Chapter 16!

FACING OUR FEARS

THE ANNUAL BEVERLY HILLS HIGH HALLOWEEN DANCE!
THIS FRIDAY IN THE GYMNASIUM, EIGHT TILL MIDNIGHT!
COME IN COSTUME!
HAVE A FANG-TASTIC TIME!

"Fang-tastic?" Eve cracked a smirk, as she and Rosa both scanned their eyes over the poster that was stuck on the announcement board in one of the many school hallways. "Well, that's original."

"I think the nerds on the Activities Committee came up with that one." Rosa giggled, as the pair began walking over to their adjacent lockers. "So this is your first dance at Beverly Hills High, you must be excited."

"Yeah, I guess so." Eve was a little nervous; her costume had to be kickass, and with only a couple of days to prepare, she was wondering how she was going to pull this one off. Back in Denver, she'd been the bell of any costume ball; her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume had been a real hit.

"You've still got plenty more to come." Rosa added, applying lipgloss in the mirror. "There's the Halloween dance, then Winter Formal after Christmas, then the Valentines Ball, then Homecoming Weekend where all the Bev alumni come back, and we finish the weekend with Spring Fling, where the Queen is elected."

"I'm thinking that's a title Maryse plans on taking." Eve grinned.

"Well, she did last year. In freshman year, somehow, Kelly Carlyle won. But that was when she was a cheerleader, and somehow, everyone got behind her and she won. It was insane; a bunch of the cheerleaders went on a backlash."

"Is that why Maryse and Kelly hate each other?" Eve asked, curiously. Kelly never liked to talk about the dissolution of her friendship with Maryse, so perhaps Rosa would be the one to fill her in.

"Kind of." Rosa shrugged. "I think Kelly was always after Maryse's spot, and Maryse wasn't willing to let that happen. Kelly stayed on the squad after her win, but there was a ton of tension between her and Maryse. Then Kelly got pregnant, and everyone saw what a whore Kelly Carlyle really was."

Eve wanted to fight back, and tell Rosa the truth, but she remembered Kelly's words - I'd rather have the degrading looks than the pitying ones - and decided to keep schtum, despite the irritation it caused her. Instead, Eve pulled open her locker, and noticed that on top of her textbook, a small piece of paper sat.

"What's that?" Rosa looked over Eve's shoulder.

The new girl shrugged, unfolding it and reading the familiar writing. 'Come to the dance with me? Jack XX' Eve instantly regretted publically opening it.

"Oh my God!" Rosa shrieked. "You and-" Before she could finish, Eve grabbed her fellow Latina by the arm, and dragged her into an empty classroom, hushing her down. "You and Jack?" She hissed.

"He likes me," Eve admitted, sitting down on one of the desks. "And I think I like him too, but I don't want anything serious, because of Maryse-"

Rosa raised an eyebrow at Eve, resting against the teacher's desk. "So it's just about sex?"

"No!" Eve quickly denied. "We haven't even been on a date! I need you to keep this a secret, Rosa; I'm gonna tell Maryse, just...in my own time. I can't exactly keep it from her, can I?"

Rosa folded her arms and huffed. Maryse was right; Jack did like Eve. "Fine," She muttered reluctantly. "But you need to tell Maryse! Or else I will."

"I'm going to tell her!" Eve protested. The sound of the bell ringing forced the girls out of the classroom, as they silently made their way towards their math classroom. Eve wanted to believe Rosa when she said she wouldn't tell Maryse, but something told her that might not be the case.

Setting his lunch tray down at the table, Kofi was greeted by a couple of members of the basketball team– and Miz, who now seemed to be a permanent fixture with their group – before happily digging into his burger, and all its meaty goodness. Kofi thought back on a documentary about cafeteria food his tech teacher in Colorado showed him in ninth grade; perhaps describing the burger as 'meaty' may not have been accurate.

"Hey Kofi," Dolph was the first to break the companionable silence, "You coming to the dance this Friday?"

"I dunno, man," Kofi replied with a shrug. "Alicia's not going because her parents are taking her back to Florida to visit her family, so I'd pretty much just be stood around by myself."

"I don't have a date," Dolph pointed out.

"Maybe you guys could go together," Miz chipped in with a smirk. Kofi didn't know Miz that well, but there was something about him that he didn't like, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Okay Wiseass, who are you going with?" Montel grinned in Miz's direction.

"This chick from the Catholic school." Miz responded, proudly, despite the fact this wasn't much of an achievement; some of those Catholic school girls were just gagging for some action. "She's called Lila, and she's a total hottie."

"You mean-" Dolph some sort of balloon-squeezing action, to suggest large breasts.

"Dude, if that's what you do to a girl, I'm glad you're not dating Eve." Kofi chuckled, exchanging a high five with Montel in the process.

"Is Eve going to the dance?" Miz cut in. He hadn't spoken to Eve since the incident at the party, but he wasn't exactly dwelling on it. If she was gonna hold a grudge, it was her problem, because he certainly wasn't. Before Kofi could even answer Miz's question, the 'chick magnet' jeered. "I didn't realise they let Skanky Carlyle back in school."

Kofi looked up from his burger to see Kelly sat on a nearby table with a couple of less popular girls; the blonde looked up from the book she was reading to see the prying eyes of the basketball team on her. She looked genuinely hurt; however she hid it behind her book.

"Miz, don't bother," Kofi muttered.

"What're you talking about? She loves it!" Miz jeered, getting up and walking over to Kelly. "You'll have anyone, won't you Kells?" He tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear, making her skin crawl.

"Get lost," She said, although her voice was barely audible.

"That's not what you were saying at the freshman homecoming-"

"That's enough!" Kofi got up from his seat, and stormed over to Kelly and Miz, literally removing Miz's hands from Kelly. "She told you to get lost."

"What do you care, Kingston?" Miz raised an eyebrow.

"I care..." Kofi valued Kelly's friendship too much to upset her anymore. "I care...I care because Kelly is my friend." He didn't care that people on nearby tables were watching him; they weren't important in that moment. A smile was forming on Kelly's face.

"You're friends?" Miz looked disgusted. "But she's-"

"She's fun, and nice, and she's hilarious," Kofi interrupted, looking down at Kelly in her seat. "And that's why I'm friends with her." He squared up to Miz, so the pair were face-to-face. "You got a problem with that?"

Miz didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed his backpack from the table, and stalked out of the cafeteria, scowling even more than before. He didn't need to say anything; his silence said it all.

Kofi turned back to the basketball team. "You guys got a problem?"

None of them said anything, until Montel spoke up. "It's cool, man." It was nice to know he had someone's approval. Kofi turned around to talk to Kelly, but the table was empty. Was all that for nothing?

Sitting herself down on a dry patch of grass in the school courtyard, Eve knew it was now a case of waiting. It was after school, so the campus was pretty quiet, except for the odd filter of students coming out of extra-curricular clubs. Eve had just finished giving a freshman girl Spanish tutoring – it looked great on college applications – and the library was closing soon, meaning Maryse would have to follow her out.

It was time to tell Maryse and her and Jack.

There were butterflies in Eve's stomach. She pressed down on her abdomen in an attempt to stop them, but that didn't work. She wasn't scared of Maryse, but the head cheerleader's approval had become more and more important to her, and dating Maryse's ex boyfriend would not gain her the approval she wanted.

"Hey, Maryse!" When Eve noticed the blonde exiting the library, she leapt to her feet to greet her.

"What're you doing here?" The blonde raised a questioning eyebrow at Eve, as she continued to walk out towards the parking lot, where her black Mercedes was parked. "You need a ride?"

Eve tilted her head in thought; Kofi had taken their car, and she could've made her own way – it was only a twenty minute or so walk – but this seemed like the perfect opportunity for the pair to talk. "Sure, that'd be awesome."

Neither one said anything, as they got into the car, put their seatbelts on, and as Maryse started the engine. The silence was soon stopped by the sound of Destiny's Child come on the radio. Eve got serious flashbacks to her childhood, and dancing with her best friends Louise and Danni to 'Say My Name' or whatever other song that was popular at the time.

"I need to talk to you," Eve eventually said, her eyes focused out of the window. She wasn't sure if she could look at Maryse.

"Oh yeah?" The blonde didn't sound too bothered, grabbing a pair of sunglasses out of the glove compartment to shield her eyes from the late afternoon rays. "What about?"

"Jack."

The car grinded to a halt, despite being in the middle of a road. A couple of the cars behind beeped their horns, so Maryse made the wise decision to pull over at the side of the road. Eve thought she was going to have a heart attack, however despite her rash actions, Maryse seemed cool.

"Jack?" She repeated calmly.

"Jack and I...we're going to the dance together."

There, she'd said it. It was out in the open, and if Maryse had any problems with it, she could talk to Eve about it. She couldn't quite distinguish the look on Maryse's face; it was part disbelief, part horror, and part amusement. There was no real way of describing it, because Eve had never seen anyone look so confused in her life. Eve wanted to say something, but what could she say that would make this moment less awkward?

"Maryse?" Her voice came out as little more than a whisper, as the sound of traffic whizzing past them screeched over her.

"Mmm?" Maryse shot Eve the most insincere smile the brunette had ever seen.

This was not going well. "Maryse, if this makes you uncomfortable, then I won't date Jack. Being your friend is way more important to me than dating Jack-"

"Don't be silly!" Maryse cackled, starting up the car again and continuing to drive. "You're welcome to Jack! I've moved on. Didn't I tell you? I'm dating a guy from USC; a college guy. I've moved on to bigger and better things! Don't worry about me, Eve. I'm fine."

"Really?" Eve smiled hopefully, as Maryse pulled up outside Eve's house.

"I mean, if sloppy seconds are your thing-"

"Sloppy seconds?" Eve exclaimed. That was not cool.

"Eve, I'm kidding," Maryse grinned, leaning over to give her friend a kiss on the cheek. "I'm totally kidding."

And so she kept up the bullshit for a little longer; Eve invited Maryse into her house, and the pair chatted about the upcoming dance, and the upcoming pep rally. As if nothing was wrong. It was only when Maryse got out of the house and back into her car that she could allow herself to be angry. Of course she was furious; Little Miss Perfect Eve was now taking her boyfriend from her. She still loved Jack, and deep down, she knew that Jack loved her.

Eve and Jack wouldn't last; Maryse would make sure of it.

Uh oh... Maryse is not happy.
The next chapter is set at the Halloween dance, so read the next update to see where we go from here!
Please leave a review :)
Also, I've begun a new fic named 'Caught In A Moment' - a Ted/Maryse fic. Please take a look and tell me what you think!