13. Halo
Remember those walls I built
Well, baby, they're tumbling down
And they didn't even put up a fight
They didn't even make a sound
I found a way to let you win
But I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo
I got my angel now
-Halo, Beyoncé
That night after Edward asked me to the dance, I hopped on the group chat and told the girls all about it. Jade said that she just knew that it was going to happen, making me roll my eyes. My stomach did this fluttery thing every time that I remembered that he'd wanted to take me. It wasn't something that I'd mentioned, that he'd begrudgingly agreed to, he'd gone out of his way to let me know that he wanted to take me.
My excitement level over a dance that I'd originally thought was stupid, skyrocketed. Instead of internally groaning every time one of the girls mentioned the upcoming formal, I gushed with them.
I wince as my mom puts the final bobby pin in my hair. I've lost count how many she's been able to force in there, and I don't look forward to trying to fish them out at the end of the night.
"Mom, really?" I eye the hairspray that she's picked up, again, wondering how there was any left in the can. I'm pretty sure that she's going to be responsible for the next hole in the ozone. "More hairspray?"
She gives me 'mom' brow, "Do you want the curls to last all night?"
I sigh, as she sprays another ten pounds of the stuff in my hair, gagging as I inhale some of it.
"There," mom says, finally putting the hairspray back on her bathroom counter, "all done."
I look up at my reflection, my eyes going wide, because I look pretty… and like a grownup. Mom curled my hair, putting half of it up. The makeup that she's applied makes my brown eyes look even more brown. I look like a more sophisticated version of myself. Much more like myself than I did on Halloween. I feel like me, just more… teenager-y.
"Here," Mom turns my head to face hers, applying a small amount of lip gloss on my lips, "there. That's perfect." She smiles at her work, proud of the job that she's done. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks, Mom." I smile at her.
"You picked a beautiful dress, Bella. It makes you look like a young lady."
My dress is a jewel toned teal with a ruched overlapping bust. The ruching along the waist, gave an illusion of a sash, a rhinestone accent in the center. The high-low skirt was flowy, almost looking like something that Marilyn Monroe would wear. I've paired it with rhinestone earrings and heels.
This is the moment that I hear my mom sniff and wipe at her eyes.
"Are you crying?" I asked, surprised.
She shakes her head, getting herself together. "You don't look like a kid anymore. You look like a teenager. It just hit me that you're going to be graduating middle school in a few weeks, then you'll be off to high school. It happened so fast. My babies are growing up, and I don't know how to handle that."
I turn, enveloping her in a hug, because I don't know what else to do. "You're not going to make me take an obnoxious number of pictures, are you?"
I hear her chuckle, "Of course, I am!"
I groan, even though I'm smiling.
Once, Mom and I make it downstairs, Emmett is already in the living room, wearing his suit that's usually reserved for the few times we go to church. Mom and Dad make us take a ton of pictures together. I try not to gag when we're asked to put our arms around each other, and to pretend like we like each other. The jerk pinches me, hard, on the back. I slap him hard on the back in retaliation, all while keeping a smile on my face.
Rose and her mom arrive shortly after our photo shoot. She looks gorgeous in her knee length dark purple, sparkly dress, her long hair flowing down her back. Then, it's another round of freaking pictures of her and Emmett together, then of me and her. By this point, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to go blind because of all the flashes.
A little before six, when the doorbell rings, my heart sputters, butterflies swarming my stomach as Dad answers the door.
Edward walks in, and my jaw almost hits the floor. He's wearing a black suit with no tie, and his hair in perfectly in place, most likely his mother's doing. He looks like he just stepped out of a movie.
"Oh, you look so handsome!" Mom gushes, taking a picture of him right there in the doorway, without any warning, and I want a hole to open up and suck me down.
"Mom!" I fuss, feeling my face heat. "At least let him come inside, first!"
As his eyes find mine, the irritation that I'm feeling slowly fades away as a slow smile spreads across his face, and I feel myself turn into a pile of goo but is anyone really surprised.
"You look beautiful," he looks at me like he's dazed, and I feel a little proud that I was able to make him dazed for once.
I look bashfully down at my feet, "Thanks. You look like nice, too."
Mom proceeds to make us stand in front of the fireplace, so she can take an inordinate number of pictures. He's wearing more cologne than normal, and I want to drown in his scent.
"Can we be done yet? I kind of would like to get there before the dance ends," I groan out after what felt like the thousandth picture. I'm getting antsy, more than ready to get out of here.
She sighs, finally putting the camera down, "Fine."
Finally, we're able to get out of the house. Mom drove us, all four of piling into the backseat. The closer that we got to the school, the more nervous I get. I've never been to a dance before, and I don't really know how to dance. Not to mention, I'm wearing high heels for the first time in my life, and there's a fear that I'll fall on my butt in front of everyone, making a fool out of myself. I already tripped at least three times before I left the house…
The parking lot's full of cars, dropping students off. Claire and Alice are already standing on the sidewalk with their dates, Jared and Peter. Quil and Jasper are here, too. But they've decided to come stag. All the guys are wearing the equivalent to what Edward is. Some have chosen not to skip the tie, though. All the girls are wearing pretty dresses with their hair and makeup done. The entire eighth grade class has done a one-eighty from the jeans and t-shirts that they'd been wearing when they left school earlier in the day.
Mom comes to a stop, so we can get out and I take a deep breath, Emmett opening the door to the back.
As I follow behind Rose to get out of the car, I trip on my own feet. If it isn't for Edward's stabilizing hand that comes around the top of my arm, I would've fallen face first onto the asphalt. My face heats, and it doesn't help that some of the people that saw, start to laugh quietly to themselves.
"You okay?" Edward's voice is laced with concern, no ounce of amusement on his face.
I nod, running my hands over myself to make sure that everything is still in place. "I'm fine. Embarrassed, but I'm fine."
"Shall we?" he offers me his hand, which I gladly except.
As we make our way over to the rest of the group, one of my heels catches on the concrete, causing me to stumble. Again. When Mom suggested that I wear flats, I glared at her, telling her that I can handle wearing heels. After all, they aren't tall, maybe an inch and a half. Not too bad. Except, they kept trying to kill me.
I'm sure that I am going to have a concussion before the night is over!
"Oh, you look so pretty!" Alice gushes, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she claps her hands. She and Claire are wearing identical dresses. They're sweetheart, spaghetti strapped, with a touch of glitter, which seemed to be the theme. Except, Alice's was bright, almost highlighter, pink. Claire's was white. I'm surprised Alice hadn't made her own dress for the occasion.
"You, too."
"So," Jasper starts, "is anyone going to explain to me why they made Monte Carlo the theme of a dance for fourteen-year-old's? We can't even gamble."
The theme really didn't make sense. When they announced it, I originally thought that they'd been joking. It doesn't make sense.
"It is kind of random," Quil agrees, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
When the administration came out and announces that we can finally enter the cafeteria, where the dance is being held, there's a mass stampede.
The tables have been folded up and moved to one side of the room, creating a dance floor. There's a table full of snacks and drinks by the entrance. The main lights are off and decorations, that you can easily find at Dollar Tree, hanging from the ceiling and tapped to the walls. But there is a DJ, which I hadn't been expecting. To be honest, I thought the night was going to be filled with the chaperones playing CDs of songs that they thought were popular, but really weren't.
At first, I don't notice the eyes of every girl on me and Edward. When I do notice, I think they're staring because something's wrong with my hair, or my dress. It takes me a minute to figure out that they're staring at my date… because they've never seen him before.
"All the girls are staring at you," I whisper to him, watching him blush.
"No, they're not," his eyes dart uncomfortably around, and I half expect him to rock back on heels, which seems to be the thing that he does when he's feeling uneasy.
I snicker. When we're at my house, he's confident and cocky, but around other people, he's like me. Shy, awkward, and like he very much wants to be the color of the walls.
"What?" his wild eyes meet mine.
I shrug a shoulder, "It's just nice to know that you're human every once and a while."
He bends down and kisses me on the cheek, causing me to blush. And for about half of the girls to whisper to each other.
The night is filled with loud music and lots of fourteen-year-old's that think they can dance, but mainly just shuffle around the dance floor pretending to have rhythm. Edward, like I predicted, was able to talk me into dancing. It wasn't too bad. I only step on his feet once… okay, five times. Or more.
Some of the girls, come up to us, introducing themselves to him, which he deflects. It's kind of satisfying to see Lauren's snotty face drop when he says that he's my boyfriend.
I think that I'm in the clear, when the night's almost over, and they haven't played a slow song. But, when Beyoncé's Halo starts to play through the speakers, I know that my luck has run out.
All the other couples around us, including Alice and Peter, and Claire and Jared, were snuggled up against each other, rocking back and forth. I stand here frozen.
"Why don't we take a break?" I offer, weakly.
Edward lifts a brow at me, "Don't you want to dance with me?" he offers me his hand.
"I've never slow danced."
"Neither have I."
"But… I stepped on your foot, and that wasn't even when we slow dancing. Imagine how much damage I could do if we're closer together?"
He snickers, "Come on, I can ice my feet later."
I eye his hand, taking it tentatively, letting him pull me to him.
"You put your hands here," he places them on his shoulders. "and I put mine here," his come to rest at my waist. "See, not so bad."
"Not so bad," I mumble, my eyes meeting his soft green ones. I feel something bubbling up in my chest that I can't name, seeing him look at me like that.
I find myself relaxing into his hold, letting the lyrics of the song wash over me. The more I listen, the more it seems like the song was written for us. Especially when she sings about walls crumbling down. I burrow myself into his chest, my head resting on his shoulder.
I'm really happy that he talked me into coming tonight.
When the night's over, I'm carrying my heels in my hand, my feet aching and blistered, but it was totally worth it. Edward's holding my hand as we make our way to the car. Rose and Emmett are already inside, her head resting on his shoulder.
I don't even try to stifle the cheek splitting grin when Edward's arm comes around my shoulders, pulling me snugly into his side.
We drop Rose off at her house, since it's on the way. My brother plays the part of the perfect gentleman, walking her to her door and kissing her quickly, before making his way, shyly back to the car. It's weird for me to see my brother shy, and very clearly smitten.
"Thank you for talking me into going tonight," I comment as Edward walks me to the door.
"My pleasure," he smiles crookedly at me, coming into kiss me.
"Ew!" Emmett cries as he bounds up the stairs after us, "that is so gross!"
I glare at him when we part. Mom's nice enough to lag behind, giving us a minute to say goodnight. "Shut up!" I shove him in the chest, causing him to lose his breath. I turn back to Edward, all smiles, like I didn't just slug my brother in the gut. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," he walks slowly down the stairs, saying a polite, quiet goodnight to Mom as she comes up the stairs.
Dad's sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV when we walk in.
"Have fun?" he calls.
"Yeah," Emmett calls back, bounding up the stairs.
"It was fun," I add, biting my lip as the cheek splitting grin makes its reappearance. I feel like I'm floating as I make my way to my room.