Present Perfect by Alison G. Bailey

tugged my arms, pulled me to my feet, and pushed me out the door.
    I did exactly what Emily told me to do even if it didn’t make sense to me. My brain was so numb I didn’t have the capacity to make any decisions right now. Noah was the only thought that played repeatedly in my head. I showered, shampooed, shaved, and returned to my sister’s room.
    The dress she picked out was hanging on the closet door. It was the one she wore the first time she ran for homecoming queen. She won, of course. The dress was a pale yellow strapless taffeta. The bodice fit me perfectly, hugging me in all the right places, giving me a curve or two. The skirt hit me right at the knee and was full and flowing with three dimensional flowers sporadically placed close to the hem. She had matched it with a pair of silver strappy sandals with almost 3 inch heels. I wasn’t sure about the heels, but like everything else, I didn’t care.
    Emily had me put the dress on first before tackling hair and makeup. I was sitting at her vanity covered in a huge towel so nothing would get on the dress. There was an awful lot to do for a dance I didn’t even want to attend.
    “I think your hair would look awesome pinned up. Oh, and you can wear my diamond teardrop earrings that Mom and Dad gave me for my sweet sixteen,” Emily said enthusiastically.
    “Whatever you want to do is fine.” My voice was monotone.
    “For someone going to her first big dance, you don’t seem very excited.” I just shrugged my shoulders. “So what time is Noah picking you up?”
    My chest tightened. I never told her who I was going with. I just told her I was going to the dance. “Noah’s not picking me up.”
    “Why not?” she asked, eyeing me in the mirror while she brushed out my hair.
    “Because I’m not going with him.” She stopped brushing for a few seconds, a look of confusion crossed her face.
    “Oh, sorry. I just assumed…”
    “Well, you know what that does,” I said.
    “Why aren’t you going with him?”
    “Because I didn’t ask him.”
    “Are we going to keep doing this or are you going to explain why you’re not going to your first dance with Noah?”
    “I just didn’t ask him. Besides, he’s not really happy with me right now.” I shifted my gaze down to my lap, breaking it from Emily’s. I was afraid if I said anymore I would start crying.
    She stopped what she was doing and leaned against the vanity in front of me. “You want to tell me what happened?”
    I couldn’t speak. I was on the verge of breaking down now. If I opened my mouth to say one little word, I wouldn’t be able to hold it together. I just shook my head. With the tips of her fingers, Emily tilted my head up to look at her. Tears were already swimming in my eyes.
    “Talk to me, Manda. What happened?”
    “I don’t know what to tell you. I just know that he hasn’t talked to me in three days. He doesn’t answer his phone and he ignores me at school.” I wiped a tear from my face. It was a good thing she hadn’t done my makeup yet.
    “There has to be a reason. That doesn’t sound like Noah. You can tell me. I won’t say anything.”
    I debated whether or not to open up to her. It wasn’t that we weren’t close, because we were, it was just embarrassing to admit the problem was me. I was a loser and a screw up. I had screwed up my friendship with Noah.
    “Things are changing and I…um don’t know what to do.” My voice cracked and a few tears spilled.
    A slight smile played across Emily’s face. “It’s hard when your best friend becomes a very cute boy, isn’t it?” I didn’t respond. She could see in my eyes that she was spot on. “Is there a girl that Noah likes?” I nodded. “Do you like her?”
    “No, I don’t. She’s not good enough for him.” I looked away from her. I wasn’t exactly lying. It was just Emily didn’t realize the girl we were talking about was me.
    “Is that why he’s mad?”
    “Yeah,” I whispered.
    “Sweetie, I