A.N.

Dear Readers, if there are any, this is my very first chapter of my very first story on fanfiction and I know it's really pointless right now, but I promise it will get better. I'm not really the best writer in the world, so constructive critisism would be great... Thanks for reading, please review!

Kawaiia

Chapter 1

"Ouch," I murmured to myself. I snatched the curling iron away from my finger and examined the damage; just a small burn, nothing serious.

I resumed curling my hair, thinking to myself. Tonight was the night I had been waiting for ever since I started high school last fall, the Homecoming Dance. It was for the freshmen and sophomores. Juniors and seniors had prom. Even though I was just a freshman and didn't even have a boyfriend, I knew that tonight could boost my already skyrocketing social status among the upper classmen. I know how crazy that sounds, you know, meeting true love in the middle of the dance floore, underneath the swirling disco ball... but I'm a TOTAL romantic, so I truly believe in that kind of thing, fate, karma, whatever you want to call it.

I finished curling my hair, which was usually dead straight, and went down to the middle of my back, but now it curled softly at the ends, making it shorter than I was used to.

I pulled some of the hair framing my face back, twisted it into a bun, and stuck a white chopstick with rhinestones on it through to hold it in place. I didn't want to have to keep brushing my hair away from my face while I was dancing.

I sighed and figured that was the best I could do. Then I went to the closet and pulled out my dress. It was a traditional Chinese qipao that my grandmother brought from China when she immigrated to America. It was white silk with small blue flowers decorating it. It was sleeveless, but had a small collar. It fit perfectly.

Flashback

It took me a long time to find the perfect dress. I went to dozens of stores with my mother trying on anything that was my size. Nothing was what I was looking for.

When I finally came home, disappointed not to have found the perfect dress after trying so hard, my grandmother took my up to our remodeled attic which she had moved into after my grandfather died.

She went to her closet and pulled out a black dress bag. She thrust it into my hands and whispered, "Go try this on in the bathroom," before practically shoving me into her bathroom and closing the door.

I hung the dressbag on a hook, so I wouldn't wrinkle whatever was inside. I unzipped it and pulled out a beautiful dress, white with blue flowers, in the traditional Chinese qipao design. I sighed, it was what I had been searching for all day, something different and unique, one of a kind. I took it off the hanger and tried it on.

It was a perfect fit. I rushed out of the bathroom and into my grandmother's waiting arms. "You see? Perfect fit!" she exclaimed in her Chinese accent. I laughed, she was right!

"You wear that to the dance, everyone will love you," her eyes sparkled as she looked me over.

"But grandma, where did you get it?" I asked, genuinely curious because though i had seen many of her Chinese outfits, i had never seen this one.

"I bring it here from China!" she exclaimed. "It is my last one, and you wear it. My only granddaughter wear it. Perfect fit!" she said, beaming at me. So she brought it from China when she came. She had shown me many of her clothes from China, but never this. I had an inkling that she had been saving it for a special occasion like tonight.

I sighed and gave her a hug and a kiss before rushing back into the bathroom to take it off so it would still be fresh when I wore it to the dance.

End of Flashback

I finished buckling the straps to my high heels and stood in front of the floor-length mirror. I was shocked. The qipao complemented my creamy white skin and my usually nonexistent curves and oh my gosh, I have cleavage! My black hair contrasted perfectly with my dress so that it looked darker than it really was. My face was mostly my grandmother's with her delicate Chinese features and pointed eyes, enhanced with some light makeup. The only thing that made me look like my American father was the stormy gray color of my eyes. All the rest of my family was cursed with a dull brown. My eyes were my favorite feature.

Downstairs the doorbell rang. "Lili! Nick is here!" my mother called upstairs. Nick, my best guy friend, was escorting me to the dance because, like me, he wasn't currently in a relationship.

"Coming!" I said, and quickly grabbed my purse that contained my cell phone, wallet, some extra makeup, and my ticket to get into the homecoming dance, praying all the while I wouldn't loose it while I was out tonight. I am very forgetfull and have probably lost so many things that if the same person found all of them, then they would be rich. Then I whisked downstairs.

Nick was standing awkwardly by my parents. "Hey Lili, you look nice," Nick commented, looking me up and down. I couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks, so do you! Nice tux…" I said, and I meant it. It was a little big on him, but it made him look older. I would be surprised if he didn't have a girlfriend by the end of the night.

"It's my dad's," he said, blushing a little.

"Lili, stand next to Nick so we can get a few pictures! It's not every day that you go to your first high school dance!" my mom was so excited, I was surprised she wasn't jumping up and down.

So Nick and I endured the torture, while my brother James laughed at us behind my parents' backs. Afterward, I went up and gave him a good slap on the arm because that was about the highest thing I could reach on him. See, thanks to the Chinese blood in me, I'm only 4'11" at 15 years old. If I'm lucky, I'll make it to 5'. My brother on the other hand has too much of my dad in him, almost 6' as a junior in high school.

Nick and I got into the taxi and waved goodbye to our parents. In the city of Port Angeles, you didn't see very many limos like in the big cities, but we couldn't drive yet and didn't want our parent's driving us.

Nick and I chatted on the way to the dance, me getting jitters in my stomach because I was so nervous and excited. I couldn't believe this was actually happening!

When we arrived at the dance, Nick helped me out of the taxi and paid the driver, I would pay on the way home. He also grabbed an umbrella that I hadn't noticed before. In Port Angeles, it was very likely that it would rain. However… I didn't think it would, not tonight.

"Nick, why did you bring an umbrella?" I asked, there were clouds in the sky, but they usually were, these ones weren't rain clouds.

"Because, it's gonna rain. I looked at the weather report earlier, so I brought an umbrella so you won't get your dress wet," Nick replied. He was a total sweetheart and a true gentleman, but only as a friend, both of us felt that way.

"I don't think you're going to need it," I told him, "but good thinking."

"And why won't I need it?" Nick asked. He looked very confused, looking at the sky, then back to me.

"Because it's not going to rain," I told him.

"Yes it is, I checked the weather report," Nick repeated. God, he could be so stubborn!

"I bet you 10 bucks that it won't rain," I challenged him. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you sure? I checked the weath…"

I cut him off, "Yes, I'm sure, now prepare to be 10 dollars poorer!" Nick looked at me weirdly again and then shrugged his shoulders and walked with me to give our tickets to the ushers. It was obvious he didn't believe me. But it wouldn't rain, I knew it.

Nick and I went inside, and the boring gym that we were used to had been turned into a wonderland. There were blue and white streamers everywhere and balloons to match. The walls had been covered with blue wrapping paper and snowflakes. Glitter covered the floor and looked a lot like glistening snow. It was beautiful.

"Lili, you match the gym," Nick said. I thought it was pretty random, but then I looked down and noticed that my dress, did in fact match the colors of the streamers and balloons.

"You're right!" I laughed. We met up with our other closer friends Jack, Amy, Julia, and Matt. For the first half hour or so, we mostly talked, watching as the gym filled slowly with people.

"Do you want to dance?" Nick asked me. I nodded in response, glad that the night had officially begun. I wasn't a great dancer, but I loved to dance.

Nick and I were interrupted in our second song by another boy in our class I didn't know the name of. "Hi, my name is Ben, do you want to dance?"

I was shocked. "Umm, sure?" I said, stating it as a question, looking at Nick. He smiled and nodded, but didn't have to worry because the next second he was asked to dance by one of the more popular sophomores.

The night passed quickly, each bit better than I had ever dreamed about. More boys asked me to dance. I didn't know I was so popular, I mean, maybe among my classmates, but I didn't know that many sophomores even knew my name!

"Alright, everyone! Time to announce Homecoming King and Queen!" announced the MC. Everyone cheered, including me. "The Homecoming King is… David Moore!!" Of course, the only boy to make the varsity football team in freshman year, now he was a sophomore and one of the star players. I was sure that his super-popular girlfriend, total diva and, well, bitch of the school, Tina Landen would be the Queen. Everyone cheered loudly as David went up and accepted his crown. "And the Homecoming Queen is… Lili Meyer!!"

Everyone turned to stare at me. I blinked. Nick poked me and whispered, "Lili, that's you, go, walk, move, breathe!" I was having a hard time doing just that, though, until everyone started clapping. I walked hesitantly forward, how was this possible? Mr. Harwood, the principal, placed the silver crown on my head. I just smiled and blushed a lot, totally confused. There had to be some mistake, freshmans NEVER got Homecoming Queen. I waited for someone to shout April Fool! (even though it was January) or Gotcha! but nobody did. I quickly descended the stage steps right into the arms of my friends. They all started talking at once, congratulating me on my impossible feat.

I shared a spotlight dance with David Moore. It was plenty awkward for the both of us, especially when Tina was glaring at me the whole time, like it was my fault that I was voted the homecoming queen and not her…

The rest of the night, I was treated like royalty, and so many boys were asking me to dance, I only got to dance with Nick once more before the night was over. But I didn't worry too much about it since he was pretty popular among the girls, and not just the ones from our grade.

Soon it was 11:45 and we needed to be getting home. Amy and Julia were meeting me there and we were going to have a sleepover. I had to go set up. I hoped that my mom bought extra microwave popcorn and some candy. After all, I inherited my forgetfulness from her.

Nick hailed a cab and helped me into the car. We were still laughing and waving goodbye to our friends.

However, it didn't escape my attention that as we entered the car, the cab driver stiffened and turned to stare at me. Actually, he was giving me the death glare, and at that point, I didn't really know how accurate that assumption would be.

A.N.

Sorry, it was kind of a short chapter, but I wanted to get to the main plot asap! Thanks, and please, I'm BEGGING you, review!

Kawaiia