Chapter 3

Confused, Luke gave his ticket and entered. He was about to go further in when Angela Yzcheck spotted him and waved.

It was a small but deliberate movement, but Vivie saw Angela wave. Her eyes traveled past the crowd and rested on Luke. Vivie’s sister had disappeared. So had Carson and Lisette. It was only the three of them.

“Hey, guys,” Luke weakly greeted them.

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Carson saw Luke get caught by Angela and Vivie and narrowed his eyes. He had seen Luke spying outside a house and wondered vaguely what he was up to this time. Luke was forever sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, prank calling people, and basically being immature. But that was Carson’s ex-best friend for you.

He was careful to do his best to stay hidden. Carson was nearly six feet tall and easy to spot. He had fair hair and light brown eyes that were a very odd combination that somehow still worked with his face. Carson was grateful for that. His hair wasn’t too long, but it wasn’t short either. It was just perfect- for once.

“Carson!” Lissy had spotted him, and Carson took that as a sign that he wasn’t blending in too well. Then again, Lissy had a knack for finding people in a huge crowd.

“Hey, E-Liz. Have you seen Lisette?”

“Nope.” Lissy and Lisette both shared the same first name (Elisabeth) and the same tone of features- brown hair, blue eyes. But Lissy was thinner and sweeter. Once again, Carson felt a prick of emotion as he looked at the girl that he had liked for so long. But she was a hard prize to obtain- not that Carson considered Lissy a prize, but that she was hard to win over.

As a test, he opened his arms, and Lissy embraced him. It felt very good. But Carson kept the smile to himself.

“What are you doing back here, Carson?”

“Avoiding Luke.”

“Oh.” Lissy knew all about everything that had happened between those two. Her large blue eyes showed their sympathy.

“Thanks, E-Liz.”

“It’s what I do best.”

That was true. That was what attracted him to her.

“It might be smart to sit down,” Lissy helpfully pointed out.

“Right.” Carson did that and could still keep tabs on Luke, Angela Yzcheck, (who he barely knew) and Vivie. Lissy still didn’t know about Luke and Vivie, and Carson wasn’t going to be the one to change that. He just hoped that this fact wouldn’t get him in trouble later.

He sat back, and they attempted conversation.

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“Hey, Luke.” Angela embraced him in a friendly way- unlike Vivie, Angela got along well with guys and enjoyed hugs. Vivie, on the other hand, barely hugged girls, much less Luke. In fact, they had never hugged or held hands. It was odd, but it had been how Vivie had tolerated even breaking the rule in the first place.

“Hey, Angela. Hey, Viv.”

It was impossible to tell what Vivie was thinking. Luke saw the muscles in her jaw tighten and was grateful that she wasn’t lashing out at him physically or verbally. With Vivie, both ways hurt equally.

“I need to go eat.” It was a lie- Angela was trying to subtly tell Vivie and Luke to talk. Vivie caught on, but she gave her best friend the death glare. Luke knew that the two girls would have a long talk about this later.

For the first time since the breakup, Luke found himself face-to-face with Vivie.

“You followed me.”

How did she know? Oh yeah. Girls were very observant- especially Vivie. There was no point in denying her statement. She knew and was sure about it, and nothing Luke said would dissuade her.

“Yeah.”

“Why?” She spat the words out, demanding an explanation.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, not looking into her green eyes. She was furious. That was not a good sign- it never was a good sign, especially when it came to Vivie.

“What did you find out?”

“That you were kidnapped and then brought back here.”

Vivie sighed. “I could have bought myself another ticket.”

“I know.”

“I meant to say, thanks.”

“Oh. You’re welcome.”

They looked at each other again.

“I’m back.” Angela could tell that the conversation was over- Luke read that in her brown eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief- whenever he talked to Vivie, he felt like there was a gun pointing at his back and that if he said the wrong thing she would pull the trigger. He felt guilty for thinking that, but it was the truth.

“Later.”

He walked off.

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Selene Quincy was only at the dance for all the gossip points. After all, she was the unofficial gossip queen of Fillmore High. Her light brown hair was cut short- short hair made you look older. Long hair was so out. Right now, she was eying Vivie Rivercreek’s hair and pictured it shorter. Yes, short would look much better.

Her eyes travelled to Luke Farrior, and she cringed. Luke was the only guy to ever refuse her when she had asked him out. The next day, her cousin had informed her that Luke and Vivie were going out.

Vivie had always somehow managed to get on Selene’s nerves. As nice as she seemed, she always bet Selene- except at gossip. Vivie was observant, but she didn’t have Selene’s contacts. She seemed anti-social at best and kept to herself. Of course, Vivie was smart- she had to be to skip a grade so recently. Selene shook her head at the thought. Vivie had to be insane. Maybe Vivie was insane. They didn’t talk much- she and Vivie had had to do a project together once, but they hadn’t become friends after that.

She went back to writing mental notes in her head about everyone there. It was hard to get gossip on Vivie, and Selene wasn’t expecting her to come to the dance. Deciding to take advantage of that, she resumed observation.

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Lillie Coit surprised Angela and Vivie by sneaking up on them. Her brown eyes danced with laughter when Angela freaked but Vivie wasn’t even fazed. She had moved to Fillmore last month and had found Angela and Vivie. She found it hard to believe that they had met recently- to Lillie it looked like they had known each other for at least most of their lives.

She wasn’t extremely close to either of them- she had friends other than those two- but Lillie’s elusive personality prevented much of that. Besides, Lillie had made it clear that to her friendships were meant to be short and change quickly. Although Angela and Vivie saw otherwise, they still were friends with Lillie, and she was grateful for that. They really were unique people.

“Hey, Lil.” Vivie looked happy to see her- happier than need be. Lillie decided not to ask what had happened. She had seen Luke talking to her and knew that Vivie probably would be in a bad mood or hiding the fact that she was peeved. Judging from a closer look, Lillie decided that Vivie was hiding her emotion. “When did you get here?”

“Late. You know the saying, ‘fashionably late?’ Well, I was late more because of the fact my parents kept getting lost.”

Angela and Vivie laughed. “In Fillmore, you’d have to have my sense of direction to get lost!” Vivie exclaimed.

“Viv, you have no sense of direction.”

“Shush.” But Vivie didn’t seem too offended.

Lillie grinned to herself. These two were good friends. She didn’t have to worry about anything- she was in good hands.