Page 116 of This is Me

“So, are you still coming to the party me and Georgie are throwing after this?” Donny asked, keeping his eyes on me. “Everyone is going.”

“Oh, well, thanks, Donny,” I said slowly. “We already have some plans, though. Kind of the last night as high schoolers thing.”

“No sweat, man. If you can drop by though!”

“Donny,” Jessica mumbled, and Donny turned to exchange looks with her.

“Alright, I’ll see you around, guys!” Donny said with a smile, before grabbing Jessica’s wrist and pulling her off into the carpark. Both of them laughing.

“They’re going to have sex, aren’t they?” Cooper asked, looking after them.

“I just hope it’s not near my car,” I mumbled, finally reaching the door to the school’s hall. The music now even louder and making it hard to even hear myself.

I glanced over at Blaire and Cooper who nodded, and we made our way inside. If I thought it was loud outside, it was nothing compared to what it was inside. The mixture of music blaring and teenagers yelling was enough to drive one insane, but that didn’t stop me from beginning to push through the other students. The flashing of colourful lights, and lack of actual lights that would help me be able to see made it challenging to make my way through the hall. Cooper must have felt that same, as when I turned around, I saw him latching onto my jacket.

Giving Cooper a small smile—which I’m sure he didn’t see—I continued to make my way across the hall, trying to avoid getting knocked over or tripping over pieces of ribbon that had fallen from the roof and onto the floor. Thankfully, after hitting a few balloons out of the way, Cooper and I made it to the other side of the hall and stood pressed against the wall, out of the way of everyone else. Blaire soon joined us.

“They’re getting ready to do the Peer of the Year,” Blaire yelled into my ear, and even then, I only just managed to hear her.

“Already?” I yelled back, leaning closer to her ear. How late were we?

Blaire nodded, pulling out her phone and showing me the time. It was almost nine o’clock. Which answered my question. We were very late.

“Fucking Andy,” I mumbled, just as the song ended and the other students cheered.

“Why are we fucking Andy?” Andy’s voice greeted my ears as he pushed through a few students, Carly hanging onto his arm.

“Oh, my God,” Blaire muttered, looking at Carly, who smiled brightly at us.

“Do you know how late you made us?” I asked him, trying to ignore the fact his date was a girl who had broken his heart before.

“Who cares! We missed all the boring bits!” Andy exclaimed, wrapping his arm around Carly, who giggled. “We arrived when everyone is already letting loose!”

“Which is now coming to a standstill for the Peer of the Year crap,” I mumbled, crossing my arms and seeing Cooper nod his head beside me.

“It’ll take two minutes tops. Then it’ll almost be time for fireworks!” Andy said, excitement lacing his voice.

“Isn’t he so cute?” Carly asked, kissing Andy on the cheek, and I could tell Blaire was resisting the urge to knock her out.

We had been through this Andy and Carly thing one too many times before.

“Adorable.” Blaire sighed and rolled her eyes before turning her attention to the front of the hall.

Riley—a guy a year below us—walked onto the stage and waited for everyone to quieten down.

“Hello, all my fellow high schoolers, and welcome to the end of the year school ball!” Riley announced and bathed in the excited screams from his peers.

“I haven’t asked, how are things with Cooper?” I asked Blaire in a low whisper.

I wasn’t sure why Riley had reminded me that Blaire liked Cooper—maybe it was because Blaire hadn’t taken her eyes off Cooper since she had caught up to us through the crowd. Who knows.

Since I had made the stupid mistake of asking Cooper about the whole Blaire situation, we hadn’t spoken about it since. I had kept my distance from the topic and tried to make my brain do the same. Cooper was right. He could take care of himself.

That said, however, I was still curious if something would actually happen between them. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, right?

Blaire didn’t answer though. All she did was wink in reply. I had no idea what that meant.

Straight people.