Chapter 13: Eggplant

"Hailey I honestly have nothing to wear at all", I whined over the phone.

"Calm down. First of all you are not wearing a hoodie to the party", she chided me.

"But.. It's comfortable", that was my favourite hoodie to wear all the time.

"No... look at the back of the closet. Remember your cousin gave you this dress for your birthday last year- wear that".

"I don't remember where I kept that. Besides my closet is a mess", I was too lazy to organize my closet so I ended up piling all the clothes at one side making a giant cloth mountain which can topple down any time. And I was too scared to touch that.

"No I saw it at the back of your closet inside a polyester back", after much searching I finally found the dress it where Hailey told me.

"Wow thanks Hailey I don't know what I would have done without you", I said gratefully.

"Just treat me to some ice cream okay?" She made me promise. I happily agreed.

"You sure you don't wanna come over?" I asked her.

"Nope. I need to pass this test or Mr. Wilson will make me fail", she said ruefully.

"Okay. It won't be fun without you", I said.

"Nope it will. You are going there to take revenge on Jules! Just make sure you do that", she said animatedly.

"Haha I will".

Hanging up I took a good look at the dress in my hand, it was a black full sleeve bodycon dress.

I tried it on and it fitted me perfectly. I styles my hair to the side and wore matching black wedges as Hailey suggested. I was bad at putting on makeup so I tried my best to apply some eyeliner, mascara and lipstick.

A final glance at the mirror told me I did a decent job. I did look quite good.

Grabbing my clutch I headed downstairs where Leo was waiting for me. He chose to wear dark blue jeans and a black shirt. I had to admit he looked quite good.

But his eyes were on me. "Princess I must say you look beautiful. I don't think I will be able to take my eyes off you", he said eyeing me up and down.

I tried my best not to blush. "Umm thanks. Let's go now", I said taking his hand in mine.

Turns out the party was at Max Jonathan's  house who was one of  Leo's close friends so mostly there were seniors here except for some of my classmates I recognized.

"What's up Justice?" Josh greeted me by wrapping his arms around me. I hugged him back. While Derek settled for a small hi. He was so quiet and shy it was cute.

Rest of the night went smoothly. The boys played beer pong while I watched them. Leo was always around me, having a protective hand on my back.

"I have to confess something", I said to Leo while we were watching a game of beer pong between Derek and Josh.

"Confess away princess"

"I never had alcohol".

"What?" He looked at me wide eyed confused. "So that's why you haven't touched any of the drinks at the party".

I nodded. He told me to wait, coming back with a red plastic cup filled with beer. "Here try this. Just taste it. I don't want you to get drunk".

I took the cup from him giving him it a  wistful look. "I hope it's clean".

"Yeah it is", he chuckled, with that I took a sip of the beer.

I started coughing and wheezing,"Eww why is it bitter?"

"Yeah you get used to it princess. Don't drink it if you don't like it though", he warned.

But after taking some sips, I kind of got used to it And started feeling a bit tipsy. "Wanna dance?" I grabbed Leo by his arm and dragged him to the dance floor which was Max's living room with all the furniture removed.

I started dancing while Leo was around watching me and sort of dancing. I moved my hips to the song, without any care in the world. The alcohol in my system made me confident.

Then a slow song came on, he held up my hand I placed my other hand on his shoulder while Leo placed his other hand on my waist and that oh-so-familiar electricity kicked in. We danced, Leo pulled me closer to him, we were only a few inches away from each other. I could smell his familiar cologne.

"I think you are the most beautiful girl out here", Leo confessed. I blushed, getting lost in his  eyes with the song. I swear they were like ocean; blue and so full of depth.

He closed the distance between us by placing his lips on mine, both his hands gripping my waist pulling me closer. He sucked on my lower lip, his tongue dove into my mouth, making me see fireworks. I held on to his shirt as my knees went weak. I sighed, his kisses were amazing I had to give him that. We pulled up apart, our breaths ragged, he rested his head on my shoulder smelling my hair. We didn't care if Jules was there or not, it was just us, we didn't give a damn about anyone.

After the song ended we decided to join the boys who were hanging out with other girls. More like all the girls were all over them, ready to worship them.

Josh and Derek seemed to be enjoying their company while Leo stayed away from them, instead he stayed close to me at all times. He even turned down a girl who wanted to dance with her. That was very nice of him.

Jules was late to the party but she was there now. I figured she was extremely drunk since I saw her doing vodka shots with Max who was trying his best to get her in his pants. He might even succeed given I saw the two making out on the couch. Regardless of anything, she was there watching us I can feel her eyes on us.

"Heard you guys broke into the school last night?" Josh asked.

"Yeah to rescue George", I answered.

"But we are gonna get busted if we don't delete the footage. The security goes over the school footage every Monday".

"What do we do then?" If I wasn't a bit tipsy I would have been in full panic mode about being busted but alcohol calmed my senses down.

"Uhh guys I have a plan", Derek spoke up after hearing our conversation.

................

"Emma you stay here and guard the entrance while we sneak in", Derek whispered. I nodded trying to be careful.

We were at school at 10 pm at night. I didn't realize we were at the party that long. If I wasn't a bit drunk I would probably never agree to this. I felt braver and chilled now. The plan is Derek, Josh and Leo will enter the security room to delete all the footage while I stay here in case anyone tries to enter I have to warn them.

The boys seemed to be very chilled about this. I feel like this wasn't the first time they snuck into the school. They seemed to know their way into school well. We made sure to park our car a few metres away from school.

After a long time, I called them to see what's up with them. "How much long?" I asked Leo.

"We are almost done. This computer is password protected. We had to crack that. Fortunately Derek knows his way with computers", Leo sighed.

"I never pegged Derek as a computer whizz".

"Yeah he's pretty good at it. I will meet you outside. We are almost done", he hung up. I had a lot to learn about these boys. They weren't exactly the stereotypical bad boys I pegged them as.

There was a screeching sound of car parking in the parking lot. Alarmed I peeked to see one of the guards getting out of the car.

Shit. Rushing, I entered the school main  gate and sneaked into one of the nearest classroom I could find and called Leo. It was pitch black in here so there was a high possibility of bumping into something. I tried to be careful.

"Someone's here. Get out of here right now", I whisper-shouted.

"We are almost done!"

"Fuck he just entered the school", I heard the main door open. "Get out right now".

"Okay we are trying to ", he hung up. My heart was beating erratically against my chest.

Not after long Leo called me back. "The guy is here. We can hear his footsteps. But we are still stuck here!"

"We are so getting caught",Josh said from the other side worry etched in this voice.

I racked my brain for a solution. I was finally panicking now and the alcohol in my system was making it worse.

Then my eye caught sight of the fire alarm. I got out of the classroom walked towards it and pulled it, activating the fire sprinkler.

.............

Final update for this year. Wishing you guys a very Happy New year! ❤