Orange sky / Looking for Alaska

Chapter 4: Tell them I said something (pt 2)

T A L I T H A

I'm woken up by Sarah, walking into our room. I feel an arm wrapped around me, I look up to see Jason, he smiles at me and I smile back. I feel a lot better now that I have taken a nap.

"Aw you guys are so cute" Sarah gushes and I blush. "Chip thought that he was gonna be my escort for the ball" she says to us and my heart breaks for him. Poor guy. "That's so shit, I thought he knew."

The thing about cotillion or the debutante ball is that you can only be a debutante or an escort if your family is a member of the country club, which luckily for me, Jason is. However, the colonel isn't  unfortunately. I feel so bad for him. At least he'll look good, he's been writing papers for cash to buy a new suit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, Pudge, you know that girl from the pre calc study session last night? Lara. soft voice, says thees not this" Alaska asked Pudge.

We were all sat in his room, Alaska and I playing a video game while Takumi and Jason watched. 

"Yeah. she sat on my lap in the car" said Pudge. Okay, what did I miss yesterday. "Yes. my idea which paid off because she liked you. You thought she was discussing precalc, when she was clearly talking about having sex with you" Alaska said. "Oh might be an overstatement" said Takumi.

"Y'all talking about that Lara girl? She's got great breasts" The colonel yelled from the bathroom. "Colonel, do not objectify women's bodies." Alaska yelled back. "Sorry, perky breasts" The colonel yells. what the. "Not any better" Alaska said. "Sure it is. Great is a judgement. Perky id merely an observation" The colonel says. I roll my eyes.

"Well here's another one, you only view the world through your limited male gaze, there's so much you're missing colonel" Alaska said.

"But he does look damn fine in that suit" I said. I felt Jason tense next to me. Maybe he's jealous, but why would he be. "agreed" says Takumi. The Colonel goes to look at himself in the mirror. Alaska gets up and follows him. I can't hear what their saying. 

"He may be little but he is fierce" Alask says walking back to us. 

"Hey pudge' if you've got anything black, wear it tonight" Takumi said. We're gonna prank my brother. "well, why?" Pudge asks. "because it's slimming. and stealthy" said Takumi. "Tonight we strike back" Jason said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were sneakily moving cement bricks to completely cover up the weekday warrior's room. 

"Come on Pudge. Hustle up, man. let's go. come on" the colonel says. This is so tiring, I might throw up.

We finally finish. The next day we stood around their room laughing. Sucks to be them.

The next morning, I walk out of my room to find Takumi asleep on his bed shirtless with all his stuff around him. Holy shit. 

The next day, Alaska and Pudge put blue hair dye in Longwell and Kevin's shampoo. Mom and dad aren't gonna be happy about that. 

And then, the weekday warriors destroyed the colonel's suit. Unbelievable.

"Hey asshole, what were you thinking?" I ask my brother. "Look at my hair" he says. "The colonel worked really hard for that suit and you just destroyed it like it's no big deal" I yell at him. "Does he not have another one?" my brother asked me. "Yeah because he's made of money, you said yourself he lives in a trailer park, it's so unfair that you've done this, you know their gonna get you back right?" I rant at him. I'm so upset, it's not fair. I don't even wait for him to respond, I just run away from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just finished getting ready for the ball with the help of my mom at my house. I walk downstairs and I see Longwell and Jason talking. I don't know what the group is planning to do to Longwell as they haven't told me anything.  I get to the last step and Jason turns to look at me, Longwell walks away.

"You look so beautiful" he says to me. "Thank you" I say raising my hands to hide the blush on my face but he grabs my hands. "Don't, it's cute" he says. I don't know what to say and of course I just blush harder, so I hug him. "God, you're so precious" he mumbles and hugs me back. I let go of him. "Okay, do you practice being sweet, or does it just happen?" I ask him and he laughs.

We head off to the country club and we finally arrive. We walk in and get registered. I instantly spot Sarah and Holly (Kevin's girlfriend) so I say bye to my parents and Jason and I go speak to them. 

"Hey, Holly have you seen my lip gloss?" Sarah asks and we look over to her and she looks like she's gonna puke. "Oh my God, are you okay?" I ask her. "I don't think so" she replies. Crap.

...

"Talitha Chase, who is escorted by Jason Eubanks" the presenter announces and I walk up on the stage holding my flowers as Jason walks up the other side of the stage. He holds my hand and we take our picture. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the colonel sat at the kids table and I smile at him. 

"Sarah Bankhead-Harbert who is escorted by Longwell Chase" 

I clap as she walks on the stage, however Longwell is nowhere to be found. "They felt ill" Jason whispered in my ear. That's strange, so did Holly. I wonder if this has anything to do with the colonel.

"Doesn't she look lovely, we just need her escort Longwell Chase" the presenter says "We need an escort for the escort. Well apparently Longwell is no longer able to fulfill his duties today. Perhaps we have a volunteer who is likely to step in."

This is the colonel's chance. I see him standing and walking to the stage, yay. All of a sudden, Sarah's dad stops him. shit. 

"What a lovely father daughter moment" the presenter says as the colonel goes to sit down. "And that concludes our escort presentation. The debutantes will now join their escorts on the floor for a waltz."

Jason and I dance together. "You do look really beautiful, not just today everyday" he says to me, I blush and I smile. "Tilly I have to tell you something" he says. We were once again interrupted by the fire alarm going off and everyone screaming and running. I start to run too but Jason stops me. 

He grabs my face gently and kisses me softly. I am in shock so I don't do anything. He pulls away. "Shit, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that" he says. I don't say anything, I just kiss him and he kisses me back. Yay. 

We pull away, "we should go" I tell him, "yeah" he says and we run out. Outside I see Alaska, Takumi and Pudge. I knew it. "Hey look" I point at them and we run towards them.

"I'm guessing Longwell, Kevin, Hank and Holly being sick is on you guys" I say to them and they nod. "They had it coming" I laugh. "So we saw you guys" Alaska said to me and I playfully roll my eyes and blush. 

"Right, Jason and I are going to my house so we'll see you tomorrow" I hug Alaska and we say our goodbyes.