*Edited*

"Fine, I'll go to the party," I snapped. Elijah's lips twisted up in a satisfied smile as he dropped my wristlet on the table and strode away to where he must've left Bianca to dance alone. I snatched the wristlet off the table and ran off to the bathroom before Uriah started to worry about what was taking me so long.

I was surprised to see the bathroom mostly vacant with only one or two other girls inside. I propped my makeup on one of the sinks and reapplied it, touching up on the places where mine had smudged.

A girl came up beside me to wash her hands. After she was finished, she turned to me as she shook her hands in the sink. "Hey Veronica..." She trailed off, nervously.

I put down my lip gloss and turned to face her. She was shorter than me, which was kind of hard to believe since I was so short, and had her dark hair cut in a short bob with side bangs. She had huge, brown eyes that took up most of her face and she was wearing a dark purple dress that looked good on her.

Her name was Mae Carson. She's been in a few of my classes since freshman year, yet we've never spoken before since we're both shy. She had a few friends who most people considered the nerd crowd. I wondered why she wanted to talk to me now.

"Hi Mae. What's up?" I asked as I zipped up my wristlet.

She started to wring her hands together as she said, "The Reeds are your neighbors right?"

I raised my eyebrows at her question. "Yeah, why?"

"Well," she took a deep breath. "Could you help set me up with Elijah?"

My first instinct was to laugh at her request. She couldn't be serious about liking Elijah. Surely everyone knew what a douche he was, right? But then I noticed the serious look on Mae's face and knew that she really did have feelings for the guy. Then I thought how Elijah was with Bianca and would probably never go for someone like Mae. Yeah, she was cute and all, but Elijah went for more...risqué girls.

Knowing this, I nodded and agreed to help her. She bounced up and down with a huge grin on her face and I couldn't help but match her smile. She was a really sweet girl. I almost didn't want her to go out with Elijah because I felt that he would corrupt her somehow.

"He's going to the after party at Bianca's house, if you want to go," I said, then pointed at myself. "I'll be there, too."

I didn't know how it could get any larger, but Mae's smile grew. She nodded her head enthusiastically and said she'd be there. We walked back to the dance together where we met Uriah at the doors. He looked at me then at Mae and back at me again.

"Oh! This is Mae," I said, gesturing an arm at her. "I met her in the bathroom."

Uriah chuckled and reached out a hand. As Mae placed her hand in his, he said, "Nice to meet you, Mae. I'm Uriah." Mae said, "Nice to meet you, too."

Then the three of us went to the dance floor and danced for the remainder of the time together. I really liked Mae, so I vowed to set her up with Elijah during the after party just to make her happy.

Uriah offered to bring us to the party at Bianca's house. We piled in his car with me in the passenger seat and Mae in the back. Since our town was so small, it seemed like everyone from our school was on their way to Bianca's. Every car leaving the school parking lot was heading in the same direction, right for the party house.

We arrived with everyone else. Bianca had left the dance early to get ready for the party and we could already hear music booming from the outside of the house. We parked down the street, behind a ton of parked cars. Uriah and Mae helped me walk in the high heels up the steep driveway leading up to the mansion that Bianca called home.

Balconies jutted out from glass sliding doors on the second floor, a wrap around porch welcomed the guests, and a giant chandelier glittered from the large window in the middle of the house. I couldn't believe Bianca lived here, but then again I could see exactly why she did.

Bianca stood at the front door in her red, slitted dress that was just a little too tight, greeting everyone. Her blonde hair looked fake piled on top of her head and her blue eyes were just a little to bright. Her pounds of makeup looked ready to melt off. Elijah stood glued to her side, with his arm around her waist, hand sitting just above her ass. I felt like puking again.

As we reached them, Bianca and Elijah wore matching expressions as they glared at me in clear disdain.

"What are you doing here?" Bianca said, puckering her lips. Mae shuffled uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at Bianca. Her cheeks were slightly pink from being in the attention of Elijah. She seemed upset to see his arm around her waist. As I was about to point out the fact that Elijah had told me to come here, Uriah wrapped his arm around my shoulders and said, "She's with me."

Bianca's eyebrows rose as she lifted her head to look at Elijah who was staring at me. "Babe?" Bianca said to Elijah who shook his head, muttering something under his breath and turned Bianca away to drag her into the house. Uriah, Mae, and I looked at each other and shrugged before heading inside.

A makeshift dance floor was made by shoving the furniture to the sides of the large living room. Glistening bodies squirmed and grinded against each other as speakers blasted popular music that I didn't normally listen to. I saw Bianca's partner in crime, Christi, making out with her boyfriend in the corner of the room who was the captain of the football team. Cliché if you asked me.

"I'm gonna go get a drink to cool off," Mae shouted over the music, hooking a thumb over her shoulder. "Okay!" I yelled back.

Uriah pulled me to the darkened dance floor. We danced for so long that my feet got sore and I felt blisters beginning to scab on my feet.

"Oh my gosh, Uriah. We haven't seen Mae in a while," I said, as I stopped dancing to look around. I couldn't see her anywhere. Uriah's eyes scanned the crowd and he couldn't find her either. "I'll go look for her. You can keep dancing," I said to him.

"Alright." Uriah nodded. As I turned to leave, he grabbed my wrist. He took a sudden step forward and pressed his lips against mine, lightly at first, testing how I would react.

My eyes widened in surprise, but I got over it and squeezed my eyes shut as I kissed him back. Uriah smiled against my lips, placing his hands on my hips. When we broke the kiss, he lifted me up and spun me in a circle. I squealed like a little two year old girl. He laughed as he put me back down.

I smiled shyly at him and I knew I was blushing hard. I was thankful for the dark room so Uriah couldn't see my red cheeks.

"I'll be right back," I said as I turned around to leave again. Walking through the house, I had a stupid grin on my face.

"Ew, what's with that gross look?"

I shot my head up to see Elijah's green eyes locked on me. My smile immediately fled, turning into a frown.

"How'd you manage to get away from Bitchy Bianca?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. I mentally patted myself on the back for my nickname for her.

He shrugged. "I told her I needed to grab something from my car."

"Okay. Oh!" I raised my finger in the air, then jabbed it at him. "Do me a favor."

He grabbed my finger and said, "What kind of favor?" He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"You know Mae Carson?" I asked. From the blank expression on his face, I guessed he had no idea who she was. I hurriedly rushed on, "Well, can you dance with her or something?"

Elijah dropped my finger. "No."

"What? Why?"

If I was being honest with myself, I knew he wouldn't do anything I asked him to do.

"Because why should I?" He countered. Ugh, he was going to make this hard for me.

"Listen, Mae likes you and she's really sweet. I promised I'd help her talk to you," I said, pleading him with my eyes. I hated sucking up to him, but I'd do it for Mae.

Elijah widened the collar of his dress shirt, exposing more of his chest and drawing my eyes lower. He smirked when he saw me checking him out and I raised my eyes back up to his.

"Tell her I'd love to get to know her," he said, giving me a sincere smile.

For a second, I couldn't be sure I had heard him right. I had so not been expecting him to agree. This was so unlike him.

"Really?" I asked, excitedly.

His face dropped. "No." Then he spun around and walked away.

I chucked my heels off and bolted after him. I caught up to him once we were in a narrow hallway with a few doors on either side. No one else was here, so I easily snatched his arm.

Elijah spun around so fast that I didn't have time to react as he backed me against the wall. He leaned his arm against the wall beside my head, trapping me in between his body and the wall. He leaned up right into my face and growled, "What's the point?"

I stood there confused, raising an eyebrow while being very conscious of the fact that our bodies and faces were just inches away. We were close enough to kiss. As soon as that thought ran through my head, I blushed and shooed it away.

"What do you mean?"

Somehow, he got even closer to me. His green eyes had a fire lit behind them. "Why should I dance with another girl when the girl I actually want to dance with won't?"

"Pfft," I scoffed, "Bianca would give anything to dance with you. You guys have been dancing all night long, what do you freaking mean that she won't dance with you?"

"You're such an idiot."

"Excuse me?" Elijah was infuriating. I hated him so much.

He stepped back and I could finally breathe normally again. His intoxicating scent had been clogging my nostrils.

"Nevermind," he said, waving a hand over his shoulder and walked back down the hallway we had come down in.

I stared after his back. Elijah was so confusing sometimes.

No, scratch that. He was confusing all the time.

I figured Uriah was probably wondering where I was, so I ran back to the dance floor to find him sitting on one of the black leather couches.

He stood up when he saw me and reached a hand out. I placed my hand in his and we continued dancing.

"Mae, would you like to dance with me?" Someone asked Mae who had been sitting next to Uriah on the couch. I looked over to her to see her jaw drop open as Elijah extended a hand down to her. She shot a look at me and Uriah with her eyes wide open.

We chuckled and nodded at her. She grasped Elijah's hand and he pulled her up.

Green eyes found mine and I stared back as Elijah placed his hands on Mae and started to dance with her, all the while looking at me.

I smiled gratefully at him. He had actually done what I asked him to do. He smiled politely down at Mae and she giggled.

I felt my heart start to beat fast in my chest for some reason, so I turned back to Uriah. We continued dancing until we heard someone enter the living room and shriek.

"What the hell are you doing, Eli!" Bianca screeched.