Mr. Anonymous

Chapter 21

The next day, Jade and Audrey were getting ready for the dance in Audrey's room. After much persuasion, Audrey finally agreed to let Jade do her hair and makeup for the dance.

Jade curled Audrey's hair in big, loose curls, braiding the right side and pinning it so that all of Audrey's thick hair would fall over her left shoulder.

As Jade applied a somewhat natural looking smoky-eye to Audrey's eyelids, the reality of everything the evening might hold made Audrey grow more and more anxious by the minute. She practiced breathing deeply, reminding herself that whatever happened, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Her friends were going to be there with her and at the very least, they would make sure she had a good time.

As Jade finished her makeup, she took a step back to admire her work.

"Well? How do I look?" Audrey asked nervously.

"Take a look for yourself." Jade said, gesturing to the full length mirror on the back of Audrey's bedroom door. Audrey walked over to it and stood staring for a moment, not recognizing herself.

The girl in the mirror looked beautiful and sophisticated - something Audrey had never felt before. She couldn't believe she could look like this. She turned to Jade.

"How did you do this?" she asked incredulously.

"Do what?" Jade asked.

"Make me beautiful." Audrey replied in a quiet voice.

"Auds, that was there all along. I'm glad you can finally see it, too." Jade said with a smile.

Once Jade had finished getting herself ready, the girls walked down the stairs to Audrey's waiting parents.

Mrs. Greene was crying before Audrey even made it to the first floor.

"Mom..." Audrey started, rolling her eyes.

"You just look so beautiful! Like a model!" Mrs. Greene said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"Alright, alright." Mr. Greene said, patting his wife on the back. "Girls, go over by the fireplace so we can get your picture."

After many, many pictures, Audrey and Jade finally convinced Mrs. Greene she had enough and scurried out the door before she could keep them any longer.

By the time they arrived at the dance, it was almost 9 pm. Audrey got started to get nervous again, but then she and Jade spotted some of their friends and ran over to them.

"Hey! Where's Jessie?" Audrey asked Noah and Christian as they approached.

"Don't know. She might not be coming since Jack can't." Noah said with a shrug.

Christian and Jade had already started kissing before Noah finished his statement and Jade turned to Audrey.

"We'll be right back!" she said, holding up a finger and running off after Christian towards the school hallways.

"I've got to go see somebody, too, but I'll be back - I need to talk to you about something." Noah said with a nod before turning and leaving.

Audrey sighed. Of course all her friends would abandon her. She started to get nervous as she let her mind wander to her meeting with Mr. Anonymous later. She suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around.

"Reese?" she asked incredulously. "What do you want?" she was immediately on her guard, waiting to see what he'd say.

"Hey Audrey, I'm glad I caught you. Look, I'm just gonna get straight to the point here... I was going to wait until later, but..." Reese paused, trailing off.

In that pause between words, Audrey had a wave of terror flash through her. She wasn't sure her face wouldn't betray her horror if he revealed now that he was somehow Mr. Anonymous.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry." Reese finished, breaking Audrey of her train of thought.

"What?" she asked.

"I know I haven't been so nice to you since you started here and I just wanted to apologize. I noticed the last few weeks, that you've been kind of down in the dumps and I hope I had nothing to do with that." Reese said sincerely.

Audrey softened at his words. Maybe Reese wasn't so bad after all.

"Of course not, Reese. That was unrelated. But I do really appreciate your apology. I'm sorry for everything, too." Audrey replied with a smile.

Just then, Jade and Christian came up behind Audrey, grinning like maniacs.

"We're going to dance! You should come with us, Auds!" Audrey started to reply when she saw Reese slinking off undetected to one of the tables to sit alone. Audrey shook her head.

"One second." she told them, holding up a finger. She walked over to Reese.

"Come on." Audrey said, holding out a hand to him.

"What?" he asked, looking confused.

"We're gonna go dance and you're coming with us." Audrey said.

After a moment, Reese smiled. "Okay." he said, taking her hand.

The group danced to song after song, laughing, jumping around, and enjoying each other's company.

At 9:45, Jade turned to Audrey.

"It's almost ten! Follow me!" she said loudly so that Audrey could hear her and pulled her along.

The girls went in the bathroom, where Jade pulled out a small makeup bag from her clutch.

"We need to touch up your makeup before you meet Mr. Anonymous." Jade said as she pulled out some foundation to dust across Audrey's face.

"What if...what if this turns out to all be some prank?" Audrey said, nervousness creeping into her voice.

"It's not." Jade said confidently.

"How do you know?"

"I just do." Jade replied with a small smile.

Once Jade had fixed Audrey's makeup, the two made their way back onto the dance floor arm-in-arm. Jade glanced at her phone.

"It's almost ten o'clock. You better get over there." Jade said, pointing out the DJ booth at the front of the gymnasium. "Knock him dead." she said as she pulled Audrey into a hug.

Audrey pulled away and took a deep breath, beginning to walk towards the booth. Just then, "All My Loving" by the Beatles came on overhead and Audrey's heart began to pound. She had once told Mr. Anonymous about this song - how she thought the lyrics were so sweet and romantic. As she approached the booth, she saw a figure standing there and it felt as if her heart stopped for a moment.

"Noah?" Audrey asked with a gulp.

Noah ran a hand through his hair. "We need to talk."