When No One's Watching

“You made it!” Katie Canady exclaimed as I entered the party that night. “And I love your outfit, very bohemian!” She commented before dragging me off to find some other people. The outfit I had chosen wasn’t really bohemian; I was dressed in my faded black Ramones shirt tucked into the skirt I had bought earlier today. Wishing I had worn flats instead of my mom’s heels, I followed Katie through the crowd trying not to step on anyone’s feet as I went.

“Marissa!” Katie called to our tall team captain. Marissa turned around and smiled, along with Kira, Jessica and Allison, a few other girls from the team. They all waved and greeted me with hugs. I forced a smile back. I had called Kendra earlier to see if she would join me on this torture trip, but she just had to go to her violin recital. So now I’m stuck here with obnoxious hip hop music, the stench of beer, and the overly pepped girls of my team.

The girls started chatting endlessly, and I grew bored, so I wandered off to see if I could find anyone else I knew. I passed by a sofa where a girl in a very mini skirt was sitting on a guys lap, and I squeezed my way through a group of guys from the boy’s basketball team on my way to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I found a Diet Coke and opened it, taking a large swig and letting the bubbles tickle my nose. After wandering a little more, I finally decided that there was nothing to do at the party, and I made my way back to where the girls from the team were still gathered.

“I’m going to go home,” I informed them quickly.

“But why?” Jessica slurred. It was a good thing none of the coaches knew of the team’s partying habits.

“Yeah, it’s only been a few minutes,” Kira added, her words equally slurred.

“No it hasn’t, dipshit, it’s been, like, an hour,” Jessica corrected, and unlike the other girls, she was still sober.

“Oh,” Kira giggled, pushing her strawberry blond locks away from her face. She had the kind of hair that models had. It was long, healthy, and in loose waves that framed her heart shaped face perfectly. “Well, see ya later girlie!” she hooted before I turned to leave. The others bid me goodbye as well and I walked away, both feeling great that I could leave, and annoyed that I wasted over an hour here.

I was almost out the door when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to find Tanner Hays standing causally with a friendly smile upon his face.

“Leaving so soon, D’Aunno?” Tanner Hays has always addressed me by my last name, but not to be mean or anything, it’s just the way it’s always been.

“So what if I do, Hays?” I questioned him back. He just arched an eyebrow and let out a chuckle. Tanner’s a cool guy, caption of the soccer team, and a pretty friendly guy.

“Well, it is a party celebrating your team’s win,” He stated, running a hand through his light hair, which had gotten long since the last time I’d noticed.

“It’s not my team, I just happen to play for on the team that won,” I dismissed his comment, and moved on to a more pressing issue, “You need a hair cut,” I stated boldly, reaching up and pulling at one of the long curls. He playfully swatted my hand away and grinned.

“I know I do, especially before the season starts, I won’t be able to see otherwise,” He said with a laugh.

“No kidding,” I replied, “When does it start?”

“Our first game is sometime in April, I think,” Tanner told me, “You should come and watch,” he suggested.

“Sounds good,” I said, “Well, I probably should get going,”

“Later Hays,” I called over my shoulder as I made my way down the pathway to find my car.

“You better come to my games!” I heard him shout just as I reached my car.

“Whatever you say!” I called back before getting in my car and driving home. When I reached my house, I hurried up to my room and collapsed on my bed. It had been a long, but eventful, day and I was ready to let my dreams take me away.