Every year our school throws a Valentine's Day Ball the weekend of Valentine's Day. Usually, I'm really excited about it but this year not so much. I can't believe I forgot. I guess there are a few reasons I'm not really excited. One, I totally forgot it was tomorrow and I only have half a day to find a dress and possibly new shoes. Two, I'm pretty sure no one is going to ask me this year. The tradition of the ball is everyone goes (usually) and you get asked at the ball either to dance or to be someone's date. It's simple but also that weird.

            "Hey Marcus," I start to ask as we walk to our Spanish class, "If you don't find anyone to ask out at the dance do you think you could ask me?"

           "Rose, you know someone's going to ask you. You're gorgeous and more than half the guys in this school want to date you." It doesn't seem like it and I wouldn't consider myself gorgeous. I'm pretty you could say. I'm short with tan brown skin like Marcus except he's half black and white and I am Costa Rican. I have green eyes with golden flakes and hair "that looks like the sunrise" people say. It's a dark brown with natural blonde highlights that you can see all the time and natural red highlights that appear in the sun. Toward the bottom, it starts to curl and goes to my mid back. I straighten it to get rid of the curls, they drive me nuts.

            "I'm not gorgeous Marcus but you are and that's a fact. Every girl wants you to look in their direction. At the dance, I bet they'll all be circling you like a pack of wolves or hyenas." That wasn't a joke either. He is gorgeous and the girls will circle him. Marcus is tall, has hazel eyes that are more on the brown side, brown curly hair that's all cut off, and the most amazing body in the world. It's almost like he was chiseled by the Gods. He has muscular arms and a very sexy six pack that I had the luxury to see.

            "Have you looked in the mirror lately? You have the perfect rack and ass to go with it." Brian says laughing looking me up and down. We sit in our Spanish seats which are the same as our seats in English. "Are those C's?" He asks. I laugh and punch him playfully on the shoulder.

            "Thanks, I think and yes they are actually. If I do say so myself they look quite nice in this dress." I smile and pose in my chair.

            "You could be a model. I mean look at you pose, breathtakingly-gorgeous." James says in his thick British accent. We all burst into laughter just as the bell rings telling us to take our seats.

            "So will you ask me if no one asks me and you don't find a date even though I know you'll find one?" I ask Marcus.

            "Of course I will it would be my honor but you have to wait at least fifteen minutes after the dance starts to see if anyone asks you, deal?"

            "Deal." We shake on it. Spanish goes by quickly along with calculus. Even though calculus is really boring I have Jasmine, Marcus, James, and Brian to help pass the time. In cooking James, Marcus, and I make ravioli. I love cooking it's so fun. The bell rings ending our good time. I meet Brian in the hallway and we walk to our dance class together as I eat.

            "Mmmmm, you should try some Brian its super yummy." We enter the dance room and sit on some chairs near the front of the room. I get a spoonful of ravioli and feed it to him.

            "You're right it is yummy. You're a good cook." He takes my spoon and has a few more bites.

            "Hi Mrs. Sarah!" Brian and I say in unison.

            "Hey, guys." She waves at us while setting up her stereo. As students pour into the class we all exchange hi's. Mrs. Sarah is always saying, in dance class, we are a family. After students who need to change into dance clothes change they all start their stretches. As the end bell rings a student I don't recognize walks in.

            "Who's that?" I ask Brian as the new guy hands the teacher a note. He's good looking. About the same height as Marcus, from what I can see he has nice muscles, and blond hair with a little bit of brown mixed in.

            "Class." Mrs. S says getting everyone's attention. "This is Angel he's new to the school and starting today he's part of our family." She smiles.

            "Hi." The class says smiling with a wave here and there.

            "Hi." He quickly waves.

            "That's Angel the new student." Brian laughs. "Wait, I think he's in some of our classes. We were all just talking and not paying attention."

            "Oh." I try to think of our earlier classes and seeing him. I don't remember him in English but I think he may have been in my Spanish and calculus classes.

            "Brian, Rose can you come over here please?" We walk over to her. Looking into my bowl I notice I only have a few bites of ravioli left.

            "Brian will you help me with the class and organizing the routine and Rose will you show Angel the routine and get him caught up with the rest of the class."

            "Yeah sure. Follow me we'll go over here so we don't get distracted by the class." I smile walking to a corner of the room. I throw my empty bowl away in the garbage.

            "Where did you get that? I thought lunch wasn't until after the fifth period." He says.

            "I just had a cooking class." He sets down his bag. Now that he's closer I can see that he has light skin that has a soft warm glow to it, grey eyes, and his skin also looks really soft. "So usually we start with stretches. We'll stretch quickly then I'll start showing you the moves." I sit down with my legs out in front of me and reach for my toes. "How long have you been dancing?" He's sitting in front of me doing the same stretch.

            "Since I was ten how about you?"

            "About four. Oh, just so you know Mrs. S gives us little lockers so we can put our dance clothes in to change into before class."

            "Thanks, I'll ask her for one after class. What's there to do out here?" He stretches his arms.

            "Lots of stuff, I've lived out here my whole life and new things seem to always be popping up. Let's see there are malls, you can go to the beach it's really nice I love going there. It's so peaceful and the water is really relaxing." I look up and find him smiling at me.

            "Same here."

            "There's a few clubs and parks. Also, our school has a lot of games like football, volleyball, and basketball. One of my favorite things to do is go to the ice skating rink. No one goes there anymore but it's my second favorite place to be. This question is a bit nosey so you don't have to answer it but why did your parents decide to move in the middle of a school year?"

            "My dad's work. Something about his company expanding and him becoming the new boss. I wasn't really listening to well while he was explaining because I was so upset. He's been moving us around since I was born. I was born in Brazil. When I was four we moved to New York, at seven we moved to Florida, nine was Seattle, when I turned thirteen we moved to Chicago, fifteen I moved her for a year, sixteen was California, and eighteen is here." My smile is now a frown. It would be horrible moving around everywhere, having to start over so often.

            "I'm sorry, it sounds like it has been hard for you growing up."

            "Yeah, but when I go to college I'm going to stay in one place for a long time."

            "That makes sense. You ready for me to start showing you the steps?" He nods yes. "We count in steps of eight. On, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." I count out loud showing him the first eight steps. I do it again then break it down slow for him. "Very nice, you're a really fast learner." I watch him do the steps then do them with him. Standing in front of him I do the next eight. It looks like he's been dancing for his whole life instead of starting at the age of ten. He's amazing and really into it. "Start from the top I'll count for you." I wait until he's in position. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Let's do it two more times."

            "How's it going over here Rose?"

            "Really good, Angel's a great dancer and quick learner." I'm really glad Angel didn't turn out to be whiney. I can't stand whiney people.

            "And how's it going for you, Angel?" Mrs. S asks.

            "Very good, Rose is a great dancer herself and instructor too." He's slightly out of breath and has sweat running down the side of his face and a few wet spots starting to appear on his chest through his shirt. Good that means I'm pushing him and he's pushing himself.

            "That's good because she's going to be working with you for the next week. Next Friday we have a basketball game against a rival team. The principle would like us to do a dance before the game so you need to learn the steps fast and be ready. I gave you a locker it's number fifteen in the boys changing room which is right over there." She points to the other side of the room to a sign that says men's changing room. "Since the bell is about to ring why don't you go put your clothes in your locker. I suggest you meet Rose outside of school to learn the steps." She turns around to go talk to the class. Did she really just say that? I don't know why but the thought of hanging out with Angel outside of class makes me a bit nervous.

            "Do you have a sixth or seventh period?"

            "No I don't, I get out after this class. Why?" He asks with a bit of hesitation.

            "Since you're new I thought maybe you'd like to hang out with my friends and me after school. Before we go back to my house though James, Marcus, and Brian, he's over there," I say pointing over at him, "We have to go find me a dress because I totally forgot about the Valentines ball tomorrow. You probably don't want to though because most guys don't like shopping and you'll think it's boring so never mind, sorry, forget I asked." I start to turn around knowing I just made a total babbling idiot out of myself.

            "No wait," he says walking over to me, "I'd love to go with you and your friends. Thanks for inviting me. I'm going to put these in the locker real quick, will you wait for me? I walked to school today and I still don't know my way around town so I'd appreciate a ride." The bell rings and people start heading for the doors for lunch.

            "Sure no problem." A shy smile slowly starts to spread across my face. He jogs over to the changing room door and goes in.

            "So how's the new guy?" Brian asks stopping next to me.

            "He's great, I hope you guys don't mind I invited him to go find a dress with us and come over to my place afterward."

            "You have the hots for him don't you." He teases.

            "No, I don't!" That came out faster than it should have. "I'm just trying to be nice to him. You know making new friends at this school can be hard, especially since it's senior year."

            "You keep telling yourself that." He laughs. "I'll take the guys in my car since they all drove with me this morning. We'll meet you at our usual lunch spot."

            "Meet you there, and tell James and Marcus about Angel coming while you're driving there. I don t want them to get the wrong idea like you did." I smile and wave bye as he walks out of the dance room. A minute later Angel comes out of the changing room.

            "Ready to go?" I ask him.

            "Yea, let's go." I lead him to the schools parking lot to my car. I disarm the car and open the car door but before I slide into the driver's seat I notice Angel just staring.

            "You okay?" I'm a bit confused. Maybe there's something on my face.

            "I just didn't expect you to have a car like this. It's a guy's sports car. Gosh, she's beautiful." He says running his fingers along the hood.

            "Thanks, I know she is. When I saw her I couldn't take my eyes off her and knew she was perfect for me." I smile up at him. "I'm a bit of a car girl. I get that from my dad. Are you going to get in or find your own way to the mall?" I giggle and tease him getting into the driver's seat. When I turn her on it's like music to my ears. "She sounds amazing doesn't she?"

            "Yes, she does." I pull out of the parking lot and head for the mall. Ten minutes later we are in the busy malls parking lot. A few minutes after hunting Angel points out a parking spot. We walk into the mall and the sound of a love song fills my ears. It's almost Valentine's day so that makes sense. I turn and head to the escalator.

            "Hey guys," I call waving to them now that we are only a few feet away. "This is Angel," I gesture toward him, "Angel this is Marcus, James, and Brian who's in our dance class." I point to each of them as I say their names.

            "Nice to meet you, man," Marcus says.

            "Hey." James waves quickly.

            "What's up, dude? How was your first day of school?" This is why I love Brian he's so chill and gets along with everybody.

            "Pretty cool actually, but way different from my old school."

            "You ready to get some food?" I ask.

            "Yeah." They all say. Whenever you bring up food guys are always in. We go into Red Robins where we usually eat when we come to the mall. It's not fancy and they make good food. The waitress sits us at a table with menus. Shortly after we order our food comes out. My mouth starts to water, it smells so good.

            "Thank you guys for helping me last minute. I still can't believe I forgot the ball was tomorrow." I say sticking a fry in my mouth. Most girls are self-conscious about eating fattening foods in front of guys but not me. If a guy likes me I want him to like me for me and not some girl who starves herself for him.

            "No problem, it wasn't hard to agree to come with you since I get to see you model in a whole bunch of sexy dresses." Marcus smirks before taking a bite of his burger.

            "You by far are one of the horniest guys I have ever met." I laugh and take a bite of my own juicy burger. We are all too busy shoving food into our mouths to talk. When we finish the waitress brings the check over and starts taking away our plates. "Who paid last time?"

            "I did." James says "Which means that I don't have to." He smiles.

            "It's alright I got it," Angel says pulling out this wallet and placing a card on the table.

            "You shouldn't pay it's your first time out with us." I don't know why but I feel bad letting him pay.

            "That's exactly why I should pay." He smiles at me. I notice he has really straight white teeth. "It's not a problem so don't worry about it." After he signs the bill we walk over to BeBe. Finding a dress here won't be so hard since I already have an idea about what I want.

            "Alright, guys you know the drill. If you find something you think I might like or will look good on me give it to me and I'll go try it on. The winner can get the first slow dance at the ball with me." We all laugh and separate. Whenever we go shopping we always try to make it fun and interesting. We all love a competition too which makes it even more fun. A few minutes later everyone is waiting by the dressing room with a dress. "Who knew men had such good taste." I look at all the really nice options I have. Marcus and Brian have picked out something skin tight of course and James is holding a strapless dress. When I see what Angel is holding a huge grin spreads across my face. "It's perfect." I walk over to him and he hands me the dress. It's a mini dress, with one strap on the right side, leopard print, and a built-in bra. Right under the bust, it flows out. "You, my friend, have great taste."

            "It reminded me of you."

            "How? You've only just met me." He doesn't know me and I don't know him. We only met about two hours.

            "I just got a vibe from you. Fun, funny, flirty, I think you may have a bit of an attitude, sexy and it would look really good on you." We're both smiling at each other now. Did he just call me sexy? I think he did.

            "That sums Rose up in a nutshell," Marcus says in a cocky tone. "Nice pick Angel it'll look great on her." As I walk into the dressing room I punch Marcus on the arm. "No need for violence Rose." He laughs. I quickly slip off my dress into the new one and walk out of the changing room to show them.

            "What do you guys think?" I slowly turn in a circle with my hands on my hips.

            "You look amazing." Angels says. James and Brian nod their heads in agreement.

            "Tell me again why we thought it was better for us to just be friends because seeing you in that dress makes me want you really badly in a more than friends way. You look gorgeous." Marcus smiles.

            "I'll look even better for the dance tomorrow. Thanks, guys and I have the perfect shoes at home to go with it." I turn around to go back to the changing room then remember. "Oh, I almost forgot. Tomorrow you get to have the first slow dance with me." I smile at Angel and swear he's blushing a little bit. I change into my dress and go buy the new one. We all go to the parking lot and head for our separate cars. Once Angel and I are in my car with the dress I make small talk. "How did you get so good at picking dresses?" I laugh.

            "My mom took me dress shopping with her all the time. She always had a fancy party or meeting to go to. I'm so good at it she tells me to go find her dresses by myself when she's busy." He laughs and looks over at me. "Now, I think it's time to tell me a bit about you."

            "It depends on what you want to know."

            "Anything really."

            "There's a lot to know about me. Marcus says that I'm a complicated girl. What you said in the mall though was right. I'm fun and I'm funny. I have a bit of an attitude but only when I need to. I love the beach, ice skating, rain, dancing, cooking, art I could go on about things I love forever. Something you should know about me is that I have a few issues." I park in front of my house. Why did I just say something so personal to a stranger? "Here we are," I say trying to change the subject.

            "Your house is huge."

            "You should see the other houses around here. My house is only two stories." We walk up the path to the front door. "Let me show you around." I close the door behind us heading up my wooden stairs hearing his footsteps close behind me. "The guest bathroom up here is to the left next to our dance and exercise room. These two bedrooms are for guests. If you ever need a place to stay you can always crash here. They all have sheets and towels in them and here is my room." I push open my white door and smile when I see Angels face in awe. The first thing everyone notices is my bright light green walls. Next you notice my queen size bed with black sheets and matching pillows that have places in Europe written all over it in different ways. I go over to my closet and hang my dress on the door.

            "Did you take all these pictures?" I walk over to my tan dresser that has my laptop on it and look at all the photos I put up on my wall.

            "Yup, I did. Photography is one of my many hobbies."

            "I could tell they are all over your room. Who's that?" He points to a short old lady with light tan skin who's in most of my photos.

            "That's my grandma. She is one of the most amazing and awesome people in the whole world. We are extremely close." I point out a few more people and show the ones of animals I took at the zoo.

            "These are amazing."

            "Thanks, I bet everyone's here you want to go downstairs?"

            "First I have a random question. Where do your parents sleep?" I can't help but laugh. Usually, people don't ask where your parents sleep.

            "Downstairs since it's closer to the door. They are always running in and out of the house whenever they are home, which is basically never." We go down the stairs and turn right into the living room. "Hey guys, where's James?" Angel and I sit on opposite ends of my brown fuzzy couch. Marcus and Brian are sitting on the other couch in front of the TV.

            "We dropped him off that's why it took us so long to get here. His mom needed his help with planning this party she's throwing tonight." Brian answers.

            "She's throwing another one of those old people parties," Marcus says not turning his head from the TV. "Hey what time is it?"

            "About five forty-five, I was thinking of ordering a pizza for dinner. Any of you crashin' here tonight?" Marcus raises his hand too into the Raider's game to look away. "How about you guys?" I look toward Brian then Angel.

            "I have to go home and babysit my little brother and sister. The babysitter called last minute saying she was sick. If you aren't staying over I can give you a ride home Angel. We would have to leave now though."

            "I'd love to stay but my parents are expecting me home so they can hear all about my first day. Thanks for everything Rose. See you later Marcus."

            "See ya! It was nice meeting you man."

            "No problem Angel here's my number." I write it on a piece of paper and hand it to him. "Tomorrow you can come over and we can work on the dance and drive over to the Ball after."

            "Yeah, that would be great." He takes the piece of paper from me turning toward Brian. "It's only a few minutes away it shouldn't take us too long to get there." They both leave and now it's just Marcus and me.

            "You are a total flirt, Rose!" Marcus yells at me laughing.

            "Shut up and watch your stupid game," I say laughing and throw a pillow at him.

            "You like him. Admit it."

            "No, and even if I did I wouldn't be able to admit it you know that. Relationships and I never work out so I prefer to stick to flirting."

            "How long do you think you can stick to flirting and hiding your feelings?"

            "Until schools over and I'm in college." I'm good at hiding things that's how I've gotten this far in life. Marcus knows why I don't like to date. Including him, I've had two boyfriends. The first one was in Junior year and it was very serious but then I found out he was cheating on me. I really thought we had something special but in the end, I'm glad I didn't go all the way with him. Plus having trust issues and depression makes me not want to date even more. I've had my heart broken too many times. Now I'll do anything to keep it safe.