Hollie & Josh

Prologue

8th Grade Dance

April 19, 2002

Hollie Andreoli looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a tight, short, black skirt and a periwinkle tube top. Her belly button was slightly visible. She wore black platform shoes that zippered on the front. She had pulled her blonde hair up into a messy bun, as her one friend, Emily Crescenzo, called it. She had applied blue and purple, blended-in, eye shadow and clear, liquid lip gloss with blue glitter smoothed nicely on her lips. She didn't even bother putting on eye liner or mascara. There was just no point.

She smiled at her self and grabbed her purse. She found her polar blue cell phone and placed it in there. Getting her money, placing it in her wallet, then in her purse, finding her dance card and student ID card, putting on her purse, she hurried downstairs.

No sooner did she make it all the way down the steps, when the door bell rang.

"Mom! Dad! I'm leaving!" She shouted up the stairs.

"Okay, have fun! And behave!" Her mom answered.

Hollie opened the door and standing there was none other than her best friend, Josh Parkhurst. Josh was wearing khaki pants and a nice blue, buttoned-down shirt that he'd actually bothered to tuck in, instead of letting it hang out. His hair was spiked-up with gel.

"Ready?" Josh asked.

"More then ever." Hollie answered.

He smiled and took her hand. "You look beautiful tonight." He commented.

"Thanks, you don't look bad yourself." She responded.

Josh walked her to the car, opened the door, and let her in. He got in on the other side and his brother, Adam, backed out of the driveway. Then they were off. Once they got there, Adam dropped them off and left. Josh put his arm around Hollie's waist and they walked off together. They went inside and Hollie signed her name in. Josh paid the $5 for both of them and they walked into the gym, where the dance was.

"Hey, Hol!" Emily and April yelled over the music walking up to her.

"I love your clothes!" Emily was wearing a skirt like hers, except with small gems on the right. She was wearing her "Britney Spears/J.Lo," white blouse she bought from the "Rave", at the Cumberland Mall.

"Who's the hottie?" April whispered jokingly to Hollie.

"Oh, yeah! This is my best friend Josh Parkhurst. He's in 9th grade at Vineland High."

"Cool. Nice to meet you, Josh. I'm Emily Crescenzo . . . but you can call me Em."

"And I'm April Spencer . . . but you can call me April.

"So are you two an item?" Emily questioned.

"No, I'm just her date for the dance." Josh replied.

"At least it's not one of the three G's." April sighed in relief.

"Who are the three G's?" Josh asked.

"Garrett Wheeler, Gregg Figarole, and Garrett Waechter." Emily told him.

"Oh, them."

"Anyways! Em, who did you bring as a date?"

"Chris Malone."

"The 11th grader?!"

"The one and only." He said walking up and putting her arm around Emily's shoulder. Emily blushed a little and smiled.

"And yours?" Hollie asked April.

"Rich Giacomelli."

"No comment . . ."

"Exactly what I said." Emily whispered to Hollie. They both laughed and April just gave them a look.

"Bathroom?" April suggested.

"Yeah." They answered.

"Be right back, Hun." Hollie said and kissed Josh's cheek.

"Okay." He responded.

"I'll be back soon!" Emily said hugging Chris.

"Don't be too long chatting in there." He replied.

"We won't." April told them. They walked into the bathroom and chatted away while checking themselves in the mirror.

"I can't believe Chris came as your date!" Hollie exclaimed.

"I know!" Emily yelled. "His brother, Anthony, is here too! He's Jeri's date."

"Landi, not Zielinski." April answered for Emily.

"That's cool."

"Yup!"

"We should get back to the guys." Hollie said.

"Yeah, come on! It's party time!" Emily shouted.

"You mean 'it's mighty morphin time!'"

"Right . . ."

"Let's just go!" Hollie yelled.

They nodded in agreement and headed off. As soon as they were in the gym Hollie stopped dead in her tracks. April and Emily noticed she stopped and stopped also. When they turned around, Hollie was in tears and also very angry.

"Hol?" April and Emily said at the same moment.

She ran pass them without saying a word and ran up to Josh. He was kissing a girl. First, she wouldn't have minded if he wasn't her date. But the thing that upset her the most was he was kissing Claire Smithson, the most popular girl at Sacred Heart! Once she reached Josh, she pulled him away from Claire and slapped him across the face. She looked at him with hatred and walked away still crying. Josh grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.

"Hollie, I can explain!"

"There's nothing to explain. You kissed Claire. End of story."

"She kissed me. I was just walking over to George. When I walked pass her she pulled me towards her and started kissing me."

"I don't give a shit. You were kissing her. I'm out of here. Bye!"

"Where do you think you're going? My brother's picking us up at 11 and it's only 7:45 now."

"I'll walk home."

"No, wait, at least stay. You don't even need to glance at me."

"Fine here. But after tonight, it's over!"

"Fine!" Josh said realizing she'd never forgive him. "And that kiss was good!"

Hollie slapped him again and walked off.

"I deserved that . . ."