Free The New Girl by Tracie Puckett

her. Isn't her dress awful ?”
    “Terrible,” I said, silently disagreeing.
Rachel looked stunning in a light pink princess gown.
    “I'm gonna go say hi.”
    “Whoa, Bridge.” I held her back. “Are you
sure that's a good idea?”
    “Of course! I have to be the bigger person,
Steph. I can't let Rachel Canter have the upper hand.” She pulled
herself free of my grasp and started to walk away. “If I'm not back
in five minutes, send a chaperone.”
    “ Bridge !” She disappeared on the dance
floor. The music and the dancing started without warning. The
lights were low, and the room was loud. I'd been at homecoming for
two minutes and was already hatching an escape plan. With my will
to flee so much lately, it was hard not to wonder if I had more of
my mother in me than I’d ever cared to admit.
    “Flying solo tonight?” Mr. Rivera asked as he
stood near the table. He wore black slacks and a button up shirt
with a tie that perfectly matched my blue dress.
    “Taking the new girl to a dance is always a
gamble—”
    “Interesting fact,” he said, inching a little
closer. “Do you know that teachers are allowed to participate?”
    “In what?”
    “Dancing.”
    “Oh, yeah?” I asked.
    He nodded. “The thing is... we're not exactly
allowed to ask for a dance. But it would be incredibly rude
to turn down a student who proposed the idea.”
    “So,” I said, casting a sideways glance. “Are
you asking me to ask you to dance, Alex?”
    “Me?” He smiled. “No. I'd be fired if I did
something like that.” We shared a lingering stare before he quickly
shook his head. “Did you just call me—”
    “Oh, well, it’s a shame you weren't asking,”
I said, standing up. I eyed him from head to toe and let out a low
whistle. “Yeah, really. Too bad; because I would’ve loved to
have taken a spin with you.” I sent him a quick wink and
disappeared into the crowd, still feeling his eyes watch me as I
moved further and further across the floor. Walking away from him
was the hardest thing I'd ever done. But I'd just flirted with him.
Like… major flirting . And if anyone else had noticed,
especially another teacher, I couldn’t imagine the
repercussions.
    I found Nate sitting alone at a table in the
back corner, water bottle in hand. I sat down next to him and
glared with disapproval.
    “What?”
    “Oh, nothing,” I said. “Just came to find out
how a person can go from being your best friend one day to hating
your guts the next.”
    “I don't hate your guts,” he said, taking a
drink of water.
    “I wasn't talking about me.”
    “Oh, her ,” he said, twisting his
face.
    “Seriously, Nate? What is wrong with
you?”
    “ She came over here and told me that she needed to borrow Rachel. She said one minute, I
promise. Well, it's been five minutes, and there's no sign
of them anywhere.”
    “I'm sure they just went to the bathroom for
some girl talk,” I said, but suddenly felt the urge to run out and
make sure Bridget hadn’t murdered Nate's date. “I'll go check up on
'em and send Rachel back your way.”
    “Thanks,” he said. “You look... nice,
Steph.”
    I smirked. “Thank you, Nathaniel. You do
too.”
    I turned on my heel and rushed to the
bathroom as quickly as possible.
    Yelling and screaming echoed in the hallway.
A crowd of girls had gathered around the doors to watch Bridget and
Rachel struggle in a pretzel on the floor. No one tried to stop the
fight, only encouraged the brawl with cat calls and cheers.
    “ Someone get a teacher !” I yelled. I
fought the crowd to reach the two bloodied girls in the center of
the room. “ Bridget! Stop! She's not worth it !”
    With that, Bridget, who was now sitting on
top of her opponent, cocked her fist back and punched Rachel square
in the jaw.
    I pulled them apart, kicking and screaming.
Rachel took a running start at Bridget again when another girl
stepped in to hold her back.
    Miss Holt tore through the group of
bystanders. The majority of