Holding out for the best
Chapter 9
Brooke's POV
I'd have to say that this afternoon (when I was in the tutoring center) turned out to be quite interesting. In fact I was surprised to hear that Haley was going out on a date with Nathan. I mean it was so clear that Nathan liked Haley but Haley liking Nathan…who knew? I thought Haley was only head over heels for Lucas but I guess I was wrong about that.
Haley kept fidgeting with the papers on the table while she was telling me how nervous she was about tonight. She rambled on, "I mean it's so nerve wracking. You should've seen me in fourth period, I tripped over someone's books, it was so embarrassing."
I mentioned, "Please you're talking to a full spaz here. I trip over everything on a daily basis."
She just shook her head and just laughed. "I guess we're like two peas and a pod."
"Yeah who knew we'd have something in common."
I paused for a brief period of time. I said curiously, "How do you do it?"
She looked confused, "Um can you be a little more specific on the subject."
"How do you get people to like you much? I mean you're pretty, popular, and a lot of guys seem interested in you."
"Well I get drunk off my ass, I'm pretty well known with most of the guys on the basketball team because I used to fool around with them in bed (except for Nathan and Lucas), and being a bitch was pretty much like a job for me."
I said in an uneasy tone, "Wow that was a straightforward answer."
"Well Brooke, I'm just pointing out the negative signs of being popular. In fact there are no positive signs for being popular, like I said before it's like a job for me. I gave into peer pressure last year, people told me what was cool and what was not and of course I believed it."
"So you liked the attention for a little while right?"
"Yeah, I did but it got tiring after a while. I realized I wasn't pleasing myself instead I was just pleasing people who didn't really didn't give a damn about me."
She looked at me curiously. "Why the sudden interest in popularity?"
I shrugged the problem off like it was no big deal. I said casually, "Just curious that's all."
"Brooke, you don't have to be popular just to be noticed."
What she didn't get about this whole thing was the fact that I actually wanted to be noticed. I was sick and tired of being the pathetic little wallflower. I was sick of being the odd girl out.
I said sounding hopeless, "You don't get it, Haley, I was bullied. I was harassed and ridiculed every day. Sometimes it wasn't easy being me."
She looked puzzled, "Wait, why are you suddenly bringing this up now? What's going on? Are you in any sort of trouble?"
I couldn't simply tell her what was bothering me or what sort of troubles I was facing right now at the time. It was a secret that Luke couldn't even know himself, it would make him outraged by this sort of problem. So I pretended like nothing was bothering me, "Nothing. I'm just tired of being seen as the geeky girl to…"
I didn't even want to finish that sentence especially when I'm talking about a certain special someone that catches our interest. When she was waiting for my response it finally dawned on her that I was talking about him.
She pressed her lips in a thin line. She said uncomfortably, "Lucas."
I hesitated to look at her. I nodded as I sat there awkwardly out of place and out of things to say. A minute or two passed by and I simply had the urge to blabber and to make things less uncomfortable. I digressed, "Hey, maybe we could go shopping next week. You could give me pointers on how I should dress."
She looked unsure about the whole thing. "You really want to change your appearance? Like completely?"
I shrugged hopelessly. "In the words of Sandy Olsson, 'Goodbye to Sandra Dee.'"
If it's a makeover I want it's going to be a makeover I get.
Haley's POV
Peyton and I went shopping at the mall to find the right outfit for me to wear tonight. The first thing I wanted to wear was a dress but I figured that be too much for my first date, so I picked something a little simpler and more casual for my taste. I bought a brown and light pink halter top with pink rhinestones on the front and a jean skirt with pink flip flops.
I kept trying to calm myself down, Tonight is going to be a fun night, no interruptions, no clumsy moments, and before I go on this date of mine I'm going to have to breathe through a paper bag so I won't faint from the panic attack I'll be having.
Peyton was in the dressing room, trying some clothes on and she showed off a few of the things that caught her interest but to me some of them looked either tacky or shall I say a little on the slutty side. She turned around in a little circle to show off her low cut red and white stripped dress. I looked at the dress in disgust, "No way are you buying that. You look like…"
She guessed, "Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman?"
"Yeah, my point exactly."
She let out a deep sigh. She said impatiently, "Ugh, why can't I find a dress that simply looks good on me?"
She quickly went back into the dressing room to try on more frugal clothing. I asked curiously, "Peyton, have you ever liked two guys at once?"
She said jestingly, "Honey, now that's between me and the two other guys I decided to have a threesome with."
My mouth was slightly gaped and I wore a disgusted expression on my face. "Eww gross Peyton too much information."
She had burst out laughing, guffawing at her own joke. "Relax I'm just kidding. To tell you the truth I actually did like two guys at once but it was in the sixth grade."
I chuckled. It was so like Peyton to make me feel like a little kid again. "Not the response I was really expecting."
Suddenly serious, she pointed out, "Look, if I was in your shoes I would just let things take its course. If you really like both just let that be, eventually you'll find out who makes your time worth while. As long as you are yourself with that person and they make you feel better than you already are then like I said everything will be worth while."
She made an excellent and valid point. Eventually I would sort things out at a steady pace, not too fast and not too slow. I wanted to take one step at a time with Nathan and one step at a time with Lucas. I mean it wasn't like I was really serious with Nathan, he's a great guy and all but what I think is this…I need to slow my self down before anyone gets hurt in the process.
Peyton appeared in front of me again doing the catwalk back and forth like she was a model on the runway.
She said, "So what do you think?"
She was wearing clothes that actually covered her. She had on a leather skirt that was at her knees and a red cashmere sweater that framed her figure well. I looked satisfied on how it looked on her. "Perfect."
She jumped up and down like a little kid in a candy store. She said in a giddy tone, "Yay! I found the perfect outfit, now I'm going to buy it."
After our shopping was done for the day, Peyton agreed to help me get ready for my date. An hour went by and when I stopped to look at my cell phone every five minutes I realized like this was like a countdown for disaster. In two more hours he would be standing on the front porch waiting for me to come down from the room upstairs and his anticipating wait would make me realize how much I didn't want him to see me look like this-right now at this very moment-cowardly and unjustified about everything that would go in chronological order tonight. Those minutes on my phone started to taunt me and the awareness of my nerves never seemed to die down.
All of a sudden I started to hear a knock on the door and I turn to Peyton and ask her frantically, "What do I do? Is my hair okay? What if I do something stupid or reckless?"
She put her hands on my shoulders and assured me in a calm, patient tone, "It's going to be ok, and you'll do fine. Besides Nathan will probably be a gentleman if you do something stupid."
"How do you know these things?"
"Because I believe that Nathan likes you and he wants to make a good impression on you."
"You really think so?"
She beamed. "I know so. Trust me."
We both hugged for a moment as Peyton patted me on the back, "Have a little faith, Hales."
"You're right I should have a little faith."
As he knocked on the door one more time, she said, "Knock him dead, kid."
When I opened the door, there he was before me looking spectacular. He had cologne on but not the overly strong stuff, the nice kind. He looked nice in his navy blue buttoned shirt and his cream colored khaki pants. That sexy grin of his appeared on his face as he looked pleased to see me. He complimented, "Wow, you look radiant."
I smiled appreciatively, "Wow, um, thank you very much."
"Your welcome. Now shall we go, Miss James?"
"We shall Mr. Scott."
One…two…three…and off we go. Let the games begin.
