18: The Sadie Hawkins

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      TAYA's POV:

The next day, I had asked Hallee to meet me at the mall to discuss my situation. Clearly I had picked the wrong time and place since the mall was packed as people were doing their post-Black Friday shopping. Still, here I was, spilling the tea to Hallee about our thanksgiving dinner last night.

"So let me get this straight: first it's just practice kissing, then you guys started skipping school together, spending more time with each other. Then y'all are having thanksgiving dinner with the family. And now you're catching feelings for him? Go figure. I mean, what's next, Taya? Seventeen and pregnant?" Hallee snorted a laugh and people all around us were giving us a weird look.

"Oh my god Hallee, I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear that," I rolled my eyes and she ignored me, walking nonchalantly into Macy's instead.

"Anyways, you're starting to have feelings for Judah, but you don't know if he feels the same way or not. Meanwhile you still have feelings for Blake, and he's trying to get back with you, but you're still not sure if he wasn't gonna be a flaky douche this time around, did I get that right?"

"Somewhat... yeah,"

"I don't wanna be the bitch that says 'I told you so', but I've told you this whole practice kissing thing was gonna end up biting you in the ass,"

"Ugh! How could I let this happen? I saw all the warning signs and I walked right into it!" I groaned to my own stupidity. 

Everyone had warned me about this, including Judah himself. I could just picture it in my head: Judah laughing smugly at my pathetic self as he said, 'ha, I told you, you girls have to attach emotions to everything', and then he would proceed to breaking my heart into a million tiny pieces.

"I'm officially a loser. Judah's gonna have one hell of a time making fun of me for this," I whined as Hallee made her way over to the sales rack.

"Are you sure about that, Tay? What if he feels the same way?" Hallee's words suddenly caught me off-guard.

The thought of Judah feeling things for me suddenly got my heart to pump faster. Could that be a possibility?

"Do you think so? I mean, how do you tell if a guy likes you or not?"

"Well, are you getting any signs?"

Signs? Well, there was that incident with the pants... and when we talked, things just flew so effortlessly. He joked around a lot, but there were these rare moments where he was serious and I might have caught a glimpse of his soul.

"Maybe there are some signs... but I'm not sure. With the nature of our arrangement, things were never really clear. And asking him point-blankly would just be too embarrassing,"

"Okay, so we need to find out if he has feelings for you... without actually asking him about it?"

"Sorta... do you have a plan?"

"Oh!" she beamed almost instantly. I could just see the light bulb turning on in her head. Of course Hallee would have a plan, this was why I came to her in the first place.

"The winter formal! We're doing Sadie Hawkins this year, you should totally ask him!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, no way, Judah's not gonna go to a school dance, that's just not his thing," I shook my head quickly, knowing full well that this was a bad idea.

"That's exactly the point! Earlier today, I heard from someone that there were three junior girls that tried to ask Judah to the dance and he just flat out rejected all of them! So you should totally ask him!"

"I don't know Hals..." I shook my head again, I mean what if he rejected me next?

"Think about it. Judah hates school events, but he's sticking around for our play because of you. Judah will never go to a school dance, but if you're the one to ask him... who knows?"

Was that true? Was he really sticking around for the play because of me?

"Come on, I have the perfect plan!" Ignoring my doubtful expression, Hallee dragged me over to the guys' formal wear section. She was practically skipping around in excitement.

"What color dress are you wearing?" 

"Silver," I said as I gave her a puzzled look. "What are we doing here?"

Hallee pulled out a crisp silver tie from the shelves and handed it over to me.

"Trust me on this," she beamed.


*


As soon as we got back from Thanksgiving break, school was as lively as it could possibly be. There was something about the month of December that just screamed happiness, excitement, and romance. It was evident inside school halls too. For example, before lunchtime today, I had witnessed two girls ask out their dates to the dance. It was very cute. One girl made a cute a poster sign and the other one sang a song on her ukulele.

No one had ever asked me to the dance before, so I never went through the awkwardness of rejecting an invitation or the excitement of approving one. Yet here I was, for the first time in my life, asking a guy to go to a dance with me. Yes, I would be the asker and not the askee.

This thing is scary as hell! How do guys do this all the time?

"Oh god Hallee, I can't do this," I was going to turn back to the cafeteria when Hallee pushed me out the door.

"You got this. Just be yourself! Or a... cuter and sweeter version of yourself," she joked, but that wasn't helping.

Before I could change my mind again, Hallee had propelled me towards the bleachers, where Judah was sitting alone like usual. She gave me a wide grin and two thumbs up before she went running off.

Judah was just lounging casually with his earphones on when he noticed me coming up.

"Hey... Jude," I breathed nervously.

"Blondie," he nodded, taking one of the earphones off. "Thanks again for inviting me over on Thanksgiving. I had fun,"

"Sure, no problem. You and Ryder seemed to hit it off? You guys were gone for a while after dinner,"

"Yeah, we just took my bike out for a spin," he shrugged.

"Cool,"

"Yup,"

I shuffled awkwardly before taking the seat next to him. The sun shone brightly above us and he looked cool, as always.

"So I, uh, wanna ask you something,"

"Shoot," he said as he leaned back.

Oh for the love of all that is holy, why is my heart beating like crazy? I could hardly keep my breathing together.

"So, you know, this year's winter formal... the dance committee was trying to be all feminist and stuff, and they decided we should do it Sadie Hawkins style... haha, funny right?" I was mumbling like an idiot while Judah just sat there watching me.

"And so I was just wondering, do you wanna... maybe... do you?" I couldn't even bring myself to finish the sentence.

"Do I what?" he pressed on.

Shit on a freaking stick, this is so nerve-wrecking! Gah!

"You know, me and you, and our friends are gonna be there..." I said again, waiting on his reaction, but I swear he was just playing dumb.

"What are you talking about?" he furrowed his eyebrows and snorted a laugh.

"Damnit Judah! Will you just go with me to this stupid dance with me?" I said finally. And that didn't come across as cute or sweet at all.

Judah raised an eyebrow at me as silence hung in the air. 

"If it's so stupid, why do you even wanna go?" was his response.

"I don't know... it's our senior year... it might be fun..." I stuttered. Clearly I wasn't selling it really well right now.

"Blondie, you know school event's not really my thing. It's a miracle that I'm still sticking with this play at all," he scoffed.

I could feel my heart plunging itself down the toilet at his response.

Any normal girl would just say 'ok', tuck her tails between her legs and run off. But I was no normal girl. I took out the little shopping bag from my backpack and handed it over to him.

"I knew you'd be difficult. So here, I even got you a tie to match with my dress. I know you probably won't even bother with these things..."

He took the paper bag and opened it. When he saw what was inside, his jaw clenched instinctively. That was not the reaction I was looking for.

"Well, just think about it," I sighed, "It's just one night. And we all get to dress up and dance. Hallee's coming with her boyfriend and we can make fun of Gabe who won't have the guts to ask Maddie for a dance..." I was being really sweet this time, but I could tell that he was about to say no again.

"I'm gonna be there. So if you feel like seeing me... just come, ok? See ya," I said quickly through my teeth, before he could say anything else.

This was so embarrassing and the complete opposite of being smooth. Definitely not the way I thought things would go. Quickly, I turned to my heels and made a beeline back to the building, as if my life depended on it. 


*


It felt like I almost died out there. This might be the first and last time I would ever ask a guy out. I made a mental note to murder Hallee when this was all over. And I was just walking through the hallways, looking for her, when a familiar voice suddenly called out to me.

"Taya," I turned around to see Blake standing right behind me.

"Did you get my note?" he said again.

"Oh, yes," I gaped. I was shocked to see him, and the fact that we were talking in front of all these people walking by and that he didn't seem to mind.

"Thank you for the book by the way, it was really nice of you, but you didn't have to do that," I said and he gave me a sad look. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Taya, I'm gonna prove it to you," he said suddenly.

"I'm seeing RJ this weekend and I'm gonna talk to him. I'll tell him everything,"

"You're what?" I gasped.

"I'll tell him that I have feelings for his sister. And that I'd do anything for her to take me back,"

"Blake..."

"I realized I've been a complete fool. You deserve so much better. And I'll do everything I can to show you that this time, things will be different," he smiled. A warm and gorgeous smile.

His words took the air right out of my lungs. I just stood there with eyes wide open and my mouth on the floor. And I was still searching for the right words to say when suddenly we heard a loud booming noise coming from behind us.

"Attention Mr. Blake Harrison!" 

Our heads turned back immediately, and we saw Viviane and her minions were dressed in Moulin Rogue costumes, taking center stage at the end of the halls. And suddenly, this sexy jazz tune began to play and the three girls started dancing. Kids started to move away, giving them room. Some people even took out their phones to start filming.

"Come on babe, why don't we paint the town, and all that Jazz," Viviane sang seductively through a wireless mic.

Boy did she go all out.

She sang and danced her way down the halls, sashaying her way over to Blake, who was standing there with a confused look on his face. Guys around him started hyping him up, getting him excited that a sexy cheerleader was singing her way over to him. I took that as my cue to quietly slip away into the background.

"Heya Blake," she spoke huskily.

Blake didn't look amused, if anything he looked annoyed. He coughed awkwardly and tried to walk away, but Viviane grabbed his arm. She was adamant on finishing her routine and poor Blake just stood there in awkward silence. As she finally finished her number, the crowd roared in cheers and claps.

"So, baby, will you paint the town with me at Sadie Hawkins?" Viviane said in between her ragged breaths.

The crowd cheered even louder this time as more phones came out to record this historical moment. But all the excitement and cheers suddenly died down as Blake gave his answer.

"No," his tone was cold as ice and the crowd was dead silent.

"What? Are you kidding me?" she spat.

"Sorry Viv, but there's this girl that I like... and I've been hoping that she'd be the one to ask me there,"

There was about three seconds of dead silence before the entire hallway broke wild with "oooh" and "oh snap". Viv's eyes widened in shock as she tried to hold her composure. But the fact that her face turned blood red was a dead giveaway.

Slowly, Blake turned his head to me and he gave me a look, a knowing look. And I just stood there like a fool, not knowing what to do. Viv followed Blake's gaze and noticed me standing there.

By the way she was looking at me, I was sure she was gonna turn into the Hulk and bit my head off. Thankfully enough, the next bell rang and the sound echoed loudly through the halls. People started dispersing and Viv let out a frustrated groan, before stomping away with her minions.

Saved by the bell, yes. But not from the drama. 

I let out a relieved sigh before joining the crowd and disappearing into my next class. Still, for the rest of the day, I couldn't concentrate on my classes at all. I had come to the full realization that my life had now turned into a teenage soap opera. 

And it all started with one stupid deal...

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To be continued.

A/N: Guys, I've been so stressed out with projects and reports that I had to write lately. But thank goodness it's all over now, phew! The end of the year can be a stressful time, but I hope you're managing it better than me :) 

As always, let me know your thoughts and don't forget to smash the star button! And before I go, I just wanna get your opinion on this question: should a girl ask a guy out? 

See you in the next page,

aflyingwhale

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