Stop Pretending That You're Sorry

Glad You Came

Max can braid hair. In fact, Max can braid hair really fucking well. He gave me one of those fishtail braids. I looked really pretty all done up with my hair and makeup and that gorgeous lace dress encasing my body. It barely fit school dress code rules, actually it probably didn’t even. But somehow I still got away with wearing it.

“I have a starfish, his name is Franz Ferdinand,” Julia said around bites of sweet and sour chicken.

She had decided we’d all go out for Chinese food before the dance. Food seemed to always be number one on her mind. It didn’t ever occur to her that maybe we didn’t want to fill up on food before hardcore dancing in a dark, stuffy room full of sweaty teenagers.

“Why did you name him Franz Ferdinand?” A girl called Megan asked. She was a friend of Julia and Katie. I’d met her before but we never really talked.

“Oh I didn’t, my senile grandfather did.”

It caught me by surprise how good Julia was at using chopsticks. You’d think she’d grown up without ever seeing a fork or knife, that’s how good she was. I mean I was moderately okay, my dad always urged me to use them when we had Asian food, but damn, Julia!

Meanwhile to my right, Katie struggled with trying to pick up a sliver of carrot with her chopsticks.

“Here,” I said, reaching over to help Katie position her hand better. “Like this.” I shifted the sticks between her fingers. “There you go.”

The corner of her mouth turned up as her eyes shifted to glance at me.

“Thanks, Regan.” Out of the corner of my eyes I caught Julia staring at me with her brows knitted together.

“What?” Megan asked, looking up from her spicy broccoli.

“I said Regan, not Megan,” Katie clarified.

There are so many different ways to say my name. You can say it like Katie said it, Megan with an R. Or you could say it like Tucci, Ray-gan. Or you could say it like that bitch of a man, Anthony, Ree-gan. I hated that Anthony called me that, it was my favorite was of pronouncing my name.

Dinner continued on like that, Julia talking about useless shit, Megan mistaking my name for hers, Katie doing slightly better with her chopsticks, and then there was me, just barely picking at my food.

Finally we all piled back into Julia’s car, Megan riding shot gun and Katie and I squished together in the back. I swear I caught Julia glaring at me through the rearview. What the hell?

When we pulled up to the school the first thing I noticed was John’s car in the parking lot. So he did come after all. I couldn’t stop grinning.

We got inside and headed to the gym where music was pulsating through the walls. It was dreadfully dark in there, but I managed to spot John looking rather bored, leaning against the back wall to the gym.

I slipped away from the girls, unnoticed by Katie and Julia who had started kissing and it’s not like Megan really gave a shit about me.

“Hey there,” I smiled, leaning up my back against the brick wall of the gym.

John turned and stared at me.

“Regan,” He said, his tone full of warning.

“Relax, there’s three feet of space between us,” I sighed, more than just a little annoyed. Why did he have to be such a tight ass?

“Regan, we can’t-“ I cut him off before he had a chance to finish.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll go dance and have fun, you just grump over here like a loser.”

And so I spent the night grinding up on Katie and Julia. Trying my hardest to appear sexy and irresistible. It was working too, every time I glanced over at John, I caught him staring at me.

God I prayed he got a boner, just to torture him.

Fucking John and his playing by the rules.