Hope «h.s.»

Seventeen.

Chapter 17:

"I will go," I muttered quietly. What did I just agree to?

Alexandra grasped her hands together in joy and squeaked. It was hard to tell if she was putting on a show or not. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max smirk. I instantly regretted my decision to go. What was I thinking?

"Great. See you then!" she said, pulling Max away with her.

I was now left with an angry Harry to deal with.

"What the hell Piper?" He almost shouted once the two got far enough away from our booth. "I wasn't even going to go tonight!"

My eyebrows lifted in shock. "But you are now, right?" I was not going if Harry wasn't, that was for sure.

"I guess I am," Harry sighed, taking out some bills to leave on the table. "Cmon, let's get you back to work."

•

Once again being the snot-nose that I am, I tried my best to ignore Scottie the rest of the time of working. Multiple times he started talking to me as if nothing was wrong, but I ignored him and put on a set of the sample headphones we had in the store isles.

I was nervous driving home. My dad was outside in the back with another man whom I did not know. Rene was searching through our pantries, looking for something to eat within our little supply. Meanwhile, I decided to take a quick shower and blow dry my hair. Harry told me he would be there in a few minutes to take me to Alexandra's house for some reason.

I was scared out of my mind. I did not know if it was the rush of adrenaline that their stares gave me to say "I'll go" or not. But I was definitely 1000% regretting going. I did not want to drink, wear something slutty, and hang with drunk people from our school. I wanted to do the opposite: lay in bed with Rene while we read the books we were currently reading. The two of us were always bookworms to the extreme. It was truly astonishing. I was currently reading Pride and Prejudice for what seemed like the fourth time since freshman year when I was introduced to it.

But instead, I was standing in front of my closet trying to find my cutest dress. I had a couple for some reason. I liked to dress up occasionally for school, aka try and make myself fit in. After a few minutes of mindlessly having my eyes travel over my few dresses, I chose my long black one. Black was party-like right? And plus it was tight fitting. I slipped it on and looked into the mirror. I had worn it once in December and that was it. It still looked good on me, if I could say. It was a tight that I did not mind because it concealed everything needed. After that I pulled on some long black boot socks and decided on my tan boots. I left my hair down naturally and took one last look in the mirror.

I was ready for this party physically, but still not mentally. I told myself I would not drink or even look at alcohol at all and I would stay by Harry's side the whole time.

"Where are you going?" Rene said, peeking her mischievous head through my cracked door without my consent.

"None of your business," I said, not wanting her to worry about me; I'd be fine. I could handle myself.

"Really?" She stepped through the door and put her hand on her hip.

"I'm going out. That's it Rene," I said forcefully, studying my hair in the mirror.

"Are you going on a date with Henry? Wait, no... Harry?" Rene's eye lit up.

My body froze. He was picking me up, but that didn't mean I was going with him. This wasn't a date, it was a party. I was not going to enjoy myself like I would on a date with Harry. Oh god, now I was wishing for something completely stupid. Besides, he was taking me to one of his "girls" houses. I did not even know why I was going. I looked fine for the party.