Summer Nights

*Five Years Ago*

My entire room was shaking from the band practice going on in the garage. The bass was on max, and I could feel the beat rock me to my very core. I was humming along with the song, one I knew my brother had composed.
The end-of-the-year eighth grade dance was in a couple hours, and I was among the few seventh graders invited to it. I was really, really, really excited. I'd heard a bajillion things about it, mainly how much it rocked - and how everyone there with a date would lose their lip-ginity.
I squealed as I took my dress out of my closet, thinking about how my first kiss would be - with none other than one of the cutest guys in school, Drew Highmore!
I gave another squeal as I exited my room and walked down the hallway, to give the dress to my mother. It was a creme color and went down to my knees. Sequins glittered in a variety of patterns, making me look like a princess. I would be the prettiest girl there.
I finally found my mom in the kitchen.
"Ah, there you are, Wynnie," she exclaimed, putting down the large wooden spoon she'd been using to stir a large black pot, and she walked over to me. I was really tall for my age, so she didn't have to bend down too much as she gave me a peck on the cheek. She brought her hand up to my hair, swiping a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"Mom," I said impatiently, stepping out of her reach so she would stop with the touching. "Can you iron this? The back always get all wrinkly."
She nodded. "Of course, sweetheart. Have you decided how you want your hair?"
"Can you French it?"
"Yep," she answered, taking the dress from me. She laid it on the balustrade. "I'll leave the dress here when I'm finished with it."
I nodded distractedly before skipping to my bathroom, quickly taking a shower. The music stopped halfway through, signaling that band practice was over. When I turned the water off, I shivered lightly. I wrapped myself in a towel and sneaked past the balustrade, seeing my dress and knowing my mom had probably ironed it already. I grabbed it and entered my room. I shut the door behind me.
I quickly pulled on my underwear, unable to wipe the gargantuan smile off my face. My hands fondly caressed the sequins before I gave in and pulled the slim material over my head. I adjusted, trying to smooth the folds.
But something was wrong.
I watched my frame in the mirror as I turned, looking at my back. And I gasped.
My. Butt.
Someone had cut a hole through the material underneathe the sequins, so that it was still covered, but the outline of my butt was visible - along with the color of my underwear.
My dress. It was ruined.
"Moooooom!" I screamed, panic attacking me. I ran out of my room. "Mom!" I choked on a sob. Just then, I passed the living room. My mom was talking to my brother, Braxton, and his friends, Jack, Vaughn, and - my breath caught - Jake. I couldn't let him see me like this.
Drew Highmore may have been the cutest guy at school, but he didn't even begin to compare to Jacob Ian Redwood, my brother's all time best friend.
To my mortification, he was closest to the door so he saw me first. At least I was turned the other way, so he couldn't see my bottom.
"Hey, Wyn," he said, smiling. My heart rate sped up just at the site of that crooked smile. He reached over and ruffled my hair. Anyone else and I would have flipped them the birdie, but this was Jacob, and his green eyes pierced my to my very core. He gave a light laugh at my shocked expression. I was about to retreat when my mom said, "What's wrong, Wynnie? You look perfect."
Ugh, I hated when she called me that in front of him.
"Mom, come here," I said feverishly, motioning with my hand.
"One sec." She was about to turn back to the guys, but I repeated my words, more urgently.
She sighed impatiently but followed me as I carefully backed out of the room, making sure not to flash anyone.
"Wynter, that wasn't polite," she started, but, wordlessly, and with tears in my eyes, I turned so that she could see my butt.
"What-" She gasped. "What did you do?"
"No!" I sobbed. "It was like this! Where you left it! Now I don't have a dress!" I stepped into her, letting her wrap her arms around me as I began crying. "Now I can't go."
"Oh honey, don't be absurd, we'll go get a new dress and everything will be fine."
I shook my head. "Call Drew and tell him I can't go. Tell him I'm really sick. Tell him I have cancer."
"God forbid. I'm telling you we can just go get a new dress."
"Noooo! Mom, you don't understand. My life is ruined! Please. Promise me you'll call him. I don't want to go anymore."
"Wynter," she said, bending over so that I was slightly taller than her. "Is this what you really want? We can get another one and everything will be fine."
"No, nothing will ever be fine!"
She sighed, wiping the tears from my cheek. "Who cut the whole in your dress?"
"I don't know but I hate them. I wish they'll die."
"Wynter, there's only six people in this house. I doubt the boogeyman appeared and cut a whole in your dress."
I took a step back. "What are you saying? That I cut the hole?"
She gave me a pointed look. "Well, if you didn't want to go you should have just told me," she said, reaching towards me.
I screamed. "Mom! You think I would-" I choked over my own words, devastated and amazed that my mom would hint at such a thing. I mean, sure, I was a brat, but she knew how excited I'd been about this dance. Blind with fury, I turned on my heels and ran to my room, refusing to look into the living room at my brother, Jack, Vaughn, and - I gulped - Jake.
As soon as the door to my room was locked, I threw myself onto my bed and started crying.
Two hours later, my throat was sore and my eyes were puffy. But sadness had escaped, meaning that all that was left was anger. Lots and lots of anger. Because my mom was right about one thing - there were only six people in this house.
At six in the evening, painfully aware that the dance was just starting, I turned on my computer, ready to log onto Facebook and see what people were saying about the dance. I strummed through pre-dance pictures, tears streaming down my face. Then, suddenly, a picture posted by Jacob Ian Redwood only three minutes ago - one of me, in the sequined dressed, blue underwear visible, standing in from of the mirror - caught my attention. To top things off, I was making the worst face ever. When the fucking hell - oh poop, two quarters in the swear jar - had this been taken? And by Jacob? Betrayed, confused, and still angry, I clicked on the picture.
The caption read: lol my best friends messed up little sister.
My heart broke. That was what he thought of me? Had he been the one to cut the hole? How dare he?!
My mind clouded with embarrassment as I saw that a couple of my friends from school were tagged in the picture. I screamed.
Quickly, my hands zipped over the keys and sent him a hateful message demanding for him to take it off. I wiped at my tears as I clicked 'send'.
Jacob Ian Redwood, love of my life?
More like, Jacob Ian Redwood, brothers idiot friend!
God, what a stupid little girl I'd been. Right then, I swore to myself I would never again like Jacob Ian Redwood. I would never love him, would never befreind him. I would hate him forever. Because he was a jackass that had ruined my life.