I Slapped Mr. Popular

31

"You know prom's this weekend, right?" Emma asks as we sit down under the tree.

I shoot my head up. "What?"

The past few weeks have went by fast. Ever since my fight with Xavier, I have been out of it. Ridge, Emma, and Marcus have noticed, but I never told them what had happened. I don't know why I have been the way I have. All I know is that Xavier has removed himself from my life. I barley see him around school, and when I do, it's awkward. During homeroom, he distances himself. To be honest, I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to be around me either.

"Yeah, you didn't know? We have to go shopping this afternoon," Emma states.

"I'm not really up to it, Em," I reply.

"C'mon, babe, you need it. You've been so sad the past few weeks," Ridge says, moving a piece of hair from my face.

I sigh, "Fine, but we are not staying out all day."

Emma smiles. "Okay."
××××××
Emma picks me up that afternoon, and we makes the fifteen minute journey to the mall. The entire way Emma does everything she can to cheer me up, but it doesn't work.

Finally, when we pull into a parking space at the mall, she turns to me. "What's going on with you?" she asks.

"Nothing," I say, unfastening myself, and try to get out, but she locks the doors. I look at her. "Seriously."

Emma puts on a flat look. "Braelyn, you can probably lie to Ridge, Marcus, and your brothers, but you can't lie to me. Talk."

I look out the window. "Xavier and I got into a fight the night he broke his hand," I say after a while.

"About what?"

"Everything," I say, "He gave me an ultimatum, and I couldn't choose."

Emma furrows her eyebrows. "Choose what?"

"Him or Ridge," I whisper.

Emma sighs, "Wow, Braleyn, I'm sorry. I can't believe Xavier would do something like that."

"Lets just forget about it, okay?" I ask, and Emma nods and unlocks the doors. We get out, and Emma walks over to me, linking her arm with mine.

"Let's get our prom dresses and have a great day," she gushes.

I smile at her. "Okay," I reply, and we walk into the mall. Emma leads me toward the only prom dress store in the mall, Crazy For Dresses, and we begin our search.

"What color dress do you want?" Emma asks as we scan the racks.

I shrug. "I look good in baby blue or champagne," I reply.

She nods. "That's true. Both of those colors look great on you. What about me? What color for me?"

I study her for a moment then say, "Pink."

She scrunches her nose up. "Pink? Why pink?"

"Because it'll look good on you. Trust me," I say.

Emma grins. "Okay, pink it is."
××××××
An hour later, and Emma has found her dress. It's a light pink dress that hangs off the shoulders, and has jewels across the top part of it. It's beautiful, to be honest, and it looks great on her. Pink really is her color.

I, on the other hand, still haven't found a dress. I scan the racks, sighing. "Emma, this is going to take forever!" I groan.

"Stop com-Oh my gosh! I found one for you!" she exclaims, hurrying over to me. In her hand, is a very light pink and silver dress. The top is gray, strapless, and jeweled, and the bottom is pale pink and flares out. All together, the dress is something that I'll never be able to pull off.