Chapter 18

Archie had managed to grab the attention of a brunette teen who frowned with disgust when he mentioned Harper's name. "That Rapunzeled freak? Yeah I knew her. What do you want to know?"

"Sounds like you have a high opinion of her," he'd commented.

The girl behind the gate had scoffed and flicked her short hair off her face. "Yeah, well, we weren't exactly simpatico when she left."

"With her grandfather?"

"Nah," the girl had said, giving him a strange look. "When she went off to that school across town. Barely even saw her after that, but she still managed to ruin things."

"What school?"

"I dunno," She'd said with a shrug. "Still managed to keep mucking things up here though. Austin left not long after her."

"Wait—hold it!" Archie had all but shouted. "You're saying Harper used to live here?"

The girl had given him a look that let him know she was beginning to think he was dense and nodded.

"I thought she lived with her grandfather," Archie had objected.

The girl had let out a laugh. "Yeah, well, we're not even sure if the papers were legit," she'd said. "I mean, what kind of grandpa just shows up one day after the grandkids have been in the system for seven years? But he was alot like her, I guess—both weirdos."

Archie hadn't been able to ask any more questions, the grouchy girl had been called away to settle an argument between the younger kids in the yard, but it gave him enough to think about.

Finding Harper again had been easy enough, at least she hadn't lied about her schedule. Following her was only a little annoying—especially since all of the dancers he'd tried to strike up a conversation with had a strong sense of loyalty to each other. Outside of gentle teasing comments, none of them would divulge any information on the blonde and the conversations usually ended with them glaring suspiciously at him as they walked away.

Once they'd bumped into Jay, who'd been lost in a world of his own, and made their way back to the dorm, Archie nearly followed Harper up the stairs just to make sure she stayed there. Luckily he didn't need to because Atlanta and Teresa had walked in from the kitchen barely two seconds later, at which point he loudly commented on Harper's intent to do Yoga.

He returned Harper's glare with a mischievous smirk as his two teammates eagerly agreed to join her and hauled her up the stairs. Then he went off to his own basement bedroom, fully determined to find out what Harper was lying about.

...

Harper had never had a more stressful yoga session, she was sure of that. As soon as they'd gone through one sun salutation, Teresa had brought up the question that opened a can of worms.

"So," she'd started off slowly. "Atlanta and I went dress shopping today."

"Yeah?" Harper asked, trying to hold the Warrior Two pose and not fall over, when the older girl left too long of a pause.

"Mmhmm," Teresa said. "For Prom."

Harper let out a little squeak of a sound as she nearly made friends with the floor. "Uh," she said as she adjusted her footing. "Cool."

"And we couldn't help thinking," Teresa continued as the trio moved to the Plank pose. "You're going to need a gown too."

"Oof!" Somehow her hands slipped on the yoga mat and Harper found herself flat on the floor.

"Careful," Atlanta said with a chuckle.

Harper forced a laugh too, glad that they were doing an exercise to excuse her blush. "Thanks," she mumbled.

They continued following the instructor on the small tv screen for a few more salutations in thoughtful silence. Until, with a cry of surprise, Harper went down again.

Curious and trying to stifle their laughter, Teresa and Atlanta looked towards the door to find Herry standing there with an empty glass.

"Hey, Herry," Atlanta greeted him with a smirk.

"What are you looking for?" Teresa asked, giving the other girls sly glances.

Their teammate blinked at them for a second, but smiled. "Uh, hey," he responded. "I was going to show you this!"

He held up his cup. The girls now looked at each other in confusion as Harper got to her feet.

"An empty glass?" Atlanta asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Herry looked down at the glass in surprise, then disappointment. "Lemonade. I must have drank it all," he said as his smile faded. "I wanted to show you what color it was."

"Other than yellow or pink?" Teresa asked with a bemused smile.

"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "It was purple!"

"Purple?" Atlanta repeated, glancing at Harper who looked just as confused.

"I bet I can get some more," Herry said, suddenly delighted again. "Then I can show you!"

And with that he went bounding down the hall again.

The girls stared after him for a few moments. Each in a varied level of amusement and confusion.

"So when do you want to go?" Teresa asked when she got tired of the silence.

The blonde stared at her for a moment. "Go?"

"Dress shopping!" Teresa reminded her with a delighted smile.

"Oh. Right." Harper paled a little and tugged at a few strands of loose hair by her ear, then sat down on her mat as the video instructor's overly soft voice announced it was time for the cool-down.

Atlanta and Teresa followed her motion and soon all three girls were staring at the ceiling.

"I don't think I'm going," Harper said finally.

"What? Why not?" Teresa asked, sounding horrified at the idea of someone skipping prom.

"I'm not a senior," the blonde pointed out.

"So?" Atlanta asked, partially enjoying the idea of forcing the other girl to join them. "Go with one."

"I know of one who'd definitely be happy to take you," Teresa said with a smirk.

Harper glanced back, but all she could see was the other girls' legs and feet. "I don't know if I'm staying that long."

"Judging by Athena, I'd say you are," Atlanta put in.

"I don't... I'm not good at that whole... 'dolled up' thing," Harper said, knowing she was running out of excuses.

"That's where we help!" Teresa said happily, pushing up onto her side as the yoga instructor announced that they were done. "Don't worry about it! It'll be so much fun!"

Harper stayed flat on her mat, trying to cover the ill-at-ease feeling with a smile. Teresa gave her a reassuring smile and rolled up her mat.

"We'll go back to the mall tomorrow," Teresa said as Atlanta started rolling up her mat as well. "Say ten-ish? That way we can still make it to a few sales. Sound good?"

Pressing her lips together, Harper nodded.

"Good!" Teresa declared happily, already thinking back on dresses that might fit her new friend. "Well, I'm going to change again before dinner. See ya downstairs!"

"Right," Harper said from her floor mat. "See ya."

"Don't look so panicked," Atlanta said with a chuckle. "I'll make sure she doesn't go too crazy."

Harper gave the redhead a small grateful smile, but her eyes went back to the skylight as Atlanta left the room. She was getting in too deep with this. She had too many other things to worry about, and now Prom. How was she supposed to do what needed to be done and juggle everything surrounding Prom? And there was another point that she hadn't been able to force out.

She was going dress shopping? Right. With what money?

A/N: Short-ish, I really just kinda needed to break up a section of the story. Hopefully it works *shrug* Ummm... ^_^ We get to see some of the effects of the lemonade...