The Teenage Guide To Popularity [COMPLETE]

Chapter 21: You're My Best Friend,

Carter was supposed to be happy. She was supposed to be over the moon, dancing on the clouds with pink elephants and pretty unicorns. Instead she found herself lying on her bed, as grumpy as a dwarf in a gloomy little forest. Her misery didn't quite make sense. For one thing, she had Leigh back. For another, Kiran had asked her to Elena's party.

The only sour thing that could possibly explain her mood was Tala. 

Carter figured there were two possible scenarios; first, Sterling had lied about everything, for whatever reason, and Tala was the girl she had always been. A friend. Even a voice of reason. Second, Sterling had told the truth, which meant that Tala had a bunch of unexplainable tricks up her beautiful and professionally dry-cleaned sleeve. 

But was one person really enough to keep Carter in such a state, whatever the scenario? Was any of it even worth it?

As Carter stared at herself in the mirror of her room, she wondered if there was a way to rewind everything. To go back to that first day, to when Leigh had been looking at the Populars, to before the stupid idea of messing with them was put in her mind. Though the more she took in her reflection, the more hopeless she felt. Even Leigh's sparkle-filled, silky, silvery dress didn't give her the confidence needed to go to the party.

She had convinced Leigh to meet her at the party, because it would save all the awkward moments between herself and Kiran. There was really no need for all three of them to be in a car together. There was also no reason for her to tell Leigh that anything was going on between herself and Kiran right now. Carter wasn't even sure herself, so why verbalize it to someone else who could still be in love with him?

When the doorbell rang, the sound of it hit her mind like a hurled brick, knocking her over that edge and into a state of blushing alarm. 

What the hell is wrong with me? It's not like this is a blind date. This is Kiran. Kiran. Repeating his name didn't work. She licked her lips nervously and made her way downstairs.

When she swung the door open and saw him standing there, she knew she had lost any bit of confidence she had managed to scrape up. She had seen him semi-dressed up before, for school dances, random somewhat-formal events, parties - but now it was like a whole other level of handsome. Maybe it was the way he was smiling at her, perfectly delicious and yet completely subtle, or the way his dark eyes fell on her. Like he was almost afraid to look directly at her. Whatever it was, she knew it was probably making her blush like crazy.

"Hi," she said while closing the door behind her. She then attempted to focus on his clothes instead of his face. It wasn't safe to let herself glance at him. There was every chance she would never be able to look away again. 

"Hey. You look...."

"Stupid, I know." She felt stupid. It was an ugly short dress, and not at all something she would call practical. Leigh had assured her that it was sexy, but Carter would have probably felt sexier had she worn a t-shirt and jeans.

"I was going to say amazing."

"Oh... um..."

"Why are you so nervous?" he asked, stepping closer, lessening the space between them. The term nervous didn't even begin to describe the state she was in.

Carter frowned, mainly at herself, and walked around him. "I'm not nervous."

"Yeah you are. You won't even look at me.  Even at the library, it's like you were purposely trying to avoid looking at me."

He was right, of course, though she hadn't thought it would be a big deal to him, especially enough to cause another nerve-racking argument. She headed for his car and tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "No I wasn't. Now can we go?"