When Cera and I got home, a white van with a giant pink flower on the side pulled into the driveway behind us. I got out of the car as the plump and scruffy man came up to me.
“Are you Lily Hawthorne?” He asked in a monotone voice.
“Um, yeah…?” What was going on? “Why?”
He retreated to his van and opened the back door. Oh my gosh, was he going to kidnap us? Did he have a gun in the back? Was he going to kill us? All of these thoughts faded away as he pulled a bright bouquet of flowers from the van. He came back, handed them to me and drove away.
“Who are they from?” Cera came up beside me and was admiring the flowers.
“I don’t know.” I wasn’t searching for the card quite yet. Instead I was focused on the pinks, reds, and yellows of the flowers. There were sunflowers, roses, and in the back there was a bright, white lily.
“Well, whoever they’re from…they’re trying to tell you something Lily.” She smelled the giant lily in the middle of the bouquet. I turned the bouquet around and found the card tucked underneath some leaves.
I opened it up.
Prom Night, 11pm. Be there, on the dance floor. We’ll be waiting.
“Cera, they’re for both of us. Look.” I handed her the tiny card with the creepy message.
She read the card and squealed. How did she not find that creepy?
I would let her have her moment, so I went inside to put the flowers in a vase. She followed me inside carrying our dresses, shoes and masks.
We brought them all upstairs and set them out. Cera turned to me and said, “This is so exciting.” She was literally jumping up and down with excitement.
I just rolled my eyes and put in my iPod.
The week before prom flew by. All of my friends talked about it nonstop and by the end of the week I wanted to punch the next person who said the word ‘prom.’
On Saturday Cera came over to get ready and five hours later we were finally ready.
Cera wore her gorgeous red hair down with loose curls that ended just below her shoulders. She had a piece pinned back on the right, which was held in place by a gorgeous gold clip.
I wore my hair up so my petite shoulders were more noticeable. It was in an elaborate up-do and I had tiny curls sweeping around my face.
My mother took a couple of pictures of us and we climbed into the Jeep.
It wasn’t the most elegant way to arrive to prom, but who cares. I certainly did not, and Cera was too excited to notice our ride.
I watched silently from the Jeep as limousines rode up and deposited girls and boys at the school. Every single color of the rainbow filled the gym.
All of the harsh fluorescent lights were turned off, and tiny lights sparkled from their place on their strings surrounding the gym. There were tables of food surrounding the dance floor, but the girls treated those tables as if they were monsters that couldn’t be touched. A giant bowl of pink punch was dead center of the mounds of food, but there was a chance it was already spiked.
I looked around the gym, and saw that the prom committee tried to make it look medieval. There were fake stone statues in the four corners, and fake greenery surrounded the hardwood floor. Gold trimmings were everywhere, and combined with the lights, the gym seemed to be thrown back into the past.
Cera and I made our way over to the tables and sat down. Suddenly Cera jumped up and extended her hand.
“What?” I looked up at her from my place at the table.
“Well we didn’t get dressed up and come here so we could sit. Come on, we’re going to dance.” I put my hand in hers and she led me to the dance floor. We danced together for four or five songs until I had to take a break.
“Cera,” I shouted over the loud music. “I’m going to sit down, it’s starting to get really hot.” I hoped she could hear me over the pounding bass of the song.
“Okay! I see Mary and Riley across the gym. Just join us when you get a second wind!” She turned and went to find the other two girls.
I elbowed my way out of the crowd and went back to my table. It was not littered with plates and cups, and I had to push some of them away just so I could sit. I pulled off my tiny, silver shoes and rubbed my heel. I hadn’t realized how much it hurt until I sat down.
I could feel a blister coming on, and mentally cursed at myself for not sticking Band-Aids in my bag. I looked at the dance floor and watched as the girls shimmied awkwardly, while others rubbed their butts on the guys who were smiling behind them.
I was glad to have a couple of minutes to myself, but longed for a quieter place. I put my tiny shoe back on and made my way to the bathroom.
When I walked in I was engrossed in a cloud of perfume and make- up. Girls were fixing their faces, while others were touching up their hair with hair spray. I coughed and made my way over to the empty mirror on the other side of the room. I crossed discarded panty- hose, loose purses, and single shoes. I looked at myself in the mirror.
My silver eye shadow was beginning to fade, and my eyeliner was smudged a little underneath. I grabbed a paper towel, wet it and then dabbed underneath my eyes.
Then I turned my attention back to my image in the mirror. I looked at my hair and noticed the tiny curls around my face were starting to fall out. I tried my best to fix what I could, and started to make my way back to the dance. I stepped over the strewn accessories, and when I reached the door a girl burst in and almost knocked me to the ground.
It was Catherine.
She was crying, her mascara was running down her cheeks and she angrily wiped them away. As I was leaving, I heard a bunch of girls from the bathroom screech in protest as Catherine barged through them and into a stall of her own.
I didn’t want to stay any longer and get wrapped up into the drama, so I darted through the door and back to the gym.
I scanned over the crowd looking for Cera and the others. When I couldn’t find them over the masses of teens, everybody was wearing a mask so that made it especially hard, I made my way back to my little table.
I sat down right as a slow song came on. I watched as every guy pulled his date closer. After a couple of seconds everybody had a partner. It made me wonder where Cera was. Who was she dancing with? But knowing Cera she had probably found her masked mystery man and was dancing with him.
My foot bounced to the beat of the song and I closed my eyes. I tried to seclude myself from the dance in order to collect my thoughts.
“It isn’t like a pretty girl to sit alone.” A guy said behind me. I jumped around in my seat to see who the mystery person was. But stupid me forgot that it was a masquerade ball, and I couldn’t see whom the person was behind the blue mask.
“Oh…” I stammered. Who was this? “I’m not sitting alone.” He didn’t believe me, because I obviously was sitting alone. So I continued. “I’m serious. I’m just waiting for my friend to turn up from…somewhere.” I took this moment to turn around in my chair and search for Cera again. I was hoping that he would take the hint that I wanted him to go away, but he persisted.
“Well maybe you could dance with me until she turns up.” He came around to face me from the front, and held out his hand.
I could practically hear Cera now. Are you stupid? This is your mystery man. Go for it you idiot! She would shriek at me if I didn’t take this opportunity. So I put my hand in his and let him lead me to the dance floor.
The DJ played another slow song since everybody was already paired up. I looked at the unknown boy and tried to figure out who it was. Did he know who I was?
I noticed how he had his hair slicked back. The brown was so dark it looked almost black. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, and his mask covered the whole top half of his face.
There was no way I was going to figure out who this was. I would have to ask him. We were among all of the other teenagers and he pulled me closer. I put my arms around his neck and he placed his on my hips. He kept a safe distance as if he was afraid to get too close. Maybe he didn’t know who I was and he just wanted to dance so he didn’t look like a loser.
I was the first to break the awkward silence. “So…are you going to tell me your name?” I looked up at the mystery man. He chuckled and I felt it vibrate through him.
“Now…” he started. “Why would I do that?” He looked down at me and his boyish grin made me blush.
“Well I mean, you did ask me to dance.” His grin got wider. “And it would only be polite to exchange names. It’s logical really.” Then he laughed again. It was a nice laugh. One filled with genuine humor.
“Why don’t we just live in the moment?” I looked up at him with questioning eyes. “Okay fine. How about we ask each other three questions, and then we’ll know each other better without actually revealing our names?”
Who was this guy? And why wouldn’t he just tell me his name? “Fine.” I said simply. “You start.”
“Okay, what’s your favorite color?” He peered down at me and humor filled his eyes again.
“Really?” His smile lessened a bit. “That’s really your question?” What a lame question.
“Yes, that’s really my question. But I have a sneaky suspicion that I already know your answer.” I had to admit that his boyish grin was quite charming.
“And how exactly would you know that?” I said challengingly.
“I’m a mind reader.” He said it as if it should be obvious. Who was this guy? And why did I find his charm so frustrating and annoying at the same time?
“Oh really?” I looked down at my feet, and then back at him. “Then what is my favorite color?” I waited patiently while he closed his eyes and pretended to read my mind.
“Blue.” He beamed and his smile grew wider as he saw the shock spread across my face. How did he know? Who was this guy and how did he know that? I slowed my thoughts and listened to the rational side of my brain.
Well, blue was a common favorite color. And then I remembered the color of my dress. It was blue, and so it was obvious that it was my favorite color. I was being irrational and jumping to conclusions. How could I think that this adorable guy was some sort of creepy stalker just because he guessed my favorite color?
Wow. I’m messed up. I over think things way too much. My thoughts moved to a normal pace and I resumed our conversation.
“Okay, so?” I just wanted to smack that giddy grin right off of his face. “So what? You guessed my favorite color that doesn’t mean you can read minds.” I shook my head at him, and as I did my mask fell slightly from my face.
I reached up to fix it, but the boy’s fingers wrapped around mine and wouldn’t let me. “What are you doing?” I said slightly annoyed. I fumbled with one hand to try and readjust it but he still wouldn’t let me.
“Take it off.” He said simply. Who did he think he was? I couldn’t see and he was restraining me, but why? This was a masquerade ball. A dance that was oriented around masks and that was the point. This was ridiculous. You didn’t take your mask off at a masquerade ball.
“What? No. Why would I do that?” I was still fumbling with my mask, but he had it almost down now. “Hey, stop it.” I removed my other hand from around his neck to help pull back the mask. I had both hands on the mask and was trying to pull it back up, but it was no use.
I let the unknown boy pull down my mask. He stared into my eyes like he had just seen light after ten years of living in the dark. What was he looking at? My make up was probably all messed up, and I was probably sweating. Goodness, why did he was to see this?
“There. My mask is off.” I looked up at him. We weren’t touching now and we had stopped swaying to the music. “But what about you, huh? You know who I am, don’t I get to know who you are?” He was infuriating.
But he just laughed and said, “I don’t think so. Besides, you look better without the mask.”
He reached back for me like he wanted to go back to dancing. “Um, I don’t think so.” He looked confused and stopped coming towards me. “You can’t just pull off my mask and reveal my identity,” okay maybe I was being melodramatic, but it was necessary, “and you just want to go back to dancing? I don’t think so. Not until I know who you are.” I crossed my arms and stood my ground.
“Wow.” He said, “you always were so stubborn. But that’s okay, I understand.” I was always so stubborn? Who was he? Did I know this guy? Well he obviously knew who I was. I was too dumbfounded to speak, but when I finally did, I had to use every fiber of my being to not explode on him.
Very carefully I said, “You don’t know anything about me.” I started to walk off, but he followed.
“Oh don’t I?” He said sneakily from behind me. I had to find Cera. She would rescue me from this guy.
“You would be surprised.” Okay now that was just creepy. I picked up my pace to a slight trot and went through the masses of bodies. The only thing on my mind was finding Cera and getting away from the dark haired boy. But he kept following me. He finally caught up with me and whisked me away from the crowd. I struggled in his grip, but it was pointless.
I let him removed me from the crowd of teenagers and take back towards the tables. Only we didn’t stop at the tables, we kept going back to the corner. He backed me the corner and forced me to look him in the eyes. It wasn’t a rough forcefulness, but it was gentle and I wasn’t scared.
“What do you want?” I whispered. Why wouldn’t he just leave me alone? Had he just become a creepy stalker for good now?
“I just wanted to explain to you that, yes, I did know you before tonight. I knew you very well.” Where was he going with this? He could have let me walk off and wonder who it was, and now he was just making it all worse. “I sent you those flowers because I wanted to dance with you, and have fun tonight because you don’t think I’m a stand up guy.” Confusion spread across my face, and he could tell so he continued to explain. “What I’m trying to say is, I wanted you to get to know the real me before you knew who I was. That way you would see that I’m not the same jerk I was.”
I never got to respond, because at that moment the worst piercing scream erupted from the back of the gym. I would never forget that sound for the rest of my life.
I barged around from the mystery boy, and looked up at where all of the people were staring. It all happened so fast, I didn’t see any faces.
A girl was up in the top level of the gym. It was above the bleachers that had been pushed back from the dance. She was in a light purple dress and her light brown hair flowed down her back.
She was going over the railing, and before I knew it she was gone. The gym went silent as we watched the girl go over the side of the railing.
The mystery boy grabbed me and turned me around before I could see her hit the ground, but I heard it and it made me want to burst out in tears. I buried my face into his chest as the teachers and chaperones screamed for everybody to stay back.
Who was the girl? Who had fallen? And who was possibly dead? My mind reeled back to the light brown hair. I had seen that hair some time tonight.
Catherine. Oh my God, it was Catherine.
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