Being There Read Online Free PDF Page B

that we had been so busy that we didn’t have time to find dates. Actually, I doubt he would have had a problem getting someone at the last minute, but since dating didn’t come so easy for me, I was probably in the same position either way. Alone , not that it bothered me. As it turned out, we were going to have to get to the event center early anyway to make sure that the setup went according to plan. Dates would have just been sitting around bored while we lined things up.
    Finding a date was the least of my concerns though, because I had yet to find a suitable dress for the event. The day before, I went to the mall and made a last ditch effort to buy the perfect little number. After trying on way too many dresses, I had emerged from the dressing room in a red dress to check myself out in front of the three-way mirrors when some girl I didn’t recognize gave me a tight shake. The leggy brunette walked over and stood behind me to join me looking at my reflection. “What look are you going for, exactly? Hooker chic?”
    “Excuse me? Do I know you?” I tried to go for a stuck up tone, but I think I came off sounding scared.
    “Nah, I just moved here. No offense, but you look tacky,” she said handing me a black dress, “try this one.” I timidly took the dress from her, unsure why I was even taking her advice, but something told me she wasn’t someone to mess with.
    “I’m Nevaeh,” she said as I walked back to the dressing room. “My friends back home call me Nev.”
    None of my friends had any sense of style, yet another reason we got along, I suppose because none of that stuff mattered to me. Yet, this girl was everything I wasn’t, edgy, confident and just plain ballsy. Who walks up to a total stranger and critiques their clothing choices? It’s not like I asked for her opinion. Apparently, she was someone who just didn’t care. But damn it if she wasn’t right! The dress she handed me was perfect, flattering but classy. When I walked out to get a better look in mirrors, she was still waiting, “Much better,” she commented with ease. “So, what’s the dress for?”
    “We have a gala tomorrow night for our booster club,” I said admiring my reflection.
    “So-” she drug until proper etiquette finally hit me.
    “Cassi,” I filled in, answering her question.
    She walked over and flipped at my hair before continuing, “Cassi, do you always wear a ponytail? I mean, it looks fine, but I think you need to do something else to go with that dress.”
    “I pretty much live in one,” I admitted with embarrassment. “Hair and makeup are somewhat low on my priority list between school and soccer.”
    “Well, I think you need to wear it down, let’s go check out some makeup and see what we can come up with, okay?”
    Who in the hell was this girl? There was something about her that I thought was so intriguing, I just had to follow to see what she would do next. We spent the remainder of the day talking about where she had moved from (Austin) and what grade she was in (same as me) . Turned out that she would be attending Foster with me and just lived a few blocks away. By the end of the day, I enjoyed hanging out with her because she was sarcastic and witty, but seemed to be a genuinely nice person.
    “If you want me to, I can go to your house tomorrow night to do your hair and makeup,” she offered with confidence, and I knew then that there was something special about my newest friend.
    “Yeah, that sounds great,” I beamed, happy she offered, because I had no idea what to do with anything that she talked me into buying.
    The next night, the Gala was supposed to start at eight in the evening, so Nev said she would come by at five to help me get ready. If I were doing it alone, I would need just thirty minutes to get ready, so I was a little scared what she had planned for me, but she arrived on time and was ready to go. It took about an hour and half, but when I finally got to see myself, I was