SENIOR YEAR
By: Sarah Wartman
PART TWENTY-ONE
Days and weeks passed without hearing a word from Joey or any of the other guys, except Justin and Nicki. I was so glad I had them, because if I didn’t, I would have had no one.
“So, what are you gonna wear?” I asked Nicki one Wednesday night. JC had asked her to attend a charity ball with him on Saturday night. She was way excited, and I tried to be excited for her, but it was really hard. I knew Joey would have some beautiful model-type girl on his arm and that bothered me.
“Well,” she shrieked. “My mom is taking me dress shopping tomorrow, after school, do you wanna go?”
“I don’t know….” I said. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to tag along while she tried on beautiful gowns for a night that I wouldn’t get to attend. “I’ll think about it and tell you tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay, I understand. I’m really sorry, I wish you would be there, so I could have someone to talk to,” she said.
“All the guys will be there,” I reminded her.
“But you won’t….”
“Don’t remind me,” I mumbled.
“They miss you Sarah,” she told me after a moment of silence.
“Right,” I said in a sarcastic tone.
“They do! They’re just afraid to call you, afraid you won’t talk to them.”
“Probably because I wouldn’t.”
“You’re still pretty mad, huh?”
“Wouldn’t you be? I mean, put yourself in my shoes, Nicki! They made me feel like a complete fool and Justin is the only one who has apologized and felt half-way bad about it.”
“I know. They talk about you all the time, especially Joey.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I can only imagine what he’s saying about me.”
“Sarah…” Nicki said. “It’s not like that at all. He loves you.”
“Okay, Nicki, whatever you say. I gotta go, though, I have tons of homework. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Okay, girl, bye.”
“Bye,” I said and hung up my phone. I didn’t really have any homework, I just couldn’t talk about him anymore. I started crying when my phone rang. I really didn’t want to pick it up, but after four rings, it was getting on my nerves.
“What?” I screamed into the receiver.
“Bad day?” Justin asked.
“Oh, sorry Justin,” I said.
“What’s wrong?”
“What do you think is wrong?” I asked him.
“Well, I have something that might cheer you up,” he said.
“I doubt it,” I mumbled.
“Be my date for the charity ball on Saturday.”
PART TWENTY-TWO
“What?” I asked. “Me? No Justin, why don’t you take someone you want to take, I wouldn’t be any fun….”
“But I want to take you and we would have fun!”
“Justin, I don’t know, I don’t think I want to be around”
“Joey?” he interjected. “Don’t worry, he’ll be busy with his bimbo date,” he said. ‘Man, why did I say that? Think before you speak Justin,’ he told himself.
“Oh, he has a date….” I said softly. “He sure did bounce back fast.”
“Sarah, oh, come on! Don’t let him ruin your fun. It’ll be fun to get all dressed up and we’ll have a blast, I know how much you love to dance. Please, for me?”
“Justin….” I started to protest.
“Nope. I won’t take no for an answer Sarah!”
“Fine,” I said, knowing I wasn’t going to win. “But I won’t have any fun!”
“We’ll see about that.”
*****
“Hey, Nicki,” I said, opening my locker the next morning.
“Hey!”
“Ummm….is that offer still open to go with you and your mom dress shopping today?”
“Of course it is! You gonna come?”
“Yeah, I have to find a dress….” I told her.
“What?” she screamed, shutting my locker, forcing me to look at her. “You’re going to go too?”
“Yeah, Justin asked me last night.”
Nicki screamed and hugged me. “Oh yeah! I’m so glad you’re going!”
“Yeah, can’t wait,” I said in a sarcastic tone.
“Oh, Sarah, don’t worry about it. We’re going to find you an awesome dress, and get your hair fixed and you’ll knock Joey off of his feet!”
“Great,” I mumbled as I picked up my backpack and headed for class.
*****
“I don’t know, Nicki,” I said as she brought another dress into my dressing room for me to try on. Nicki’s mom had to work late, so JC drove us. He spoke to me when it was only absolutely necessary. I looked at the black, blue, red and dark brown dress in front of me and sighed. Nicki had already chosen a white dress and she wanted full attention when I tried mine on, so we could find the “perfect” one.
I modeled the black, blue and red one. I didn’t like them much, the dark brown one was my favorite, I’ve always liked brown, it looks good with my blonde hair.
“Nope,” Nicki said to all three.
I finally came out in the dark brown, sleeveless dress. It was simple and flowed to the floor. Even JC’s face perked up when I came out of the dressing room.
“Oh my God,” Nicki said. “That’s it. That’s definitely it.” I looked over at JC who nodded in approval.
PART TWENTY-THREE
I looked in the mirror one more time unsure if I should be doing this. I had half of my curly hair swept up and the bottom part was down and dangled above my shoulders. Nicki had come over and we spent all day getting ready. I looked over at her sitting on my bed.
“You look great, Sarah! You’re going to knock him over girl!” she said, standing up behind me. She looked pretty good herself in her long, white dress with her hair all pinned up.
“I just don’t know,” I told her.
“Come on, girl, we’re going to have fun tonight, despite him!” she said as she hugged me.
I forced a weak smile. “Maybe you’re right.” I said as we heard the doorbell ring. We both looked at each other.
“Ready?” she asked me, smiling.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I told her, following her down the stairs.
Justin and JC were standing there, in the living room, talking to my mother. They turned around and watched us walk down the stairs. They looked really good in their tux’s. Justin whistled and I smiled. Nicki walked over and quickly kissed JC. I walked over to Justin and he kissed me on the cheek.
“What, no kiss?” he teased.
“And smudge my lipstick?” I asked him, smiling.
*****
Our limo door was opened and we stepped out in front of the red carpet. The second the guys stepped out, cameras flashed and questions flew. I wasn’t totally prepared for this. We got inside quickly, and went into the ballroom. There were tons of famous people there, and I couldn’t help but get excited and Justin noticed.
“I told you,” he said, seeing my grin.
I have to admit, I was having a good time. Justin, Nicki, JC and I spent all night on the dance floor. After dancing for a while, Justin excused himself to go talk to some people. A slow song came on and JC and Nicki started dancing, giving me the cue to go back to our table.
I sat down and sighed. I couldn’t help but think about what could have been. I could have been over at the table with Chris, Lance and Joey having the time of my life. I looked over at where they were sitting, laughing. I watched them for a while and suddenly Joey looked in my direction. I looked away quickly, in fear he saw me watching him. The tears quickly swelled and I got up to find the bathroom.
I looked in the mirror and quickly wiped away my tears. ‘Don’t do this, Sarah’ I told myself. I fixed my makeup and sighed before going back to our table. I tossed my purse on the table and slumped into a chair. Monica’s, “Angel of Mine” came on and I looked around the room, trying to find Justin. Suddenly, I felt someone standing beside me and I froze, smelling a familiar cologne. I looked up to see a somber Joey standing beside me.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked me.
PART TWENTY-FOUR
I sighed before standing up. I looked at him and he extended his hand for me to take. Instead, I just walked right past him and onto the dance floor. As we were dancing, I whispered in his ear, “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I know you love this song,” he told me. Tears started flowing down my cheek as I remembered playing that song for him over and over in his car when we’d go out. The song was about half over when I heard Joey speak.
"You look so beautiful tonight," he said. Tears flowed down my face, but I didn't stop them. “and, I”
Suddenly, I was tapped on the shoulder. I pulled away from him to see a beautiful brunette standing beside us.
“Mind if I cut in?” she asked. I stepped away from Joey, assuming she was his date and I wiped me tears. I looked at Joey then at her. “No, go ahead,” I said as I headed for our table. I quickly grabbed my purse and walked into the bathroom, trying to show what dignity and pride I still had.
I ran into the last stall and locked the door and cried like a baby. ‘Good thing I brought my makeup with me,’ I thought. I had been in there a while when I heard someone tap on my stall.
“Sarah, open it.”
“Go away, Nicki,” I told her.
“You know I’m not going to. Open up.”
I opened the stall door and walked right past her and up to the mirror. I threw my purse by the sink and starting digging through it and pulled all my makeup on the counter.
“I knew this wasn’t a good idea,” I told her, opening up my compact.
“Sarah….”
I turned to face her. “Why did I come? I mean, really, I should have known something like this would happen,” I told her, turning back to face the mirror. I finished putting on some makeup and she just watched me. After I finished, she walked back out with me and sat down at the table with JC.
“Where’s Justin?” I asked him.
“He said, he’ll be right back.”
Just then, a slow song came on and Nicki turned to me. “Will you be okay?”
“Just go,” I told her and she stood up. She walked onto the dance floor and I turned to see Joey watching me, alone at his table.
“I gotta get out of here,” I told myself, picking up my purse and went looking for the way out of here.
PART TWENTY-FIVE
I was wandering around, looking for a way out, when I passed a bar. ‘Why not,’ I told myself. ‘You deserve a drink.’ I plopped down on a barstool and pulled out my fake ID. ‘I knew this would come in handy.’
“What can I get ya?” the bar tender asked me, after looking at my driver’s license.
“Coors Light.” I told him. He handed me a bottle and I placed some money on the bar. ‘Man this tastes good.’ I told myself, as I chugged it.
I had drank about five beers and was feeling pretty good, when Justin walked in and saw me.
“Sarah? What in the hell are you doing?” he asked me, walking up to the bar.
“Having a drink,” I told him, showing him my bottle.
“I can see that,” he said, taking the bottle out of my hand.
“Hey! Give that back,” I said, reaching for the bottle and almost falling off of the stool.
“Man, you’re wasted,” he said.
“Am not! I can handle my alcohol pretty well, thank you!” I said, walking past him and back into the ballroom. I found Nicki and JC sitting at our table and I sat down.
“Hey guys! What’s up?” I asked, a little bit too loud.
“Sarah? What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong, why would you ask that?”
“Because thirty minutes ago you were in the bathroom, balling, that’s why.”
“Because she’s drunk,” Justin said, walking up to the table.
I turned around to face him. “God, Justin, I’m not drunk, okay? Maybe a little buzzed, but not drunk! Trust me, if I was drunk, I wouldn’t be able to walk and would be sitting by the toilet all night, okay?”
“Whatever you say,” he said as he sat down next to me. “What were you balling about anyway?”
I looked down at the table as it all came flooding back. “Joey,” Nicki answered. I looked up and threw her a dirty look.
“What did he do?” he asked me.
I looked at him. “He asked me to dance. And to my favorite song too! And things were going okay, I guess, and he started to tell me something, but we were interrupted.”
“Who interrupted you?” he asked.
I looked around the room to see if I could find her and point her out. I finally found her, standing against the wall, talking to Chris.
“Her,” I told him, pointing. “His date.”
JC laughed and I quickly looked over at him. “I’m glad you can laugh at my misery, JC,” I told him and Nicki nudged him.
“No, I’m sorry, that’s not Joey’s date. That’s a girl that he and Chris used to work with at Universal. They both can’t stand her! Joey didn’t even have a date.”
I looked at Justin. “I thought you told me he did.” Justin just shrugged. I looked around the room and found Joey, standing in a corner, starring at our table.
TO BE CONTINUED