Friday, a.k.a. Masquerade Bash Day

I am so thrilled about the masquerade bash, I've been bouncing up and down all day with excitement!

I sit at my study desk, trying to do my homework, and push all thoughts of the dance away from my mind.

In a short while, my head snaps up as I hear my watch beep.

It's 3 o'clock, and the dance is at 5 o'clock.

Time to get ready! Nicole and Dahlia should be over any second now.

I wind up my books, and in a matter of five minutes, the doorbell rings.

Springing up out of my swivel chair, I bound up the stairs to the entrance door and swing it open.

Nicole and Dahlia stand outside, each holding a small bag with their masquerade bash dresses in them.

"Heyyy girl!" Dahlia drawls casually.

"Hey! Come on in," I grin, ushering them in the door.

We make our way downstairs to my room, gossiping about our schoolmates.

"Did you hear about the grand dance proposal in McDonald's?" Nicole asks excitedly.

"Speaking of McDonald's, can you believe Donald is going to the dance with Ashley Count??" Dahlia puts in.

Giggling, we enter my room, and turn on our 'getting ready' modes.

I turn on my MP3 player and put it on shuffle, and the first song that blasts on is Worth It by Fifth Harmony.

We set to work, doing each other's make up and hair.

At one point when Dahlia is in the middle of doing my hair, Good For You by Selena Gomez blasts on.

"I'm in my fourteen carats. I'm fourteen carat."

Hearing that line, Dahlia suddenly freezes in place, with the hair straightener in hand, held up in the air. With a thoughtful expression on her face, she asks doubtfully,"Did she just say, 'I'm farting carrots?'"

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After an hour of doing each other's hair and make-up, we change into our dresses.

Dahlia and Nicole are standing in the middle of my room, fixing their dresses, and talking excitedly about the dance, when I emerge in my light-blue chiffon evening gown.

Turning towards me, their jaws drop, and Nicole is the first to recover.

Raising an eyebrow, Nicole says, "Dayum, girl!"

Placing her palm against her heart, Dahlia whispers, "Oh. My. God!!" Her voice rising in pitch, she exclaims, "That dress is gorgeous! Where'd you get that??"

"Rodeo Drive," I say proudly.

Nicole and Dahlia look at me dubiously, with big question marks written all over their faces.

"My boyfriend bought it for me," I shrug.

Understanding crosses their faces, and Dahlia exclaims, "I want that..."

"Dress?" Nicole cuts in.

"Nope. I want that... boyfriend!" Dahlia says with a complete poker face.

Nicole and I share a look, and then all three of us burst into a fit of giggles.

After a few minutes, the doorbell rings, and we bounce-scratch that-elegantly walk upstairs to open the door.

"Hey guys!"

Noah, Cameron, and Adam, Dahlia's date, stand at the door. Each of them look extremely smart, but Noah, in his dark blue tuxedo, looks the smartest of them all. Naturally.

"Hey babe," Noah grins, placing his palm on the small of my back and pulling me closer to him.

In my peripheral vision, I see Cameron lean in to kiss Nicole, and Dahlia shyly hugs Adam.

"You look stunning," Noah whispers in my ear, bringing my thoughts back to him.

Smiling, I give him a quick pop kiss.

As I pull away, I spot a sleek black limousine behind him, parked in our driveway.

It's the same limo Noah and I rode on our first date.

Clapping my hands, I exclaim, "Limo time!"

All three couples head to the limo hand in hand, and as we get in, we see Scott and a pretty blonde making out in the corner.

"Alright guys, break it up!" Nicole calls, shading her eyes from the revolting sight.

Surprised, the blonde pulls away, blushing.

Leaning back against the seat, Scott smirks at Nicole, "What? Can't handle the heat?"

Nicole smiles sarcastically back at him, shooting him the evil eye.

We all settle into our seats, and the limo starts moving.

"So Scott, introduce us to your date," I say curiously.

"Oh alright." Scott clears his throat and clasps his hands, as if about to something extremely important. "This, my friends, is Candace Lily. Otherwise known as Candy." After a second, Scott adds, "She's a junior in our school."

Candy waves nervously, "Hey guys."

She soon loosens up though, and we spend the rest of the ride chatting and laughing, and making faces at people on the streets.

If the car ride is so much fun, I can only imagine how wonderful the dance is going to be!

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Once we get to our destination, we hop out of the limousine and strap on our masks. Remember, it is a masquerade bash!

The dance is taking place in the ballroom of Maple Marshrup Academy (I didn't even know this school had a ballroom), and when we get there, my jaw drops open in wonder.

The brobdingnagian ballroom is blindingly white, with white floodlights arranged around the sides of the room. The refreshments table at the corner of the room is white as well, and ice statues of Jack Frost and the White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia, as well as a few others, are arranged around the room. A shimmer of silver glitter dances from the ceiling, on top of the many couples dancing in the middle of the room. A few chaperones, namely Principal Kramnik, Professor Zinc, and another teacher I do not know, mill about the sides of the room, making sure everything is in order.

Over the sound of Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA, Noah calls, "Wanna dance?"

Unable to hear him over the blaring techno, I yell back, "What?"

"I said, Wanna dance?" he asks again, making dancing motions with his hands.

"I can't hear you," I yell again, grinning at his goofiness.

Noah takes my hand and leads me onto the dance floor, with the rest of our friends following.

We dance for an hour straight, twirling around on the dance floor and even getting some slow dances in.

The time flies past, and before I know it, the clock strikes seven.

My heart beating rapidly along with the beat of the loud speakers, I yell over the music, "Noah, I'm gonna go get a drink."

"No, no, I'll get it," he yells back courteously.

"I'm going," I call, and start walking off towards the refreshments table.

He grins and waves, then continues performing his rad dance moves with Nicole and Cameron.

I get some punch, and then lean against the wall next to the table, trembling with anticipation.

I'm finally going to meet my secret admirer!!

I sip my drink and sweep my eyes over the room, grinning when I spot Dahlia and Adam dancing sweetly and shyly along with Scott and Candy.

After a couple of minutes, I hear a deep and sort-of-familiar voice speak behind me.

"Hello Rhea. Looking gorgeous as always."

I turn around expectantly, impatiently waiting to see who he is, but when I do turn around, I see a male wearing a red tuxedo with a black border, along with matching red suit pants, and a white shirt and black long tie.

And, of course, he wears a mask. A black strapless mask with red crystals scattered all over it.

I blank out on things to say, and after a minute of awkward silence... "Are you, um, my secret admirer?" I ask awkwardly. The words sounded much better in my head.

He smiles softly. "Yes I am."

Right then, Let It Go by Idina Menzel blasts on, a typical winter song.

"May I have this dance?" he bows and offers his hand to me.

"Yes, you may," I say soberly, cracking him up.

He starts moving towards the part of the dance floor where Noah is dancing, and desperately, I pull him away from there and to the opposite side of the dance floor.

Finding a spot in the midst of the crowd, he places my left hand on his shoulder, and places his own right hand on my back. We interlock fingers with our other hands, and sway lightly to the music.

My heart pounds with exhilaration, and as I twirl around, I think, 'I don't think I've ever had as good a time as I am having tonight.'

We stare into each other's eyes intensely, and I barely notice when the song terminates.

"Would you like to join me for a saunter outside?" he asks softly.

His voice sounds extremely familiar, but I can't quite place it.

"Sure," I smile.

We walk out of the building onto the school grounds, and begin walking towards the parking lot.

He takes my hand, but I shrug it off.

"Okay," he murmurs, holding his hands up in surrender, then locking them behind his back.

"So... would you rather eat a salad or a McDonald's veggie burger?" he asks curiously.

"Wait a minute... how do you know I'm a vegetarian?" I ask dubiously.

He shrugs. "Intuition, I guess."

"Okay... definitely the McDonald's burger. Why though?" I respond inquisitively.

"I like a girl with a hearty appetite," he says matter-of-factly.

Grinning, I ask him, "Are you quoting Austin Ames?"

"Guilty as charged."

We talk for a while longer, and laughter rings out over the quiet school grounds as we venture further from the ballroom. And I realize that, surprisingly, the laughter comes from me.

We eventually get to the parking lot, and I ask him, "How did you get here tonight?"

Looking surprised at the sudden question, he dangles his car keys and says, "In my car."

"So which one is yours?"

In my opinion, one way to figure out a boy's personality is by checking out his car.

He points at a car that is parked quite close to where we stand. It's a metallic red Ford Mustang convertible.

Walking over to it, I run my hand along the side of the car, and mumble, "Sweet ride."

As I admire the convertible, he walks up behind me and I turn to face him, so that I am leaning against the car and he is standing in front of me.

Staring into my eyes intently, he cups my cheeks and murmurs, "You're so beautiful."

Uncomfortably, I break eye contact and stare at the ground, when I feel him leaning in to kiss me.

I place my index finger on his lips and say, "Wait. Show me who you are first."

Pulling back, he takes off his mask to reveal... Drake!

"Drake??" I gape at him in astonishment.

I should've known. It's just that... what with always either being with Noah or practicing for the spelling bee with Vicky, I completely forgot about Drake and what he sounds like.

I push him away and turn around to storm off, angrily exclaiming, "I knew this was too good to be true!"

But before I can get far enough away from him, he grabs my right wrist and holds me back.

Turning to face him, I say with a stone-hard face, "Drake, let go of me."

"Rhea," he starts softly, slipping his left hand under my hair and perching his fingers just below my ear.

"No!" I shout, and turn my face away, refusing to fall for his antics again.

Using his thumb to propel my face to face him again, he says desperately, "Rhea, just hear me out."

Sighing, I lean back against the car, realizing that arguing will be useless, and tiredly say, "Fine."

Breathing a sigh of relief, he says, "Everything I told you today was the truth. And did that sound like the old Drake Pollen?" He pauses for a second, then adds softly, "I've changed. And letting you go was the biggest mistake I ever made."

As he leans in, a multitude of thoughts run through my mind.

"Rhea, remember what he did."

"Drake can't be trusted."

"Think about Noah."

But one thought rises over all of these.

A part of me wants to believe Drake.

"Maybe he really has changed."

Right as I think that thought, Drake presses his lips to mine.

And I don't stop him.

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What do you guys think of the dance? Anyone shocked?

So here it is... the secret admirer is Drake! Most of you saw this coming, but the first person to guess correctly was kkxdenny!! So, as promised, here is a chapter dedicated to you.

I know, I know... this chapter is a week late! *Hides behind chair as you all throw stuff at me* I was extremely busy with school stuff, but it won't happen again.

The next update will be after three weeks, October the 30th, unless you can score the early update, for 8 votes and 5 comments.

Picture up on top is of the hovertrax scooters from the last chapter. Several of my readers were asking about what they are, so here's a visual for you!

Finally, I would just like to thank my readers for all your support and for being extraordinaRHEA!!

KEEP VOTING! KEEP COMMENTING!

~Ananya