VI.

The weekend passes quickly and calmly but when Sunday evening comes around, my nerves get the best of me. I only sleep for about 2 hours and when I wake up, I look and feel like shit; there's no other way to put it. Right now, I'd rather be thrown to wolves and tigers than be in the same building as the Devil.

Still, I have to go to school even if I dread seeing Axel. It's not like I can avoid him for the rest of my life.

"Bye, honey and try to come home on time today." mum says as she gives me a kiss on the cheek before I leave and I sigh to myself. We had a fight on Friday because I came home two hours later that I should have, without the groceries. She was very upset and angry with me, screaming like there was no tomorrow, and I only calmed her down when I said that I ran into a friend. She seemed happy that I had a friend but still confused as to what happened to the stuff I was supossed to buy, and I quickly made up a lie that the money fell out of my jacket.

Thatnkfully, she believed me but knowing her, she will be a little suspicious for a while.

"Hey, Sophie!" Liam greets me as soon as I step into school. I smile and hug him, genuinely happy to see him.

"Hey Liam! How are you?"

"Great, I slept really well. What about you? You look like you got hit by a bus." he laughs at me and I shake my head, unable to wait for his reaction to my story. "You won't believe me what happened."

***

He sits there, opposite of me, with his mouth hanging wide open when I tell him everything.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Maybe you accidentally took some drugs or had a very vivid dream or..."

"Liam, I'm sure it was real."

He lets out a breath. "Wow."

The diner is completely packed with students, everybody minding their own business so we're able to talk freely.

I have been scared ever since morning that I would run into Axel but I actually haven't seen him today yet and it's slowly starting to be more and more obvious that he's not in school.

Thank you Mary, sweet mother of Jesus for saving me again and again.

"I know, right?"

Suddenly, he gulps and looks me in the eye. "Look, Sophie, you're a really great girl and I know you're not that stupid but you do realize that this guy is an asshole, right?" he says and I nod.

"I'm very well aware of that fact, Liam."

"And you do realize he is a sociopath?" he continues and I frown in confusion.

"What are you trying to imply?" I ask, confused.

"Look, here's the thing. He is a pretty attractive guy and I know women like 'bad boys' but..."

"Omg! No! God! I don't like him!" I exclaim. "Why would you ever think of that?"

He raises his brow. "Well, you like to talk about him and sometimes I catch you looking around the classroom for him and I thought you are maybe starting to like him, you know."

I shake my head. "Don't worry. I could never like someone like him." I state, because it's the truth.

"I'm glad because you honestly deserve someone much better. All he'd do is break your heart."

"Don't worry, Liam, there is literally zero chance of me and Axel ever being together." I say with a confident voice.

"Look, I gotta make a quick run to the library, see you in next class?" I say, standing up and picking up my bag. Liam nods and concentrates back on his food.

I walk to the library quckly, my thoughts far away. For some reason, I don't have Axel on my mind for the first time in what seems like forever. I suddenly stop in my tracks, looking around. Where am I? I've never been in this part of school.

"Hello!"

I jump 3 feet in the air and whirl around to see where the high-pitched voice came from.

She's a petite girl, almost as petite as me and her hair is styled in large wavy curls, reaching to the middle of her back. Her friendly green eyes seemed oddly familiar, but I can't place where I have last seen them.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! You dropped your phone and I wanted to give it to you." she grins at me and my heart falls to my stomach.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I'd do without a phone."

"No problem. I was on my way to the library and I saw you drop it so I wanted to help." she says and I could swear that I have seen that smile somewhere before.

I shake the thought off. My mind is surely playing tricks on me because I haven't gotten a lot of sleep last night.

"I was just going to the library as well." I say. "I'm not completely sure where it is though, would you mind showing me?"

"Of course! Come with me." she grins and starts prancing. I smile to myself at this girl's positive energy.

"Are you new here?" she asks me and I nod. "Thought so. I knew I haven't seen you before." she says. "Oh, by the way, I'm Amber." she introduces herself and I chuckle.

"Sophie." I grin.

***

The rest of the week is pretty uneventful. By Friday Amber somehow becomes me and Liam's friend so now we have a nice little group of friends we all enjoy being part of. On the other hand, Axel never appears in school and I am beginning to get worried. I quickly push the thought away when I remind myself of how much of an ass he is.

The weekend comes quickly and along it comes constant begging from Amber to join her at some party. It's apparently a pretty big thing and we simply have to be there; "we" because she doesn't want to go alone. She wants Liam to go too, but he said he's got some plans and I'm still not sure if he was only saying it to get her off his back.

I really wish I made something up too.

"Oh come on it'll be fun!" she whines, jumping up and down all over my room. "Do you see how much make up I have brought with me? You simply have to go or else all that carrying was for nothing."

I groan. "Amber, -"

"Pleeeasee!"

I roll my eyes:"Okay! Fine! I'll go! Happy?!"

She looks at me like she has just won a magical unicorn which grants wishes, while I sit there, glaring at her. "Yay, you're the best!"

My anger slowly dissolves as I watch her be as happy as ever. "If it sucks, however, I'm never going out with you again." I tell her.

"It won't suck, I promise." she swears and grins at me. "Now, bathroom." she points to my door and starts pulling me with her.

"Please don't make me look like a drag queen." I beg her.

"Oh shush, I'm only going to apply a little makeup, you're already gorgeous as it is, I just want to make you even more gorgeous. Now sit." she points on the toilet lid. "You're not allowed to look into the mirror until we're finished, okay?" she asks and I nod, just wanting it to be over.

"Okay."

She hums, satisfied. Over the next few minutes she's guiding me through my makeup, asking me if I was fine with her putting on foundation, eyeliner and eyeshadow. The only thing she doesn't ask me is the colour of the lipstick, even though I still feel her apply it.

"Oh, girl you look amazing!" she says when she's done and I smile.

"Really?"

"Absolutely! Time for the dress. Don't look in the mirror!"

I roll my eyes at her bossyness, but oblige anyway. She leads me back to my bedroom and pulls something black and thin from the bag she has brought with herself.

"What is that?" I ask, curious.

"The dress?" she says in a tone that implies that she thought it was obvious and my eyes almost bulge out of my sockets.

"That small thing is a dress!?"

"No, this gorgeous thing is your dress. Now, get dressed and I'll be in the bathroom doing my makeup. Come show yourself when your're finished." With those words she leaves, leaving me speachless.

Slowly and carefully I approach the dress laid out on the bed, almost afraid it would attack me. I pick it up with both hands and notice on closer inspection that it's actually really pretty.

The material is completely back and elastic, meaning it would probably fit my body like a glove. There are small diamonds spread all over it, almost like glitter, and it gives the dress a shiny effect. What I really like about it, though, is that even though it's short (I don't think it will reach my knees) it has long lace sleeves.

"Wow." I whisper. I quickly get out of my clothes and put the dress on carefully, not wanting to rip it. I smooth it out with my hands, getting rid of all the wrinkles and I slightly wince when I see that it barely reaches mid-thigh.

God, I hope I don't look like a slut.

"Are you done?" Amber comes back, looking like a model with make up on.

"You look absolutely stunning."

"Wow, you look great." We both say at the same time and laugh.

"Come, you need to see how you look." she grabs my hand and pulls me with her across the hall, in front of the mirror. To be honest, I almost don't recognize myself. It I wouldn't know that I'm standing in front of a mirror and would only see this picture of myself, I'm sure that nobody would be able to convince me this is actually me, the lazy, un-popular, awkward, American Horror Story obsessed girl.

I usually looked like an average person; not especially pretty but not particulary ugly either.

But now, the woman standing before me looks confident and amazing. I'm wearing bright red lipstick which stands out from all the black on me; my hair and my dress. My hair is styled in relaxed waves down to the bottom of my back and my blue eyes practically shine because of the dark make-up around them.

"You are a magician, Amber, I swear." I say, touching my face to convince myself that the woman in the mirror is really me.

She quickly grabs my hand. "No touchy. We don't want to ruin that makeup. And yeah, I know. Now we have to go, we're already late."

***

I stand there with my mouth wide open.

"This is where the party is?" I ask, hoping to god the answer is no.

"Yep. Is something wrong?" Amber asks, worry and curiosity in her voice while I want to cry.

However, I only gulp and manage to control myself because I haven't told her about him yet and this was definitely not the right time to do that.

'Quit bitching and just get over it' his voice rings in my head and I swallow.

"No, it's okay."

It's not though, because the house we are standing in front of is the house I was in only a little less than a week ago.

It's the house of the person I hate. It's Axel's house.

I knew I shouldn't have gone to this party.