Price Check On Monogamy

The days were starting to pass by monotonously.

Getting into Tandem’s car after another short argument about wanting to walk-- arguments that were getting suspiciously smaller now that Kip was always the first to jump in-- the new schedule that my life had taken on listed itself through my head.

Every day, it was the same thing; get out of the house, see Tandem waiting for me, argue for five minutes, get in the car, thank God that I’m alive, argue again, see Tandem between classes, make sure Eli doesn’t brutally murder Tandem throughout the day, eat lunch with people I hate, remember why I don’t totally hate my life yet after school, go home and get hassled, remember to hate my life, repeat. My days were getting predictable, to a point where I wasn’t even surprised anymore when my things mysteriously went missing, or someone tripped me.

I hated it.

I hated everything about my new “schedule”, and by the end of the first month, all I could do was be thankful that no other parties or anything had happened.

Getting out of Tandem’s car and throwing him a scowl when he winked at me, I grabbed my things and started to walk toward the hang out spot.

“Tiger, wait,” I rolled my eyes as Tandem grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. “Come on, you can’t keep running away from you before school, you know. It makes people wonder.” I turned to snap at him, only to find his eyes narrowed at Milo. “They think that you’re cheating on me with him, and we both know that no girl in her right mind would cheat on me.”

“You’re so egotistic!” I snorted. “And I’ll spend my mornings wherever I damn well please, considering people have literally been attacking me since we started dating.”

Tandem furrowed his brow. “Serious?”

“Yes, serious,” I snapped. Even though I hadn’t exactly been liked in the school before, now the girls here downright hated me. Tripping me, stealing my things, shoving me-- it was all really starting to piss me off.

Tandem, of course, laughed. “Well, what can I say? Women love me.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled my arm away. “Look, if all you’re going to do is use me to boost your already ridiculously huge ego, I’m leaving.”

“Fine, fine,” Tandem said quickly. “God, you’re never any fun. Anyway, you know that the Winter Ball is this weekend, right?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t invite me to Winter Ball. You invited me to Prom.”

Tandem laughed. “Oh, sorry. I meant Winter Ball. They all sound the same to me after a while, you know? Anyway, yeah, the ball’s this weekend. It’s formal and I’m wearing black, so get yourself a pretty black dress, alright?” Winking at me, Tandem shouldered his backpack and sauntered off to a group of guys calling his name.

“But it’s Friday, you idiot!” I shouted after him. “How the hell am I supposed to get a dress by tomorrow?!” Groaning with frustration, I stomped off to my friends, sitting down against a wall and glaring at the grass in front of me.

“Hey, Tiger,” I smiled up at Milo, who was giving me his usual bashful grin.

“Hey, Milo. What’s up?”

“Nothing much,” He said, suddenly awkward, taking a step back. Looking over his shoulder, he mumbled, “Uhh, sorry, Tiger, gotta jet. Math homework.”

I didn’t even bother saying bye; Milo was already walking away. Of all the things that had changed, Milo’s sudden distance was probably the most painful. Ever since I had started “dating” Tandem, he’d started to back away from me. We used to talk literally every night, and now he could barely look me in the eyes.

It was killing me.

“What’s wrong, Tigon?” I smiled up at Jason wearily; no matter how irritated I was, seeing him and Lexy together usually made me feel better. The two were just so adorable together; Jason towered over Lexy, and he didn’t like putting his arm around her shoulder, like most guys; he preferred standing behind her, both arms around her waist, and his chin resting on her head. Lexy was always grinning insanely around him, and nothing could ruin his good mood when he was with her. It was just so damn adorable.

“Nothing, Jaser,” I reassured him. “I’ve just got to go to the damned Winter Ball tomorrow, and I need to find a dress tonight.”

Jason’s face fell. Pulling away from Lexy and spinning her so she was facing him, he asked bashfully, “I meant to ask, Lexy… do you want to go to the Ball with me? I already bought the tickets. But don’t worry if you don’t, we can go see a movie or something tomorrow night!”

Lexy laughed. “Calm down, Jason, I’d love to go,” Turning to look at me, she added, “That means that we can go get dresses together. Jason,” she turned back to her boyfriend, who looked like he was going to pass out from relief. “I think the dress is going to be… light blue. Something like that. Get a tux tonight, alright?”

Jason’s mouth dropped open. “What? I can’t go with you guys to try and find a tux then?”

Lexy’s face contorted. “No! It has to be a surprise!”

Jason pouted. “Fine,” he started tickling Lexy, making her run away laughing. I sighed, leaning back against the wall. Well, at least I wouldn’t be wearing jeans to the Ball.

“You’re going?” I turned to smile at Tawny. She was beaming. “That’s awesome! I need to get a yellow dress, too, Adam just asked me.”

“Rad, the three of us, then?” Somehow, I managed to keep my smile. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with Adam, but hey, I’d always thought that; why bring it up now? Besides, Tawny was absolutely glowing. “It’ll be fun.”

Tawny grinned slyly. “Yep; Kip can’t go, she has a family thing tomorrow night.”

I laughed and sighed. “Alright, at least we have something to look forward to, right?”

Tawny beamed. “Of course. Girls night out?”

- - -

Turns out, our girls night out would have Katy tagging along. Rather annoyingly, might I add.

“Why the hell do you need to be here again?” I snapped, irritated. Katy was making Tawny and Lexy uncomfortable, which was pissing me off.

“Caleb told me to make sure you don’t buy anything stupid,” she answered boredly. “Now hurry up and pick something so we can go back home.”

“If you didn’t want to come, you should have stayed home,” I scowled. “And if you want to get back to said home, then get in your car and drive your ass there, no one wants you here.”

“Tiger, you should try this one on!” Lexy interjected, cutting Katy off before she could say anything. Handing me another black dress, she said, “This is gonna look great on you.”

I rolled my eyes and gave her a grin. “Alright, Sexy Lexy, time to go try it all on.”

Walking to the dressing rooms and changing as fast as possible, the three of us stepped out hesitantly. Lexy was looking in the mirror and smiling broadly; obviously, she liked her dress, a knee length, halter top styled light blue dress with sequins sewn along the neckline and around the waist.

“You look good in that, Lexy,” Tawny said, smiling. Turning to frown at herself in the mirror, she sighed out, “But this dress looks ridiculous.” I couldn’t see what was so wrong about it; a bright yellow, floor length dress, strapless and wrapped around the chest, it was very flowy, even if it was a bit plain for Tawny.

Both of them looked at me, and the short, black dress I had on; I didn’t exactly hate it, but it didn’t seem… right to me. With a poufy skirt and a buckle on the front of the waist, it was strapless and had lace over the top, ending right midway down my thighs.

“You look great, Tiger,” Tawny said, nodding approvingly.

“You all look terrible!” The shrill, irritating voice of my sister broke the moment, and I had to force myself to not turn around and punch her. Instead, I settled for turning around and scowling at her.

“Shut the hell up, Katy, no one wanted your opinion.”

Undaunted, she pointed rudely at Lexy. “That dress is too short for you. It makes you look short. And, anyway, halter tops so aren’t your style. Try something else on.”

Lexy’s face fell; she’d really liked the dress. She turned hurriedly back into the dressing room and slammed the door. Tawny’s mouth dropped; as soon as Katy opened her mouth to say something else, Tawny snapped, “Just shut the hell up, I’m changing now, I don’t need your fucking criticisms.” Tawny stomped back into her dressing room and nearly slammed the door.

“What the hell is your problem?” I screamed at Katy, whose eyes got big as she took a step back. “Get your ass back home now.”

Katy’s lip started to tremble; ha, like that would work with me. “I just wanted to help,” She said, pouting. “Besides, the dresses shouldn’t be long, they should be short, except with Lexy, because--“

“I don’t care! And besides, the dance is formal, you idiot!” I shouted. “Get back home, I’ll walk!”

Katy pouted. Her eyes brightened, though, when her phone went off. Flipping it open instantly, she squealed. “Fine, I’ll leave. My boyfriend just called, and I’d rather hang out with him, anyway.” Skipping away, she was out of sight in a heartbeat. I rolled my eyes, getting back into the dressing room to change into a different dress.

- - -

By the end of the night, I was flat out exhausted.

After Katy left, we’d spent three more hours looking for dresses. Three. Hours.

I’d like to say it had been worth it… but it wasn’t.

The dresses were nice, of course; I was just distracted by everything that was happening the whole time. Lexy had ended up getting the dress she’d like so much originally, except with a floor length hem. No matter what Tawny and me had said, we hadn’t been able to get Katy’s comment out of her head. Tawny had gotten a beautiful golden dress, with capped shoulders and a low neckline lined with small rhinestones. The same rhinestones went around the waist of the dress, and right after the line of rhinestones, the skirt of the dress puffed out to the floor. They both looked amazing in their dresses.

My own dress was pretty simple; a one shouldered black dress the gathered right under my chest, and then went down to the floor smoothly, with a slit up my right leg to my mid-thigh. I hadn’t exactly been looking for something that would make me stand out.

Tossing the diamond earrings and two inch white heels I was planning on wearing with the dress on top of it in my closet, I collapsed on my bed and stared at the roof, dreading what would be happening in just short of twenty four hours.