Chapter 15: Chapter 15

"You're. Pulling. My. Hair." I stumbled over my words because Maya was trying to get the tangles out of my hair by brushing it right off my head.

All she says is, "Beauty is a pain, girl."

"Well, I don't know if I want to be pretty." I say. She halts. Thank you! I'm thinking in my head.

She turns my chair around. "Honey, you're very pretty. This just makes it better."

"Do you have to "improve" so much? The pain in my head is getting worse." I don't think I have any more hair on my head.

"Don't panic. I just need a few more brushes, and I'll curl it." She spins me around and starts over.

She looks at my face when my hair is all curled. "Ok, so you won't need as much makeup as you thought, but I think you should use some concealer. Did you sleep at all?" She wonders.

"Yeah, I did okay, but not great." I say this as I look at my very strange, curled hair.

"What went on?" Uh oh. I don't do this part very well. When someone asks me "what happened," I tend to tell them everything that happened. I can keep other secrets well, but not those.

"Nothing! What gives you the idea that something happened?" I ask quickly and try not to look at you. I can feel my voice starting to crack.

She throws down her makeup bag and runs over. "Tell me what went wrong. Now!" She asks for.

"I'm not sure." I begin. I look at Maya.

She's making puppy dog eyes at me. Even though she's 18, it's hard to tell when she does that.

"Fine. Mark sorta... kissed me last night." Again I avoid eye contact. "What?!" She almost cries out.

"Like lovey-dovey stuff, because no one will believe you if you're not inseparable. You have to always be next to each other, holding hands and kissing each other on the cheek, head, or maybe even the lips. It's how teens date at that age." She tells us.

"I haven't even considered it. What am I going to say to him? I can't just say, "Hey, at the graduation party we have to kiss the whole time!" I mean, you don't say things like that to your fake but real fiance." I mumble as I walk around my room.

"Don't panic. If you want, I can bring it up in conversation if you don't mind." She wants me to sit down so she can talk more. "No! That's strange." I exclaim.

"I'm not going to tell him that you told me to say it because you were too scared to do it yourself." She loses it.

"Rude. I'm not scared, either. It's just that the random kiss has made things awkward between us, and I don't want to make it worse." I explained.

"You must love him." She spits out in a very calm way. If she knows why, shouldn't she be crazy?

"I guess so." I hide by putting my head down. I have no idea why. I have no reason to feel ashamed, and I don't. At least, it wasn't done on purpose.

"Hey. I will just bring it up. I'll be there for you." I raise my head to look at her. "Let's finish putting on your makeup." Now, before I let her finish, I roll my eyes.

…

"Will you zip me up?" I ask Maya as my phone rings.

Maya puts my zipper back on and gives me my phone. "Hello?" I answer.

"I'm going to go downstairs." Maya tells me something. I think she's great.

"Have a happy birthday! Have a happy birthday! Alyanna, I wish you a happy birthday! Have a happy birthday!" I hear. "Plus a lot more!" I hear two voices that aren't as loud.

"Thank you. That wasn't necessary." I say.

"Of course we did," she said. My mom exclaims. She turned off the phone's speaker, so I'm talking to her directly. "So how was your birthday?" She wonders.

"Good. I helped Mark get ready for his wedding all day. For my graduation, Maya did my hair and makeup, and now I'm talking to you." I reply.

"I'm sorry that we can't go." She says.

"It's okay, Mom." She's sighing. "Hey can you put Hannah on?"

"It's Alyanna's birthday!" I can hear what she is saying.

"Thank you." I laugh at how eager she is. "So I looked at the photos of your dress. It's great."

"Me too! I can't wait to see you." She gets loud on the phone.

"Me too. Can you turn on your sister?" I can hear her shout. I can't help but laugh at that.

"Hey. Have a great day!" Sophie says something.

"How are you? So, your mom sent me pictures of you in your dress. Do you like it?" I need to know. I'm dying to know if it's not one of those bad bridesmaid dresses that everyone makes fun of.

"I think it looks nice and feels good." She talks back. I know she's telling the truth, but her tone is off.

"You ok?" I just got the role of big sister, and I'm not going to mess it up.

"Yeah. Uh, no. Can I give you a call tomorrow?" She wonders. She seems impatient. "Of course. But why can't you just tell me?" I ask.

"I don't want to ask mom right now." She speaks quietly into the phone. "Ok. Call me any time." My dad is calling my name. "I need to leave. Say to everyone, "I love you.""

"I will." I can see that she's half-smiling, but most of it is fake. "Bye Alyanna. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Bye." I say before hanging up.

"I'm going to leave without you, Alyanna!" This time, Maya is the one yelling.

"I'll be there. I'll be there." I yell back, almost falling down the stairs as I try to put my shoes on.

The last step trips me up, but strong arms catch me. "Woah. Be careful." Mark says.

"Thanks." I tell him to let me rest my hand on him so I can get my shoes on.

I step back. "How do I look?" I tell them to turn around so they can see everything.

"You look so old." My dad says with tears in his eyes.

"Dad, don't cry, because if you do, I'll cry too." I say giving him a hug.

"Well I'm sorry. My little one is getting so big!" He wipes his tears away. "What's taking you so long?" He asks.

"Oh, mom and them called to wish me a happy birthday." I hope he knows what I mean by "them." His smile starts to fade. Yes, he does know who I mean.

Mark is staring at me, so I look at him. Is that how he's always been? "Mark? How do you feel? Already?" I try to make him laugh to get him out of what I think is a weird trance he's in.

He seems to answer right away. "You look beautiful." He says. No look of caution. Not yet, at least. Don't do anything until John gets here.

I look at Mark in what I guess you could call a sort of suit. He looks good. Excellent. "Thanks. You also look good." Yeah. I'm not one of those people who stutters and says "yeah, you too" instead of what they really want to say.

"Well we should get going." Maya interrupts.

"Yeah, I think so." I tell her that I agree with her. We say goodbye and walk toward my truck.

"Why are we taking your car?" She wonders.

"It's been a while since I last drove it. I miss it." That's the best reason I can think of.

"Ok." Maya says skeptically.

"So, have you talked to Mark about the party at all?" I ask when we've gone a little ways.

"Yeah. I'll take care of you. You'll be fine, so you can go ahead and drive. I'd like to arrive early." Maya says hurriedly.

"Why are you hurrying?" I ask.

"Free food for those who get there early." She gives an answer with a twinkle in her eye.

"You would be thinking about food, of course." I say in teasing disgust.

"Hey, I'm getting bigger. I need to be strong. And we're helping to set it up so that I'll get something in return." She says nothing. I can't help but laugh at the way she thinks.

"Clark Lin." Student walks up, shakes hands, accepts a diploma, and walks away." Megan Longs. "Another student walks up, shakes hands, accepts a diploma, and walks away. It's now my turn." Alyanna Lukes."

Mark yells, "That's my girl!" as I walk up, shake hands, and accept my diploma. Good job Mark. Your dad must be proud. Then, leave.

That was mostly what graduation was about. Both the band and the choir did sing some songs. I've never been to a graduation, so I didn't know what to compare it to, but it seems kind of boring after all the planning.

Maya leaves me to go find her family, and I do the same. I run over to them when I see them, which is hard to do in heels. I hug anyone and everyone. First, I just let them all hug me at once. Everyone but John.

"Hey nice job kid." Was all John said, and then he went to get his phone.

I look at Mark. "Meeting." I nodded understanding. Not like I need him here.

"Alyanna, happy birthday!" What does Charlie say?

"How are you? We missed you." I say as we hug.

"And congratulations!" Adding. There's something wrong with him, but I can't figure out what it is. What's with everyone being weird?

"Gosh, I can't believe I'm old enough to have graduated." My dad says almost crying again.

"C'mon, dad, you're not that old." I tell him this as I go to hug him.

Mark comes next. "Can I talk to you?" He asks. When I say "yes," he leads me away. "So, Maya brought up this point while she was waiting for you. We're going to a graduation party, and if we're engaged at this age, we should act like we are, you know." I didn't understand what he was talking about for a second. Then, though, it broke.

"Oh, I understand. Lovey-dovey stuff for teenagers?" Even though I already knew, I ask.

"That's right." He tells me, and as we walk over to the others, he puts his arm around me.

"Why did they do that?" My dad asks.

"Oh, nada." I reply.

"Alright. Well I have to go. Enjoy yourself at the party. Sorry you missed dinner." He says. I go in to hug him goodbye.

"It's ok. Bye dad. Love you." I say to give him a tight hug to make him feel better. He gives a smile and goes.

"Okay, let's move on." I say I'm on my way to my car.

They both make sense. Maya said that she would be there. Max, her boyfriend, is going with her.

The trip there is nice. We all sing terrible songs to loud music. Even Mark sang. I wonder what will happen to him when he's not with his dad.

We were just starting to sing. When we got there, we let it go. I shut the car off. "Hey, it was about to get to my favorite part." Charlie pouts.

"You can sing later Elsa. Please." I tell him to get out of the car and walk in next to Mark.

When we walk in, everything is a mess. People were dancing, eating, and making out to loud music. I look for Maya in the room. She's the first to notice me and waves me down.

"Where did your dinner go! You said you'd be late, didn't you?" Maya asks.

"It turns out that John and my dad both got called into work, so here we are." I reply.

Max walks over while holding two drinks. "Here you are, sweetheart." He gives Maya her drink, and then he looks at us. "Hey Alyanna, who do you have plans with?" He asks.

"This is Mark and Charlie. Mark is engaged to me." I point to each one and tell him.

"What are you now?" He asks. Is he drunk already?

"My boyfriend. We're getting married." I say it a bit louder because I'm not sure if he can hear me over all the other noise.

"Wow, that's cool." He faces Maya. "Hey baby want to marry me?" He tells her to get on her knees. He is indeed drunk. He must be, or he wouldn't do that, and he kind of stumbled when he got back up on his feet.

I find it funny how stupid he is. "Do you want to go get a drink?" I ask Mark. Charlie has already gone someplace. I'm not sure where, so it's hard for me to tell him.

"Sure." Mark replies.

We walk over to where the food and drinks are. I'm already looking for a drink that isn't spiked. I smell every drink. None of them had a good smell. Mark just drinks a traditional cup of punch.

"I'll just stick to food," she said. I tell myself this.

Mark says, "What?"

"Nothing. I just said I'll keep talking about food." As I get some snacks, I tell him more clearly.

We find an open table and sit down to try to talk and make plans for the rest of the night. We do. We're going to dance for a bit and then talk to each other. "So... should we...?" I can't find the courage to ask.

"What do you mean?" Mark moves toward him and asks. I think he understands what I'm saying and just wants me to say it out loud. He's giving me that smirk he always does and making fun of me with his eyes.

Let's not ask, let's just do it!

I move my lips in the sink as I bring them to him. You've heard cliches like "fast but slow" and "wild but in control." I can also taste the cliche punch that is still on his lips while mine are still moving in the sink.