A Best Friend's Betrayal

Chapter 5: Farewell

Denise was not having fun during the dance. Aside from being meters away from her best friend, she was jealous Ann's partner was no other than her crush, Clayford. She was so bored and annoyed at the same time, especially that she don't like who her partner was.

"Are you okay?" asked by her partner.

"Can you just not talk?" she said madly. He was being too annoying for quite a while and kept talking during the dance while Denise just keep staring at Ann and Ford. She is jealous and envy of course. Clark may have left Ann, but he still have Ford. She knows they're cousins but still, seeing how close they are, people might think they're not because of how they are when they're together.

When it's time to change partners Denise felt a sigh of relief. Finally, this is what she had been waiting for. Even during practice, the few minutes of chance to be able to dance with Ford may have been too short for her but it was worth it. Now is her finally chance to dance with him again and she will make sure it will be memorable. She had paired with few guy students before she was spinned again and was paired to Clark. He don't attend practices, so he was always subbed. This is the first time she saw him after several days of not being in school.

While dancing, Denise noticed Clark's face looked like he's not feeling well. His skin is pale, maybe because of the make up, or maybe not. He looks sick, like about to throw up and was sweating.

"Denise," he suddenly called her.

"H-hey!" she was shocked to hear him talk.

"Is it okay for you if I do this?"

"H-huh?" she don't get what he is talking about.Do what?

"You know I never meant to hurt your best friend right?"

"A-are you okay Clark? Are you not feeling well?"

He just laughed a little and talked again.

"I'm okay I guess. I'm serious though. Is it really okay right?"

Just before she could ask again, it was finally turn to change partner. Clark let go of Denise and spinned her to her next partner. Lost and still puzzled, Denise can't help but think about what Clark was talking about a while ago. She felt uneasy and weird and seemed like something is going to happen, and she feels uncomfortable about it. Her eyes looked for Ann and there she saw that it's just three turns before she will be paired to Clark.

The spinning was just fast though, and after several turns and being busy looking for Ann, she didn't even notice who she is being paired with. Denise was so worried of her best friend she almost cannot concentrate at their dance. After another turn, finally she saw Ann and Clark dancing together. Her heart was suddenly beating fast and looked at the two intently while still managing to dance.

"Don't look at them too much." her new partner suddenly said.

"No way,"she said without even looking at her partner,"I need to be alert and protect my best friend in case something happens."

"Something happens? What do you mean?"

"A while ago while I was dancing with Clark, I find him weird and being so serious. He doesn't look good at all. It's actually weird, especially when he suddenly talked to me and asked permission about something I didn't get at all. He asked me if it's okay to do 'this' to Ann and just before I could ask him what he means, it was already time to spin. It's better to be ready and alert so-" she finally looked at her partner and was not able to finish her talking when she saw who she is dancing with.

It was no other than Clayford, her crush. She realized she was talking too much without noticing that she was already dancing with her dream partner!

"What did you just said? Clark is planning something to Ann?!" he looked bothered. Denise was about to answer his question when they suddenly heard some shouting just few meters from them.

"I told you to let me go!"

Denise and Ford and other students who were at the center dancing all looked at where the commotion was. It was of course, Ann and Clark.

"Oh snap, this is what I'm talking about." Denise was ready to go and save Ann when suddenly Ford held her hand and stopped her.

"Just watch." he said calmly.

"No way!"

She was about to leave again but they heard Ann talk again.

"You wanted me to listen to you yet you never listened to me! You wanted me to forgive you? You think from what you're doing now, I can forgive you?! You're just adding fuel to the fire Clark! You don't want to hurt me but then you almost break my wrist! I never asked for your explanation Clark! From the very start I never asked for your explanation because it won't change everything! Wake up Clark! You never wanted this? Then so am I!"

Then she saw Ann ran away. Denise tried to call her but it seems like she did not hear her. She almost tried to follow her again but Ford stopped her for the second time.

"Let her be. She need to be alone at the moment."

She doubted at first but then realized at the end that maybe he was right. Maybe Ann needs some time alone and let herself calm down first. She definitely know how much pain her best friend is going through right now and she wants to make sure that she will never leave her side no matter what.

After that incident, the whole students and staffs are still at the auditorium, still in commotion and are talking about what happened a while ago and wether or not the program will continue. Clark is still inside, seated at the side bench being comforted by his girlfriend Kristel. She is just so good in acting, pretending as if she is really sincere in comforting Clark but it's so obvious in her face that she is annoyed of what a scene had been made by his boyfriend.

Denise, too, was seated on the other corner with some of their classmates who participated the cotillion as well. She removed her high heels sandals as she slowly felt the pain on her feet from hours of standing and dancing. She and Ann were never used to wearing glamorous dresses and sandals. They both match in wearing comfy clothes like shirts and shorts and sneakers or slippers.

She was busy massaging her feet when Ford approached her and offered her food.

"Here, you can eat first."

"Is it not allowed to eat yet?"

"Huh?"

"I mean the cotillion hasn't ended yet so it's not yet time to eat."

"Are you going to eat or not?!"

"Just kidding." she laughed shyly and get the burger Ford was offering her. She immediately had a bite of it as she has been hungry for quite a while now while waiting.

"You eat like a pig." Ford whispered but Denise was near enough to be able to hear it.

"Hey! That's mean! I'm thin you know?"

"You know what? You talk too much. Are we even close?"

"No but, you and Ann are close. And so me and Ann are close as well so.."

"Whatever. You're as weird as her. If Ann is boring then you are just too loud."

"Sorry!" then she started to eat again. Fee minutes later, one of their teachers stepped on the stage and spoke through the microphone.

"Listen everyone! We will unfortunately postpone the cotillion and the rest of the program today due to the uncertain incident a while ago. We decided to reschedule the event some other day and we will just announce it on our page. We have a lot of things to fix and re-arrange due to the we-don't know-what-happened-a-while-ago. You can now all go home and rest. Thank you."

"My gosh! I even prepared so much for this event!"

"Me too! Look how expensive I have to spend on the salon just to look beautiful today only to be ruined by that kind of drama!"

"So annoying!"

Students started walking out of the event and complaining due to the postponement of their farewell ball.

"Good thing I was able to eat!" Denise happily said.

"I'm going home." It was Ford.

"Oh okay. Thank you for tonight!"

"Tonight?"

"I-i mean, for the food."

"That's from the school."

"Oh yeah, yeah of course." and then he just left.

When Denise was already at their home, she was already in her pajamas lying in her bed, still under cloud nine from what had happened to her and Ford a while ago. Though it was just short, for her it was all worth while. She is just so happy for herself, but sad at the same time thinking about her best friend. She wondered how is Ann and where did she go after leaving the auditorium after walking out of the venue. Is she okay now? She hopes she is. Tomorrow at school, she's definitely going to look for her or visit her at their house.