His Sweet Sunflower

4. I didn't bring anything cute

Lucy and Ella barged into the room suddenly and screamed excitedly. "Oh my f*****g god, I can't believe we are actually escaping this dumb sleepover and going to an actual party."

"Um...excuse me? My sleepover is dumb?" Sarah pretended to be hurt.

Lucy shook her head, "you know what I mean." She looked at Nora. "please tell me you are not wearing that!" she said and pointed at Nora's outfit.

Nora looked down at her jeans and the simple t-shirt she was wearing. "What's wrong with what I am wearing? I am comfortable, and it's not like people would notice me there anyway."

Ella pointed at Nora's shirt. "Yes, they won't notice you. Well, not with THAT anyway, if you are going with us, you are changing."

Nora took that as an opportunity to escape this party. Maybe if she used that as an excuse, Sarah would go on without her, and she can avoid socializing and James altogether. "I will just go home and work on my homework then. You guys have fun!"

"Oh, hell no! You are not getting out of this one. You need to go and have some fun for once. You might even find someone you like! You haven't even had your first kiss yet, for f**k's sake." Sarah said pointedly. "Besides, you will just sit around at home and mope. I can't have you do that while we are out there having a blast. You are coming with us and hopefully meeting a guy so you can find a boyfriend."

Nora blushed at her friend's bluntness. Sarah never let her forget that they are almost near graduation and hasn't had her first kiss, let alone a boyfriend. Nora never felt the need to rush the process and wanted it to be with someone who actually cared for her, although it's starting to look like it'll never happen.

"I didn't bring anything cute," she sighed.

"I have the perfect dress for you, Nora." Sarah started to look through her closet again and pulled out a pale yellow dress.

"Um...no way I am wearing that! I can never pull that off." Nora exclaimed! "It's yellow! I've never worn anything other than black or grey!"

"Oh come on, you won't know until you tried, now put it on," Sarah demanded.

Nora hesitantly picked up the dress and ran her fingers over the ruffles of this ridiculously girly looking dress. This is definitely not her style, but she didn't have the heart to say no to her friend. She went to the bathroom and changed into the dress, and came out to show her friends.

"It's...uh...a little snug on the chest area...I don't know if it looks right on me." Nora said shyly. She felt rather exposed in this dress. What was Sarah thinking? She will out of place all night.

"ARE YOU f*****g KIDDING ME! You look like a freaking goddess. Who are you, and where's Nora?" Sarah exclaimed. "This dress was made for you. I can't believe I never made you wear it before!"

"It looks really great, Nora!" Ella encouraged. She smiled brightly. "You are overthinking things. Sometimes you have to take a chance, you know. We are almost seniors, so it's time you change things around and dress more...grown up."

Ella was right, Nora thought. She had sported the sam, casual style for years. It was time to stop playing safe and try something out of the box.

Lucy had an unreadable expression and just shook her head in agreement. "This will do for the party."

"Okay, guys. You win. I will wear this dress," Nora said.

"Yay! You won't regret it! You will turn some heads at the party. I bet James will be so impressed that he will forget to bully you," Sarah said.

Nora sighed. "Not a chance in hell."

"Speaking of James...is he seeing someone at the moment?" Lucy asked.

Nora knew Lucy had always had a little thing for James. She just didn't know why. Aside from his good looks, he was a horrible person. At least to her.

Guess it was the same reason why she had a crush on him, Nora thought. She felt disgusted at herself sometimes because of it.

"Why do you wanna know?" Nora came back to reality, as Sarah responded to Lucy.

"No reason. He is always with someone. Your brother is such a Slut," Lucy giggled.

A Slut and a bully, Nora thought to herself.

Sarah turned her attention back to Nora. She reached out and touched her hair. "Now to do something with this voluminous mess of yours. I'm thinking of some cute waves. What do you think?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Whatever you want. Not that I have any sense of style anyway," Nora said.

By the time everyone was done, it was time to start their wild night. Nora dreaded every minute in the car and couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if she ran into James. He will definitely make fun of her dress and call her fat or ugly again. She started to think of a strategy to avoid him at all costs.