Harper & Lee Plus Three

Time for Prom

I locked the door and sat down on my bed, ready to take the phone call. After scrolling through my social media for a few minutes, it came through. I followed all the prompts on the menu, just like always.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom?"

"Hi honey. You ready for your prom tonight?" she asked. There was the usual noise and chatter in the background.

"I think so. I wish you could see my dress. But I'll show you pictures when I see you next weekend."

"I can't wait. Maybe one of these days I can finally meet Lee."

"I dunno. I feel kind of weird bringing my boyfriend to a prison," I said, yawning.

"Alright. I—"

"Mom, I gotta go. I don't feel good."

"What? Are you okay?"

"Yeah I just gotta go. Love you."

"Love 'ya too, Harper. Bye."

I ran to the bathroom and threw up. Again. These new anxiety meds have been kicking my ass since last week. I cleaned the toilet, washed up, brushed my teeth, and layed back down on my bed. Blake, John and Sophia's only biological kid, was at my door a few minutes later.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" I said, throwing my pillow at him.

"Look, I know you're sick and everything but you seriously stunk up the bathroom! Open the window or run the fan every time you blow chunks! It's gross!"

I took the pillow off Hazel's bed and chucked that at him too. "I'm not sick! It's just my meds! Get out of my room, Blake!"

"Whoa, what's going on up here, you crazy teens?" Sophia asked, shoving her way in.

"Blake won't get out of my room!" I said.

"Because Harper puked in the bathroom and it stinks!" Blake said.

"We have tons of aerosol downstairs. Go spray some if it's that big of a deal!" Sophia said. Blake groaned and walked out of the room, finally. Sophia came closer to my bed. "Harper, are you sure you feel up to going tonight?"

"I can't believe you would ask me that! Prom is the biggest night of my life!"

"Okay, just relax. Maybe take another nap and see if you feel better."

"That was the plan," I said.

Sophia left the room. I napped for the third time today. Hazel woke me up when she got back from the hair salon after three. The weave she got looked absolutely killer.

We sat on our beds and watched The Office to gear up for tonight. That's right. The theme of our prom was The Office. It was one big meme party at our school, so the faculty thought it would be a great idea to do it as our theme for prom.

I was feeling hungry for dinner, so I had some pasta. I couldn't do Sophia's alfredo sauce, though. Around six, Hazel's girlfriend Amita came over. We did our nails and they frantically helped me do my hair. I was supposed to go to the salon with Hazel, but I was feeling so shitty that I just couldn't sit there. They helped me get it curled, sprayed, and put up so it looked decent.

After my hair was done I got my dress on, but it was feeling tight. I was putting on weight from this stupid medication too. It made me feel better emotionally, but the puking, weight gain, and bloating were just a no-go. It wasn't worth it.

Lee showed up once I had my hair done, wearing a black tie and a white corsage to match my black and white dress. I'd been having some dizzy spells and really wanted to sit, but Sophia was super excited to take lots of pictures of us. I didn't want to take that from her.