"What am I gonna do? It's not like I can go over there and confess my feelings for him" I tell Val who was staring at me. I laid back down and hugged my furry pillow, thinking of the mess I let myself get into.

"See! This is why you should've told me the truth when I asked if you liked him. Why can't you just open up about your feelings? You make things so complicated before you let people in" she scolds me, pulling my pillow away.

"Hey" I frown, wanting my favorite pillow back.

Valerie scoffs before throwing it back, purposely hitting me in the face. I didn't mind though, I kinda needed that.

"Okay, calm down guys. There's no point in fighting. I'm glad it's out in the open now that Rose likes--"

"Open this door!" A loud voice booms from outside, making me sit up instantly.

My father.

Valerie makes her way to open the door then the three of us look at him, wondering what he wants.

"Don't you girls ever do something useful other than sitting around and talking?" Dad asks, his hands on his hips. Seriously? When did he turn into mom?

"We were discussing prom looks. Valerie's helping" Chloe says cheerfully, eyeing Val.

"How lovely. Now, Chloe you're gonna have to leave, we have something planned for tonight" He tells us, stepping aside for Chloe to move out.

Chloe quickly puts her shoes on and slings her bag over her shoulder, giving me a weird look.

"Um, see ya Rose. Text me" she says quietly before stepping out.

"Bye" I call out before turning my attention to dad again.

"Be ready by seven. Please wear something nice, Rose. Don't embarrass me" dad says with a pained look before leaving.

"You're embarrassing!" I shouted, only to hear him laugh while heading down the stairs.

I wonder where we're going or what's this all about. I still have to tell everyone the good news.

"I'm gonna go get ready. We'll talk about Jesse later" Valerie says, shutting the door on her way out.

I walked over to the window and peered outside. Jesse had just finished washing his dad's car.

"My god, look at that view" I mutter to myself, feeling the butterflies erupt in my stomach. There he was in his gym shorts, soaking wet. Did he wash the car or himself? I giggle at my cheeky thoughts.

I clutched my stomach then looked away, trying so hard not to stare at his marvellous physique.

Suddenly I heard my phone ping. I pulled it out of my pocket to see who it was. A new text from Jesse.

Like what you see?

Oh my God! He saw me. Shit, shit, shit.

I quickly sat down on the floor then rolled over in pain from the sharp pains in my butt. Ow, ow, ow!

I laid flat on my back in the middle of my room and decided to text back, pretending to be clueless.

What are you talking abt??

I hate myself for sending that. Way to go, Rose! Play dumb. Because that's going to help.

I crawled to my closet then used it's handles to pull myself up off the floor. I opened it up to look for a nice evening dress. I'm not even sure what an evening dress looks like or if I own one. After all, I'm not the fashionista of the family. We all know who that is.

Hanging on the last hanger was a black dress. Although I love the color black, it's spaghetti straps made me cringe. But since it's the only thing in here and dad's gonna kill me if I wear a flannel, I had to go with it.

Since it didn't need ironing, I placed it on my bed and straightened it out, admiring the glittery black and the small slit it had on one side.

I grabbed my towel and went to have a shower, leaving my phone on my bed.

《×》

It was past six o'clock when I hopped out of the shower and made my way back to my room. I could hear the sound of the hairdryer coming from down the hallway. Guess Valerie's doing her hair.

I slipped into my dress then went to pick out a cute silver bracelet with matching earrings. Without overdoing it, I moisturized my face before applying some black mascara and a cute gloss. I wasn't that into lipstick, anyway.

"Ready?" Val asks, entering my room.

She looked lovely. Her hair was neatly pinned up and she had a light pink midi dress on that made her long legs look great. With her matching makeup, she was gorgeous.

"You look amazing" I said truthfully, walking slowly towards her.

"So do you. Here, heels to match your dress" she says, handing me a pair of sleek black heels. I took them and put them on before standing infront of her again, our height the same.

"You look amazing" she compliments me, looking down at my shimmery dress.

I let out a light laugh before grabbing my clutch purse and guiding her out of my room, both of us making our way downstairs.

"Oh! You both look stunning!" Mom squealed, clasping her hands together in excitement. Val and I looked at each other with a weird look before shaking it off and making our way out the front door. It was now half past six. Few minutes later, dad rushes out of the house still fixing his tie.

"Let's go! I don't want to be the last to arrive" He says before glancing around the place.

Why does this man always make it seem like someone's after him? Sheesh.

Valerie and I sat quietly in the back while mom and dad discussed whatever we were attending.

I pulled out my phone from my clutch and saw that I had a text from Jesse. It's probably from when I was in the shower. I headed to messages then opened his text.

OK, keep playing ;)
See you.

I smiled to myself and decided not to reply till I got home. I'm sure he'll be fine if I left him on read.

"Girls" my father addresses my sister and I. We both drop our phones and listen. "I don't want any surprises at the table, if you have something to say, say it now."

"No surprises from me" Val responds, picking up her phone again.

"Good" dad replies, and I look nervously out the window.

"Rosalie?" He says, waiting for my answer.

"Um.. I- I got called to the Principal's office today. Turns out, I got a scholarship to study at Westmore."

"Oh my God! What!?" Valerie shrieks, turning to face me. "That's great! Congratulations" she says, pulling me in for a hug.

"Congratulations Rosie! I'm so proud of you" Mom turns to tell me, a big smile on her face. She reaches out to touch my cheek.

"Westmore, huh? That's one of the top schools" dad says, his tone still the same.

I exhale and focus on my phone again. Just like I thought, he doesn't care much.

"Congratulations kiddo, you deserve it! I'm so proud of you" dad finally says and I smile from ear to ear.

Finally, he's proud of me.

"You'll do great at Westmore" Valerie pipes up again, pinching my cheek.

"Yeah, and the best thing is I don't have to pay for another set of college fees. Why couldn't you get a scholarship, Valerie?" Dad exclaims, shaking his head.

We all laughed out loud and talked for the rest of the way before dad finally parked outside a flashy restaurant. I had never been there before so I was in awe even from the outside. I couldn't wait to taste the food and take a look at the inside.

As we were walking in, I noticed a familiar car pull up behind us.

"Hurry up, Rose" Mom says, pulling me along.

I began walking faster, taking my eyes away from the car that was now parked behind ours.