~Althia~

"Where the hell is he?" Alex mumbled as he started to get annoyed

"The doors are about to close" Justin sighed as he looked at the time

We were all sitting down at a table waiting for Jeff and Claire to show up but by the way it looks, they might not make it.

As if on cue, Jeff walked through the doors with Claire by his side

We waved at him trying to get his attention but he was distracted talking to his date

"Yo, Atkins!" Zach yelled, causing everyone to look in our direction

Once Jeff had spotted us, he waved and smiled while grabbing Claire's hand

We all got up as they started making their way towards our table

Just as they were about to reach us, Claire said something to Jeff causing him to walk right past us without saying a word

Jessica and I exchanged some glances as we watched the pair make their way to the snacks table

"I'm going to need a drink to deal with tonight's bullshit" Montgomery said as he looked around before taking a flask out of his jacket pocket and taking a swing of whatever type of liquor there was inside

I watched as Jeff and Claire made their way to the dance floor, still not coming over to greet us

"Pass that along, would ya?" I said to Monty as I held my hand out

"What happened to 'you don't need to drink to have fun and I'm not drinking at the dance'?" He asked me

"Montgomery" I hissed making him hand me the flask

I took a couple quick shots before giving it back to him, making a face as the liquor burned my throat

"You wanna go dance?" I turned to Zach "Let's go dance" I grabbed his hand before he could say anything and led him to the dance floor

From where we started dancing, I could see Jeff and Claire who still haven't even acknowledged our presence

Soon everyone else, after taking their own sips of alcohol, joined us and we all started dancing

"Hey, did you know that you're cute?" I asked Zach randomly as we danced to an upbeat song

Zach looked down at me as a smirk appeared on his face

"Montgomery, what kind of liquor did you bring us?" Zach asked him "You've got my girl feeling all weird, she's actually complimenting me" He added, clearing teasing me

"It's rum" Monty answered "Pretty sure that's the shit that gets her and Jess fucked up so sorry for that man, guess you'll just have to deal with the attention all night" He added, continuing to tease me

I rolled my eyes at the two of them before flipping them off and continuing to dance

//

"I'm hungry, let's go get some snacks" Jessica told me as she grabbed my arm

I was about to question her since we literally just went to the table to get some water but then I saw that Jeff and Claire were there

After 4 upbeat songs and one slow song, the two of them have yet to come say a single word to us and it was starting to piss Jessica and I off

"We'll be right back" I announced to the boys who nodded before continuing to jump up and down crazily to the song

"We're going to walk right up to the table and grab ourselves a plate and start taking some desserts" I told Jessica as I started our game plan

"We will say nothing to them" She continued for me "If they decide to say something to us, we'll act like we didn't even notice they were beside us and we'll pretend we're not completely pissed off at Jeffery" She went on

"If they ignore us yet again, we will let them be but we're going to give Jeffery an earful tomorrow" I finished

Jessica nodded quickly before we got to the table

Without saying a single word, we grabbed ourselves a little plate and we started to place desserts on it

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jeff put his plate down and lean towards Claire before turning towards Jessica and I

I felt someone who was obviously Jeff, tap my shoulder

I placed the cookie I had in hand on my plate before turning around

"Thia! Jess! Hi!" Jeff exclaimed

We both set our plates down

"Jeffy!" We both said, expressing the same tone

"You two look lovely as always" He smiled at us

We thanked and hugged him quickly

"I would like to introduce you two to Claire" Jeff said as he grabbed Claire's arm

Jessica and I smiled at her

"Oh! It's so nice to finally meet you both! I've heard so much about yous and I've been waiting all night for Jeff to introduce us!" Claire exclaimed, a bit too perkily for me as she hugged me and then hugged Jessica

"I can say the same" Jess told her

"Yeah, we were starting to wonder if we'd ever see you tonight" I said

"About that, I'm sor-" Jeff started to say but stopped when Claire put a hand on his chest

"Jeffy said that he didn't see the group when we walked in and then I guess we just got distracted by dancing and talking to other people" She interrupted him

I faked a smile as Jessica shifted uncomfortably next to me

"Well the whole gang is over there if you want to go say hi to everyone else" Jessica pointed to the boys who were still going at it, jumping up and down

"We'll make sure to stop by" Claire said before Jeff could say anything "Jeffy was just about to introduce me to his coach" She quickly added

"Okay well have fun you two" I said "And don't forget you owe us a dance Jeffy" I added, empathising on our nickname for him

Jeff gave us a small smile before being dragged away by Claire

Jessica and I waited until they were out of hearing sight to speak

"That fake bitch" Jessica spat as she grabbed her plate

"What the hell did we get ourselves into" I sighed as I grabbed my own plate

//

"Have you talked to Jeff and his date yet?" Ryan asked as he came over to us

Currently, I was slow dancing with Montgomery as Jessica was slow dancing with Justin since Alex and Zach needed a quick break

"Oh my gosh, we were going to wait to spill the tea but can we please do it now?" Jessica asked me

I nodded, wanting to get some things off my chest

"Great, because I just want to say that I really don't like that girl" Ryan said "Not one bit" He shook his head

"She's the fakest bitch I've ever met" Jess said as she rolled her eyes

"She didn't even let him speak for himself" I scoffed

"And she's keeping him away from all of us" Jessica added as she narrowed her eyes to the couple that still didn't come to our group

"And she's calling him Jeffy!" I exclaimed "Who the hell does she think she is?" I said, irritation evident in my voice

"The worst thing about all of this is that he's letting her do all of this shit" Jess let out an exaggerated sigh

Montgomery and Justin couldn't hold back their laughter

"What are you two laughing about?" Ryan asked them

"I mean, I can't say anything about this chick since I haven't even spoken to her but I can say that Jeff wouldn't have brought a date if it wasn't for you two" Justin said as we all looked at him

"He does have a point" Monty agreed with him "You're the ones who found him this girl and encouraged him to talk to her and eventually ask her to this dance, so whatever is happening right now is kind of on yourselves" He went on

I shook my head in annoyance at him

"Hey, we are allowed to complain as much as we'd like since this Claire bitch was the sweetest person online but she's acting like a complete asshole right now" I told them

"She's fucking two faced and Jeffery can't see it because he's too happy that he's got himself a girl" Jessica said

Ryan took a sip of his drink, just enjoying the tea that was being spilled

"If you have such a big problem with her, then why don't you go to Jeff and tell him you don't like his date?" Mont questioned

"I'm sure he would choose you two over her any given day" Jus told us

"Cleary not, he's already being controlled by her" Jessica rolled her eyes

"I would very much prefer to be petty and passive aggressive by acting like nothing is wrong but ignoring him on social media then confronting him about this situation" I said as Jessica agreed with me

"And plus, it would totally crush Jeff to know that you didn't like his girl after everything you've helped him do for her" Ryan spoke up

Both Jessica and I sighed as we leaned on the boys we were dancing with

"There's nothing much you can do now" Justin said

"Except let them be and continuing to enjoy yourselves with the rest of us" Monty added

//

"I don't deserve this, darling, you look perfect tonight" Zach whispered to me as we slow danced to the song

"This is so cheesy" I told him as I tried to hide my obvious smile

"You and I both know you like it" Zach replied as he brushed his lips against mine

We kissed slowly as we continued to sway to the music until some loud whistles and howls interrupted us

We pulled away to see Bryce and Scott with some other kids, they all cheered us on as I rolled my eyes

"They always gotta ruin the moment" Zach mumbled

I giggled slightly before placing a small kiss on his jaw

We started to pull away since the slow song had finished but to our surprise, another one came on instead of an up beat one

"Mind if I cut in?" Justin asked Zach, suddenly appearing

Zach kept his arms around me and I could see him searching the room

"Hey, Jus is the only one I haven't danced with yet..." I leaned in to whisper to Zach, making sure Justin couldn't hear me

"I know, I'm just looking to see who I can go hang with" Zach whispered back as he let go of me "I'll go see Alex, seems like Jess isn't with him and I don't want him to get lonely" He announced

Justin stepped forward and carefully placed his hands on my hips

"Hi" I greeted him

"Hey" He replied

"You enjoying the dance that I made you go to?" I asked him

"Surprisingly yes" Justin answered "Except for the fact that Jeff is completely ignoring us all and that I haven't gotten a chance to dance with you until now" He added

"Ugh don't me started up on Jeff again" I sighed "And as for the dance, it's not my fault this dj doesn't play any slow songs, who is it anyways?" I questioned

"Tony" He told me

I rolled my eyes in response

"You better watch that attitude" Justin said "Don't wanna go see Mr Porter for another talk, do we?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me

"That's not funny" I smacked his arm before placing my hands around his neck again

Justin laughed making me join him until we fell in silence

There's been something bothering him all night, I could tell, but it hasn't even been only tonight. He's been off for a couple weeks now

"Everything ok?" I asked after a moment

Justin didn't answer me

"Jus?" I said

"Huh, what? Yeah?" He looked at me

"Is everything alright?" I asked again

"Yeah, everything's fine" Justin answered, now looking everywhere but at me

"You sure? You know, you can tell me anything" I said, choosing my words carefully since I didn't want to make it seem like I was demanding an answer

Justin took a deep breath

"I guess there's no easy way to do this..." Justin muttered, making me look at him confused

"Althia, oh god I don't even know how to say this" He started but then stopped himself

I decided to keep quiet

"You have been nothing but nice to me. You're always there when I need you, whether it's to help me in mechanics or letting me stay at yours, you're just there for me. I can talk to you about just about anything, except for what I'm about to tell you. I feel different around you and it's a good kind of different. I know that I can always count on you and that you truly care about me" Justin started again "I don't want to cause any harm in your relationship, I've done that once and I felt like the worst person ever. I certainly don't want to cause any harm in our friendship either because you mean the absolute fucking world to me but I need to get this off my chest. It's been killing me for months now..." He continued, making my heart race "What I'm trying to say here, Althia, is that I like you. I like like you. Wow that was so elementary school of me to say... Fuck Ee-Ah, I have feelings for you. I don't know if they're really there or not but I feel something for you and I just, I don't know man..." He finally finished

My breathing got caught in my throat

I opened my mouth but no words came out

The song finished and Justin stepped away from me

"I'm sorry, I just had to tell you" He mumbled before fleeing the dance floor, leaving me all alone to be confused and shocked.

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