After reading Dreamland by Sarah Dessen, I really wanted to do my take on an abusive relationship. I had this idea about a girl meeting a guy at a New Year's Eve party. Unfortunately, since I have another novel to finish and one to rewrite, I'm not ready to write it but I just finished the first chapter because I don't have my other writing here so I thought I'd post it. Nothing too exciting happens but I was trying to be descriptive (that's my weak spot) so I'd like so CC on it. Enjoy!
Chapter One
"Meggin! You have to come!" my best friend, Carmen, said. She was talking about her annual New Year's Eve party that happened to be that night.
"I don't want to come. You know I don't like parties," I complained. She did this to me every single year. I tell her that I don't want to go to any parties, then she acts like the world will end if I don't come to hers. I don't really see why it matters. There's going to be tons of people there. She wouldn't even miss me.
"But please. It won't be the same without you. Please. Please. Please. PLEASEEEE!" she whined. I sighed, knowing that I was going to end up going anyway.
"Fine. But come over and help me pick out something to wear!" I said, pretending to be grumpy.
"YES! I'll see you in a few minutes. Love ya, Meg," she said before she hung up the phone.
I shook my head and went downstairs. By the time I made it to the kitchen, Carmen was already at the door.
"How did you get here so fast?" I asked, letting her inside.
She grinned. "I've been out there the whole time I was talking to you on the phone. I knew you'd give in eventually." I rolled my eyes. It was just like Carmen to predict what I was going to do.
"Just so we're clear, I still don't want to go. I'm only going to shut you up," I warned her.
"Yeah, yeah. That's what you say. I think you desperately want to go but refuse to admit it," she said.
"Right," I said sarcastically.
She ignored me. "Come on. We've got work to do!" she said, bounding up the stairs to my room.
Sighing, I followed her up the stairs. I'd been friends with her long enough to know better than to refuse her help when looks were concerned.
"Sit," she said, pointing to the chair in front of the desk I kept all of my make-up, curling iron, and other stuff on. I did as I was told, noting that she'd already plugged in my curling iron. "Do you know what you're going to wear tonight?" I shook my head. I hadn't thought about it because I hadn't planned on going anywhere.
"Figures," she muttered under her breath. "Good thing I knew that already," she said brightly to me, walking over to the bag she'd laid on my bed. Out of it, she pulled multiple pieces of clothing. There was a blue dress, a pink shirt, a tan miniskirt, another dress....I quit paying attention after that.
"Go try this on," she ordered, throwing me the blue dress. I moaned but caught it and walked to the closet. I quickly threw my shirt over my head and unbuckled my jeans before pulling the dress on it. It was a knee-length halter dress that showed off my arms and a little more cleavage than I really thought neccassary. It's silky material felt cool against my skin.
When I walked out of my closet, Carmen gasped. "You. Look. Amazing."
"I do?" I asked, uncertain.
"You do. Spin around," she said, gesturing with the finger.
I spun, throwing my arms up above my head like a real dancer. The dress rose off my knees, not too far but enough so that it floated in the air.
"Well," I said, putting my hands on my hips, "how do I look?"
"You look," she paused, "very hot." I rolled my eyes. Me? Hot? Never. "Seriously, Meggin. The boys at the party tonight are going to be all over you, especially after I do your hair and make-up."
"Right. And what if I don't want these boys all over me?" I asked. I didn't want them all over me. Really. I wasn't used to having boys "all over me" and I didn't plan to start now.
Carmen looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I think you're just going to have to get used to it." She looked at me and I made a face. "Go take that dress off so that I can do your hair."
I sighed but did as I was told, pulling my jeans and t-shirt back on.
When I came back out, she was sorting through my make-up, randomly throwing items into the air. "What are you doing?" I asked.
She turned. "I need to find some make-up that will match that dress. I thought you had some but apparently, I should have brought my own." I rolled my eyes at her. "Seriously, Meggin, you need to come shopping with me. All of this make-up looks like stuff my grandma wears and you need to start wearing something besides jeans. I mean, no offense or anything, but if you ever want to have a boyfriend, you need to start showing some skin."
I ignored her completely. She was constantly complaining about my lack of style and if it wasn't my clothes, it was my hair or my make-up. I knew she meant no harm by it but it did become annoying. Couldn't she just accept the fact that I didn't care about getting boys to look at me? In my opinion, if they don't look at me when I'm dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, they aren't worth my time.
"Sit," Carmenn said, pointing to the chair in my room. She picked up a hair clip and began piling some of my hair on top of my head.
"What are you doing to my hair?" I asked, slightly nervous. Carmen was well known for her slightly bizarre hair styles.
"Oh, calm down. I'm just curling it. When I'm done, you'll look even more stunning in that dress." I sighed and let her continue. She worked for a few minutes in silence but, being Carmen, couldn't keep her mouth shut. "You know that Jake boy who's on the JV basketball team?" I nodded, knowing that this was the beginning of some gossip rant. "Well, I heard that is older brother is going to be there tonight, and man is that boy hot. I mean, he's tall but not too tall and he's got the most gorgeous black hair I've ever seen. I've heard that he's really shy but funny once you get to know him. I'm going to make sure Jake introduces him to us. Who knows what will happen when he sees you in that dress."
I laughed quietly. Carmen was getting carried away but it would be nice to meet Jake's older brother. Jake was a year younger than us, so his brother couldn't be more than two years older than us. If Carmen started going out with him, there was a chance I could get to know Jake better and to be honest, I'd like to. Jake might be a year younger than me but he's still hot and according to all of the freshman girls, unbelievably nice. Just my type of guy.
"I'm d-one," Carmen said in a sing-song voice, putting a mirror in front of my face. My normally straight hair hung in perfectly wavy ringlets that, for some reason, seemed to shine in the light. "See? I told you."
"I know. Quit bragging," I teased.
Carmen rolled her eyes and began digging through my make-up again. "What's wrong with this?" I asked, holding up a metallic blue eyeshadow that I saved for when I went out to fancy places.
She grabbed it from my hand. "It'll have to do, I guess," she said with a sigh. "Close your eyes!" I did as I was told and flinched as I felt her press the makeup brush on my eyelid. A second later, I could feel her brushing mascara on and flinched again. "Finished," she said. "Now go put your dress back on and DON'T RUIN YOUR HAIR!"
I laughed and went to change again. This time, I made sure to step into the dress instead of yanking it down over my head because I didn't want to irritate Carmen and also because I really did like the way my hair looked.
When I came out, Carmen was speed-curling her hair. For some reason, she always took her time doing my hair but when it came to her hair, she could curl all of it in three minutes. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the thickness of her hair, though. As soon as she deemed her hair curly enough, she began rummaging through her bag, looking for an outfit to wear, and finally pulled out another dress. Her dress was longer than mine but scalloped so that one side came up higher than the other. On me, it would have been hideous. On her, it was gorgeous.
After she put the dress on, she grabbed a pair of shoes from her bag and through them to me. "Put these on," she ordered. She slipped another pair on herself and then, after glancing on me one more time and smiling, she said, "Let's go. We still have to set up at my house!"
Sighing, I followed her down the stairs. I had no clue what I was getting into but I was slightly excited, especially since Carmen gave me a mini-makeover. If I had known who I was going to meet that night and what it would lead to, I probably wouldn't have gone. But I didn't know and so I went along, ready to have the time of my life.
One easy way to do so, is to type in an ordinary word and using an online thesaurus, browse through all the words that have the same meaning. You'd be surprised how many different words we can paint pictures with. 
