Friends, Love & Misunderstandings

Nearly an hour later, Jessie and I can be found walking down the path which leads to the meadow in the school's forest. That's where we’re having the barbecue and dance and, according to some Sixth Formers, the decorating committee have hung fairy lights around all the trees which surround the meadow. It sounds amazing and utterly romantic. Pity I don’t have anyone to share it with.

Jessie has worked wonders on my hair. She has curled my normally mousy-coloured frizz so that it cascades down my back and onto my shoulders, and pinned back my fringe. I feel vulnerable without it. It's like my safety curtain. Now I have nothing to hide behind if I get embarrassed. I objected when Jessie first suggested pinning it back, but evidently I lost that argument. Though that was mainly due to the fact that she was brandishing the curling wand at that point and threatened to burn me with it if she didn’t get her own way. You can't argue with that.

She applied my make up as well and I have to admit that it looks quite nice. I now have smoky golden eye shadow on, shimmery bronzer on my cheekbones, tons of mascara and dark red lips. I don't usually wear much make up because I don't really see the point. However, having seen my transformation tonight, I might start. I even decided that if we were getting all dressed up, I might as well wear my contact lenses. There's no point having all this make up on if you can’t see it behind my glasses.

After much consideration (and a lot of emotional and physical blackmailing on Jessie's part) I decided to wear the blue chiffon maxi dress and bronze strappy sandals. It's really warm tonight so I haven't brought a cardigan. I figured I wouldn't need one. Jessie looks amazing as per usual. She opted for a green baby doll summer dress which shows off her gorgeous long legs and perfect tan. She's wearing golden gladiator sandals which lace part way up her calves, her long blonde hair is perfectly straight and she's applied a minimalist amount of make up. She doesn't even need it. She looks absolutely stunning. I'm extremely jealous.

I have no idea where Luke is. I haven't seen him since he left us when we reached our dorm room nearly two hours ago. I'll be honest, I'm looking forward to seeing his reaction to our new look. As we turn the final corner which leads us to the meadow, I catch sight of Luke chatting to two of our friends, Cam and Emily. Luke looks gorgeous, as I'd expected. He's wearing chinos, a white T-shirt which shows off his to-die-for muscles and a long sleeved red checked shirt. Jessie leads me over to the group as my stomach clenches with nerves. We've almost reached them when Luke looks up and meets my gaze. His eyes widen in shock (and appreciation, I hope) for a second before he smiles at Jessie and me. Cam and Emily greet us cheerfully. Emily's wearing a lovely pink dress and Cam's wearing a black shirt and jeans, but I only have eyes for Luke. I can't bring myself to say anything to him though, as much as I want to.

Cam and Emily drift off in search of something to drink and Jessie leaves us, saying that she's going to find our friend, Kate. I smile at Luke and say hi.
“Hey, Soph,” he says in his deep voice, staring at me intently. “Wow, you look... Wow.”
I laugh and reply, “You look pretty ‘wow’ yourself, mister! Are you trying to impress someone?” He sticks his tongue out at me – he even looks adorable when he does that – and takes my arm.
“I don't need to, I impress everyone without any effort. Come on, let's go find the others.” I giggle and let him lead me towards Cam, Emily, Kate and Jessie. Jessie catches my eye and wiggles her eyebrows at me. I shake my head and give her a look which says ‘Don't you dare say anything’. She takes the hint and instead decides to tell us that the food's nearly ready and suggests that we all get in line. Luke and I unlink our arms and follow the rest of the group as we go to queue. I can’t help thinking that maybe my night’s looking up after all...

*****
We've got our food now and we're all sitting on one of the many large picnic benches which have been placed around the meadow. Luke's being unusually quiet but I think I'm the only one who's noticed. I shift to sit next to him on the bench and nudge him with my elbow.
“You okay?” I ask as he turns to face me. He hesitates for a while before telling me that he’s fine. “You don’t sound fine... What's up?”
“It doesn't matter.”
“Luke.” I say, concerned. “We tell each other everything. Talk to me, please. I don't like it when you're quiet...” He sighs before answering.
“It's nothing you can help me with, Soph. Honestly, I'm fine. Look,” he pulls a goofy face and gives me a grin. “Everything's great.” I laugh but I'm still a little worried. Luke's usually so cheerful. It's strange for him to be upset, especially at a party. I make a mental note to ask Jessie to talk to him about it.

Once everyone has finished their food, dance music begins to echo around the meadow. Cam asks Emily to dance and the giggling couple rise from the table to head off to the dance area. They've been going out ever since the Sixth Form Ball which they both attended, even though they aren't in the Sixth Form yet. I think they got to go because Cam's the vice captain of the rugby team and Emily's an editor on the Academy newspaper. Neither of them have ever told us what happened there. It was something to do with Jason and Melody (two members of the Upper Sixth who are absolutely horrible) but I don't know what.

“See you later, guys.” Cam says before twirling off with Emily. I sigh wistfully as I watch them go, wishing I could do the same with Luke. I notice him giving me a funny look but I ignore it and get up from the bench. I whisper in Jessie's ear, asking her to have a word with Luke and find out what's wrong with him. She turns to me with a confused look on her face but nods.
“I'm going for a walk,” I announce to the group of my friends who are still seated at the table. “I'll catch up with you later.” I turn to walk into the forest, ducking beneath the pretty fairy lights when I reach the trees at the edge of the meadow.

I wander aimlessly for a while, but when I come to a small clearing I realise that my feet have carried me to my favourite place in the forest. I always come here if I've had a stressful day at school, usually to read but sometimes just to clear my head. I sit down on the wooden bench which has been carved from a fallen log and look up at the sky through the leafy branches. The sun is nearly setting, judging from the piece of sky visible between the trees. The blue is streaked with orange, pink and purple. It looks gorgeous. I can’t help but wish I could share it with Luke.