“Head on inside now,” he said. “I’ll see you in there soon enough.”
As we entered, hotel staff had been hired to hand us either a glass of champagne (if we could show our ID, but I’m underage) or a glass of orange juice (if we preferred or if it was our only option) and then we walked down a long red carpet through some double doors into the events room. It was a massive space complete with dozens of circular tables decorated with white cloths and elaborate centrepieces. There were little placemats with cards showing people’s names. This year the seating plan had been done by random, which had proved controversial, but the teachers said we were all (or almost all) adults now, and could get used to chatting to people we didn’t normally. I was pleased, of course, because it meant I didn’t have to join a table where people didn’t want me.
Across the other side of the room was a dance floor with a DJ and crazy sound system. There was even a disco ball hanging from the ceiling and strobe lighting. As most people weren’t here yet, there was only prerecorded backing music playing, but some people from my art lesson were already standing in a circle on the dance floor, throwing their hands in the air and cheering whenever the beat dropped. Ollie Turner, brave in a turquoise tux, nodded at me when I waved at him, but didn’t seem keen to invite me over to dance so I moved on.
In another corner, as part of the theme of this evening being Vegas, there was a “gambling” section. Everyone was given ten plastic coins to bet with, and the person with the most left at the end of the night won some kind of prize.
I was admiring the roulette wheel, currently unmanned, when I heard a gasp behind me.
“Oh my God, Poppy, is that you?”
I turned, and was met with Annabel, the last person I wanted to see.
Annabel was standing alone. Her outfit wasn’t as incredible as I expected it to be. She had clearly done her own makeup, which, although impressive, didn’t reach the level of a professional. Her hair too, blonde and shining as always, had been left to hang loose, straightened but nothing major. Finally, her shoes were the same ones she wore to the Year Eleven prom, white strappy sandals that were scuffed at the toes, and her dress was a skin-tight satin maxi. I would have expected her to go overboard, but this was quite a simple effort.
Before she could say anything else, a whole group of boys came in, loud and rowdy. They had tried hard with their gelled hair and suits, and as they came past us they stopped dead and wolf-whistled.
Annabel turned to smile at them, then flushed when she realised.
They weren’t wolf-whistling at her. They were wolf-whistling at me!
“Poppy Greer, that can’t be you!” One of them, probably the best-looking guy in our year now that Julian had left, came towards me with a grin. His name was Aidan and he had been Annabel’s boyfriend for the past six months. “Bloody hell, you don’t half clean up!”
The other boys were in eager agreement.
“She looks sick!”
“I would.”
I couldn’t help but be suspicious. After Julian, I couldn’t trust boys. But they all seemed genuine, looking me up and down appreciatively. A few of them were nudging each other and whispering things I couldn’t hear. I felt even more self-conscious, risking a glance towards my chest to make sure nothing was accidentally on show.
But there was nothing wrong. They really did just think I looked good. Looked pretty!
I’ve never been called pretty.
Aidan gave me a wink, then walked over to Annabel and kissed her on the cheek. “You look alright too, babe. Though couldn’t you have worn something similar?”
“No.” Annabel was scowling. I’d never seen her look so mad. Her entire face was red and she looked as if she wanted to slap him.
“Catch you later, yeah, babe?” Aidan said. He waved at me. “And you too, Poppy!”
“Come and dance with us later, Poppy!” one of the other guys called.
After they all left, Annabel and I were left standing awkwardly together by the roulette wheel. She was blinking furiously, as if she was trying not to cry.
And then it was like a light switch went off on her face because she broke into a smile and rolled her eyes. “Boys, right?”
Was she trying to joke with me?
“Right,” I said uncertainly.
“You’re the new shiny toy,” she said, and I still wasn’t sure if she was joking.
“Where are Chloe, Tanya, and Esther?” I asked, to try and get off the subject of Aidan and the other boys when she remained where she was, as if expecting a conversation.
For a moment she hesitated. “They’re on their way in some ludicrous car. I decided to come a bit earlier instead.”
“You didn’t want to travel with them?”
“It was easier if I came this way. I live close, so I just walked.”
“You live close to the centre?” I tried to imagine Annabel’s home and pictured some arty loft apartment with a mother who held a cigarette between her lips and a paintbrush between her fingers and spoke with a French accent.
“Close enough, anyway,” she said, then changed the subject. “Did you come here by yourself?”
I wasn’t sure if it was a deliberate dig, or if she just wanted to talk about something else, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and tried a joke myself. “It’s not like I had many options.”
“We’re sitting on the same table, you know,” she said, pointing to one of the tables at the far back corner of the room. “Maybe we could go sit down together?”
“Sure.” I was suspicious of her intentions, despite the fact she hadn’t done anything to me in over three years, but I walked along confident enough that nothing could go wrong in here with all the teachers around. As we went across the room, lots of people stopped me and complimented my hair and outfit, even people I’d never spoken to before.
“Poppy, you look amazing!”
“Wow, Poppy, you’re actually so stunning.”
More of the guys, who were mostly standing together in one big huddle, let out some gasps of surprise at me as I hurried by. I could even hear some talking about how they never knew I was hot, which shouldn’t have pleased me so much but did, making me grin from ear to ear.
Annabel was sitting two places from my left on the table, but she swapped her placemat with Eric Smith’s and sat next to me. It was so odd, the two of us sitting together as if we were friends, as well as all the attention I was getting. I felt like I had become a real person, the person I was meant to be. No more Poppy Greer the sad case, left in the background, but Poppy Greer the somebody, part of the inner circle and appreciated.
“You’re getting so many looks,” Annabel said.
I tried to play dumb. “They’re looking at you, not me.”
She laughed. “Oh, come off it, Poppy. You know I’m not stupid. I beat you in that mock exam we did the other week. Everyone is looking at you. And in a good way, for once.”
Her last comment stung.
She must have seen my face, because she pulled one of her own. “Sorry, that was mean of me. I don’t mean to be such a bitch all the time.”
“You’re not.”
“I am.”
“This looks cosy!”
I jumped. Esther, Tanya, and Chloe had arrived, each looking like a model.
Annabel’s posture had changed straight away. She leaned away from me, and turned towards her friends, smiling wide. “You three are fashionably late.”
“It’s a shame you couldn’t come in the limousine with us,” Esther said to her. “My mum would have paid for you, you know.”
“That’s alright,” Annabel said quickly. “Where are you three sitting?”
“Oh, we’re all split up, worst luck,” Tanya said. Then she seemed to look at me properly and her eyes practically fell out of her head. “Jesus Christ, Poppy.”
“You look actually attractive!” Chloe shrieked with laughter. “Oh my God, look at you trying to fit in. It’s worked! You’re crazy hot tonight.”
Esther raised an approving eyebrow at me. I could see the shiny silver piercing through it, which was not normally allowed during schooltime. “You do look pretty, Poppy. I think you’re even beating Chloe.”
Chloe, whose natural looks meant she didn’t have to try as hard as everyone else, had opted for a dressed-down look similar to Annabel, but pulled it off better. She appeared as sleek as the rest of us who had spent hundreds, without seemingly needing to. But her scowl at Esther’s comment made her look ugly. “I’m not sure about that.”
“Right, everyone,” Mrs. Hargreaves, our head teacher, shouted. “If we could all find our seats, we’ll start this evening with a few announcements and testimonials and then we’ll eat our three-course meal.”
Annabel and I were left sitting together, joined quickly by others in our year. When our table was full, she leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“We’re all thinking of having a party after this, do you want to come?”
“A party?”
“You know, somewhere where you can actually drink.” She chimed her champagne glass with my orange juice, then shrugged her shoulders. “Think about it.”