𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐘 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 𝒙𝒊𝒊. 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐭

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞
━━ 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒕

Juliette couldn't sleep much that night, her mind racing with thoughts that kept her awake until nearly five in the morning. Once her alarm clock went off, she woke up with her pencil on her hand and her face full of graphite from the sketchbook that was in her desk. In a desperate attempt to distract herelf from what was going on inside her head, she had turned to the only thing that used to entertain her and which she had not done for weeks now: draw something for herself. She could not stop imagining herself dancing with Ricky, she could not stop thinking about what would have happened if Nini hadn't interrupted them.

Did he really want to kiss her? Or was she just subtituting Nini? Was she just there?

"Are you okay, honey?" her dad had asked her once her sisters had shut up for a second, "do you want to stay home?"

"I'm okay, dad. And I could not stay even if I wanted to, I need to finish a costume today."

"Plus, today is homecoming," Ava stated.

"You have a date yet?" Lisa questioned.

"I most certainly do not, but I don't need a date to enjoy the dance," she explained praying for her father to drive faster so she could get away from their nosy asses.

"Then just ask Ricky," both of them exclaimed at the same time as if they had been plotting it. Although it's a very plausible option that they had done it.

"Oh look, it's the school, bye dad! See you later, love you!" she kissed her father's cheek and got out of the car as soon as she could, making her way to the bathroom to see if she really looked as horrible as she felt. On her way, however, he spotted Ricky wearing an... interesting outfit.

"Wow, if you're wearing that to homecoming, you'll really make all the girls faint."

"As long as I make you faint, I'm all served" he joked with a tint of blush appearing on his cheeks, "I did not go home yesterday night."

"Is everything alright? Did something happen?"

"I just could not sleep so I spent all night skating," he admitted. As had happened to Juliette, Ricky had too much on his mind.

"You coming to homecoming with us, Juliette?

"I planned on meeting everyone there, actually."

"Do you want us to pick you up? We'll be both at my house," Big Red offered, with a knowing look.

"If you don't mind being forced to take a thousand photos before leaving, yeah, sure," the girl smiled at the red-haired boy.

"Do you want us to bring you flowers or something?" Ricky offered, smiling.

"As long as you put Throb on, I'm okay with not having flowers," she smiled, remembering the name of Ricky's cologne. She actually liked it, to be honest, it smelled nice, "just make sure to wear these fancy pyjamas."

     "Oh, piss off," he returned, "I had a rough night."

After agreeing on an hour, they parted their ways.

"Hey, Juliette um..." Alexandra whispered as soon as they met in their lockers, "I know we agreed to spend tonight's dance together but... Sylvia has just asked me to go as her date and I was wondering..."

"Oh my God Alex, that's amazing," the shorter girl exclaimed, hugging her best friend. She knew how much Alex liked Sylvia; she had for over a year now but, even though they had been talking, none of them had actually taken the step.