I sat on the couch, frozen and staring back at Eddie. I gave him the coldest, most heart-wrenching glare I could, hoping it pierced him straight in the heart. If looks could kill, Eddie would be dead. Since when did Eddie have a girlfriend? And since when did I care? I shook off the thought angrily and tried to focus on something else in the room.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Amber give a signal to Mara while whispering something inaudible to Nina. Mara then, tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and her gaze flicked towards Joy briefly. Joy subtly nudged my arm and I turned to her.
"Patricia, don't we have some studying for a history exam?" she asked, giving me a signal through her eyes. You know what I mean. Girls can communicate through their eyes… don't ask me to explain it, okay?
"Yeah. Sorry for the quick exit, we'd love to stay and get to know you," I said with a hint of sarcasm, turning to Eddie's guest and addressing her at the last part.
"It's all good," she replied nonchalantly, while smiling. I clenched my teeth and made a hasty exit with Joy. We jogged up the stairs in silence and as soon as we both entered the room, I jumped on my bed. Joy quickly shut the door and locked it, before turning and coming to sit on my bed to sit with me.
I pouted, leaning against the headboard, holding a pillow on my lap. Joy looked at me comfortingly, before pushing me to one side so she could lean against the headboard also.
"It's okay to feel bad," Joy said soothingly. She stretched her feet out on the bed and sat thoughtfully, staring at the bedspread like she was analyzing it.
"I shouldn't. And even then, I like him but he has a beautiful, American girlfriend," I said. I stared at the ceiling, trying to prevent from looking down so the tears that were blurring my vision wouldn't drip out.
"I could've said the same thing about Fabes and me," she said quietly.
"Sometimes, I really hate being a girl," I told her squeezing my eyes shut tightly. I opened them and started counting cracks in the ceiling of our room. This sucks, I thought. I hate being depressed like this. And over a boy, too! I clenched my teeth angrily and decided to make use of the anger and sadness I had.
"Joy, I'm going to go work out. I'll be back later, okay?" I told her promptly, getting off the bed. I grabbed my dance bag and put in some workout clothes in it, and my laptop, before taking a deep breath and opening the door.
My eyes darted down the hall, hoping not to see any of my housemates wondering around. For once, the odds were in my favor. The hall was stone silent, and empty.
I walked speedily to the staircase, where I heard the chatter of the boys and an unfamiliar girl's laugh. I rolled my eyes… of course, it was most likely Ally. I tiptoed quickly down the stairs and flew past the common room and out the front door.
I let out a heavy sigh of relief. Done; no more Eddie or Blondie or any other people who would irritate me to no end.
Walking briskly, I entered the barren halls of the school. The occasional sound of teachers talking to one another was heard, but otherwise, nothing. I smiled to myself and hurried to the gym area of the school.
Our pristine school had two indoor gymnasiums and a workout center with machines and an empty area with a music system. When weather permitted, we work have our physical education class out on the fields. Recently, and thankfully unknown to most, if not all, students a large classroom was empty for classes this year. It was rather large, and look just like a classroom, except someone had kindly put a huge mirror inside. It was most likely some sort of fancy floor length mirror, but it was twice the size.
I discretely went into the empty classroom and locked the door. Then, I shut all of the curtains and slid off my boots, putting on my jazz shoes instead. I took off my jeans and put on some shorts I had in my bag and plugged in my laptop, hoping some hardcore dance would release some of my tension.
I quickly opened up iTunes and scrolled down the library, looking for a song that was good for floor work. I chose a song by Adele and hit play.
We had done this routine at a competition a few months ago(1). It was a girls' only dance, but we nailed it. There was a lot of difficult floor work and turns.
I started out okay, but my floor work was a little- okay, fine- very sloppy. It irritated me to no end. Then, the turns and rolls on the floor were never on beat, which made me even more frustrated. By the end of the song, I was building up a small sweat on my forehead, trying to perfect the routine. I finally threw my hands up, defeated, and groaned loudly. Why was this so hard?
I closed iTunes on my laptop and started to pack up what I had taken out from my bag. Just as I was about to shut down, I got a video chat request from Kev1029- Kevin from dance. I half-smiled to myself, hoping he'd cheer me up. I clicked accept and sat down on the floor.
On the other end, Kevin was sitting in front of a painting on the wall. He sat in a dark wood chair, smiling at me.
"Hey," he said. "What's up?" he asked, cheerily.
"The usual… trying to control my anger at certain people," I answered, rolling my eyes.
"Oh, that doesn't sound like you at all!" he exclaimed with sarcasm. We both chuckled.
"What about you?" I asked, curiously.
He shrugged, as if to say 'nothing.' "I'm procrastinating homework, but that's not new," he replied casually. Kevin ran his hand through his I rolled my eyes, amused.
"Hey," he said, a little softer. The mood changed and I could tell he was a little nervous. "Are you busy now? I was wondering if you wanted to hang out… maybe…" he trailed off. His deep brown eyes looked at me hopefully.
I then deliberated with myself quickly. This seemed like a good scenario to me. I could hang out with Kevin and not have to see Blondie and the cockroach together for a good hour or so. I nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, sounds good. What time and where?" I asked.
Kevin's face lit up and I smiled to myself, because it made me feel really good that I did that.
"Starbucks? I can pick you up in fifteen minutes…" he replied, beaming. "If that's okay," he added, slightly shyly.
"That's fine; see you soon," I said, smiling and disconnected the video call. I finished packing my bag, put on my boots and headed out the door, and out of the school. I walked speedily to the house and ran up the stairs, adding a bounce in my step.
I noticed Mara working on her laptop, concentrating with a frown while staring at the screen. She looked up at me briefly and noticed my unusual smile.
"What happened?" she asked, a small smile forming on her face. "And don't even try to deny that nothing happened. Did Eddie do something for you?"
My smile fell and I looked at the ground awkwardly. I shook my head and then looked up at her. "Something did happen though," I said, trying to sound happier.
Mara gestured for me to go on and I walked over to my closet, trying to find something cute to wear. "A cute guy I know offered to hang out with me just now," I said casually, and snuck a glance at Mara. Her mouth stretched into a wide smile.
"That's wonderful! What's his name?" she asked, completely forgetting about her work on the laptop.
"Kevin," I said, and sent a smile her way before turning back to my clothes. "We've been good friends for a year now but I think he likes me. But keep this between the girls, yeah?" I asked. Mara agreed and I finally found the dress I was looking for.
The dress I chose was a sleeveless one with a black and white abstract fan print. It had a banded waist with a thin black belt also. The dress had a scoop neck and the sleeves were cuffed and short. I grabbed my feminine leather jacket out of the closet and put that on as well, and took out some black ankle boots to top it off. I proceeded to put on some makeup. I chose my usual thick eyeliner look and put on some cherry lip gloss to top it off. I had my hair down as usual and I grabbed my phone and wallet to put in the jacket pockets.
"What do you think?" I asked, twirling around for Mara to see.
"You look so pretty," she complimented and I thanked her. I then went out the door and took a deep breath. I heard some chatter downstairs and I went down to see what was happening.
In the common room, Eddie, Amber, Ally, Jerome and Alfie were hanging out and talking on the couches. Amber's jaw dropped when she saw me, but then quickly covered it up to look like a yawn. I grinned at her and she scooted over so I could sit by her. I walked over to her as gracefully as I could and sat down.
By then, the others noticed I had arrived and look surprised also, with the exception of Ally. She noticed the shocked looks of the others and nudged Eddie lightly as if to ask what was going on.
"You look so pretty, Patricia. I approve," Amber said, and gave my hand a squeeze. I squeezed her hand back gratefully.
"Thanks," I replied.
"Why so fancy all of a sudden?" Alfie asked curiously.
"I'm going out with a friend," I said, hoping that Eddie noticed the new look.
"A friend? What's his name?" Jerome asked, laughing. He waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively.
"I'm going out with a guy named Kevin," I said, and laughed at his entertaining gestures.
"Going out? Like a date?" Ally asked, excitedly. She looked excited for me. I guessed she didn't know about 'Peddie', as Amber put it, at all. I also guessed that she was a fan of the color pink and a rom-com movie lover like a typical girl.
My brain processed what she said and I took it as a golden opportunity. I glanced at Amber briefly, hoping she'd understand the little white lie I was telling and then I turned back to the others.
"Yeah… like a date," I answered with a light smile. Eddie's expression changed from shock to confusion and worry. 'Yeah,' I imagined myself saying in my head. 'Two can play this game, Edison.'
Thank you, all you beautiful people for sending me those wonderfully fabulous reviews! I am so excited that you like the story, also. Please leave me a review sending your thoughts on this chapter!
(1) www . youtube . com/watch?v=oGqFexs3xkk Delete the spaces to check out the Adele routine that Patricia tried during this chapter.
And lastly, a quick side note. A reviewer (I won't mention names) informed me that I was 'copying' another author's story for Peddie. I can assure you that it was a coincidence; I spoke with the author of that particular story already and she was fine with our similar ideas. Thanks for your concern, but next time, please don't call me stupid because of an assumption. Thanks :)