The World You Never Expected

Sarah: Part 3

"Oof! I tried to tell Emily it was too tight, but no! 'They didn't have it in a bigger size and it was too perfect!' Oh, Emily just makes me so mad sometimes! Alina, help me get this dress on!" Sarah shouted from in her closet. Alina opened the door.

"Oh my God, Sarah, you look amazing!" Alina exclaimed. Sarah smiled.

"Yeah, that's great, can you zip me up?" she asked. Alina stepped behind Sarah and zipped up the tall zipper on the back of the poofy, sea foam green dress. Alina took a step back and admired her cousin.

"Seriously, though, you look amazing!" Alina said. Sarah grinned, she'd never really got dressed up before. Alina waved her finger.

"Just got to fix that hair of yours," she said as Sarah's hair began to curl. Elegant ringlets of thick chestnut hair framed Sarah's face, and she felt the hair in the back get tugged into a braided bun. "There," Alina said.

"Is that how you do your hair every morning?" Sarah asked. Alina smiled and nodded.

Alina and Sarah were going to the dance together, they both had dates, but they were meeting their dates there. Alina wore a dress black at the top, strapless, that went about mid-thigh in white sparkling fabric.

"Tom's a lucky guy to be going to the dance with a girl like you," Sarah said. Alina shook her head.

"Naw, we don't have anything special. Now, you and Shawn-" Sarah cut her off.

"Hardly. We've talked twice, this is our first date," Sarah said. Alina sighed happily.

"Oh, I can already see it. A black and white wedding..." she joked. Sarah nudged her.

"Ok, all you need is the perfect shoes," Alina said. Sarah bent down and grabbed a pair of green flats Emily had bought to match the dress, but Alina held a pair of silver heels, at least four inches tall.

"How do you expect me to walk in those?!" Sarah exclaimed.

"How do you expect to pull those off?" Alina asked back. Sarah pulled a face. "Look, you've got the legs for heels," Alina said. Sarah sighed and put on the tall silver shoes. Alina clapped.

"Ok, let's just go," Sarah said as she grabbed her purse. She waved her fingers in the air and a blue portal appeared. They both stepped through into one of the bathroom stalls.

"You couldn't have just gone with the janitor's closet?" Alina asked with a groan of disappointment.

"The bathroom's easier to aim for," Sarah said as she swung open the stall, stumbling over her heels. Alina smiled.

"Let's go meet our dates!" Alina said.

The two girls stepped out from the musty bathroom and into the well-lit halls of the school campus.

"You know, it's really cool of your school to invite the other high schools to the dances," Alina said. Sarah smiled.

"Yeah, I'm still getting used to all of it, though. New schools are tough," Sarah said. Alina shouted at someone else.

"Baby!" she said as she dashed over to a tall boy with thick brown hair that fell over his eyes. She hugged him as he spun her.

"Babe, you look amazing tonight," he said before he kissed her. Sarah smiled and wandered off towards the thick crowd of people waiting to get into the gym. She wobbled in her heels, slowly approaching the gym. Suddenly, she fell over a sidewalk crack, and tumbled over. She screamed, before she felt herself stop falling. She looked up to see Shawn's sky blue eyes looking down at hers.

"Caught ya," he said with a smile. She tugged on his shoulders to pull herself upright, cheeks bright red.

"H-hey, Shawn," she said, pulling the hair out from her face. He smiled.

"Hey. I found your cousin, what's her name, the blonde one. She's over there with a guy. Wanna go meet up with her?" Shawn asked. Sarah was stunned.

"Emily's here? She said she wasn't going to come," Sarah exclaimed as she marched off towards where Shawn had pointed. She saw Emily, standing next to Nate.

"Emily! What are you doing here?" Sarah shouted as she squirmed her way over to her cousin.

"Oh, uh, well you see, Nate asked me to the dance. So I came," she said wth a familiar dull voice. She wore a bright pink dress, poofing out until her ankles. Nate smiled, wearing a tuxedo with a salmon tie.

"You must be Shawn. I'm Nate," he said as he extended a hand. The two boys shook hands as Sarah stormed over to Emily.

"What are you thinking!" Sarah whispered harshly. Emily shrugged. "I thought we decided that the less you went out, the better!" Emily just stared at her.

"Nate asked me out, what was I supposed to say. 'Hey, about what happened tonight, I really like you. Come with me to the dance?' 'Oh, hey, about that, I just got all the emotions sucked from my soul and I can't leave, sorry!'" Emily mocked. Sarah groaned.

"Yeah, that would've been the perfect message to send. Besides, what does it even matter, you can't feel anything, right?" Sarah asked. Emily drew back.

"Actually-" she was cut off by Shawn.

"Hey, Sarah, they're letting people in," he said. Sarah began to walk towards him.

"We'll talk about this later!" she shouted to Emily as she walked away. She approached Shawn, who was just being let in. The volunteer took their tickets and let them through.

Inside was a mess of people, all dressed in tuxedos or glittering gowns. People shouted, the music boomed in the far corner. Shawn took Sarah's hand and walked her out to the dance floor. He grabbed her waist. Sarah laughed a little.

"What are you doing, we haven't even gotten food yet?" she said between giggles. Shawn smiled.

"I wanted to start this evening out with a dance. It needs to be perfect," he said, placing one arm on my shoulder. A slow, melodic song played behind us, the sound of electric piano rhythmic and smooth. He pulled on Sarah's waist, leading her into dance. He smiled as he looked at Sarah, his bright blue eyes glistening in the blue strobe lights. Sarah smiled, though she noticed his lip quivering every so often, soft whispers hitting her ears.

"One two three, one two three..." he said each time he stepped. Sarah laughed.

"Are you chanting?" she asked. He blushed.

"No! Well, ok, I found some videos online and have been practicing," he said. Sarah laughed a little. "What? Is it weird?" he asked. Sarah shook her head.

"No, not at all. I think it's cute," she said. Suddenly, she tripped over her tall heels, her face slamming right into Shawn's neck.

"Oof!" she exclaimed. Shawn took her shoulders and pulls her off his chest. Sarah smiled.  Wow, he looks really nice. She just stared at him, and felt her shoulders go taught as he pulled her forward and kissed her. The weirdest thing was, she didn't pull back, she almost kissed him back a little. Then her eyes went wide with surprise and she fell back.

What am I doing?!?

"I have to go," she said, dashing off towards the entrance where Emily was, hearing Shawn shouting her name behind her. We've barely talked, and there I was, kissing him! This is crazy, I knew I wasn't dating for a reason. Suddenly, she ran into somebody, causing her to fall back onto the floor.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry," Sarah said, wiping a tear from her eye and righting herself. She saw a hand lower to help her up, and looked up to see who she had run into.

"It's no big deal," Meg said with a smile.