Chapter 7

Ren scowled and marched off when I suggested saying yes to Louis. She didn't believe I'd actually do it, but she was more than a little upset that I'd even say such a thing. I had no sympathy for her whatsoever by this point though, and the fact that she could claim to be hurt by a comment and yet completely disregard the hurt I felt at the forced secrecy of our relationship only made me angrier.

Then came the day we'd all been waiting for, the day of the dance. I spent several hours getting ready for it, very out of character for me, who despises social activities of this sort. But I wanted to make sure Louis didn't change his mind, felt the need to bait him, so to speak. Not a shining moment for me, if I may say so. But anger can do strange things, the need for vengeance, however spiteful, can overwhelm even the most level-headed of us. Emotion somehow always overtakes reason. Such a notion is incredibly disconcerting to the more pragmatic among us, namely me. And Ren, for that matter. She's quite practical, though not so much as me. (On a normal day that is, don't take the events I'm unfolding here into account because as I've made clear I was acting out of anger, neglect, and a million other feelings swelling with in me. The girl was driving me mad!)

I didn't speak to Ren all of that day, and as I waited for my date to arrive, I wondered if she'd show up at the dance. It wouldn't have surprised me. She'd say it was to keep and eye on me-- which I would take as questioning my faithfulness, and therefore would take offence, even though I was going with her brother and intending to engage in a steadier relationship with him afterwards. So, I entirely fit the description for unfaithful, at least in my book, but that didn't give her the right to accuse me of it. In my confused, and angry opinion, anyway. This was my logic, no matter how irrational it may seem. What can I say? Emotions will be the death of me…

Soon enough the doorbell rang. I pulled the door open to find Louis, smiling, quite nicely done up, with a bouquet of red roses.

"Thanks," I said, as he gave them to me.

"Shall we?" he asked, in a mock gentlemanly voice.

"We shall," I replied, slipping my arm through his and heading out to his car.

He took me to dinner, Italian to be specific. Surprisingly he managed to get all his food in his mouth and not one speck of tomato sauce on his crisp white shirt. A truly impressing feat for Louis Stevens, let me tell you.

We arrived at the dance and things went basically as expected: lame music was played, bad punch was served…

And Ren was there.

She was bitterly sitting at the far end of the gym, not at all dressed up despite the 'formal' requirements. No doubt Wexler had let her in regardless. The man had actually switched school's to be her principal, it wasn't that extraordinary. She wore a maroon colored button up shirt and brown cords. She didn't move hardly at all throughout the evening. Her eyes seemed fixed on me, her chin resting in her hand, elbow resting on her crossed arms.

I wondered, if she planned to check my behavior… if I kissed Louis would she do anything? No, I assumed. She would complain to me later, but she certainly would not intervene.

I caught myself watching her so frequently, checking to see if she was watching me, I would tell myself, that I was surprised Louis never noticed. But then, I was wearing a red dress that I knew would have both of the Stevens' eyes glued to my figure, slight as it may be. They both had a strong attraction to red… it intrigued me from a psychological perspective.

As I've said before, I didn't know then that Ruby was aware of the situation between Ren and I, but looking back I noticed she was hovering around Ren, glancing in my direction and awful lot, whispering things to Ren. I hadn't thought anything of it, assuming ruby was just trying to get Ren involved or something. I remember thinking how strange Ren's behavior must've seem to everyone else.

Louis left to get punch and I took a seat at a table close to the center of the room. I made a deliberate effort to keep my eyes of Ren and concentrate, debate the decision that lay before me. Feeling a bit like Raskolnikov, teetering between emotions and decisions, I found myself torn on the Louis issue. If he asked me and I said yes, it would be out of spite. And not only was that possibly unnecessarily cruel to Ren, but it wasn't too nice to Louis either. But if I said no, Ren might just continue going about things the way we had been. And I couldn't have that. There had to be a change. And I had a very specific one in mind.

Suddenly, I heard Louis's voice on the microphone. "Excuse me, everyone…"

The room was silent.

"Thank you," He began in an old-man voice. "Some of you may remember years ago the time I broke up a wedding at a Sadie Hawkins dance to be with the girl I wanted, well today I came with that girl and so there's no need for that…" He got a few laughs and phased out the voice, resuming his normal one. "Anyway, Tawny Dean has been the object of my affection for sometime. As many of you may know, we were voted Cutest Couple in the 8th grade year book. Well, we haven't been together for awhile now and I would really like to fix that. So, I-- yes I am now getting to the point-- Tawny, I still love you, I always will, and I'd really love another chance with you. What do you say?"

I managed to steal a glance at Ren, who remained wholly unmoving before the spotlight landed on me, though it seemed to me I could see her eyed burning.

Part of me couldn't refuse him, especially not in front of everyone like this. Part of me still wanted to hurt Ren. But part of me was battling full force against doing that to her. Did she really deserve it?

I can't remember exactly what the last thoughts that raced through my mind in the seconds between the light hitting me and my answer, all I know is what I said.

"Yes."