Two days later…
Saint James was abuzz with preparations for the Welcome Social. Large banners lined the ceilings with stock phrases encouraging people to bring a date, posters were put on lockers with the same messages, bits of confetti were already scattered on the floors, stufents were running left and right, asking whoever they could to go. Suffice to say, everybody felt the excitement in the air. Everybody except Sasha Waybright. She walked nonchalantly down the halls to her locker as the end-of-school bell rang loudly through the halls. She jiggled the handle twice to open it and grabbed her bag. As she closed it, she saw a boy from her class meander over to her. Jared? Josh? Something with a J. He stood in front of her with a confident smile and his hands in his pockets. He pulled his right hand out and snapped, pointing his index finger and thumb out like a fingergun.
"Hey, Sasha. The Social's tomorrow night. Can I be the lucky one to take you?" Sasha looked at him, unimpressed.
"...Not interested." The boy hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do. He clearly hadn't seen this possibility.
"Really? Um…well, are you sure? I can treat a gal like you very well." Sasha raised an eyebrow.
"Again, not interested." The boy blinked in confusion as he tried again.
"It'd be a bit like royalty joining together. You know, since we're both popular kids." Sasha folded her arms across her chest.
"And who are you again?" The boy froze in place with confusion, allowing Sasha to walk away. She wasn't even surprised at this point. Seven different guys had already tried to ask her to the dance during the day, and she had rejected them all. At any other time in her life, she probably would have said yes to the first one, but something in her head made her turn them down. It was a question she needed to ask a certain someone close to her. Luz had already left for home, but if Sasha hurried, she might be able to catch her before Thursday band practice. She quickly ran out to the bike rack outside and unlatched hers as she got on. She took off towards Vince's house.
—
She could hear the sounds of punk rock from the other side of the street. It sounded like they'd just started the song they'd been practicing.
Hey ho, let's go!
Hey ho, let's go!
Hey ho, let's go!
Hey ho, let's go!
Sasha parked her bike outside and walked to the front of the car garage, where the sound's origin seemed to be coming from. She pulled up the door and saw Luz playing the guitar and singing, Vince playing the bass, and another kid from school called Mikaela on the drums.
They're forming in a straight line.
They're going through a tight wind.
The kids are losing their minds.
The blitzkrieg bop.
Luz was too into the song to notice Sasha entering the room. She bounced up and down with every bar that passed.
They're piling in the back seat.
They're generating steam heat.
Pulsating to the back beat.
The blitzkrieg bop.
Sasha decided not to interrupt and sat to the side to watch, entranced by Luz's singing.
Hey ho, let's go.
Shoot 'em in the back now.
What they want, I don't know.
They're all revved up and ready to go.
Luz's hair kept bouncing back and forth to the beat, completely in the rhythm.
They're forming in a straight line.
They're going through a tight wind.
The kids are losing their minds.
The blitzkrieg bop.
She then ended the song with a flourish. She was out of breath and sweating from the energy she put in. The next thing she heard was clapping from somewhere else in the room.
"Bravo! Great job, Luz." Luz turned to see Sasha sitting on a metal box in the corner.
"Oh, hey, Ellie. We wanted to practice a bit before you got here. Not nearly as good as we could be, but I'd say it's good enough. Whatcha think?" Sasha smiled as she stood up.
"It was pretty head-bangin'. I think you have a great voice." Luz blushed at the unexpected compliment.
"Oh…thanks. Do you need to tell me something?" Sasha nodded, but looked to the other two in the room.
"Hey, Vince. Could we go inside to have a private convo?" Vince gave a thumbs-up.
"Yeah!" With his confirmation, Sasha opened the door to Vince's house and pulled Luz inside, who looked puzzled about the whole thing. Sasha closed the door behind them right as Luz aired her confusion.
"What's with all the secrecy? Are you gonna tell me a secret nobody else can hear or something?" Sasha put her hands in her pockets and looked down to the floor, bouncing back and forth on her heels. The question she had needed to come out.
"So, Luz. A bunch of guys asked me out to the Welcome Social tomorrow night, and…" It was difficult to say what she needed to say, even though it was only four words. Luz crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Did you come over here just to brag? That's not cool, Ellie." Sasha shook her head.
"No, no, no. I turned them all down. None of them made me feel…right, in a way. And I don't think I can find another date on such short notice, so…" Now was the time. Sasha took a deep breath, and tried to speak as casually as possible. "You wanna go together?" Her voice was a little high on the last word, and she nervously waited for Luz's reply. Both of her eyebrows shot upward in surprise.
"Oh…I mean, alright. That sounds good. I was having trouble finding a date myself. I was even gonna resort to asking Vince." Sasha's heart was racing faster than a Mercedes in full gear at what she just did. She put on a nervous smile and nodded quickly.
"Uh huh, yup. Alright, I'll see you there. I just need to get my fit together. I'll, uh…bye!" Luz raised an eyebrow at Sasha's demeanor, but smiled as she waved her goodbye. Sasha's thoughts erupted in celebration, her body feeling like jelly. It was a wonder she could unfasten the bike without falling over. The effect wore off after a while, but euphoria of the moment stayed with her throughout the day.
—
The following night…
Saint James had decreed Friday off for all students to allow the time they needed to buy, try, and change. This gave Sasha a lot of time to pick what she would be wearing. She'd already gone through fifteen dresses and disliked each of them. They were all bought and paid for by her parents as 'gifts' to soften the blow of the divorce. It may have been morally wrong to extort her parents emotionally like this, but they weren't exactly her favorite people at the moment, so she didn't feel too bad. She was trying on dress number sixteen when she heard her phone buzz. It was an upbeat tune with a magical feel to it, ringing out in chiptune. Sasha grabbed the phone and accepted the call.
"Hey, Mar-Mar. What's up?" The first thing she heard was a squeal of delight from the other side that was so high that she had to move her ear from the phone. "Woah. Marcy, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Sasha. I just heard you're taking Luz to the Social. Congrats to you two!" Sasha was instantly weirded out.
"Um, Marcy. We're going as friends. Neither of us could find a date on time, so we just chose each other." Marcy's tone stayed as excited as before.
"Oh, come on. I saw you guys go to sleep in each other's arms at the sleepover after you opened up about your troubles. It was adora-" Sasha didn't know what came over her when she started shouting into the receiver.
"MARCY, SHUT UP!" There was a beat of silence before Sasha continued. "If you tell that, about Luz or my parents, to anyone, and I mean anyone, even Anne, I will drag your name through the mud and ruin your reputation so no one will even believe you. I will cut off all ties with you and never talk to you again. Do you understand?" Another beat of silence.
"I…I'm sorry, Sash. I won't-" Sasha interrupted her with a harsh tone before she finished.
"Goodbye, Marcy." She hung up the phone and tried to calm down. She didn't know why she blew up at Marcy for that. All she knew was that she didn't want to risk Marcy telling anyone. She then got a message on her phone from Luz.
Hey. I volunteered to help set up the auditorium, so I won't see you until you get here. Sorry you won't be able to take me. See you in a bit. (;
Sasha started thinking a mile a minute. What if Marcy became mad at her and told Anne? What if either of them told Luz? What if that made Luz hate her? It's couldn't risk it, not when she was this close. Her mind was in a bit of a frenzied state at the moment and came up with a haphazard plan of sorts. She just hoped it would go well.—
The once auditorium, now party hall was filled with bright pink lights and dance music. Confetti was strewn across the floor along with a few puddles of punch that fell to the floor. Most of Saint James' student body had showed up to the Welcome Social, a rainbow of different clothes. Some wore suits. Some wore dresses. One guy even wore a weird combination of the two. As Sasha entered in her pink dress and jean jacket, the lights and music hit her like a tidal wave, a complete contrast to the breezy outdoor night. It was quite uncomfortable, but she braved through it and mingled, looking fir her friends. After looking around a bit, she could see two of them talking in a corner. Anne was dressed in a simple blue dress with sandals and Marcy was in a green skirt with the SJMS shirt on. Anne's hair was tied up in a bun with a blue scrunchie while Marcy had pigtails and green scrunchies. She walked over to them as fast as she could, pushing past quite a few people to do so. When she was close enough, she made her precense known to them.
"Hey, girls!" Anne turned to her and smiled as Marcy moved back a step.
"Hey, Sasha!" The two high-fived. "I heard you were taking Luz here. Neither of you could find a date?" Sasha shrugged.
"Nobody really stood out to me. Did you bring anybody?" Anne did a so-so gesture with her hand.
"I just asked some random dude in my class. He's over there with his brother." Sasha turned her head around and saw a boy with green hair, a long face, and a big nose dancing expertly. He had purple overalls on. Next to him, dancing a bit more clumsily, was a boy with a triangular looking head, a white and orange striped shirt, and orange bushy hair. "They're the top students in most of my classes. I think that his name was Ferb or something like that? Sasha turned back to Anne.
"Sounds British. And what about you, Marcy?" Marcy flinched at the question.
"Oh…um. I…didn't…ask anybody. Didn't feel in the mood." She was averting her gaze as far from Sasha as possible. She didn't notice thus, looking around inquisitively.
"Hey, where is Luz? I was supposed to meet her here. She helped set up early."
Anne shrugged.
"We saw her, like, half an hour ago. She said she was getting some fruit punch from over there." She motioned her head toward one of the refreshment tables. "We haven't seen her since, so I guess she's still there."
"Okay, thanks. See you two in a bit." Sasha waved to them as she left. Anne waved back, but Marcy just looked down to the ground with a grave expression, which Anne noticed.
"Marbles? You good?" Marcy looked up at Anne, unsure what to say. She took a deep breath.
"Anne. I'm a bit worried about Sasha…" Anne raised an eyebrow.
"Why? What's wrong?"
—
It took Sasha almost five entire minutes to move twenty meters. The auditorium was packed with teenagers dancing to some obnoxious pop song. She even heard some random girl screaming.
"O! M! G! I love this song!" Sasha reflexively wrinkled her face at the remark. She kept pushing through the people until she finally arrived at the refreshment table. No sign of Luz. She searched the surrounding area and eventually saw her leaning against a wall with one foot against it. She was wearing a purple suit and white undershirt with a black bow tie, her hair was one long braid, two purple scrunchies tying it together, that reached her lower back as well as black suede shoes. She sipped punch from a red plastic cup. Sasha almost forgot she was looking for her and stopped in her tracks, entranced by the beauty in her simplicity. She quickly shook it off, trying to keep a cool composure. She walked up to Luz with as much of a swagger in her step as she could muster and waved to her.
"HEy, Luz." Her voice broke, making her sound like a cartoon squirrel for a moment. Luckily, Luz didn't notice the break when she heard Sasha. She turned and smiled, putting her foot on the ground and moving over to Sasha.
"Ellie! You're finally here." She held out her hand for their special handshake. Sasha did the same, but was a little out of sync from the usual beat of the high-five, the fist bump, the double high-five (ten-five?), and wiggling her fingers as they parted. Luz noticed this and raised an eyebrow in concern. Hey, are you okay? You seem off tonight." Sasha tried to think of an excuse that would both explain why she wasn't on balance and make Luz more suggestive to her idea. She almost immediately thought if a solution.
"Well, I was getting changed into this dress when I heard my parents get home. They were yelling at each other about who should get me after the papers go through." Luz's smile turned upside-down at this information.
"Oh. That…must've been hard to hear." Sasha gave a fake chuckle.
"That's not even the worst part. They kept on trying to push me onto the other one. Like I was some object neither of them wanted." Luz looked positively horrified.
"Oh my God. Are you okay?" Sasha nodded, faking the look of hurt on her face. It was a lie, but one that Sasha told herself she needed to tell. Besides, it's not like it was completely untrue. It just didn't happen that night.
"I'm fine. I just hope I end up with Dad. He's nicer than Mom, that's for sure." Luz shook her head.
"You sound like you need a distraction. Maybe a dance would help?" Just at that moment, a new song started playing on the speakers. Luz almost dropped her drink from her joy. "O! M! G! I love this song!" She grabbed Sasha's hand and pulled her to the dance floor. "We have to dance to it." Sasha let herself be dragged away, smiling at Luz's excitement. Luz put her drink on a nearby table before spinning around to face Sasha as the song's lyrics rang out.
I wanna run.
I want to hide.
I wanna tear down the walls,
That hold me inside.
Luz was sing-shouting the lyrics as she pretended to be on the guitar.
I wanna reach out,
And touch the flame.
"Where the streets have no name!" The two girls sang in unison. They laughed like hyenas at singing. Unlike band practice, neither were trying to sing their best. They were letting loose and having a good time. They sang together for the rest of the song, all the way to the end. When it ended, the DJ, their mutual friend Mikaela, started talking in the microphone.
"Alright, everybody. Now it's time to take it slow. Find your date and let's get romantic!" As Mikaela prepared the song, Sasha and Luz looked between each other, both blushing profusely. They stayed silent until Sasha extended one of her hands.
"I wasn't able to bring you here, so…will you do me the favor of a dance?" Luz's eyes widened, surprised at the gesture. Sasha's mind started racing a mile a minute for the second time in one night. Shoot! Am I being too forward? Does she think I'm being weird? I don't want to have lied for no reason. As more thoughts kept entering her mind, she almost didn't notice Luz giggling with delight. She looked at Sasha with sly smile.
"I've been waiting for hear you to say that since I arrived." She took Sasha's hand and they got into a slow dance position, one hand on each other's waist, the other hand clutching the other's in midair. The song started playing, and they started dancing.
I found a love.
For me.
Time seemed to speed up around them, the rest of the dancers a blur they didn't pay attention to.
Darling just dive right in.
And follow my lead.
Their focus was on each other's eyes, unable to tear away their gaze.
And I found a girl,
Beautiful and sweet.
They rested their foreheads onto each other, closing their eyes, the rest of the world fading away.
Oh, I never knew you were the someone,
Waiting for me.
"Hey, Luz," Sasha whispered.
'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love.
"Yeah?" Sasha started to lean in a little bit.
Not knowing what it was.
"I have a question for you, and I need to know your answer." Luz giggled.
I will not give you up this time.
"And what is it?" She leaned in as well.
But darling, just kiss me slow.
"Well, Luz, what do you think…" Their faces were only centimeters apart. "...about Marcy?" Luz stopped in place.
Your heart is all I own.
"...What?" Sasha stayed in her position, feeling Luz flinch a little.
And in your eyes, you're holding mine.
"I'm serious. Don't you think she's been…distancing herself from us? And taking Anne with her?" Luz opened her eyes, confusion flashing in her pupils.
Baby, I'm…
"Where are you going with this?" Sasha opened her eyes as well, her expression morphing into one of seriousness.
Dancing in the dark.
"She's going to split us all in two. Destroy our group. She shouldn't be able to do that. We need to get her out first." A look of shock ran across Luz's face as she tried to move away.
With you between my arms.
"Ellie. Tell me you're joking." Sasha held Luz's hands with a firmer grip.
Barefoot on the grass.
"If I don't do it, she'll just do it herself, except we'll lose two of our friends instead of one. It's the right decision. End of discussion." Luz stopped struggling and looked directly into Sasha's eyes, not with love, but with anger.
When you said you looked a mess,
"No." Sasha did a double take at Luz's declaration.
I whispered underneath my breath.
"What did you say?" Luz let go of Sasha's hands with a swift downward tug.
But you heard it.
"No. I'm not listening to you anymore. I'm not listening to the person who tries to take advantage of my feelings." She pintes at Sasha. "I'm not listening to the person that's trying to get rid of my friends for who knows what reason." Luz put her hands in her pockets and looked down to the floor. "And I'm not listening to the girl that took my heart and broke it without a thought." Sasha thought she could see a tear fall from Luz's eye. "Why, Ellie? Why do you want to get rid of Marcy? I know that she isn't the one trying to tear the group apart since they're standing in front of me." Sasha winced at the insult and hesitated before responding.
"She…she knew about what happened at the sleepover. I thought she would've told everyone about us-" She was interrupted by Luz laughing like a maniac.
"What 'us'? I was comforting you because of your parents. If I'd known you were lying to me-"
"I wasn't!"
"I'm not sure if I can believe you anymore! Or trust you! Or even talk to you without being manipulated into hurting the people I care about!"
"I didn't manipulate you!"
"Oh really! So, tell me. Did your parents actually fight tonight? Did you hear Marcy say that she'll break us apart? TELL ME THE TRUTH FOR ONCE!" Sasha paused, silence filling the gap between the two. This was when they realized that the music had stopped in the middle of their argument, and the entire auditorium was looking at them. Sasha stayed silent, her mouth unable to answer. Luz scoffed. "What did I expect, really?" She turned around and took a step before turning her head one last time.
"Goodbye, Sasha."
Her voice was dripping with venom at the name. She walked over to the auditorium's entrance. Before she exited, Sasha thought she saw a small grey cloud forming above her head. Sasha froze in place for a moment before running out the other exit at full speed, tears streaming out of her eyes as the last line of the song came on.
Darling, you look…perfect tonight.
—
Oof. Emotional rollercoaster. Poor Luz and Sasha. Let's hope this doesn't motivate Sasha to do anything rash…
Thank you to everyone who has read so far! I've been waiting to reach this point. All I can say is that the next chapter will have a change, quite a big one might I add. I hope you read on, 'cause the crap's about to hit the fan.
Songs used in this chapter are, by order of mention:
Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones.
Where The Streets Have No Name by U2.
Perfect by Ed Sheeran.
See you soon!