Right In Front of Me (Finished)

Chapter 26: Last Day Before Break, Part 2

I walk in, Greyson in tow, wearing the most beautiful dress. I just stand at the entrance to the gymnasium and take in all of the energy. I don't care what has happened lately, I am going to have fun tonight.
        I see Hallie dancing alone, and walk over to her, amazed at her dress.  She says, "Avalon! You came! I didn't think you'd show and- Oh my Gosh, you look stunning!" I say, "Thanks so much! You look like an Ice Princess!" She says thanks. Greyson tells her how beautiful she looks, and she tells him he looks great, too, followed by kissing. I see Hayden at the snack table. We smile at each other, then I turn to look for someone I know. I see Taylor, wearing the same dress she showed me earlier. We scream and run to each other. I see that Yolanda is wearing a dress for once.
        Lana has to drag Mercedes in, because Mercedes despises dresses. "Why couldn't I just wear my favorite jeans?" She whines. "Because it is a dance. You have to dress up; you just have to! Plus, you promised you would wear it." Lana tries to reason with her. Mercedes counters, "I could have worn a flowy jumper that looks like a dress."
"Not dressy enough." Lana confirms.
"Nope." Taylor agrees.
I tell Mercedes, "You seriously look really great."
"Just gorgeous." Yolanda chimes in.
We all nod.
Hallie appears between Lana and Taylor, and compliments all of us, then turns to Lana and says, "Whoa, where did you get your dress?" She says she doesn't know, because she got it for her birthday.
        Soon enough, Mason and Jackson show up, putting their hands on their girlfriend's back while they said in unison, "Hello ladies." We all say hello, and we are joined by Greyson, so we all decide to go dance.
        The school staff that are supervising the party are paying no attention whatsoever. Two teachers are lazily sipping at some punch even though it has undoubtedly been spiked with an alcohol of some sort. They just stand there with drowsy eyes, reluctantly scanning the crowd, but doing an awful bad job at it. Two of the other teachers disappeared to... go make out or something in the teacher's lounge. Ew.
        Because of the lack of supervision, kids on the dance floor are grinding up on each other and hard-core making out. I have always frowned upon grinding on people, but I just feel like... I don't know, it seemed kind of fun. And I promised to have as much fun as possible tonight.
        'Do it Again' by Royksopp & Robyn begins blasting through the speakers and we go crazy. Taylor and I are soon grinding on each other, just out of fun. All of us are a giant group, all grinding on each other, or making out, but just those of us who are dating. Soon Diego comes and joins us at Mercedes' side. After a half hour of just dancing, we need to take breather. For some of us, that means kissing. Mason and Taylor are smiling as they kiss, and it is totally adorable how she just melts over him every time they are kissing.  I turn to see Hallie leaning into Greyson, which should be totally fine since they are dating. But I still feel a huge pang of pain when I see them kissing.
        That used to be me. Always the one who was seen kissing, the one people are jealous of just by watching me with Hayden. Now I am the one who's jealous for unexplainable reasons. I want someone to kiss. I really do. I look over at Yolanda who is with a guy who's name is Sterling, I believe. I have seen her with him a few times, and I think she likes him. She has been staring at him all night, and he finally came over to dance with her. It's adorable.
        Halfway through the night, they play 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' By Lady Antebellum, which I have always dreamed of dancing with my dream guy to. Too bad he's not here.

        The night got super eventful by 9:00. Greyson was dancing with Hallie, and she kissed him. He kissed back, but, according to Yolanda who saw the whole thing, he wasn't that into, and she asked him what was wrong. Yolanda swears he just looked over at me, then told her that he was just dehydrated. She pretended to believe him. She proposed that he go get a drink while she just walks around, hanging out with someone else. He said he'd meet her back there in ten minutes. Greyson left to go to the drink table. Hallie disappeared. Yolanda claims she saw her go straight over to Hayden, and then they both disappeared together.
        "Wait, how did you hear and see the whole thing?" I asked Yolanda. "I was dancing with Sterling while it happened, and I was pretty close to them." She answered.
"Was it obvious that you were eaves dropping?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Okay, but why are you telling me this? If it's super important, Greyson will tell me when we get home."
"Because he was starring at you. Are you sure there's nothing going on with you two?" She raises her eyebrows.
I am startled by that question. I hesitate, but answer, "No, yeah, I'm sure."
She just looks at me.
"I-I... have no idea."
"Talk to me." She demands.
I hesitate again. "Okay. So, I mean, sometimes we have these moments where... I-I mean we just... I don't know. We just have these moments when..."
"Yeah?" She pushes for detail.
"Well, we just... we've had these moments where... where we almost kiss, but-"
"What?! No way. That's awesome! I mean that's terrible because he's dating Hallie and all, and I love her, but... I love the idea of you and him together."
"No! It's terrible! I don't-" I sigh, "I mean... he and Hallie are dating, and Hallie is just so amazing and I could never do that to her."
"Doesn't look like you'll have to."
"What?" I ask. She points at the hallway on the other side of the gymnasium where the bathrooms and Janitor's closet are. Hayden and Hallie are stumbling down the hallway back into the gym. She has her shoes in one hand, and Hayden's hair is all messed up. They didn't. She wouldn't.
"Wow. I did not expect that. From someone like Stephanie Turnblat or Missy Cercy, yeah, but Hallie? No way."
That's exactly right. No way. Poor Greyson...
That could be totally out of context. We shouldn't assume things." I assure her, but I am mostly just trying to convince myself.

        At the end of the night, I see Lana and Jackson kissing goodbye, making promises of seeing each other over the break. We all plan to have a Christmas party on December 23th at Jackson's house. I hug Hallie and she kisses me on the cheek. She is the sweetest girl I've ever met, but I still can't believe what I saw tonight. I say goodbye to her like it's no big deal. Greyson says he will get a ride home from Hallie, because he has something he wants to tell her. He also said  I can drive his truck home, since he will be in Hallie's car. I have a feeling Greyson just wants to hook up with Hallie in private. And he doesn't even know that she possibly cheated on him tonight with a guy I am barely over.
        Diego and Mercedes kiss (finally!) and she looks embarrassed when she catches Mason looking. Mason and Taylor kiss goodbye, and Yolanda hugs me, whispering for me to call her with any further information on what she called 'Possible Classified Incident'. I tell her I will, and she gets into Sterling's car so he can drive her home. I see Hayden get in his car after smiling at Hallie, and she just smiles back weakly. She probably feels terrible about this- if anything happened. He drives away, then I am all alone. I walk to Greyson's car. The whole ride home, I was just thinking of my conversation with Yolanda about what's up with Greyson and I. I still have no idea.