Chapter Fourteen

I woke up. I was still in Damien’s house. I used his mother’s hairbrush, and wore my same clothes.
Damien’s family was nice enough to give me some breakfast and then Damien took me to school.
“Oh my God,” I suddenly said.
“What?” Damien asked.
“Dude, Chrissy is going to be so pissed today.”
“Oh, right,” he said. “That’s going to be so awesome.”
“Yes.”
“So what exactly did you do with her hair?” he asked.
I laughed. “Oh, you’ll see.”
Damien parked the car, and went our separate ways for class.
I could hardly contain myself; I paid absolutely no attention in Calculus. I mean, I wasn’t as tired as I was yesterday, so I actually got a bit of work done. But I couldn’t stop thinking about what Chrissy was going to look like.
I even went completely nuts about it to Damien in Lit/Writ. He thought I was going insane, but I was okay with it. Because I wasn’t about to fall asleep at that moment, unlike yesterday.
Damien started getting worried about me at brunch because we were finally going to get to see Chrissy and how mad she was, and I was literally too happy for my own good, and Damien thought I was going absolutely insane.
“Hey, Paige,” greeted Charlie once we made it to the library. “Why so happy?”
“Not that happy,” I said, smiling. “I just had a good night.”
Charlie smiled. “Good to hear.”
I heard someone walk into the library and scream, “ALEXANDER!”
I turned around, scared, and then laughed when I saw it was Chrissy. Her skin was very pink due to the fact that Damien had adjusted her plumbing to make coffee come out of her shower. And her hair was just as it was when I had left it.
“Uh, Chrissy… what happened?” the Great asked.
“I woke up. Hair gone. Coffee in shower. Don’t want to talk about it.”
I could see the Great smiling a bit after seeing her.
Chrissy left, and Damien and I started going red with laughter.
“Oh wow!” Damien exclaimed. “Either it was the coffee that turned her face red, or it was her head filled with all that anger.”
“Whoever did her hair must have been a butcher or someone,” Charlie joked. This made me laugh even harder.
“That was positively brilliant,” Damien said.
“I wonder if that’s it, though,” Charlie said.
“What do you mean?” I asked him.
“Like, something happened yesterday. And then something happened today. Is that it? I mean, nothing tomorrow?”
“The dance is tonight,” Damien said.
“Oh, right!” I exclaimed. “Wow, I almost forgot about that.”
Charlie looked down at me and smiled. “Just don’t forget to go… there’s no point in me going if you aren’t there.”
“What about making sure Katie doesn’t go nuts?” Damien asked.
“Good point, Damien,” he said.
Damien laughed. “I wonder if Chrissy is still going. I mean, her dress and hair are both ruined.”
“Yes, but she’s not about to go and give up her chance to go to a dance with the Great,” Charlie explained. “It’s a pride thing. She’s not going to let it go so easily.”
“That’s true,” Damien said. “She also wants to show the people who did that to her that all that stuff that happened isn’t going to stop her from being on top.”
“Well, we won’t let Chrissy ruin that night,” I said to Charlie, smiling. But on the inside, the smile was meant for Damien.
“I’m glad,” Charlie said.
The bell has a habit of ringing at times that specifically annoy me. So basically, it rang, and it annoyed me. Because the bell doesn’t understand that I’d rather be hanging out with Damien and Charlie in the library than being bitched at by Chrissy in World History.
I went, and sat down in my seat. Alexander sat in front of me as usual, but Chrissy wasn’t there yet. I wondered where she was until she walked through the doors.
“Hello, Paige darling,” she greeted in her too-sweet voice. “Have you noticed my new look?” She pointed at her hair, and smiled like some sort of model.
“I have,” I said, smiling. “It suites you.”
She smirked. “It does. And my clothes all have the green to match,” she said, as if she was bragging about it. “It’s my new style for the dance.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Yes. Do you know how I got it?”
I looked at her. “Um… I’m sorry?”
“Do you have any idea how I got this look?”
“Why would I know?” I snapped.
“Oh, I don’t know. I just thought you would know.”
“Why the hell would I know?” I repeated, a little more angrily this time.
She shrugged, and looked around as if completely innocent.
“Well, for your information, Chrissy White, I don’t know nor do I give a shit about the way you look. So get off my back.”
“Touchy,” she said in a sing-song voice. “But I’d watch out if I were you.”
“I’m not too worried about it,” I said. She shot me a look, but I just smiled.
I told Damien what Chrissy said when I left for fourth period, but he just told me to ignore her, and that we would really show her at the dance tomorrow.
Charlie kept telling us more about the rumors that he had heard about Chrissy once lunch hit. Usually I found them extremely hilarious, but today I just sort of ignored them.
We acted in Drama. Not a lot much happened, so I’ll just end the school day there.
I drove with Charlie to work again. He seemed a little too overly happy with me being in the car. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad he was happy. But I just felt a little bit awkward with him constantly looking at me.
But the three of us, Charlie, Damien, and I, all made it to work at the same time again. We didn’t speak much, and quickly got to work.
“Paige,” Damien said once we were in our respective department. “What’s the plan for tonight?”
“Who: You, me, and Chrissy,” I started.
“Of course.”
“What: Well, we already know what.”
“We’ve been over it many times.”
“Where: At school, during the dance.”
“Mhm.”
“When: The dance starts at 8 o’clock. I’m meeting you and Charlie around then in front of the gym.”
“All right.”
“How: I’m going to walk there, and I think you and Charlie are going together, is that right?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Good. And how the prank is going to work… I think we know that.”
“We do.”
“And why: It’s the call to adventure.”
Damien smiled. “Sounds good to me.”
I smiled back. “Great. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be working.”
“I will join you.”
So we worked. It was a lot more fun with Damien there with me. We talked.
“Damien, whom are you going to the dance with?” I asked.
“I like your grammar,” he answered.
“Uh, thanks.”
“Yeah. A lot of people don’t know the difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom.’ It annoys me sometimes.”
“Um, yeah, that’s great and all, but it didn’t answer my question.”
“Paige,” he started, “I am going with Jessica, because I still love her.”
“I see.”
“What does that mean?”
“What does what mean?”
“You said, ‘I see.’ What does that mean?”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I said. “I just said ‘I see.’ I tend to say thing that sound awkward when I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
“All right. I believe you.”
“Okay.”
“I just haven’t seen Jessica in so long,” he said.
“I know.”
“She said she wanted to talk to me,” he continued, as if I didn’t say anything at all. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard her voice. She sent me a text message. She wanted to talk because we haven’t in so long.”
“Oh,” was all I could manage.
“Yeah. I should be excited for seeing her again, but I’m equally as excited for the last part of the Prank.”
I smiled. “Yeah, it’s going to be…” I had to think of an adjective.
“Epic?” Damien suggested.
I laughed, mostly to myself. “Incredibly epic.”
Working went by fast when Damien and I went over the plan of our prank over and over again once it was engraved into our heads. We laughed several times at some parts that were going to be hilarious. But eventually, Damien told me to stop living in the future, and get back to work. I was a bit bitter, so I just went and took my break.
“Hey, Paige kid!” someone, obviously Katie, greeted the second I walked in.
“Hi, Paige,” Charlie said soon after.
“Hello,” I said back. “Angela here?”
“Angela girl said she couldn’t take a break today,” Katie explained. “Some employees are sick, and she needs to fill in for them and things of that sort.”
“Oh, that kind of sucks.”
“I want Angela girl!”
“Hey, Katie girl,” Charlie said to her. “I’m here. What’s wrong with me?”
“You love Paige kid,” she said.
“I love you, too,” he said.
“You love Paige kid!” she repeated.
Charlie laughed. “I do love Paige kid, but I will never forget about you, Katie girl.”
“Katie girl loves Charlie boy, too!” Katie exclaimed.
I smiled at the two good friends, and sat down on the opposite side of them.
“Paige kid, did you know?” Katie said to me, excitement in her voice.
“Know what?” I asked.
“Charlie boy is going to the dance with someone!”
“Oh really?” I said, smiling at Charlie. “Who’s going with Charlie boy?”
Katie smiled, as if the greatest thing in the world was hearing me call Charlie “Charlie boy.” “Charlie boy is going with you, silly!”
I took a quick glance at Charlie, and laughed with him.
“Are you going to the dance with anyone, Katie girl?” Charlie asked.
“Angela girl?” she answered, more of a question.
Charlie laughed. “No, I meant as a date. Are you going with anyone as a date?”
“No, no, of course not!” she exclaimed as if it were the most absurd thing ever to go on a date with someone. “You have to be as amazing as Charlie boy or Paige kid to have dancing dates!”
The two of us laughed again.
“Well,” Charlie started. “I should probably be getting back to work.”
He left the room, and Katie smiled at me.
“Hi, Katie,” I said, trying to break the awkward silence.
“Paige girl, Charlie boy loves you lots,” she said, frankly, a bit randomly. “I know it. Charlie boy can’t stop talking about you all the time.”
I smiled at her. “I’m really glad,” I said. “Charlie is an amazing guy.”
“Charlie boy makes me laugh lots!” she said, laughing herself. “And he can make sad people laugh. And he takes care of me lots, too. Angela girl does, too, but he does lots.”
“Okay, Katie,” I said.
“Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay? Okay. I go work. I got work. I need to—”
“I understand, Katie,” I told her, laughing a bit at how she stuttered a bit as she talked. “Have fun working.”
“Have fun, Paige kid!” She smiled, and leaved.
I sat in silence until the door opened again.
“You in here, Paige?” Damien asked.
“Oh, hi, Damien,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Nothing really,” he said. “I guess I’m just getting excited for tonight.”
I smiled. “Tell me about it.”
“Yes. I can’t wait. I’m going to go home now, though, I’m feeling sick and stuff. I can probably convince my dad to let you go home, too. I mean, because I’m usually you’re ride, right? So if I go you have to go. Um, do you want to go home?”
I blinked for a second, trying to process everything he said. One I thought about it, I realized I was actually a bit tired of work for the day. “Um, I guess. Sure. All right. Should we talk to David first?”
“If you really want to,” he said.
We left the break room and went to go meet David.
“Sick, Damien?” he asked. “Well, are you going to be all right?”
“Yeah, of course, dad,” I said. “I have to be okay, I’m meeting Jessica at the dance today.”
“Dance?” David repeated. “Is Paige going as well?”
“Yes, I am,” I said, nodding.
David smiled. It was the type of smile that could make you feel awkward no matter how you felt previously.
“Do you mind if I take Paige home, dad?”
David’s smile turned into a frown. “Sure. As you know, we’re a little short on employees, but I think Charlie can do some extra stuff.”
Damien smiled. “All right. Thank you, dad.”
I smiled, too. “Yes, thank you very much.”
So the two of us went back into the parking lot, and went into his car. As I was getting in, I saw Charlie through the window. He was working at the registers, busy with a customer. He turned and saw me. I waved, and he gave me a slightly sad smile.
“Ready?” Damien said, making me look away from Charlie.
“Oh. Um. Right. Yeah, I’m ready.”
So we drove.
“I’ll see you soon, all right?” Damien said, dropping me off at my Aunt Clara’s house. He smiled.
“Definitely. I’m super excited. It will be epic.” I smiled back.
Damien laughed. “All right. Charlie and I will see you tonight. I might send you a text message.”
“Sounds good to me. See you later.”
He drove away.
So I went up to my room, and decided that I probably needed to wear a dress for the dance. I didn’t really wear dresses, but for some reason I had one. I shuffled through my suitcase, which was still full of things that I didn’t bother to unpack. Like that dress. It was a long one, but it was starting to get a bit small for me, so it only reached my ankles. It was black, so the only thing I didn’t like about it was that it made my skin look more pale. Well, that, and the fact that it was still a dress.
I tried to force my hair to stay down, but it didn’t cooperate with me, so I just decided to tie it up. I didn’t want to do anything else, but when I thought about it being a dance, and I thought, why not do a little extra?
So out of my bag, I pulled out my eyeliner, and put it on. In the dress that I wore, and with my bangs covering half of my face, it made me look like some emo child. But I didn’t care. It was the way I dressed up.
Only then did I realize I didn’t have shoes, so I just wore my muddy sneakers, and hoped they would suffice.
I sat quietly in my room until Damien and Charlie were supposed to come pick me up.
My phone started vibrating. I picked it up. A text message from Damien.
“Charlie is over. We’re almost done getting ready. Tell me when you’re good, and we’ll come pick you up. Is that okay?”
I typed back. “Yes, that’s fine. I’m already all ready. Lol. Okay, you can come whenever. Give me a text, and I’ll come down.”
I hit send, and waited.
After about a minute, the phone vibrated again. I checked my messages. “Okay. We’re just leaving. We’ll be there in a minute.”
“Okay,” I texted back.