Tutoring the Alpha

Chapter Eight: The Last Dance

                The next couple of days flew by; Mickey and I were in the hot seat as every student craned their heads to look at us when we walked down the hall together, or nudged their friends and made that look girls make when they’re judging somebody. While you’d think I enjoyed all the sudden popularity based on the wide smile and lilting giggle I’d been showing since Saturday, on the inside I was slowly crumbling to dust. I hated being the center of attention, and absolutely despised being dragged around to talk to Mickey’s friends. All of the girls asked me uncomfortable questions like “You slept with him before the first date?” and “Why’d you pick a parking lot? Why not make your first time romantic?” to which I shot back a rude remark and rolled my eyes at their grating personalities and dizzyingly perfect features. It wasn’t like I wanted to be the living embodiment of every teenage nerd everywhere – it just happened that way. I was the shy, sarcastic premed student and Mickey was the friendly, outgoing basketball player. That’s just the way it was. 

            Friday could not have come sooner. Sam and I were walking back from the basketball game, which we’d won, so that we could get home and change before the party. Although Drew had technically issued me the invitation, I’d told him that I’d just show up with Sam, and he’d been cool with that. Unfortunately, Mickey hadn’t even mentioned the fact that I would be attending a party that he would most certainly be at. I didn’t know the protocol for these sorts of situations, so I’d just decided to role solo for the night and let Mickey make the first move.

“Benny, come on, we’ve gotta go! Do you want to be late to your first college party?” Sam shouted down the hall to me, accompanied by a loud knock on my locked bedroom door to which I rolled my eyes and hurriedly grabbed my little red purse. Truth be told, I wish I wasn’t attending my first college party, but I felt obligated to go now that everybody knew I was going. It was confusing and a little upsetting, but I slapped on an “I’m-fine” close-lipped smile and planned to conjure it up anytime somebody talked to me at the party.

“I’m ready, geez,” I grumbled, clomping down the stairs with my ugly gray boot marring my entire outfit. For this momentous occasion, I’d chosen to wear a tight black pencil skirt that had two buckles accentuating my hips and two more cinching the fabric under my butt and creating cute little ruffles down the bottom half of the back of the skirt. To keep it casual, I’d thrown on a loose black t-shirt with a picture of Castiel from Supernatural plastered across the front, and a single black combat boot on my right foot. Now I added my black leather jacket and red purse, finishing off my ensemble and scurrying to Sam’s side with a flippant remark about being fashionably late.

            To his credit, by the time we’d arrived the party was in full swing. It was held in one of the fraternity dorms, with a name that was annoyingly pompous and had letters that I was pretty weren’t even Greek. Just as I’d expected, I regretted accepting Drew’s invitation the moment I stepped foot inside the dimly lit building. It was like something straight out of a horror movie; shirtless girls dancing on tables, sweaty guys smoking and yelling raucously, and girls and guys alike drinking incessantly from red plastic cups. An obnoxious and way overplayed Katy Perry song was blasting, although there were no speakers that I could see, and the entire atmosphere stank of alcohol, cigarettes, and bad choices.

“I’m gonna go say hi to the guys,” Sam shouted in my ear, although with the haze of smoke and eardrum-smashing music I felt like Helen Keller as I struggled to hear or even see my best friend. Still, I got the gist of what he was saying and waved him off, although what I really wanted to do was grab his arm, scream like a mental patient, and go home. As I was left alone standing in what appeared to be the foyer, watching all of my peers get drunk and touch each other, I felt an overwhelming sense of awkwardness and decided to at least try and find something to drink.