Chapter Thirty-Seven

Caliegh's POV

Valentine's Day was never really my thing. I was always kind of disgusted at the amounts of flowers and candies guys got for their girlfriends, or seeing the couples in the hallway share little nose-nuzzles and saying, "Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie. I love you!" It was just plain annoying. I didn't mind that on other days…but for some reason, I just hated the fact that there was a holiday that singled those out who didn't have a love life.

Which, like every other year, included me. Alone on one of the most romantic holidays of the year. My dream, when I was a silly middle schooler, was to have guys lining up to ask me out on Valentine's Day. Romantic, right? I would reject all of them, until the guy of my dreams would step up and confess his love for me. We would stay in a lasting relationship, and stay high school sweethearts, then marry years later.

Don't tell anyone, but I'm kind of a sucker for romance.

Our school, we had all heard, was putting on a nice formal dance for Valentine's Day. Which kind of sucks, because both me and Gabby had recently lost our boyfriends. And over the last month, everyone was frantic to get dates for the dance. Girls had all gotten permission to go buy dresses and shoes, jewelry to match.

I was fairly excited for the dress, I admit. However, I didn't even have the money. I thought that maybe I could wear my dress from eighth grade (after all, I haven't grown in height since I was thirteen), but when I had tugged it out of the storage box at the top of my closet and tried it on, the top was painfully pressing my breasts so much that even ten minutes in it would cause me to pass out. I groaned to myself, shoving it back into the box. I threw on a sweatshirt and jeans and my favorite pair of lace-up boots, then trudged my way down the stairs and into the cafeteria, hoping to myself that at least someone was there to talk to.

To my relief, Gilbert and Antonio were at our table, happily chatting with each other. Maybe they could cheer me up. I plopped myself down next to Gilbert, muttering an unenthusiastic "hey". Antonio smiled airily.

"Hola, amiga~! You excited about the dance on Friday? I'm going to make my move on Lovi, see if we can fall in love." I gave him a look that clearly said, "You are an idiot," but he didn't seem to notice. Gilbert, however, did notice.

"Hey, what's wrong? You seem off." He asked, poking my shoulder repeatedly. I nodded, sighing.

"You wouldn't exactly understand, it's kind of a girl thing."

"Wouldn't understand?" He burst out laughing. "Try me, girl." I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms.

"The dance is next Friday and I still don't have anything to wear. Nor do I have a date, but whatever, that doesn't matter." I huffed, perching my chin in my palm. "And I figured since I haven't grown much in height since my last formal dance, I could just wear my old dress. But when I tried it on, I couldn't exactly breathe because I actually didgrow, but not in the way that…" I trailed off, not exactly wanting to continue, considering they were both guys.

"Que? But you're thin as a stick, Kay!" Gilbert kind of smirked.

"Not that way." I noticed he looked down, and let his gaze linger for a moment on my chest. …I didn't exactly mind. Woops. I mean, scientists do say that a good look for ten minutes every day could increase a man's life span by five years.

Ew.

"Point is, I don't have a dress! Even my sister already has one, she went with Gabrielle! And I can't wear any old dress, because it's aformal dance!" I whined, planting my head against the table. "I don't even have money. I'm broke." I groaned. I heard Gilbert whisper something to Antonio. I rolled my head over to face him, then sat up when he grinned at me.

"We'll take you shopping, the two of us. I'll pay." I blinked, raising my eyebrows.

"Oh, no, you don't have to-!"

"It's so that you can have an opinion by the guys, you know! Girls always take each other dress shopping, but why not guys? We want a say in the matter!" Holy shit, he was serious. I paused, thinking about it for a moment.

"Well…s-sure, then…I guess."

"Awesome! We'll be at your dorm in an hour." He winked, and I felt a blush rising. I turned away, glaring down at the table.

"I'll go…get ready."

"Hasta luego."

"Bis später."

O~O~O~O~O~O

As they promised, they were at my dorm door at exactly an hour after they claimed they were taking me. In all honesty, their timing made me chuckle, because I knew it was Gilbert who had made them exactly on time. He doesn't like to admit it, but he's awfully OCD about the smallest things.

I had changed into something more presentable: a nearly-see-through, slim-fitting orange shirt with a gray tank-top underneath so that you couldn't see through the shirt, a pleated skirt that was almost way too short, and gray flats. The way I was readying myself in the mirror made me almost feel like I was going on a date. I had to remind myself that Antonio was also coming along, and it wasn't just me and Gilbert.

…Not that I thought of it as a date between me and Gilly, necessarily.

When they came knocking on my door, I was still in the process of zipping my boot, so I hopped over and stumbled against the door, pulling it open and letting out a nervous chuckle. "Hey, you two!" I brushed my hair out of my face, sliding my phone into my pocket.

"Ready to go, chica?" Antonio smiled pleasantly. I nodded, then stepped into the hallway, locking the door behind me.

"Alright, so I was thinking we could hit that dress shop downtown, the one that has only custom-made dresses…So you don't have the same one as another girl." I smiled back at them.

"Fine by me." Gilbert had sort of an airy smirk on his face, his hands in his pockets. I clicked my tongue, sliding my own hands in my back pockets.

"Yay! …you guys are really awesome, you know that." I pretty much expected what came out of Gilbert's mouth next.

"Ja, I know I am." Antonio had chuckled under his breath, just following behind us.

We took a cab into town (which Antonio had paid for, insisting that Gilbert's money was to spend on my dress, which only made mefeel even more guilty), which dropped us off at the street where the little dress shop was. I was a little more excited than I should've been, but I couldn't help it. I had always loved formal dresses, and the idea of wearing one nearly made my heart explode with excitement. I scurried into the shop, marveling at all the dresses. They were all arranged by color, style, size, length…You name it. I immediately went to the white dresses, as I'd always admired the color. Simple, yet beautiful.

I felt a hand on my arm. "Oh, nein. Kay, white will wash your skin out! You're already fair as it is." Gilbert tapped my nose, then pulled me aside to view the darker colored dresses.

"Personally, I imagine a dark gold would look pretty on her, si?" Antonio took a dress off the rack, then held it up to me. "Never mind!" He whisked it away as fast as he held it up. I was forced to stand in awkward silence as the two jabbered over which colors would look best on me. They narrowed it down to three colors: a cerulean or even navy blue, black, and a dark rose color. Pretty soon they were searching through the racks of dresses, finding styles that would look best on me.

"You know, I can't wear long dresses…I'm too short. Just saying." I didn't even realize I was smiling softly to myself as they looked up, frowning slightly.

"Oh, you're right." Gilbert said, putting at least two dresses back. I went around to where they were to view the dresses they had so far. And I must say, both of them had rather good taste. I liked every single one of the dresses they had picked out so far. However, as soon as I had stepped over, they were shoving me away into the changing room area, handing me dress after dress to take with me.

Once I was locked away in the room, I gazed around at the dresses they had chosen. I decided to first try one of the rose-colored ones. I slid off my clothes and pulled the dress over my hips. It was sleeveless, but the top half rose over my collar bone and across my shoulders, crossing right behind my neck. It was rather pretty, I admit, but I didn't enjoy the length of it. It was all the way down past my knees, which looked a little odd. Nonetheless, I opened the door for them to see. Antonio gasped, clapping as I spun for them to get a full 360 degree look at it.

"I love the color…"

"It doesn't fit her right, though. Look, it looks too big right here." Gilbert fiddled with the material dangerously close to my chest, but he was right. It wasn't as snug as it should've been.

"I'd say this is a maybe, then. I can fix it if I get it." I slipped back into the dressing room. I tried on dress after dress, but it seemed every single one had an issue with it. Whether it was too big, or the style just didn't look right on me.

After about the fifth dress, I was about ready to throw my clothes back on. But I still had several more to go. I didn't even really look at the dress I had put on until I had actually pulled it on. It was absolutely beautiful, my downright favorite of all the dresses so far. It was a lovely rose color. Thin black straps came over my shoulders and crossed over in the back, which was open in a "v" shape all the way down to my hips. Black ribbon laced through the opening in the back to give it a look of a corset, and tied down at the bottom in a long bow. The sash was made to look like it was a part of the ribbons, wrapping tightly around my waist just above my hips. The neckline was only a little iffy (it dove down quite far, exposing most of my breasts, but I didn't mind), but the skirt part so gorgeous. It cascaded down into three layers of the same deep blue color down to my thighs, and then a final layer of a clear mesh was added so the dress technically came down to my knees.

I stepped out of the room, expecting the usual critical feedback, but for once they were both speechless. I smiled softly, spinning slowly in a circle so they could view the back, which was my personal favorite part of the dress.

"Mis dios…That one looks amazing." Antonio said, shaking his head in an awestruck manner. Gilbert snapped out of it for a moment, motioning for me to come closer. I did as he said, and he turned me around. He fiddled with the ribbons in the back, making it tighter against my body with each tug.

"There we go…that's better." He stepped back to view me, eyes gazing over my whole body. "…it's really beautiful." He smiled. And shockingly, it wasn't his signature little smirk, but a genuine smile. I nodded slowly.

"This is the one. Definitely." They both nodded in unison, and I shuffled back into the dressing room to put my clothes back on. Gilbert had paid the $130 that the dress had cost, and he still insisted that I pick out shoes and jewelry from the boutique down the street. So off we went to the shop, where I did find matching jewelry and shoes for my dress. In total, Gilbert paid $237. And seriously, I owed him for that. But he had told me that it was nothing, and I didn't have to do anything, because it was his gift to me.

After we took the cab back to the Academy and Antonio had gone his own way, he even insisted on walking me back to my dorm. I couldn't help but feel like a giddy little schoolgirl as he walked me, swinging our hands together as we laughed over nothing in particular. At one point, just to prove his strength (don't ask where that conversation came up), he had picked me up and spun me in a full circle all the way down the hall. I'm pretty sure the whole hall could hear me squealing and trying to force him to put me down, but by doing so it only made him throw me across his shoulder (and at the time I forgot I was wearing that really short skirt), which only made me thrash playfully. He set me down at my door, then handed me my things after I had pushed open the door and set my things right inside.

"Wait, you." I grabbed his wrist just before he turned to leave, then stood on my tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "That's my thank you gift. …Don't expect any more where that came from." I blushed severely, crossing my arms. Gilbert only smirked.

"Awesome. I guess I can give my own, then." He leaned down and kissed my cheek, which only made me blush more.

"Y-yeah…see you." I shuffled into the dorm room, covering my mouth with my hand. "What did I just do?!" I muttered.

Oh, damn it. I really shouldn't have been feeling that way…but my heart was racing at the current moment, and the blush on my face wasn't exactly going away. I had never really felt this way before…And I couldn't stop thinking about him. He wouldn't get out of my head, and I even dreamt about him several times…no. I wouldn't allow this. I stumbled onto a couch, lying face-down into the cushions. And I didn't even realize my sister was there to see it all.