Picture Perfect

I winced at the sharp pain of the bruises when William’s hands had made contact with them.

William looked at me, obviously very concerned, “What’s wrong?”

I was just about to answer his question when Melanie cracked the door of the closet open, “Is it safe?” It was Melanie.

William looked at me for a moment and then he looked at his sister, “Thanks for ruining the moment, Mel.”

Melanie shuddered at the thought and then looked to me and back to Will, “Thanks for sharing, William. I really don’t want to know what you and my BEST friend did in here.”

“You’re the one who forced me to go in with him,” I pointed out.

“Well,” Melanie said, glancing at the hickey her brother had left behind, “you didn’t have to do anything with him.”

My face flushed a deep red, having remembered the moments we had shared together, if only for a brief time. Of course, I knew that it was just a random fling for him. It’s not like I meant anything to him at all. He’s William Harper. He gets all the girls he wants, and he does what he wants with them, and then breaks it off. It could be worse, I suppose. I don’t believe he has a fling with a girl while he’s still seeing another one. At least he has some morals, if only a little.

William moseyed out of the closet first, with Mel and me following close behind. Once Mel and I got to a certain point, out of his hearing range, she poked my arm — right on a bruise, making me wince in pain a little — and told me that I had to share the “deets” of what had occurred in the closet.

I giggled a little, “Melanie, he’s your brother.”

“Yeah, so?” she questioned.

“Um, why are you so curious as to what he and I did in the closet?” I interrogated.

Melanie laughed a quiet laugh, “So you admit that something did happen?”

I blushed again, “No, nothing happened.”

Melanie continued to bug me about what had occurred in the closet with her brother, asking if nothing happened, how would I get a hickey? Of course, I blushed a little. Satisfied by that, Melanie stopped interrogating me.

Suddenly Melanie laughed.

“What are you giggling about now?” I questioned.

She pointed to some guests. I laughed now. Kristie Wells was making out with Kerrington Sinclair’s “7 minutes in heaven” partner, Jerry Jones — mister unpopular — while Kerrington was making out with Kristie’s partner, James “Jimmy” Harrison. How ironic. Out of all possible choices, one would never guess that Kristie would end up making out with Jerry of all people. Sure, he was a nice, smart guy. Although, it wasn’t as if he was the least bit attractive.

Melanie giggle quietly to herself and whispered in my ear, “He must be a good kisser!”

I agreed with her statement. I couldn’t see any other reason why Kristie would even merely peck him on the cheek, let alone make out with him. What was she on, and where could I get some?

“So, nothing happened, did it?” Melanie whispered in my ear.

It was then that I noticed that I was looking straight at William. Then he glanced over at me. When he realized I was looking at him too, he winked. Again, he winked at me. What’s with him and winking?

It was now very late in the night. I heard girls talking about William Harper, or “Prince William,” as they were calling him. I only knew they were talking about this William because they kept looking over at him and giggling with glee.

“Okay,” Melanie called to the guests, “those who are not staying must leave now.”

“Why?” a guest asked.

“Because if those who are not welcome to stay do in fact stay, William will tell our parents about this party and then I’ll never be able to have a party again.”

Guests gasped at this statement. Nobody wanted to leave, but everyone liked Mel’s parties.

Once everyone left, who weren’t supposed to stay here, Melanie declared, “Now, it’s time for the real party!”