The Day We Met

Chapter 23

I strongly push the doors of the gym wide open and stomp off. I walk through the front doors into the rain, and look back to see if anyone came to get me. I see no single soul. I sigh and turn back and walk down the sidewalk. I start to tear up, and I can't see where I'm going.

I pull out my phone to call my mom to come pick me up. I dial her number, and hit "call".

"Mom," I try hiding the fact I was crying, "can you pick me up? Kids are bringing in alcohol."

"Ok. I'll be there." She says in her mom voice. I hang up the phone and lean against the brick wall and cry. I let all the millions of rain drops fall on me. I walk over and around the corner of the wall to avoid being seen by anyone inside.

I hear the doors open. I hear some clicks of heels on the concrete. I slowly turn around the corner and see Aria and Radrika. Radrika spots me.

"Ashlyn!" She comes running at me and gives me a big hug. Aria joins in and starts to cry. We all release from each other.

"What happened?" Aria asks.

If I tell the truth, you know, Thomas saying stuff about Radrika, then Radrika would probably be offended. But if I lie, then I could make up anything and not sound stupid. But what would I say?

"Uhhh," I pause to come up with something, "I came out to get some fresh air." Smooth.

Silence. "No you didn't," Aria says, "I saw you slap Thomas."

"And it's raining!" Radrika says.

"What happened?" Aria asks again.

"Ok, ok," I say, "Thomas went a little too far down, if you guys know what I'm referring to."

"Ohhh!" Aria realizes her mistake of wanting to know.

"You didn't want to share THAT with us?" Radrika asks.

"Kind of." I look to the side, suspiciously.

"We're coming home with you." Radrika says.

"What! No!" I say. They both freeze and stare at me.

"I mean," I say, "let's go!" I change my tone, with a weird laugh. Radrika and Aria wait with me for my mom to arrive.

Soon, she does and opens the back door of her van. We all hop in.

"I didn't know they were going too." My Mom says.

"They decided to come along." I say.

"Is it really that bad where it gets to the point that you have to leave prom?" My Mom asks in a sarcastic voice.

"Mom. Really?" I say.

"Ignore me. I'm your mom." My Mom is a little embarrassing sometimes.

The rest of the car ride was silent.

When we got to my house, my mom asked, "Could Radrika and Ashley come in with you?"

"Yup." Aria says.

"Our parents think we're still at prom." Radrika says.

"Alright." My Mom says, with a following sigh. We all walk in and walk up to my room.
I jump on my bed and comfort myself, although my dress was soaked, and was probably going to give me blisters around my body.

"I want to get out of this dress so bad." I say.

"Then change," Aria says, "we're done with the junior prom."

"Cool." I say. I grab my pajama top and bottoms, and change. Radrika and Aria change into their clothes that they were wearing before. Ahhh. Relief. I don't like wearing dresses, although it might be fun, but it's relieving to take it off, and wear lounge clothes. I slam my body on my bed once again and let my ceiling fan dry me off from the rain.

"So what was the real reason you left?" Radrika asks, "I know you wouldn't get THAT mad about Thomas touching your business."

"I agree with Radrika." Aria says and nods her head. I hesitate to tell them why I really got mad, because if I tell them, then Radrika would fight Thomas, or something. And that's a whole different problem.

"Ok, fine," I finally say and sigh, "Thomas was saying some crappy things about you, Radrika."

"What crappy things?" Radrika asks.

"He was saying you're a little..." I stop.

"What? I'm a little what?" She starts to raise her voice.

"He was saying you're a little bitchy." I let out with some air. Actually, a LOT of air.

"He's an asshole." Radrika says. Oh. I though she'd get really mad and want to go back to prom and slap him herself.

"You slap him? For me?" Radrika asks.

"Yeah. I guess." I say.

"Awww. That's sweet." She says with her hand on her heart.

I suddenly get a call. It's from Thomas.

"It's Thomas," I say, "I'm gonna answer it. What should I say?"

"You should answer it and act like you're a worker at McDonalds." Aria suggests.

"Yes! I will!" I say, and press "pick up."

"You have callen McDonalds. What will you order?" I say, and try to control my laughter. I put it on speaker.

"Uhhh. Ashlyn?" Thomas says, "I know this is you."

"You have callen McDonalds. This isn't Ashlyn." I say.

"Ok, fine," He says, "may I get a 'Ashlyn come back' sandwich and a hug on the side? I'll pay with apologizes." Clever boy. That's tempting because of the cuteness, but no. I had an idea.

"So you now want a knuckle sandwich and another slap on the side. I'm not sure if that was the correct order. I might not have heard you because roses are red, violets are blue, garbage is dumped, and so are you." I hang up and the three of us die in laughter.

"That was really good!" Radrika can barely speak words. She gives me a high five, and so does Aria.

"Amazing!" Aria says. We laugh together and feel an ending to this love madness. But we also felt there was never an ending to this story.