"You slapped her?!" My mom furrows her eyebrows in confusion. She crosses her arms across her chest and starts tapping her right foot.

"She just wouldn't shut up! She had to remind me that Calvin loves her more and all that bullshit. I couldn't handle it anymore." I run my hands through my hair, "So I slapped her to shut her up."

"So I'm in the middle of helping a patient shower and I get a call from your principal that you slapped her? Selena honey, I know I told you that hurting once in a while is okay, but I didn't mean hurting others!" She rested her hand in between her index and thumb.

I stand up and start taking out some cereal. "I don't see a reason for you to be upset. I think I had every right to slap her." I shrug, pouring lucky charms into a bowl.

"Well, I can't just sweep this under the rug. You know that violence is never the answer. I can't let this one slide. No...no phone for a week." She says proudly.

I gasp and say, "You can't do that!"

"Just don't have it out around your father." She winks and storms off into the living room.

☆

It's been nearly two weeks since that whole incident and I feel a little better than two weeks ago. Halloween is this Saturday and Genevieve's parents are throwing an anniversary party. Their theme is under the stars and Genevieve and I need to go shopping for new dresses.

Grayson and I have been having tutoring sessions at his place. Every time I see his name pop up on my phone my heart starts to beat faster and I catch myself smiling. I haven't told Genevieve because I know she'd go bizarre.

"I don't understand this one." I point to the equation with my pencil and Grayson looks at it.

"Is your calculator in the right mode?" He asks.

I furrow my eyebrows and look at the calculator.

"There's different modes?"

"You're kidding, right?"

I gulp and look down at the calculator like it's an unsolvable puzzle. He takes the calculator from my hand and shows me the different modes. This is the one time I feel completely stupid in front of him.

He doesn't seem to mind it though.

I feel my phone buzzing every few seconds in my backpack but I ignore it. At least I try my best to ignore it. After a while of it buzzing I finally take it out of my backpack and scroll through the many messages that Gen sent me.

I roll my eyes and shut it off completely.

"Everything alright?" Grayson asks without looking up from his paper.

I nod, "Yep. It's just Genevieve texting me pretty much everything."

That reminds me. I can't just show up to this party alone. I mean I could but I don't want to. Genevieve's bringing her new date and Scarlett said she couldn't make it. I haven't seen much of her lately.

Would he even say yes if I asked him? How do I even bring it up? I shove my phone into my backpack and take a deep breath.

"Are you busy Saturday night?" I blurt out.

He stops and I immediately feel the instant regret.

"You know the answer to that already." He sets his pencil down and huffs.

I stare at his pink lips before darting my eyes to papers scattered all over the table. "Genevieve's parents are throwing an anniversary party this Saturday. And I was - - I was wondering if maybe- - you'd be my date?"

His eyes slightly widen and he gulps. "Really?"

I nod and start to relax. "Yeah, they're making it a big deal. They rented out this ballroom and everything."

He gently taps his pencil on the textbook and says, "I guess it's a date."

I feel my smile widen and I clap my hands together. "Thank you!"

For the rest of the time, I can't seem to focus. All I can think about is what color dress I want. Are Grayson and I going to match?

☆

Genevieve squeals through the phone and I cover my ear with my finger. "It's not that big of a deal, Gen."

"Yes, it is! He's you're date! Oh my gosh, you have no idea how happy this makes me!" She squeals.

I roll my eyes and start looking through my makeup in my drawer.

"I'm so glad you've started to move on. I definitely-"

"I'm not moving on like that. Not yet." I remind her.

She groans and I giggle to myself. "Lame! You should put yourself out there again. How bad can it be?"

"Uh, I get my heart broken again?"

She sucks in a breath and I pull out some eyeshadow pallets that I haven't used in forever.

"So...I was thinking about maybe a black dress for me. I think white or red would look stunning on you, don't you think?" She changes the subject.

I laugh and start to think about what color would suit me best.

"We're going shipping tomorrow, right?" I ask.

"Yeah." She replies. "And we need to find everything we need tomorrow because we left everything last minute again."