Walls

"Jersey!"

I heard Jack calling my name from the pther side of the parking lot, but I chose to ignore it. I couldn't talk to him right now. I put my car in drive and left the school parking lot faster than I probably should have. I had been avoiding Jack like the plague for obvious reasons. I had even been avoiding Alex to some extent, hoping he wouldn't ask me to Fall Formal. I only talked to Meg as it was neccessary and unfortunately, this was neccessary.

"'Sup Bitch," she said with a smile when I arrived at her house.

"Here," I shove the SD card from my camera into her hand, "Take it."

"Thanks," Meg grinned. "You gonna go dress shopping with me tonight? We need to look super hot at the dance."

"I'm going dress shopping with Kara," I told her, "Do me a favor and don't say another word."

I walked back to my car and heart sunk into my stomach. That was it. I couldn't take it back now. It was officially too late. I drove back to my house in silence. If I was lucky my parents would be out somewhere and I could just go to my room and be alone. It was obviously not my lucky day though because not only was my mom's car in the driveway, but so was Alex's.

"This nice boy is here to see you," Mom informed me as I entered the living room. "I'll just leave you two alone."

She just wallked away. I was little confused because my mother is the most over protective person in the universe and would probably like to keep me a virgin my whole life if possible. The only reason I had been able to sleep over Alex's house was because she thought I was at Meg's. Maybe this whole divorce thing was affecting her more than I thought.

"I, uh, I wanted to know if you would maybe like to go to the Fall Formal with me?" Alex asked sheepishly.

This was the part of Meg's plan in which I say "Why yes, Alex, I would love to" and then we go to the dance and Meg does her thing . For once though, I felt like maybe Meg's plan wasn't set in stone. Maybe there was a way around it. Maybe it wasn't too late.

"Maybe we could to the beach instead?" I found myself saying, "Dancing's not really my thing and, well, there's a lot I want to talk about. We could go to our spot, just the two of us. We'll bring your ipod, a couple of beers... You know it would be way better than the Fall Formal."

"As long as I still get one slow dance. Just one," Alex requested.

"You can have as many slow dances as you want. I just need you to do me one favor," Alex looks confused, "I need you to keep this between us. If anyone asks, even Jack, tell them we're going to the dance. "

"Why?" Alex questioned, giving me an odd look.

"Just trust me," I replied, ironic considering the last thing I deserved was his trust.

He answered instantly. "Ok."

He didn't even think about it. My stomach churned. I couldn't believe he trusted me so explicitly. I didn't deserve it. Although I was sure I was about regurgitate the contents of my lunch, Alex didn't seem to notice. He kissed my forehead and said goodbye. I watched him get into his car from the front window and he smiled at me before he drove away. I'd never been a religious person but this seemed as a good time as any to try it out.

"Please God," I whispered to myself, "if you exist, please let this work."