9. Melee

Her:

As Celestia directs her wrath in his general direction, I look over and see a thin boy with dark brown hair rolling his eyes. Yep. That's Tommy Elliot. I recognize him from the few times I saw him with Bruce.

"Would you dial down the drama, Celestia? Brant was one of my best friends. I had nothing to do with his death."

I look the kid up and down and see evidence of nothing that looks even remotely like anguish, distress or pain in his expression or demeanor. The most emotion he's showing is looking mildly annoyed by Celestia's outburst.

Best friend, huh?

I look over at my best friend, who also happens to be my date. If anyone in this room killed Bruce, I'd rip every single person in this entire school to shreds.

My eyes meet Bruce's and he raises his eyebrows at me, questioningly. I just shrug, because I have little clue what set her off.

"He was your friend only when it was convenient for you!" Celestia shouts and lunges for Tommy. A lanky girl, with a thick mass of curls tied back with a loose pink ponytail holder, catches Celestia in her arms.

"He's not worth it, Celestia." The girl says in a monotoned voice.

"Touch me and my family's lawyers will have you pinned under the jail by midnight!" Tommy hisses back.

The curly-haired girl glares at Tommy "You're not the only one in this room with an army of lawyers, Tommy." She says, and her voice is icier than before. "So, watch it."

"Is that a threat, "Falconey"?" Tommy says.

A boy, who looks nearly identical to curly girl says, "Leave her alone, Tommy."

Well, they're definitely twins.

All of a sudden, one of the boys shoves the curly boy into Tommy. Tommy turns and swings at the curly guy, but he ducks, and Tommy hits another guy instead. Within seconds, the guys are in an all-out brawl.

In response, the girls start up too. They're mostly shrieking and pushing each other, but some are yanking at their dates arms or beating guy's backs with their hands or purses. A bunch of kids from other parts of the room rush toward us.

I grip my clutch tightly and try to back away from the fray, but someone knocks into me and the next thing I know, I am on the ground dodging sharp heels.

Him:

I didn't see who started this melee but some kid who I don't know takes a swing at me. I quickly dodge him and subtly push his body so that he flies into a table with his own inertia. I begin moving quickly through the herd of guys.

I glance at the wall clock.

11:29 pm.

And then down at mine. 11: 34 pm.

Strange that the wall clock is getting even slower.

As I reach the edge of the guys, I see that the group of girls is shoving and pushing too. Immediately, my eyes search for her.

"Selina!" I yell, making my way fully out of the mayhem and over to the girls' gathering. "Selina!" I call and frantically search the group of girls, but I don't see her.

Just as I am trying to formulate a plan, I see a bunch of girls yipping and tumbling over grabbing at their ankles. As they tumble, a small path is cleared, and I see Selina crawling from beneath them with one of her clawed gloves on.

"Selina! Are you okay?" I ask as I reach out my hand and pull her up from the ground.

"Fine," she says and yanks her white hair-tie away from her head. "But, my dress sure isn't."

I look down at her dress and see that the white skirt is now splotched with dust, dirt and who knows what else.

"Please, don't worry." I say and glancing over at the kids still brawling, I pull Selina's body tightly against my side. At least now my white dress shirt will be ruined, in kind. "We can buy a new one." I add, as I maneuver us towards the tables which are mostly toppled over at this point.

Selina looks at her white hair tie which is completely covered in dirt and tosses it toward the ice sculpture puddle. "No biggie. It's not like I have anywhere else to wear a fancy dress to."

I feel a stab of guilt. I know it wasn't meant as a complaint, but she wanted to leave. I convinced her to stay and help me and now we're stuck in a gymnasium for hours, waiting for the police with a bunch of emotionally charged and apparently violent teenagers.

One of whom might be a killer.

"Selina, I'm s-"

A loud whistle rings out and I see the four security guards yanking apart the boys and herding the girls away.

We look over at the dais and see the blonde teacher, standing beside Principal Row and yelling in a soft, soothing voice, "Children, please! Please! We know that this is an emotional time for everyone, but please for all of our sakes, try to remain calm."

The security guards are busy herding kids into different parts of the gym. One turns and spots me and Selina and heads towards us.

"Hey, we weren't a part of that mess!" Selina hisses, and I feel her digging her clawed glove into my arm.

"Selina…" I start cautiously, and the security guard shakes his head at us.

"Doesn't matter who was a part of it. We need to keep everyone contained."

The guard reaches for Selina and before I can say a word, she angrily swipes a claw at him and scratches his hand.

"Ahhhh!" the guard screams as he holds up his bleeding hand.

Then, pulling out a gun and pointing it squarely at Selina, he yells:

"She's got a knife!"