The Academy of the Elite

I thought about the festival some more and I smiled, practically jumping out of bed when I hear a knock on my door. Before I could even let her in the doorknob turns so I sit back down. Naomi opens the door knowing that it would be unlocked and plops herself onto my desk.

"Need help picking out an outfit?" She raises her eyebrows at me.

"Yup," I say, sitting up.

"Oh, dressing you is so much fun, you're like my personal human doll," she gushes, getting up and looking through my closet.

"Um, thanks?" I laugh and think; this girl is weird.

She gasps. "This is perfect," she exclaims, passing me a dress. "Go change, I'll do your make up too."

"Yes sir." I walk into the bathroom and close the door behind me.

I un-wrap my robe and hang it onto the wall hinge on the door. The dress that she had picked out for me was a black silk chiffon gown, with red rose prints. My aunt had given it to me as a present, just in case I ever had to go to a fancy party occasion. She said all fancy schools have fancy parties. I should have known that she would be right. I step out of the bathroom and Naomi marvels at me.

"It's such a gorgeous dress! Come sit," she says, patting the bed. I sit on the edge as she unravels my braid which forms small waves. She fishes bobby pins out of her hair and uses them to pin up the front right part of my hair. "Where do you keep your make up?" She scavenges my dresser.

"It's in a pink box in the closet," I say pointing to the closet floor.

She grabs it and hurries back to me, demanding me to hold it. She spends the next ten minutes on my face then picks me out a pair of red pumps. "I don't know if I'm going to be comfortable in those for the rest of the evening." I frown at her.

She scoffs and returns to the closet. She picks out a pair of shorter black heels.

"Better?" She asks in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes," I grin and slip my feet into them.

I stand up and walk over to the full-body mirror hanging on my wall. I look great. It's nice to play dress-up every once in a while. I turn around to see Naomi smiling and leaning against my door.

"I know I know; I'm amazing. Well, I need to get dolled up myself, so I'll see you at the festival. And I'm bringing my camera so be prepared, I like to take lots of pictures." She blows me a kiss then leaves.

I turn back to the mirror and think, 'wow, Max is going to love how I look.'

That's when I remember that I hadn't mentioned going to the ball with Kellin. It's going to be fine; Max doesn't seem to be the jealous type. I'll just explain that I'm keeping an eye on him for Lizzy. I sit on my bed waiting for either of the boys to come pick me up. When there's a knock on my door, I sigh in relief, the impatience was starting to kick in. I walk over to the door and open it for whoever it was. It was Max, he looked...handsome. He was wearing a black suit, with a red button down and black skinny tie.

"How did you know I would be wearing red?" I joke.

He doesn't laugh along with me, he just stands there. I shift on to my other foot and snap my fingers in his face to get a response.

"Wow," he whispers. "Ally you look, stunning."

"Aw, thank you Max," I smile.

He steps in and hands me a rose. I was wondering why he had his left arm behind him the whole time. He's so sweet. I take it and set it down on my desk, making a mental note to find a vase to put it in when I get back.

"Are you ready to go?" He asks, grabbing my hand.

"Yeah, there's just one thing," I say, stepping out of my room.

"What's up?" He turns and smiles at me.

"We have to meet up with Kellin, he's coming with us." I smile nervously as he closes the door behind him.

"What? Why?" He raised his eyebrow at me.

"I kind of promised my sister that I would keep my eyes on him, just for today." We start walking down to the boy's side of the dorm to head to his room.

"I thought that you didn't even like the guy," he says, with a hint of defense in his voice.

"I know, but it's for Lizzy okay?" I give him a reassuring smile and knock on Kellin's door when we get there.

I hear him shuffle over to the door, and then he opens it. He has a pained expression on his face. I'm guessing all that time alone left him with no choice but to think about Tally.

"Hey Aaliyah, Max." He gives us a faint smile, then walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah sorry for the change of plans but Max beat you to my door." Max grabs my hand, pulling me closer.

I ignore his behavior though, he's acting weird. I pat Kellin on the shoulder as we head out of the building to walk towards the school lawn where the Winter Festival was being held. The closer we get to the lawn, the stronger the glow of the lights get. When we finally get there, I’m in awe. There are students and teachers walking around dressed in elegant wear, surrounded by beautiful lighting. In the middle of the lawn a tent is set where the ball is being held. Then behind that are street fair booths, leading up to the amusement park. It's quite a sight.

"These people really know how to out-do themselves," I say as Max leads me to the tent.

"You have no idea," he grins at handsome grin at me.

I smile back and turn my head to search for Kellin. He lingered behind, again.

"Um, you go ahead and find us seats in the tent, I'm going to go try and snap Kellin out of whatever world he's in." I let go of his hand and start walking over to Kellin.

He's just standing there staring at the tent with a blank expression. I can't tell whether he's impressed or if he just doesn't want to be here.

"Come on Kellin, let’s go hang out in the tent," I say grabbing his wrist. I try to pull him but he doesn't budge. I let go, confused. "What's wrong?" He bites his lip and looks down.

"What if Tally is in there? I don't think I can do this," he says, starting to turn around.

I run in front of him to stop him. He can't leave now; I've already managed to get him all the way over here.

"I get that this is hard right now, but don't let-" I placed my hands in front of him.

"Hey you guys!" I see Naomi skipping over to us with her camera around her neck. Talk about bad timing. "Ready for some pictures?"

"I don't think now’s a good time Naomi," I say, giving a side look to Kellin.

She narrows her eyes at me and lifts up her camera, determined to get a picture either way.

"As tonight's photographer I will not take no for an answer. Now smile really quickly." I look at Kellin to see his opinion on this.

"Let’s just get this over with," he rolls his eyes.

He gives a weak smile, and I do the same. We stand awkwardly beside each other waiting for the snap but she sucks her teeth and walks over to us.

"Why do you guys have to be so difficult?" She shoves us together impatiently and pushes up our cheeks so that we smile.

She steps back and snaps the picture, then stomps off mumbling.

"What was that all about?" Kellin laughs which catches me off guard.

"Look Kellin, if Tally's there, then you just show her that you’re having a good time. Show her that you're not going to let her control your happiness and just let go. Prove to her that it was a mistake to leave you, but you're doing just fine."

"But I'm not doing just fine-" He looks away from me.

"I know that," I interrupt. "But you're just going to have to make it seem that way so that you can have at least a little fun tonight." He looks down again and it makes me feel bad. "I'm sorry if that sound selfish of me to ask, but it's for your own good. You look..." I trail off.

He looks up curious as what I have to say. "Nice," I continue. "You're dressed well; your hair is pretty neat. Go find a nice girl to dance with to get your mind off of the break up. That way tomorrow, you can wake up in not such a bad mood and think, 'Man, I had a good time last night thanks to Ally' alright?"

He looks past me to the tent then gives me a small smile. "I guess I can give it a try."

I smile to myself in success and follow him to the opening of the tent. When we get to the entrance I immediately spot a possible candidate for Kellin.

"Hey," I nudge him. "There's a cute girl standing over there with her friends, you should ask her to dance." I point over to a girl that I've seen a couple of times at work.

"I think I'm just going to sit down for a little bit before I decide to throw myself onto another girl, thank you." He smiles and looks past me. "Don't mind me, I'm fine. You should go spend time with your boyfriend; I think he's getting a little lonely over there."
I turn around and spot Max sitting wearily at a table.

"Thanks," I poke his shoulder then walk over to Max. He looks up at me and I stick out my hand.

"Care to dance?" He smiles, taking my hand and getting up.

He leads me over to the dance floor, holding me close. I lean my head on his shoulder thinking what a good start of the night this was. I have no idea how I've managed to get annoyed of Max. He’s such a great boyfriend who just wants to make me happy. I push back a little bit so that I could look at his face. He gives me a small sweet smile, swiping his thumb on my cheek.

"Max, I want to leave," I place my hands behind his neck.

"Leave? Why?" He looks at me confused and disappointed at the same time.

"I want to go out, have fun, explore. We should go over to the amusement park, try out the booths. I don't want tonight to be the average slow-dance scene." I look into his eyes hopefully, and he gives me a lop-sided smile, making the butterflies in my stomach go crazy.

"Let's get out of here," he whispers and takes my hand.

As we walk towards the exit of the tent, I take a quick glance at the table. Kellin was sitting there,in his own world again. I frown as Max and I leave the tent, hand in hand heading towards the amusement park.

"Hold on." We come to a stop and I slip off my heels, holding them in my free hand.

Max gets my idea; we start running, laughing loudly as we pass familiar faces. The grass under my feet make me feel extremely happy, and free. Max lifts my hand to his face and gives it a soft peck, causing me to giggle. We get to the amusement park, panting and burst out in laughter again. There was nothing funny, but it felt right. We take our time walking through the aisles of games and activities. We stopped at a booth where the player had to race other players by shooting water into a hole to which slowly made the plastic horses move closer and closer to the finish line. Max won, so his prize was a 1 foot stuffed penguin, my favorite animal. We spent about an hour playing booth games; competing with each other, competing with others, and simply having fun. At the last game I won him a little stuffed dolphin. We chatted and picked at snacks that were laid out on the tables scattered around the lawn. We're in the middle of a casual conversation about dating.

"You know, there’s something that I really want to do." I say while looking at him.

"What's that?" He asks, probably thinking that I'm going to say something big.

"I've always thought about going on a Ferris wheel with a boyfriend. It's just something you should do," I look up at the Ferris wheel in front of us, "in my opinion."

"Then let’s go make it happen." We walk briskly towards the line of the Ferris wheel.

It was not too long, but it was quite a wait. Tonight has the perfect romantic atmosphere to go on a date; of course this would be a hit. When we finally reach the front of the line, we board happily. I can't believe how well this is going. Since I've started dating Max, we haven't really been on an actual date, just eating dinner together, or spending time after work. This though, this is nice. Throughout our ride, we state our views about the actual ride. He says that it's not that big of a deal, I argue that it's really cool. In the end, I agree with him. You sit in a bench and go around in slow circles. Big whoop. I still had my thoughts about what a nice view you get from the top, but he's a guy, he doesn't get those things.

After the ride we end up lying side by side in the grass. I'm so glad that tonight is not cloudy, the stars are all out and it's such a beautiful sight. Can this night get any better?

"You know Ally," Max starts, turning onto his side to face me. "I'm really enjoying myself tonight."

I turn to face him and prop my elbow to keep my head up.

"I am too, I'm like oozing with joy, can you see it?" I flash a cheesy smile and he chuckles.

"Yeah definitely, I've never seen you with a smile on for that long; it's literally been nonstop since we left the tent." He lightly runs his fingers against my cheek.

"Yeah, because I'm with you-" I laugh, turning back on my back and covering my face with my hands. "That was so corny, I'm lame."

I uncover my face and turn to face him again, only to find that he had moved closer to me.

"I don't know, I thought that it was cute. I'm glad to know that I'm the reason for that beautiful smile on your face." He lays his hand on my face and caresses my cheek. At this point my cheeks hurt so much from all the smiling I have been doing, and this just added to it. "Ally?" He chokes out.

"Yes?" I poke his nose. I swear the way I've been acting theses past couple of hours it's as if you pulled me right out of a cheesy romance movie.

"I...I love you," he says looking into my eyes.

In that moment, everything froze. Did he just...he did, didn't he? He just told me he loved me. I can't believe it. Almost naturally, I return the statement.

"I love you too Max." He looked so relieved to hear me say it, as if he were holding his breath or something. He probably was.

He leans over and kisses me, pulling me closer to him. His fingers run through my hair, his other hand cupping the back of my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck. We stayed that way for a few minutes before breaking apart. He rolls over on his back and smiles.

"Oh yeah, night totally made," he says to himself. I push his shoulder and giggle.

"I wonder if Lizzy's having as great a night as I am," I think out loud.

"I'm sure she is. You always mention how Vic is big on romance." He turns back to face me.

"You're right; he's probably sweeping her off her feet right now. Those two are so cute, I'm glad they got together." I frown and bite my lip. "My sister deserves to be happy after all the crap she goes through. And half of that crap is from me."

I sigh and push Max's chest down so that he would lay flat on his back. When he does so, I wiggle over to him and lay my arm across him. He embraces me in return, making me feel warm inside. Definitely best night ever.

After some time of just laying in each other’s arm silently, enjoying the moment, we decide it’s time to get some shut-eye. Today is Monday; Winter Festival or not, we have class tomorrow. He gets up, wipes off any dirt that may have stuck to him, then helps me to my feet. He allows me to slip on my shoes and wipe myself off before grabbing my hand and leading me towards the dorm.

I really wanted to know how Lizzy's night was going. Oh and Kellin! Well I'm sure they've been hanging out with each other this whole time, they can walk to the dorm together. I'll just talk to them about it, and I can't wait for tomorrow to tell Naomi how awesome tonight was. Maybe she finally got Reggie to ask her out and that's why I haven't seen her besides the time I was talking to Kellin. Or maybe it's just because I was in my own world. Whatever it is, I hope Reggie was involved in it.
We stop at my door and stand there for a bit without saying anything.

"I wish today was Friday or Saturday. Then I wouldn't have to go to sleep this early and we could spend more time together." I pout and cross my arms, leaning against my door.

"You're so cute when you pout," Max says, kissing my nose. He places his hands on my waist and leans his forehead against mine. I smile, closing my eyes.

"Ugh, get a room." Max moves his head away from mine and we see Gabe walking down the hallway.

"Don't be jealous Gabe," I stick out my tongue and laugh.

"Yeah whatever, see you tomorrow Ally," he says before turning down another hallway.

"Way to ruin the moment," Max grumbles.

"Alright, I think it's about time I go to sleep. I need to take a quick shower and take this makeup off. You know I like my sleep." I lightly push him off and open the door.

"Okay fine, I'll let you sleep. You can be so selfish, you know that?" He laughs and kisses me, "Good night baby."

I watch him walk down the hallway then turn down to the boy's side of the dorm. I walk into my room, close the door behind me and squeal. What a perfect night! I kick off my heels then slowly slip the dress off of me and lay it on my desk chair. I run into the shower, dry off, brush my teeth, and finally put on some pajamas. As I walk to my bed, I tie my hair up into a bun and smile to myself. I can tell that after tonight, things with Max and I are going to be great. I hop into bed and pull my blanket over me, hoping to relive this night through my dreams.