What Could Have Been Awkward and A New Protector The fall of our sophomore year quickly progressed into winter, and Chelsea and I continued to spend time together. On one particularly cold Friday morning, we found ourselves sipping hot cocoa, seated on our favorite planter. Normally, the planter would be overflowing with gorgeous yellow lilies, but the frost prevented any of the flowers from blooming. "I love going to a snooty private school!" Chelsea declared, holding her cup of hot chocolate to her face. "It's like...being royalty!" "Hey! Not all of us here are snooty." I pouted, trying my best to look offended. The corner of my mouth, however, refused to stay solemn. "Oh, Alyssa," Chelsea sighed, "you know you can't be mad at me! I'm too freaking adorable!" she laughed and started nuzzling my nose with hers, giving me an Eskimo kiss. I could feel my face heat up in...embarrassment? Yes, that was it. After sitting there, frozen for a second, I jerked my head away. "Chelsea!" I squeaked. "I couldn't help it. Maybe you should stop being so cute all the time." My face burned even more, if that was possible. Vero chose that moment to sit down next to me. "Alyssa, stop flirting and do number ten on my Chemistry worksheet for me." She held out a couple of crinkled sheets of binder paper, which I assumed to be her homework. "Oh, fine. But just number ten." I sighed. Chelsea, however, had none of that. She snatched Vero's homework right out of my hands. "No, Alyssa. She needs to do it for herself." "Chelsea! Come on!' Vero snapped. "It's not even any of your business!" Chelsea glared condescendingly at Vero. "How are you supposed to learn if you make other people do the work for you?" "It's just one problem!" Vero protested. Chelsea smirked. "Oh? Fine, maybe just one problem for Alyssa to do. But I saw you rotating between the smart girls." Vero said nothing, but the look she was giving Chelsea betrayed her outward calm. She might as well be screaming in rage. After a few moments, however, she gave in. "Fine. I'll just take the detention for not doing the homework." Chelsea smiled and took a triumphant swig of her hot chocolate. "Ouch!" she gasped, obviously burned from the scalding temperature of the drink. "That really hurts!" Vero turned back and glared. "Oh, poor baby. Have your girlfriend kiss it and make it better." With that she stalked out of the gardens and back onto the main campus. Chelsea glared after her. "You know," I said, breaking the awkward silence, "Vero's not a bad girl. She's got a good heart, but she comes on a bit strong." "If anyone else said that, I'd call them a liar. But I'll trust your word." She murmured, brushing her bangs behind her ear. She turned towards me, her eyes softening a bit. "Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you something. Are you going to the dance tonight?" Quick change of subject, wasn't it? "Well, I wasn't going to. Why, are you going?" "I would like to. Celina's going, and she's bringing a few friends from her soccer team." she explained. "Please come! It'll be a lot of fun! Plus, I can't let you revert back to your introvert ways." I smiled. "Well, alright!" Chelsea also smiled. "Great! Come over to my house later, and we can get ready together!" "How does five-ish sound?" I asked. "Perfect." she replied. "Five, then?" "Five." ~~~~~~~ Around five o'clock that evening, I found myself at Chelsea's house for the first time. She ushered me in, and we proceeded to her bedroom. "Your room is adorable!" I exclaimed upon walking in. The walls were hot pink and covered with posters of bands and musicals. Her couch-bed sat pleasantly beside a silver, modern-looking desk with a computer sitting on top. A white dresser was placed in the left corner of the room next to her open closet. "And you have so many clothes! It looks like a mall in there!" I laughed. Chelsea giggled. "I just adore shoes!" she exclaimed. "They are my weakness." We chatted for a bit, then realized that we had to get changed soon. "Um..." Chelsea said as she bit her lip, "my bathroom is having the tile replaced right now, so we can't go in. And my mom's in her bathroom, so we can just change in here. Is that...okay with you?" My face, once again, burned like it was on fire. "Oh, um...sure! That's fine!" I'd changed in front of other girls countless times while getting ready for P.E. This, however, was not a locker room, and there were no other girls, so it was a more...intimate setting. We both removed our shirts and tossed them on her bed. "Okay," I thought"so far, so good". It was only when I took my pants off that I got uncomfortable. By the blush on her face, Chelsea was embarrassed as well. We both pulled up the skirts we were to wear for the dance, and relaxed once again. Still without her top on, Chelsea moved in front of a full length mirror that was by her bed. "Hmm..." she sighed. "I wish I wasn't such a skinny freak. Maybe then my bust would be a bit bigger." I almost choked on my own spit. Way to go Chelsea! Make this even more awkward for me. When she didn't say anything, I took it as a cue to make a comment. "Oh!" I replied, "No! You're perfect!" "That's sweet, but I know you're just being polite." she giggled. "No no, I'm serious." I insisted. "Yours are perfectly sized. Mine make me feel fat." Chelsea burst into laughter. "You? Fat? Don't even start!" Finally she reached for her top and put it on, and I did the same. After finishing our hair and makeup, we both posed in front of her mirror. Chelsea wolf-whistled. "Who are these fine looking ladies?" "I don't know," I replied, "but someone had better warn the fashion police because these girls are going to make everyone else look like bums!" After much more laughter and joke-making, we climbed into her mother's car and were soon delivered to our school. ~~~~~~~~~ Alyssa, I have discovered, is quite shy about dancing. But once she gets the right push, she's as fiery as any of those Mexican salsa dancers. After dancing to two or three songs, we decided to go outside and look for Celina. Sure enough, she was standing right outside. "Celina!" I called, and she looked up from her phone. Although I was smiling at her, all she returned to me was a frown. "What's up, Celina?' Alyssa asked in her sweet voice. "You look unhappy." Celina rolled her green eyes and scowled. "It's my stupid soccer friends. They're not coming." "Well, now you can hang out with us!" Alyssa exclaimed. "Whatever." Celina replied, her tone almost Vero worthy. She turned to me and moaned, "This dance is so lame! There's no one here. Plus, the music sucks. I wonder if my mom can pick me up...I'm so bored!" I watched as Alyssa's smile fell and felt my irritation with Celina grow by the second. We stood outside for about twenty-five minutes listening to the girl moan and groan about how lame everything was and how bored she was. Finally, I had enough. I grabbed Alyssa by the hand and led her to the dance floor. For the first time in my life, I was not dancing with a boy or in a huge group of girls. It was just Alyssa and I, rocking out to the music. As we danced to club mixes of Rihanna and M.I.A., Alyssa relaxed into the rhythm even more and I noticed how our styles of dancing differed. When I danced, I rocked from foot to foot and used my arms to move my weight around. Alyssa was completely hips and back, using her "core" muscles to move her body, much like a salsa or hula dancer. "We really are different." I said out loud. Alyssa turned her head in my direction. "What?!" she yelled. "Oh, nothing!" I called back. About a half hour later, the song "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry came on. The familiar tune reached my ears, and I grimaced a bit. Uh oh...was this going to be awkward? Alyssa, however, hardly noticed. She kept her eyes closed and continued to sway, bounce, and move. Slightly relieved, I also closed my eyes and relaxed. A song or two later, I felt big hands grab my waist from behind and pull me away from Alyssa. "Hey!" I cried out, whipping my head around. I recognized the offender as a senior boy who went to a public school down the road. The buffoon was trying to get me to "freak dance" with him! I struggled to escape, but he held me tight and started grinding into my backside. Thinking quickly, I stepped on his foot, hard. He cried out and released me, and I bolted to Alyssa. Wait...where was she? I was frozen as I saw another big guy attempt to do the same with her. She was swifter than I was, however, and smacked him in the face before her butt made any contact with the guy. Once he backed off, I ran to her, grabbed her arm, and led her outside. Once the cold night air hit my face, I felt myself start to tear up. "Hey," Alyssa said soothingly, removing my grip from her arm and looking me in the eyes, "it's okay. He's gone. That big idiot is gone." I continued to freak out. I felt her slip her hand into mine and lead me to a bench. When we sat down, I choked when I tried to talk. "Don't think I'm a d-dork. I mean, I f-freak danced in middle school, and last year too. But I just don't like it anymore." I said between sobs. Alyssa wiped a tear from my cheek. "Ssssh. That's nothing to cry about, Chelsea. It's okay. Relax." I sobbed harder. "No! Alyssa...that wasn't what freaked me out! I-it was t-that he grabbed me, and w-when I tried to escape, h-he w-wouldn't let me go!" The levi broke: I burst into tears and threw myself on Alyssa and proceeded to sob on her shoulder, ruining her shirt in the process, I'm sure. But she pulled her arms around my shoulders and held me for a while. After I calmed down, I was sure she thought I was an over-dramatic freak. But when I raised my eyes to look at her, I saw nothing but kindness in her eyes. "Let's see if my mom is here to pick us up." she suggested. "You can sleep over at my house tonight, if you want." I wiped my nose and nodded. As we stood out in the parking lot, waiting for her mother to show, we heard some boys whooping loudly. Moments passed, and the source of the noise came crashing out from the bushes. "Hey ladies..." said one of the three big guys, his words slurred. "You...you should come with us...come on! Let's ditch this place...it's laaaaaaaaame..." Okay, they were obviously wasted. "Hey!" said one of his buddies. "I know you!" He pointed right at me, and froze, terrified. That was the guy that grabbed me earlier. "That's the...the bitch! That whore wouldn't dance with me!" The other guy, the one I recognized as the guy who grabbed Alyssa, leaned forward. "Oooh yeah! That slut...and her bitch of a friend who wouldn't dance with me! You..." he looked towards Alyssa, "you sla...slapped me!" "Let's teach these whores a lesson!" said the leader, pounding his fists together and cracking his knuckles. "Then we can have some fun with 'em." The one who had grabbed me earlier seized my wrists and pushed me to the ground, landing on top of me. Before I fell, I saw the other two go for Alyssa. I screamed bloody murder as the guy sat up on my waist and pinned my wrists to the sides of my head, but felt my throat close when I heard the sickening sound of flesh pounding on flesh from behind the idiot on top of me. Someone's head hit concrete, and I immediately called out for Alyssa. "Alyssa! Alyssa!" I screamed. All of a sudden, the weight was torn from me. A smaller figure took the drunk buffoon and threw him over their shoulder. His head hit the concrete, and the figure jumped on him, their knee in his gut and palm straight into his nose. The guy did not get up, and I sucked in a shocked breath when I realized that the figure was Alyssa. She turned around and knelt beside me. "Chelsea!" she whispered. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" My throat was closed with terror and adrenaline, so I could not respond. So I shook my head no. She smiled. "Good." she breathed. I noticed that, aside from a slightly bloody lip, Alyssa had escaped from the fight unscathed. She, a sophomore in high school, had taken down three seniors. I felt my throat loosen up. "Wha-?" I managed to croak out. "Not important." she insisted. "B-but, they were huge! And strong!" I squeaked. "Yeah," she said, "but they were stupid and drunk. I knew they were no real danger from the beginning. But I hate the fact that one of them went for you." I felt my eyes start to tear up again, but I blinked the tears away, and sat down. Alyssa sat down next to me. "Don't be afraid. They were just a bunch of idiots. It's okay now!" she smiled. "See? No big deal." I gave her a half-smile. "Where did you learn to do that?" I asked, finally. "We can talk about that later tonight. For now, let's go to a different part of the lot. I don't want my mom to see a bunch of unconscious high school guys next to me." I laughed. "Alright. You know, if we ever told this story, no one would believe us!" Alyssa smiled. "Yeah! Not a lot of people believe that I have my black belt in seven different kinds of martial arts." she stated, matter-of-factly. I was lost for words, but managed to choke out, "...Seven?" She giggled. Her mother came within the next two minutes, and we returned to Alyssa's house. I hoped she was wide awake; she had a lot of explaining to do. But for now, I was relieved that I had not only this wonderful friend, but I had gained a protector as well!
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