Chapter 11: The party
The summer holidays were pretty boring for Piper. She read a lot and enjoyed the holiday at the beach. At the beach over their holidays she noticed even more than the year before that the boys were checking her out. Some eventually found some courage and asked her for a date and sometimes she said yes to escape the boringness of the day for a bit. It was nice but she never went further than maybe a small kiss after the date. When they were back home her mother asked her to come to the country club with her. She first agreed but after the first time she had gone with her mother she stayed at home, thinking at least there it wasn't as boring as in that club. Soon they went back home anyway and at some point started school again. This year there was a new girl in her class, Polly, who just moved to the town. It happened that the seat next to Piper was free and Polly chose to be her seatmate.
"Hi. I'm Piper." she quickly introduced herself when the brunette girl sat down.
"Polly." she answered. Then class started.
"If you want I can show you around?!" Piper offered after the bell rung.
"That would be great. Thank you!" Polly smiled at her with a little surprise visible in her face. Obviously she hadn't expected an offer like that.
"Did you move here over the summer break?" Piper started the conversation.
"Yeah. Both my parents found new jobs around here so we had to move." Polly replied.
The two of them kept chatting as Piper showed Polly around. Piper found quite soon that she liked the other girl and thought that maybe they could become friends and she wouldn't be so lonely anymore. And that was just how it happened. Polly was happy to find a friend at her new school so easily and Piper was happy about their new friendship too.
Piper was really surprised when about a month after school started again Michael Smith asked her out. He was two years older and she couldn't believe that the 16 year old would ask her on a date. Plus she had to admit that he was cute. So she agreed. They went out a couple of times and she liked him. About two months later the schools fall party was organized and the whole school was excited to see who went there with whom. Piper didn't really like those kind of events so she didn't really want to go.
Polly stayed over at her place about two weeks before the school party and they were chatting in Piper's room.
"So are you gonna go?" Polly asked.
"I don't really want to." Piper replied. Things would be awkward. And Piper was her former cliques new favourite gossip subject so she wasn't keen on seeing them at any party again where they would give her looks that she always felt to be very condescending. And at those situations she wondered again and again how she could have been friends with them for so long.
"Surely Michael wants to go?!" Polly tested.
"I don't know. I haven't asked him." Piper answered honestly.
"What? It's like two weeks away, Piper!" Polly was surprised.
"I know. But I guess I haven't asked him, because I don't really want to go?!" she said.
"Do it now!" Polly demanded.
"Okay, okay. I'll text him." Piper said and did just that.
"Plus I want to go and I don't know many people beside you. Please help a friend?!" Polly said.
"Why do you want to go in the first place?" Piper questioned. "If you don't know anyone?"
"Well most parties are fun usually. Plus it's a way to get to know more people? Maybe find someone I could go out with? Seeing you with Michael makes me want to have a boyfriend too." the brunette replied.
Just then the text from Michael arrived saying he would like to go if she wanted too.
"See. I told you. He wants to." Polly said.
"If I wanted to. And I don't really want to." Piper argued.
"Please do it for me and your boyfriend!" Polly begged.
"Ugh. Okay. But you owe me. I'm only doing this for you really to be honest." Piper gave in.
"Thank you!" Polly screamed in excitement.
"So. What to wear?" Polly wondered. "Uh. I know what. We'll go shopping!" she said like this was the best day of her life.
XXXXX
"So how do you think about this school party?" Nicky asked one afternoon when she and Alex were hanging out.
"Nothing much. I can't understand the excitement, plus, I don't care, cause I'm not going." the black haired girl answered.
"Why? It's the event of the year." Nicky laughed.
"It's going to boring as fuck." Alex replied. "Plus I don't want to see Piper with that prick Michael." she added.
"Making you jealous? You've never liked anyone she ever went out with. I mean are you guys still friends even? You barely have any contact and weren't really talking either." Nicky said.
"I'm not jealous! I just know he doesn't deserve her." Alex answered defensively.
"Nobody she's ever been with was good enough in your opinion. Let her decide that!" Nicky exclaimed. Then she added wide eyed as if she just realized. "Oh my god. You have a crush on her! You like her! That's why you can't stand anyone she's dating."
"No. I don't. I don't have a crush and I don't like her. At least not like that!" Alex denied. "I just know she is way too good to be with the idiots she chose so far. We grew up together like sisters. I can just not not care, you know?!"
"Whatever you need to tell yourself…" Nicky mumbled but Alex understood her nonetheless.
"Shut up." she just returned.
"But whatever. You're going to that party with me." Nicky stated.
"No, I'm not. Didn't you listen at all?" Alex said annoyed.
"Yes you are. First of all my mom makes me go and I don't want to go so I need your support. Second you need some distraction." Nicky insisted.
"You can't make me." Alex said stubbornly.
"We'll see." Nicky just said.
XXXXX
"Oh what a gorgeous dress!" her mother exclaimed as Piper came down to be picked up by Michael for the school's fall party.
"Thanks mom." Piper replied. Good thing Michael was old enough to drive so he came to her parents and picked her up.
"You look beautiful Piper." he said as he saw her.
"Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself." she gave back.
"Let's go then!" he said and they got into the car.
When they arrived there was a lot going on already. Piper saw many of her classmates and others arriving or going in. She saw Polly already standing close to the front door literally just waiting for them to arrive.
"Hey guys." she greeted them.
"Hey Polly." Piper greeted back. They went in. Everything was decorated nicely. They had made a real effort to cover most walls with coloured leaves in the fall colours from yellow over orange to a darker red. It looked amazing.
"Wow. They really went all out." Piper stated.
"More than the last years?" Polly asked.
"I wouldn't know." was Piper's short answer.
"Why?" Polly wanted to know.
"I stayed at home." "Really?" "Yeah. Also my mom thought I wasn't old enough to go to a party like that."
That seemed to surprise Polly. When they were in the sports hall which functioned as the main dance floor Piper looked around and found many familiar faces. Classmates, Mary, Brooke, Brit and Sarah stood in a group not far from the entrance giving her mean looks and a few more people that she recognized. Further away on the other side of the hall she saw a head of frizzy hair and was that - no it couldn't be! It looked like Alex was at the party as well. Piper hadn't thought she'd see Alex here. She never seemed to like a party like that. And again it hurt Piper to notice that she obviously didn't know a few things about the person she'd have sworn to know the best.
Soon they had adjusted to the noise and general loudness and Michael asked Piper to dance. That was what actually filled the most of the evening - dancing. Every now and then they took a break and Michael was so nice to get the girls drinks - of course all of them were non-alcoholic.
Later Michael asked Piper if they wanted to go outside and get some fresh air to which Piper happily agreed. So they went outside to a rather secluded area where barely any other student happened to be.
"It's been a great evening, dancing with you and all that." Michael said and smiled at her.
"Yeah. It has been. I actually didn't really want to go at first. Polly convinced me. In hindsight it wasn't a bad decision to come here." Piper smiled. Michael closed the distance between them and kissed her.
XXXXX
She didn't expect it, but Alex indeed had some fun at the party. She and Nicky danced and had fun. It hadn't surprised her much to see Piper with Michael and her new friend Polly arriving a little bit after her and Nicky. She looked amazing and wore a dress that suited her perfectly. It took Alex a little by surprise when she noticed her own thoughts but she had to be honest. Piper looked good now that the last childlike characteristics had left her face and she had grown into a beautiful young teenager. Sure, she was still developing but Alex was sure she'd be a beautiful woman when she'd be older. She was already beautiful now.
It annoyed her a little when she saw Piper and Michael leaving after they had been dancing for a while. She told herself it didn't bother her. But honestly she didn't really want to think about what was probably going on.
"I'm going to go outside. I need a break and fresh air." she shouted over the loud music towards Nicky who was more or less in a conversation with a girl from her class. As far as you could have a conversation in this surrounding.
"You want me to come with you?" Nicky wanted to know.
"Nah. It's okay." Alex said and went outside. The fresh air felt heavenly. So much oxygen and it wasn't as hot as inside. She enjoyed it for a bit and decided to walk around to not get cold and stand there like an idiot. Shortly after she started her walk she also enjoyed the quietness and thought it was a really good idea to get out of the sports hall for a bit. That's when she heard a quiet sobbing not too far away. Was somebody crying around here somewhere? She started to walk towards where she thought the noise was coming from when she saw -
"Piper!" she recognized the blonde immediately. She was cowered close to the wall with tears running down her cheeks. When she heard her name being called Piper looked up and it seemed she was surprised but also glad to see her.
"Al-l-lex." she sobbed. Alex closed the distance to pick her up from the ground.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I-I, W-we c-c-ame out-t h-he-re t-to g-get f-fr-fresh air, a-an-and …" Piper sobbed.
"Shh. Try to calm down a little and whenever you are ready you tell me." Alex pulled her closer and hugged her. It seemed to calm her -former?- best friend and they stayed like that for a bit, Alex stroking down Piper's arm to get her to calm down so she could tell what happened. Piper slowly stopped crying and eventually started speaking.
"We came out to have some fresh air. And it felt so good compared to the sticky, used air and it wasn't so hot out here." Piper started. "And then we stood here and talked a little. And then he kissed me."
"And you wanted that or not?" Alex cautiously asked.
"I did. I mean it wasn't the first time. But then he, you know, wanted more. But I didn't. And he…" Piper started shaking a little and Alex noticed the tears coming back.
"Shh." she hugged Piper and tried to calm her. That's when she saw that part of Piper's dress was ripped. "What the… Piper please tell me that he didn't …" her voice broke.
Piper looked confused for a second but when she followed Alex's eyes that were still glued to the ripped part of her dress she immediately knew what had come to Alex's mind.
"No. No. No! I think that must've happened when I pushed him off me." she quickly assured her. "He didn't…. " she didn't go on.
"Thank god. I really want to hurt this fucking asshole though." Alex got angry now.
"Don't Alex. He's not worth the trouble. When I pushed him away he just called me a fucking tease and left." Piper said quietly but felt flattered that Alex suddenly got so protective of her.
"Okay. Come. I'll bring you home." Alex said, stood up and hold out a hand for Piper to help her up.
"Thank you." Piper took Alex's hand and got up. They started walking. Alex quickly send Nicky a text that she was leaving as she was bringing Piper home. They walked quietly for a while.
"A lot of things changed, huh?" Alex started.
"Yeah. How come we grew apart like this?" Piper chuckled and Alex was happy to hear it after the earlier sobs.
"Growing up I guess. Developing different interests, being in different classes, not having the same friends. Even though I think Nicky would still call you her friend. We just spent so little time together. Or better you with us." Alex said.
"That's quite a list but yeah, I guess. Can we go back though? I miss you. And Nicky. I miss having friends." Piper said almost sad.
"Sure we can. I would like that. I thought you are friends with that new girl now. Holly?" Alex asked.
"Polly actually. And yeah. But it's not the same." Piper chuckled at the nickname.
"By the way what happened with you and the collection of brats you used to hang out with?" Alex asked laughingly. It made Piper laugh too. She really missed this. The more she talked to Alex the more she realized how much she had in fact missed it, their easy communication, that they just understood each other without big explanations.
"Well, it took me quite long but I eventually found that they weren't nice people." Piper laughed.
"That's right. But what happened though, they were saying really mean things after you left the group about you. Like you were the worst enemy." Alex chuckled.
"Well they said a few mean things. And I might have insulted them just how they insulted others." Piper replied.
"That didn't stop you from being friends with them earlier. But beat them with their own weapons. Nice." Alex looked at her admiringly.
"Well before that one 'incident' I knew it wasn't right but I ignored it. But the time I really snapped they were insulting and saying mean things about you. I just couldn't take it anymore. That's why I told them the truth. That you are way nicer and a much better person than all four of them combined." Piper laughed at the memory but was also a little nervous how Alex would react to that.
"I.. That's…" Alex didn't know what to say. She was surprised by the blondes confession to say the least. "I guess I should say thank you my dear knight for defending my honour." she eventually said.
"You're welcome." Piper laughed at Alex's antics. Soon they arrived at Piper's house. The lights were out which meant that her family was probably asleep already.
"You want to come up?" Piper offered. "If you want you could stay over like old times."
"I would like that." Alex replied and they went to Piper's room.
They quickly got changed. Piper lent Alex clothes to sleep in and they quickly brushed their teeth and cuddled into Piper's bed.
"Thank you, Alex." Piper said quietly and sleepily.
"What for?" she asked surprised.
"For bringing me home. Listening to me and being there for me. For being my friend." Piper answered. Alex saw how her eyelids got heavier.
"There's nothing to thank me for. I'd gladly do that for you anytime." Alex replied. "Now sleep. Good night, Pipes."
"Good night Alex." she replied half sleeping and then she drifted off.
Alex looked at her friend lying next to her like that. She looked so cute and peaceful. Although she felt tired too she couldn't fall asleep yet. What she just noticed now and might have been there the whole evening was that tingly feeling in her stomach. When she looked over to Piper it intensified and she felt weirdly giddy. Alex's eyes went wide. No. She knew that feeling. Could Nicky be right? Did she have a crush on Piper? She couldn't. Piper wasn't into girls. 'That will lead to nothing but heartbreak.' Alex thought. This couldn't be happening. But the feeling was there and she couldn't really deny it. Alex kept thinking about it for a while but eventually fell asleep
Piper woke up first and smiled when she saw Alex sleeping next to her. She was happy they could go back to being friends.
"Good morning, Pipes. Stop staring at me. It's creepy." Alex said without even opening her eyes.
"Good morning. I wasn't actually…" Piper quickly replied but blushed anyway.
Just then as if timed both girl's stomachs were grumbling.
"Guess that means breakfast." Piper laughed and got up.
"Ugh. How do you get up so fast?" Alex asked a little grumpy.
"Well first I stretch and I sit up, move one leg out of the bed, then the other and the rest of the body follows somehow." Piper said trying to keep a straight face.
"Stop being cute." Alex said and cursed herself internally immediately.
'Did she just call me cute?' Piper thought surprised. "I'm not cute!" she exclaimed.
"Whatever." Alex just mumbled and slowly crawled out of bed.
They had breakfast and Alex went home after. Piper would have loved if she could have stayed longer but Alex had promised her mom to watch her little brother that day when she and Louis went to buy a few things and probably stayed out a bit longer.
Later that day Diane and Louis got back home. Alex and Felix were playing Looping Louie, Felix's favourite game, in the living room.
"Hey you two. How was your day?" Diane asked smiling widely.
"Great. We played so many different games." Felix said smiling widely. He had enjoyed the day with his big sister a lot.
"That sounds amazing." Louis said.
"Looks like we've raised ourselves the perfect babysitter." Diane said jokingly.
"Thanks ma!" Alex exclaimed in mock hurt.
"You know I'm joking. I love you, my baby." Diane said.
"Ugh, stop. I'm not your baby." Alex said.
"It doesn't matter how big you are, you always will be." Diane retorted.
"Not embarrassing at all, mom." Alex said and went to her room. Diane laughed.
A while later Diane knocked on Alex's door. "May your ever so embarrassing mother come in?" she asked.
"Sure." Alex shortly said.
"You okay honey?" Diane asked.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Alex replied.
"Don't be a smartass. Something has been on your mind. You are behaving differently today." Diane said. "Did something happen at the school party yesterday?"
"No. Yes. Ugh." Alex didn't really know what to say but eventually realized that it might be time to tell her mom about her liking girls. She slowly started telling her about how she had found Piper the day before. That was what was on her mind first at the moment and maybe she'd eventually collect all the courage she had to tell Diane the other thing on her mind.
"So I brought her home and we talked. It was nice talking to Piper again." Alex smiled.
"I can imagine. You missed her, didn't you?!" Diane asked.
"Yes. But now it's good." Alex said.
"That's great. I'm happy you got your friend back. I missed her too you know?" Diane said.
"Guess you'll see her more often again now." Alex chuckled.
"Yay." Diane laughed. "Dinner is ready soon when you want to join us." she said and got up to go to the living room.
"Wait. Mom." Alex quickly said before she pulled back and changed her mind about telling her mom. "There's something else I've been meaning to tell you."
"Yeah? What is it, hon? You know you can tell me anything." Diane said and looked at her daughter. Her eyes were filled with love and it assured Alex a lot. Still she was nervous as never before.
"I .. I like uhm, I like girls." she quickly said. And added. "I am gay." It was out. She finally just ripped that band aid off.
"Oh honey. That's nothing to be so nervous about. Although I can understand that you are. But it's okay. It doesn't matter. We love you. And If you told us that you like little green aliens then that would have been okay too." Diane laughed. "You're still my amazing, smart and kind daughter that I love more than I can describe. I can promise you your dad will tell you the same. It doesn't matter if it's a boy or girl you like as long as you're happy. I love you." Diane reassured her.
Alex felt like a stone fell from her heart. She had worried about that moment for quite some time now. But she was so relieved. "Thank you mom. I love you too"
"I'm glad you finally found the words to tell me." Diane said.
"Wait, what? You …" Alex was dumbfounded.
"I had a feeling. And I thought I was sure but I wanted you to come to me whenever you were ready. Don't forget I'm your mother. I know you like no one else."
"I don't know what to say." Alex replied.
"No need to. Do you want to tell your dad or should I?" Diane asked before leaving the room.
"I'll do it." Alex said.