Holly and her friends arrived at the school hall on time - fifteen minutes late. Jacqui always liked to arrive a little bit late so she could make a grand entrance. Students already packed out the hall and the dance was well underway. There were chairs set out in semicircles around the outer rims of the hall. At one end was the stage where a DJ had all his equipment set up, including large speakers that pounded out music. There was a slight echo around the wooden hall, but it still sounded good. At the other end were tables laden with food donated by the Cassidys. It was a magnificent spread with all sorts of delicious goodies, which smelt divine, plus plenty of non-alcoholic punch and soft drinks to go around.
Most of the students around their age group hung out at one corner of the hall. There were plenty of seats available and people were already on the dance floor. As the girls approached, all eyes fell upon them. Jacqui strutted her way out front looking pleased with the reaction they were getting. Holly strode along next to her.
Once they picked up a drink of punch each and arrived at the chairs, all eyes moved from Jacqui to Chelsea and there they remained, staring, unable to believe that it was really her. Not one of the boys seemed to be able to shake their gaze. It was as if they were dumfounded at her miraculous transformation, unable to believe that she was once the rather plain Chelsea Brown.
‘I don’t believe it!’ Sheep stared agog. ‘Is that really you, Chelsea? You look fantastic!’
Chelsea smiled. Even Jacqui seemed quite pleased with their reactions, but her pleasure soon turned to displeasure with the fact she was no longer the centre of attention. ‘She has me to thank for that. They don’t call me a miracle worker for nothing, you know.’
Holly didn’t bother to correct her and say it was a team effort.
‘What did you do with your glasses, Chelsea?’ Pete asked.
Jacqui let out a sigh of irritation. ‘You can be a real moron sometimes, Cook! Any fool would realise that she’s wearing contacts.’
Sheep smirked. ‘Yeah, but Cook’s not even worthy of being considered a fool.’
‘So, Sheep,’ Jacqui said, giving Chelsea a funny look that Holly wasn’t sure how to interpret. ‘Seeing as Rex isn’t here yet, how about you do the honours?’ She extended her hand to him.
‘I’d love to.’ Sheep brushed right past her. ‘Chelsea?’ He held out his hand.
Holly couldn’t help but snicker, especially at the horrified look on Jacqui’s face. Oh what a slap in the face it had to be for her that Sheep preferred to dance with Chelsea rather than Jacqui. It made Holly feel good that she had a hand in it. That would teach Jacqui for trying to take all the credit.
Chelsea ignored Jacqui’s look, smiled at Sheep and took his hand. Sheep led her out to the dance floor.
Jacqui huffed. ‘Well… Of all the cheek.’
Holly couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Hey, you created the monster, remember? It was all your doing.’
‘He was supposed to dance with me not her!’
‘Err no. He was always supposed to dance with Chelsea. Remember that’s why we - you know - did the makeover on her so Sheep would notice her? Or did you forget that?’
Jacqui scowled. She grabbed her handbag and opened it up. ‘I need a drink. I’ve got something in here. Want some in your punch?’ She showed Holly the contents of her handbag. There were two hip flasks of liquor in there.
Holly let out a deep sigh. ‘Sure. Let me take that.’ She reached out and took the entire hand bag from her. ‘I’m going to the toilets.’
‘What for?’
Holly rose to her feet. ‘To tip this out. You’re not drinking it.’
A look of horror came over her best friend’s face. ‘You are so not tipping that out!’
‘I am so.’ Holly began to march for the toilets, determined once and for all to sort her friend’s drinking out completely.
‘You just come back here, Holly!’ Jacqui rushed after her.
Holly quickened her pace and entered the girl’s toilet. There she went into one of the cubicles and pulled out one of the bottles.
‘You just stop that right now. Don’t you dare tip that out.’
Holly ignored her demand and emptied one of the bottles straight down the toilet.
‘I can’t believe you just did that! What the hell do you think you’re doing.’
‘Shut up, Jacqui! I’ve had enough. You are going to get yourself AND us into so much trouble.’
‘Oh, just don’t be so stupid! What are you, a squa… ? Don’t you dare tip that other bottle out!’
‘Ooops. There it goes.’
Down the gurgler it went, and once the bottle was empty, she flushed the toilet.
‘How dare you? I oughta…’
Holly turned around. ‘What? Slap me? Go right ahead. If that’s what it’s gonna take to sort you out then fine, I’ll take the slap, because I’m a friend and friends make sacrifices for each other. I don’t care what you call me, Jacqs, you can call me a square and you can even compare me to Chelsea. That’s great, because Chelsea is cool and she’s freaking hot, probably hotter than you and me, but I’m not gonna stand by any longer and let you destroy your life by guzzling down alcohol. You’re not even 16 years old!’
Jacqui fumed and her cheeks flushed, but then she began to calm down a little. ‘I just can’t believe you tipped it all out.’
‘Believe it. And if I see you with any more of that shit I’ll do the same thing again.’ Holly let out a sigh and looked upon her friend with sympathy. ‘I care about you, Jacqui and I don’t like seeing you do this to yourself.’
‘I’m not doing anything to myself.’
‘You may not think so, but this is just gonna get worse. Jacqs, I nearly drowned at the beach because of this stuff. I mean I’m not blaming you for that, but that alcohol severely messed with my mind. I would never have been so stupid as to enter that water if it wasn’t for that alcohol. I would have stopped myself. If it wasn’t for Mav, who knows what might have happened. I might not be here right now. Jacqui, the drinking has to stop. I mean it.’ She peered at Jacqui with the most staunch expression she could muster.
For the first time Jacqui’s expression softened and she even flinched. ‘It was my fault wasn’t it? Really…. The fact that I gave you alcohol.’
‘I should have just said no.’
‘But… but I put pressure on you.’
‘Well now I’m putting pressure on you.’
‘You really care that much?’
Holly touched her arm and smiled. ‘Of course I do, Jacqs. We’re old friends and I hope we’ll always be friends. And friends stick together and they don’t just stand by and let each other make big mistakes.’ She walked over to one of the bins and threw the two empty bottles in there. She handed the handbag back to Jacqui. ‘Don’t be angry.’
Jacqui nodded. ‘It’s ok. I’m not. Well not anymore. Thanks for caring, Holly. I mean it.’
The two exchanged smiles and they were about to leave the toilets when Mandy Evans rushed in. ‘Jacqui, Holly! McDreamy is here. And oh my God he looks freaking hot!’
‘Rex is here?’ Jacqui gasped. ‘About bloody time. Girls, it’s time to start making “Donaldson vs Cassidy” official!’
They went back out and Holly marvelled when she saw him. He looked spectacular in some of the most expensive gear any of them had seen: firm fitting, brand-new denim jeans, handmade leather shoes and over his T-shirt, a flash leather jacket.
A group of the girls surrounded Rex admiring his jacket, but Holly could see by the look in their eyes it was just a ploy to get closer to him and perhaps score his attention. Holly moved closer to get a better look.
‘Pure leather,’ said Mandy Evans. ‘Your family must really be rich.’
‘We do okay.’
Jacqui smiled. ‘Rex, I hope that you’re going to save me the first dance.’
‘Actually...’ Rex glanced around. At first, his eyes went by Holly and on to Chelsea who now sat alongside S
heep. Holly figured it was probably her he wanted to dance with, but seeing Sheep with her was probably a deterrent. Then to Holly’s delight, his gaze returned to her. ‘I was hoping that you would do me the honour, Holly.’
Holly’s had to hide her excitement, unable to believe that Rex had chosen her first, even if she hadn’t actually been his desired first choice. ‘Sweet!’ She barely noticed the ire in the face of Jacqui as she took Rex’s hand and accompanied him out to the dance floor. She would no doubt suffer the consequences later, but right now she was going to enjoy the fact she was the one Rex picked first.
On the dance floor, she found Rex to be a more than adequate dancer and he wasn’t afraid to get in close and dance a little raunchy. She welcomed it, as he was just so darn sexy. She just didn’t want to break eye contact with him, but whenever he spun her around she couldn’t help but notice all the envious looks she was getting from the other girls and she couldn’t help but smile.
After the quick dance, a slow piece came on. She expected him to take her back to her seat, but instead he drew her in close and put his arms around her. Her heart began to flutter and her knees went weak. She could hardly believe he was holding her so close and all she could do was stare up into his brilliant blue eyes, dumbstruck.
‘I thought you were dating Mav tonight,’ Rex said.
She came to her senses and replied, ‘I was supposed to be. But he hasn’t turned up yet.’
‘Well he’d be crazy not to. Not when he has you here waiting for him.’
Holly blushed and felt stumped for words. Rex ran his hand down her back and she began to feel aroused. She felt like grabbing him and kissing him, but she held back. She couldn’t allow herself to get carried away, especially not if Mav arrived at that moment. ‘I… I guess you want to dance with Chels?’
Rex grinned. ‘I thought she would be available, but I see that other guy got to her first.’
‘That’s Sheep. If you’re – you know - worried about him being her date, he’s not.’
‘Well, I would hate to cut in on them.’
Holly would have loved to dance with him all night if she could, but knew she couldn’t hog him, especially knowing that Mav was arriving soon and he was her official date. ‘I don’t think she would mind.’
‘He might.’
‘I don’t think a guy like you would be afraid of Rog Shepherd.’
‘I’m not, but I do have principles.’
Holly gazed into his eyes, still drawn heavily towards him. ‘You are such a mystery to us, Rex. I keep asking myself, are you a good guy or are you a bad guy?’
Rex grinned. ‘Which would you prefer I was?’
‘Mmmmm.’ She smiled. ‘I’m not sure. Perhaps a good guy with a bit of a rebellious streak.’
Rex chuckled. ‘Perhaps that’s what I am?’
‘I hope so anyway.’
‘I guess time will tell you for sure.’
CHAPTER 25:
Decisions, Decisions
The Mob from TAC Page 27
