The Kissing Game

Chapter 17

"Guess what!" Hannah exclaimed the second I sat down next to her.

"What?" I asked, curious.

"There's a school dance." Hannah grinned. "In two weeks. We're going."

I groaned. Dances weren't my thing. I didn't dance and I hated overly loud music, so this didn't sound fun to me. Hannah knew how I felt, but it was clear she didn't care.

"I'm not coming," I said, noticing we had ten minutes until class started.

"Zoey! You're so boring!" Hannah exclaimed, causing others to glance at us. "This is senior year. You have to come."

"No." I shook my head. "Hannah, I hate dances."

"You're coming. I don't care." She looked serious, so I shut up.

Sighing, I knew somehow I would be dragged to the dance by her. So instead of resisting, I decided to just go. Like she said, it was our last year, so might as well live it up to the fullest.

"Now, on to the good part," Hannah said, looking incredibly excited. "I have a date."

"Really?" My eyes went wide with surprise. "Who's the unlucky guy?"

She rolled her eyes at my comment, but smiled. "Archer."

"Really? He's actually nice."

I remembered how he once spoke to me and smiled. He had been nice and friendly, and I was glad he had asked Hannah to the dance. Although, I wondered why he had forgotten about me, even though I would have rejected him.

"He is," Hannah agreed dreamily. "And hot."

I rolled my eyes, but had to agree. Hannah was one lucky girl.

"So because I have a date," she said. "You have to get one, too."

"And why is that?"

"Because I don't want you to feel lonely." She pouted. "And it would be really, really awesome if we could double date."

I groaned, knowing we were about to have a debate. "But I don't want a date. I don't date in general."

"This isn't an actual date so screw that. But come on, just go to the dance with some guy. It'll be fun."

I shook my head, hoping she'd let it go. Going to the dance with a guy didn't sound fun. When all I wanted to do was to sit in a corner and watch others dance, having to worry about a date wasn't something I looked forward to.

"Come on Zoey, please," Hannah pleaded.

I opened my mouth to say no, but I was cut off by a familiar voice saying, "Hey."

Looking to my right, I saw Xavier standing there, looking as shy and adorable as usual. He was smiling and I couldn't help but smile as well. I hated myself for the worry I felt around him now that I knew he wanted to date me.

"Hey," I said.

"Did you hear about the dance?" he asked.