my eyes with the same blue-green eyes that I inherited from her. 

Randy rolls his eyes a little bit more, and he gets up. "I'm done with homework. I'm out of here," he says, and he marches his way out of the room. I roll my eyes, and my mom looks back at me. 

"Ray, I think you should go for Sophia. Plus, I never liked Victoria. I have no say in your love life, I get that. But, leaving that out of the whole equation, your grandfather always said this. If you love two people, go for the second one. Because if you loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second. Think about that," she tells me, and walks out of the room, leaving me with that piece of advice to ponder over. 

*******
I don't remember the last time the gymnasium was done this nicely. For the first time in possibly an eternity, the decorations don't look like someone went to the dollar store at the last minute. 

Everyone is all dressed up, with the girls on the other side of the gym, talking amongst each other, and their masks concealing their identity. Pete comes up to me, with a glass of water in his hand, and starts to sip it. "You see Sonia anywhere? That way, I know which way to go to avoid her," Pete says, as I roll my eyes. 

"I can't tell. If you do get Sonia, then.... deal with it, I guess. It's not the end of the world, and you're acting like we'll all go to hell if you dance with her. Now chill," I tell him, as the lights start to dim. 

"That's our cue. See you in a bit," I tell him, and with that, we all get into a single file, horizontal line, with the girls doing the same. 

"Guys, you may approach your partners now," the DJ says, and we walk up to the women. I walk up to a woman, who's wearing a very dark red dress, and with deep brown eyes that look into mine when I approach her. 

I hold out my hand, and say, "may I have this dance?" Without breaking eye contact, she takes my hand. The DJ starts to play music, and I rest my other hand on her waist, as she rests hers on my shoulder. 

When the music starts to play, everyone starts to dance with their respective partners. The night is filled with lots of passionate dancing, as we follow the beat to the music, and take gentle steps to guide ourselves throughout the dance floor. 

Every 30 minutes, we go and take a short water break, and to socialize with our other peers before going back inside to dance some more. Each time I dance with my partner, there's something about her that causes me to get lost in her. 

Something about her is enough for me to completely fall inside the hole that her charisma has created. I feel like we melt together to make the perfect dancing couple. I feel like everyone's staring at us as we dance passionately throughout the night, with the passion being like a flame that can't be extinguished by any external force. 

Eventually, after two hours, we're all done with dancing. I'm sweating a bit, with everyone tired, and everyone wanting to go home and take some rest. My throat feels like it was roasted in an oven, and is in desperate need of some hydration. 

I walk out of the gym, and into the hallway to get some water before I leave. When I do find a water fountain, I let it run down my throat and hydrate it for a while. The feeling is pure bliss after a long night of dancing. After drinking some water, I hear a group of guys come up behind me. 

"Ray! What's up?" they ask. I stand straight up after bending down to get some water, and I turn around to face the group. A bunch of guys, whom I've been friends with for a while, are standing there, in their suits, definitely looking tired from tonight. I smile. 

"Hey, what's up, guys?" I ask. They shrug. 

"We're all beat, that's for sure. I know that I'm tired, and I'm pretty sure that I got Sophia as my partner," one of my friends, Paul, says. For some reason, my heart sinks a little bit in my chest. The thought of him dancing with Sophia doesn't sit that well with me, for some reason. A reason that I can't entirely figure out. 

"That's cool," I say in a neutral voice in an attempt to hide my slight disappointment. Paul rolls his eyes, and crosses his arms. 

"Nah, it's really not. I'm sure all that fat was pulling her down, which was probably why her dancing was so bad. Like, damn, that girl should lay off on the croissants," Paul says. Before I can stop it, the snicker flies out of my mouth like an obnoxious mouth. 

And before I can stop my choice of words, I say, "true true." When I say those words, my hand goes flying up over my mouth. I shouldn't be saying those things. Sophia's my friend, and I can't be insulting her like this. No matter what, insulting my friends is the last thing that I'd do. 

"I shouldn't have said that. And you shouldn't either, Paul," I tell him, in a stern voice. All that gets me is an eye roll from him, which causes me to let out one extra sigh. I look at my watch, and the time reads, "9:15." I immediately look back up to face them. 

"I'm out. I have to go home. My mom is going to kill me if I'm home too late. I'll see you all later," I say, and they all nod. 

"Later, Ray," they say, and I all give them the bro hug. After bidding them all goodbye, I turn swiftly on my heel and I make my way out of the gym to go home. Everyone is scurrying back to their cars, as it's already so late at night, while I steadily walk to mine so that I don't get trampled in the flood of rushing students. 

As I sit in the car, a nagging feeling comes onto me. Something is weighing down upon my mind, and I can't get it out of my head. I have a feeling I'm going to regret what happened today. 

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Question: If you were Ray, would you feel bad for laughing at an insult to one of your closest friends? What would you do if somebody insulted one of your closest friends?

Hello again my dear readers! It's me! How are you liking the book right now? Let me know in the comments or send me a message giving me your feedback.

Also, quick shoutout to my friend RavensOfOld (who is one of my favorite authors on here. Check her works out if you want) was the one who came up with the response to the "Satan's toilet water," thing. We were discussing it in the comments section of another chapter of INI, and she came up with that response. So, I hope you don't mind me using your witty response! 

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Love you guys,

S.V.T.S