CHAPTER 12

It was Sunday, which could only mean one thing: today was the dance. Brianna hammered on the bathroom door.

"Rose! Hurry UP! You've been hours in there!" There were no lessons on a Sunday, which meant everyone had the whole day to get ready. Rose had seemingly taken that as a challenge. "Rooseeee! Let me IN!" Called Brianna, getting annoyed now. It was 3 o'clock; Rose had dived in straight after lunch and hadn't shown her face since. Taylor had luckily gone to get ready with the other girls, but Brianna was still nervous. The dance started at 7 and she was still in her trackies, her hair in a ponytail and her face makeupless. Finally Rose opened the door and Brianna did a double take. She was wearing the dress they had bought the day before. It was champagne pink with a sweetheart neckline and had a large flower corsage on the left at her waist, with diamante decoration on the inside of it. On her feet she wore matching pink heels with bows on them and jewel encrusted heels. Her hair was in a side ponytail to rival Taylor Swift's and her nails were done in a French manicure. She wore pearl earrings and her make up was subtle but pretty. Rose laughed nervously as she saw Brianna's face.

"Do I look alright?" She asked nervously, and Brianna nodded enthusiastically.

"Omg you look amazing! Talen's gonna die when he sees you!" Rose looked confused for a moment.

"Talen?"

"Yeah, Talen…as in, your date?"

"Oh right, yeah…Talen…" Brianna fixed her with a weird look for a while, and then ran into the bathroom.

"Better get in quickly before you decide to lock me out for a few hours more…" She said shutting the door. Rose bit her lip and waited for the pinkness to fade from her cheeks. Talen was perfect, seriously fit as well as absolutely lovely, so why was Drake's reaction all she could think of as she got ready? And then she remembered she was supposed to be making him jealous and nodded her head vigorously.

"Yes, that was it. Trynna make him jealous."

"Who are you talking to?" Brianna called from the bathroom.

"Umm, no one!" Rose called back. Great, now she was talking to herself. She was DEFINITELY going mad…

Drake sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror and re-ruffled his messy blonde hair.

"Trynna impress Elle?" Caine asked coming out of the bathroom, looking dapper in an expensive looking open necked shirt showing off his toned chest and D&G suit trousers.

"Elle?" Drake asked, confused.

"Yeah Elle, the Barbie to your Ken? But to be honest you'd be better off with Barbie…" Drake shivered as he thought of his 'date'.

"Oh right…Elle…" He muttered. Weird how he'd been thinking of Rose as he looked in the mirror…he'd thought he'd got over her; after all, he'd been the one to end it. Ending it was supposed to get rid of the emotional bond between them, but apparently that wasn't the case…nah, he was probably just thinking of how jealous she would be. He was so over her. He checked himself out again, he really didn't want to go to this stupid dance, but if he had to then he supposed he'd better make the most of it. Impress…Elle. He was also wearing an open necked shirt but his was black and his outfit was just as expensive as Caine's. After nicking his Dad's credit card he may as well make the most of it. Caine glanced at the clock: 6:55.

"Well…better go and meet Diana…you coming?" Drake shrugged.

"Might as well…" And they both made their way towards the old school hall both feeling very different about the night ahead.

At 6:45 Brianna finally emerged from the bathroom looking very…un-Brianna. She was wearing a floaty midnight blue bandeau dress to match her eyes. It was cut diagonally at the bottom and showed off her toned legs from all the sport she did. She had silver heels, silver nails and her copper hair which was normally scraped back into a ponytail was down and curled. Now it was Rose's turn to gape.

"Finn's gonna fancy the pants off of you even more than usual!" Rose said and Brianna blushed.

"You think?" She said, looking nervous and shy, which was also very un-Brianna. Rose nodded, giving her a hug.

"I know." She said.

Drake was sitting at the side of the hall, sipping angrily on some non-alcoholic punch as he watched his classmates dancing to annoying music. Mind you, Drake found all music annoying, except one that had been played earlier. It was called Grenade or something by Bruno Neptune? Anyway, Drake had enjoyed listening to all the different ways the guy would kill himself, it had been quite entertaining. He'd only been there 10 minutes or so and already he wanted to catch a grenade, jump in front of a train or maybe take a bullet straight through his brain. Elle had asked him to dance quite a few times but he'd said no every time. She seemed to have finally got the message. He could not believe out of all the girls in the school he had asked her. And on top of that, he couldn't see Rose anywhere! So he'd gone to all that effort for nothing. But at least the idea of Talen being stood up was entertaining. Unfortunately, he was snapped out of that little fantasy by Caine and Diana walking over to him, holding hands. They'd just been dancing and looked very much in love…it made Drake sick.

"You may wanna look over to the door like, now." Said Diana and Drake whipped his head round to the entrance where he froze. There, walking down the steps holding hands with Talen Tatum was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. And he didn't even feel weird thinking that, it was just like stating a fact. She was laughing at something Talen had just said to her and Drake found his heart aching, wishing he had been the one making her laugh. Right then, Drake had never felt so mushy in his life, but there was nothing he could do about it. And it was then that he realised that he could push Rose away, but he would never be able to push away his feelings. A clicking sound brought him back to his senses and he forced himself to look away to see Diana holding her phone up and laughing. "N'aw, loved up Drake, must remember to show this to like…everyone!" And with that she skipped away, Caine following behind her like a lovesick puppy, and Drake sitting on his own, confused.

Rose collapsed onto a chair at the side of the hall after dancing with Talen for 4 songs straight. She scanned the room, unconsciously searching for one specific person that her conscious mind would never admit to be searching for. But then Talen arrived with drinks for them both and her attention turned to him.

"Thank you" She beamed, taking her drink. Talen couldn't keep his eyes off her.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" He asked and Rose laughed.

"You might have mentioned it a few times…" She smiled, biting her lip. Talen just gazed at her. Then a slow song came on and he stood up.

"Wanna dance?" He asked, and she allowed herself to be led once more onto the dance floor. As they swayed, her head on his shoulder, him singing along softly to the chorus (he was a very good singer) everything should have felt perfect. But it didn't. He looked amazing tonight, she thought, and apparently so did the majority of the other girls in the hall, because they were all sneaking jealous glances at the couple on the middle of the dance floor as they danced with their rather more average partners. The song finished and Rose went to pull away but Talen stayed where he was. He took her chin with one hand and tilted it up as he leant down and kissed her softly. Rose kissed him back but just then someone pushed Talen away from her. She looked up just in time to see Drake lift his arm back and swing at Talen's face with all his strength. Talen was taller and more muscular than Drake, but he didn't have anger and jealousy pumping through his bloodstream as Drake knelt over the now unconscious Talen, punching him again and again and again.

"STOP IT!" Rose screamed pushing Drake back and, surprisingly he let her. He just stopped, looking up at her, looking…sad. The hall had fallen silent and everyone was watching, waiting with baited breath to see what happened next. Drake stood up and walked over to Rose, neither of them taking their eyes of the other, both their hearts beating double time. Then Drake slapped her. Hard.

"What was that for?" She asked, clutching at her cheek, where a bright-red hand print was fast approaching. Drake gestured to the bloody boy lying on the floor.

"Kissing him." He said through gritted teeth. Then he took a step closer to Rose and kissed her.

"What was that for?" Rose whispered when he pulled away.

"Take me back?" Asked Drake.