The Fire and Ice Dance.

*insert longest sigh ever*

Every year on December 15, the school hosts the Fire and Ice ball. The theme is of course is obviously red and white. This is every girls dream dance besides prom hear at Eastside. I never understood the excitement over it and neither have I gone to one of these dances. I always guessed they would just has snowflakes on fire hanging from the ceiling and the 'Frozen' soundtrack blasting from their speakers.

"We have to go this year. It is our last year. I went last year because I was on the committee and it was beautiful. The girls were dressed up and guys in tuxes and it was a winter on fire fairytale."

Since when was winter being on fire a fairytale?

"Does a fairytale entail smoking weed and engaging in inappropriate sexual activity in the bathroom?"

"You are such a party pooper, come please. It's our last year. After senior year, you will be off to UPenn and I will be off to Stanford. We need to make memories while we can." she pleads and gives me puppy dog eyes.

She has a point.

"Fine. I will go." she starts squealing and clapping her hands in the hallway causing people to give her weird stares.

"Yesss. So I am guessing you are going as red?" she guesses.

"Yep and you white." I state.

"Glad we sorted this out. We go dress shopping today after school." she says and walks away and to her locker. I walk off to mine and Issac and Asher are talking to each other and it looks quite serious.

"Ciao ragazzi" I greet them in Italian when I am standing behind Issac. The boys stop talking and look over to me.

"What?" I ask reverting back to English.

"Nothing." Issac says and brushes my cheek lightly with his thumb. I smile and move his hand away from my face and I open the locker.

Nothing is definitely something.

"You sleep well yesterday?"

"Yeah. I enjoyed eating off the rest of the cake pops as a midnight snack." I say with a smile on my face.

Issac hands me a small smile before turning back to Asher and whispering something in his ear and then Asher nods his head and looks at me.

"Can we talk?"

"Uh sure" I say and look at Issac. He nods his head. I go in my locker and get my books real quick and then I follow Asher to the multipurpose room.

"Sit"

"Ruff" I mock.

"Heard that"

"Good" I reply. I sit down in the swivel chair and look at Asher. "So what is the meaning for this?"

Asher takes a deep breath and says. "I want to ask Zoe out to the Fire and Ice dance."

If I had a drink and I were drinking it, I would've spit it out and then choked on the remains in my mouth.

"What?"

"I-I know I don't have a good track record especially with Zoe. I took her for granted and she didn't deserve how I treated her. She deserved so much. She deserves the world and I am just an asshole who keeps falling into bad habits and can't be consistent about anything in my life. The one thing that is consistent is my feelings for your sister. I push her away and she probably hates me. I-I just wanted to ask you for permission before I ask her."

I let the whole thing sink in my head for a minute. Asher banged my aunt then refused to talk to Zoe and now he wants to ask her to the dance.

"I am not going to let you hurt her again, but at the end of the day, it is her decision. Go ahead and ask her. Whatever she says accept it because if she says no just know that applies to everything else about you." I tell him and I surprise myself at how wise I sound.

"OK. Thank you Bay."

"Thank the powers of kindness, they visit me rarely. This was your lucky day." I tell him and get out my seat and walk past him and out the door.

....

"How could he? He can't just ambush me like this!" Zoe rants and slams her hands on the table rattling it and nearly having my pineapple drink topple over.

"You rant, but you aren't giving me an answer? Did you say yes or no?"

"I said I need time to think which is translation to I need to rant to my sister slash best friend."

"Did he ask to go as friends or as more than that?"

"Friends because he knows I will definitely turn him down if it were more than that. At least he has a piece of a brain in there."

"Just go with him. Make the most of the night. It is after all the last dance before prom."

"You are right. I will tell him yes after school and tell him to get me a white corsage and bring me camellia flowers on the day of. Did Issac ask you yet?"

"No" I say and look down at my chicken salad.

What is he doesn't want to ask me? What if everything he said, he regrets?

"I'm sure he will soon. Issac is always cooking up something romantic for you. Just remember to tell him to buy you a red peony corsage and a bouquet of roses."

"That's if he asks me."

Every year, it is a tradition that Victoria and Issac go. Even if they are on a break from their relationship and one of them is dating someone new or talking with someone, they always come back together and attend the fire and ice ball together, as a couple.

Why would I be any different?

"Cheer up! We have so much shopping to do! I cannot wait!"

When Zoe goes shopping, that means hours of shopping. We get out of school at 2:56 pm and with Zoe's shopping craze, we would be home at 10 pm. 8 hours of shopping.

Kill me now.

Heels clinking against the white tiled floor, nearing closer to where I am causes me to look behind my shoulder.

You have got to be kidding me.

TMZ or Talia, Mariana, and Zara are walking over to us with nasty scowls on their faces.

"Not in the mood" Zoe mutters and stabs into her chicken salad.

"Hi ladies, so nice to see you on this lovely day." Talia says in her high pitched voice that sounds like claws scratching against a chalkboard.

"Can't say the same for you" Zoe says and drinks her juice.

Talia plasters a fake smile on her face and looks to Mariana. Little known fact about Mariana is that she is dating a college guy. He goes to Elkwood University, which is not far from here. Mariana is 17 and her boyfriend is probably 19 and turning 20 soon. She has always had a thing for older guys since she was in middle school. In the 8th grade, she dated a sophomore in high school.

Her motto is 'You are going to call me a hoe anyway, so why the hell not?'

"OK, there is something you need to get into your thick skull real quick." Mariana says.

Did you ever get into your skull that you should stick with your age? Didn't think so.

"And what might that be?" I ask in a bored tone. I hate that they choose to do this during lunch, when I am enjoying my food. And where hundreds of students will be staring you down like right now. TMZ is actually smart to be doing this now because Issac and Asher both aren't here because they are getting in extra lacrosse practice. Cartier and Armani skipped lunch today as well.

"Victoria and Issac always go to the fire and ice dance together. Every year and I understand that you think that because he has been giving you tons of attention lately that you think he may ask you out, but...it won't happen. You are just another girl who wants to be like Victoria"

"She's a bitch" Talia 'whispers' to her friends and they laugh to themselves.

"You say it like that's a bad thing." I retort back and the three girls stop laughing.

"Cause it is." Talia says and flips a few strands of her blond hair behind her shoulder.

"Are you done? Like are you done? Does your drama have an intermission?" Zoe asks obviously annoyed. Zoe hates it when someone pisses her off when she is eating.

What girl likes to interrupted when she is eating?

"No one asked for your input." Zara finally speaks up. Out of all the TMZ girls, I would probably like Zara the most because she doesn't take shit from no one, not even Talia or Victoria.

"Well no one asked for yours or your friends and we all have to listen to the shit that comes out of your mouth." Zoe bites back and snickers are head from nearby tables.

Zara glares at Zoe even while Talia says, "We are just looking out for you. We don't want you to get hurt when Issac and Victoria go to the dance. It's all out of good intention, i swear. Scouts honor." she says and holds up the scouts honor sign with her hand.

"Sure Talia sure." I mumble and the retreating steps of heels sends relief through my body.

"Classic hoe" Zoe mutters under her breath and stabs her fork violently into a piece of chicken before eating it.

Ironic.

"Don't listen to her, okay?" Zoe adds.

"I didn't" I say and smile to reassure her, but I can't help that tug of doubt in me that Issac may stick to tradition. Go to the dance with Victoria, win the crown as fire king and her ice queen, take pictures as couple, do it again the next year. They have been doing it since freshman year. They have been dating since freshman year(on and off).

"Hey, you know you can't fool me. I know you are worried."

"A little, but why should he ask me? We aren't even dating."

"You aren't? I assumed that after-"

"No. He hasn't asked me that either." Maybe Issac isn't as into me as I thought he was.

The lunch bell dings indicating that lunch is over and I have 2 more classes left. I clear up the garbage on the table and bid my sister goodbye before walking to my locker. Issac is at his locker digging around for his books. His hair looks jet black and wet, so he must've just got out the shower. He has a white towel draped over his shoulders to absorb the water droplets dripping from his hair.

I walk over to him and when he sees me standing next to him, he smiles happily and says, "Hey, how was lunch?"

Terrible

"Great." I say and put on a happy smile on my face. No need for him to worry.

"So I was thinking we could go to do the horse thing, this weekend on Saturday if you are free. That good?"

"Yeah, if I am not hungover from the spiked punch from the fire and ice dance on Friday." I say slipping in the topic of the dance hoping he would ask me.

"Yeah, you are going?"

"Yeah, Zoe convinced me to go."

"Oh cool, just don't drink the punch." He says and flashes a charming smile before slamming his locker closed with his books in hand.

"Gotta go." He says and pecks my cheek quickly before jogging off to class.

"Have fun." I mutter and turn around and open my locker to take out my books.

Maybe he just doesn't want to ask me. Maybe TMZ is right. He is planning on going with Victoria to uphold tradition. It is the only thing that makes sense. He knows I am going and yet still he didn't ask me. It would've took seconds and he wouldn't be late to class or anything. I don't want to approach him about it because maybe I am just overreacting.

I probably am. I always do. If he goes with her, its no biggie.

It's what people expect him to do and if I know Issac, he is always trying to make everyone happy. I just won't be the one happy in this case.

....

"Zoe, this is the tenth store and it is 9 pm. I knew you would do this!" I complain and my aching legs wobble as I drag myself behind Zoe who is sifting through the clothes racks.

"The fire and ice ball is in 3 days. I was so preoccupied with stuff I totally forgot to start looking. We will be lucky to find anything good." she says and moves to another rack, her frustration growing every second she doesn't find her dream dress.

I walk over to a lady with long black hair, pale skin, and red lipstick on who is trying on a pair of heels. "Hi, do you work here?"

"Yes and no." she responds with a smile showing her white teeth. When she sees the confused look on my face, she says, " I am doing a test drive working here, so its not permanent. They are testing the waters with me."

"OK. Can you help me and my sister find a dress. One red and the other white."

"Fire and Ice" she mumbles.

"You know about the fire and ice dance? You go to Eastside?"

"No, I go to Elkwood, but my brother goes to Eastside and he told me about the dance."

"Oh ok." I respond and she gets up and looks around the store. She goes on the opposite side of the store, farther away from Zoe. The lady sifts through the racks of dresses and her eyes finally land on something that makes a smirk form on her face. She pulls the dress off the rack and shows it to me. My eyes scan over the dress and the lady and I exchange knowing looks.

"Zoe!" I yell and look behind my shoulder. She jogs over to me and stops right beside me.

"Wha-" she says but when her eyes land on the dress, she sucks in a breath and her hand flies to her mouth.

"ll mio vestito da sogno. Assolutamente perfetto. Incredibile" she says in Italian and she walks to the dress and touches the material like it is glass.

Did I mention that my sister speaks better Italian than I? No? Now you know.

"How much is it?" she asks still in awe.

"$350" the lady tells her after looking at the price tag.

"I'll buy it." she says and takes the dress from the ladies hand. The lady smiles and goes back to looking through the racks for my dress.

"It's perfect." she mutters and hugs the dress. "Imma try it on" she says and skips off to the dressing room.

The lady is mumbling something underneath her breath as she analyzes some dresses. She finally decides on one and she hands it to me. I look at the dress surprised at how the lady picked out a dress so fast.

"This is perfect. You have a great eye" I praise her and stare at the beautiful red dress.

"Try it on." she says and motions to the dressing room.

I stride to the dressing room with the dress in hand and once I'm inside, I quickly take off my clothes to put on the dress. Once I slip into the dress, I instantly admire how the silky smooth material feels against my skin. I turn around in the body length mirror to my left and look at how the dress looks on me. The red dress isn't tight on all my curves like what people mostly buy. It is free-flowing, elegant, and with a dash of tease. And on top of that, it is red.

Perfect.

I walk out the dressing room and Zoe is already out there with the white dress on her. The dress isn't too tight as well, but at the same time it hugs her curves. The white dress surprisingly perfectly compliments her light brown skin tone. The entire back is exposed due to the dip in the dress. Her dress reminded me of an Egyptian dress that my mom has.

Zoe turns around when the padding of my footsteps reaches her. She looks at my dress with a hand covering her mouth.

"You look so beautiful sister" Zoe gasps out. She walks over to me and embraces me in a hug.

"You too. So is this the dress?" I ask and pull away from the hug.

"Yes, definitely."

"Straight hair or curly?"

"Straight. You?"

"I think I may go with straight hair for the night, why not?"

Zoe turns back around to the lady who helped us find our dresses. "Thank you! We are taking them."

We walk up to the register and pay for our dresses and then we leave.

"If you do this ever again, i will kill you." I threaten Zoe once we reach back home.

"The next time i will do this is prom night, graduation, your engagement party where you announce that you are engaged to Issac, and when we buy your wedding dress which must be specially made from Vera Wang."

"Vera Wang is all the way in New York sis.

"And?" she respond with sass and walks up the stairs and to her room.

"Night" I murmur to my sister and walk inside the room and close it behind me.

...

Tomorrow is the dance.

I am considering not going and saving the dress for prom which I will have to go to.

Issac hasn't asked me and I really believe he did ask Victoria out.

And the fact that I sound like some lovesick,sappy high school girl is ticking me off even more.

"Give me a reason Zoe. Why hasn't he asked me? There is no other reason. The dance is tomorrow!"

"I-I can't Bay. Every time I try to talk to him, he is busy doing something or is at practice or something another."

A lump grows in my throat and I clear my throat so my voice wont come out croaky.

He never loved me. How could he make me believe he did? He lied.

I push any feelings down and decide it's best if I don't feel anything. It is better when i don't. Feelings equal disappointment. Disappointment equals heartbreak. Heartbreak equals emptiness. And I don't want to feel that anymore.

"Whatever." I mutter and walk away from my sister and to my locker.

Armani is at the locker talking with Issac with his face red with anger. I have never seen Armani angry before. He is always this happy go lucky leprechaun. Armani jabs Issac's chest with an angry finger repeatedly and Issac quickly grabs his finger and twists it, but it doesn't faze Armani at all.

I rush over to the two boys and I slap Issac's hand that is clenched around Armani's finger.

"What the hell!" I yell at Issac. His stormy grey eyes look at me with frustration and annoyance hiding in the storms, but after a minute, the storms clear leaving back the calm light grey. He lets go of Armani's finger. Armani gives me a small smile and rubs my back.

"Hi lightweight." He says with a dorky smile on his face.

"Hi leprechaun" I respond with a smile.

"I barely wear green" He defends. My eyebrow shoots up and I look at his green shirt that says 'Get to tha choppa'.

"Really?" I say and my eyes flick from Armani's face and to his shirt. Armani's anger slowly fades away and he has a full smile on his face.

"Whatever" he says and looks back at Issac.

"You know what to do." He says in a stern voice and walks away.

I look at Issac curiously, who is staring at the back of his best friend who is walking down the hallway, not even having to elbow a soul. They literally parted for him.

"What is he talking about?" I ask in a stern voice of my own.

"Nothing. Don't worry about" he says and caresses my cheek with his thumb, but I lean away from his touch making him frown.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing" I mutter and open my locker. I stuff in my bag and take out my books for my class and slam the locker shut.

"I know when you are lying."

"Funny, because I can't say the same about you and that's the scary thing because I don't know if what comes out your mouth is actually genuine anymore." I retorted and walked away from him.

...

"Yeah, so what do you want to do when we get home?" I ask Zoe as we make our way to the school doors to leave and head home.

"Uh, don't know." Zoe says and looks down at her phone. "Actually, can we just quickly go to the corner store? They have a type of chips that I really like."

"Yeah sure." We walk the opposite direction of the house and a block down from the school and to a corner store called 'Chickadees DELI'

We open the shop door receiving a creak in the door. Zoe walks to the back and grabs a pack of Deep River salt and vinegar chips. She looks down at her phone and types something.

"Miss, your change?" An old man says and holds his money out for my sister. She is too busy texting to take her money. I hold out my hand to the man and he gives me the money.