Mr. Anonymous

Chapter 20

As the days passed, Jessie reported to everyone at school that Jack was doing much better and his memories had started returning.

Audrey felt like she was finally starting to get out of the funk she had been in, much to her parents' relief. She hadn't talked to Jack any more about their kiss in the hallway or what it meant for their friendship, but she was fine with it. Jack needed to heal and focus on regaining his memories. She didn't want to add any more stress on to that.

"You know what really sucks about all this?" Jessie asked the group as they sat around a picnic table after school. "Bill got what he wanted in the end; Jack isn't allowed to go to the dance."

The whole group started speaking at once in outrage.

"I know it sucks, but apparently they want to monitor him through the weekend, just to 'make sure' everything is alright." Jessie rolled her eyes. "He's completely back to normal if you ask me! I don't see any reason he shouldn't be allowed to come considering everything he's gone through. Plus, now the band won't be able to play at the dance! That would have been a great gig!" Jessie exclaimed, getting more upset as she spoke. Noah rubbed her shoulder soothingly to help her calm down.

"Well, what about you Audrey?" Christian asked after a moment.

"What about me?" Audrey replied, unsure what he could be talking about.

"Are you going to the dance? Your secret admirer still might meet you there, right? That's what Jade said." Christian said and then seemed to realize that was a secret when he saw Jade's facial expression. "Oops. My bad."

Audrey suddenly felt awkward. She was fairly certain at this point that Noah had to be Mr. Anonymous from the way he'd been acting towards her and she felt uncomfortable talking about this in front of him.

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure my 'secret admirer' doesn't admire me so much anymore. Pretty sure he's not planning on meeting me at the dance since he hasn't talked to me in weeks." Audrey replied glumly.

"You should still come and have fun with us! And besides, if you don't go, then you'll always wonder if he was there, waiting to meet you after all!" Jade exclaimed.

"Even if I wanted to go... I don't have anything to wear..." Audrey trailed off.

"OMG we are totally going dress shopping together right now!!" Jade squealed, unable to contain her excitement as she dragged Audrey to the Jeep.

On the ride to the mall, Audrey tried, but failed to convince Jade that she wasn't going to the dance. Jade completely ignored her, talking about what colors would go best with Audrey's skin tone.

As they finally made their way into the store Jade had been talking about the entire drive there, Audrey felt overwhelmed. There were so many dresses to choose from. She didn't see how they would ever find something in this sea of fabric.

Jade, however, was not fazed in the slightest and walked right over to a rack of dresses, pulling a few out and slinging them over her arm. They continued this way around the store, Audrey trailing behind Jade while she pulled various dresses for Audrey to try on.

Finally, Jade turned around abruptly, stopping Audrey in her tracks.

"Now for the best part. FASHION SHOW!!" Jade squealed loudly. Audrey looked around and mouthed sorry to a few shoppers who were giving them patronizing looks.

They made their way over to the dressing rooms and Jade filled a room with dresses for Audrey.

"I want you to come out and show me EVERY. SINGLE. ONE." Jade said, with extra emphasis. Audrey rolled her eyes, but smiled and went into the changing room.

She got that same overwhelmed feeling as she took in the sight of all the dresses. She sighed. She knew there was no way she would get out of trying all of these on, so she got to work, slipping a red, sequin-covered dress over her head.

For what felt like hours, Audrey tried on dress after dress. She started getting tired and was about to tell Jade that she was done trying on dresses when she saw a light blue dress peeking out from underneath another pile of dresses.

Audrey gasped when she pulled it out. It was a simple satin dress with a high neckline and spaghetti straps. It came in at the waist beautifully and drifted out in an elegant way, stopping just above her knees.

She slipped in on, zipping up the back before she stepped out for Jade to see her.

Jade's jaw dropped.

"Wow Auds... that looks amazing on you. You look so classy and gorgeous!" Jade exclaimed. "Do you like it?" she asked excitedly.

"I love it! This is the one!" she smiled, twirling around.

Just then, her phone buzzed from the dressing room. Audrey went to go check it and couldn't believe what she was reading. She ran out of the dressing room and shoved the phone in Jade's face, unable to form words.

Jade read the text message and her eyes widened in surprise.

I'm sorry, Audrey. There's no excuse for my not speaking to you all this time... I hope you can forgive me. I would still like to meet you once and for all at the dance tomorrow night... if you'd have me.

Both girls looked at each other.

"What am I going to do?" Audrey asked in a quiet voice.

"You're going to go, obviously! You're going to go, meet your secret admirer, have fun, and dance the night away! Plus, you just found the perfect dress!" Jade said, clapping her hands excitedly.

Audrey, on the other hand, suddenly felt nauseous.

She was finally going to meet Mr. Anonymous.