The Worst Prom Date Ever

21 • The Worst Shopping Ever

PIPER • [4:02 p.m.]

I pushed the brakes and alighted from my bike, leaning it against a wall. It was a good thing that finals week and yearbook were distracting me from thinking too much about prom, but eating lemon squares were the best distractions from the rest—and Mei's cake and pastry shop was the only place where I could buy those distractions.

Three days have passed and I've tried my best to hide the fact to Beau that I already knew the whole truth, though Pascal felt something off with me when he visited home yesterday. He was asking non-stop if something was wrong with me, but I would end up turning myself away from him, leaving his question unanswered.

Yes, there was something wrong with me. I was socially inept, especially when it came to guys. Actually, there was something wrong with the both of us. My brother's ego was through the roof. 

Now Beau...I don't even want to start talking about him. I couldn't look at the both of them the same way again, and to think they were two of the people that I completely cherished in my life.

"Hey Piper!" Mei's cheery voice chirped in as soon as I entered her shop. Soft music filled the newly-retrofitted place, and I liked the new atmosphere of it. It was bursting with white, purple and blue hues, and she added a giant mirror to one of the walls, making it appear as if the shop was bigger. I even caught a glance of the Polaroid banner that was hanging at one of the walls, spotting one childhood photograph of Beau and I.

Though the small place was not that packed, there were no vacant tables for me to eat my lemon squares and to kill some time.

I acknowledged her greeting as I walked towards the counter. Mei's brunette hair was up in a ponytail and some tiny, curled locks fell from her head. She was wearing a white apron and a very big smile. She held her hand up and told me to wait where I was currently standing and went back to the kitchen.

After a few moments, she emerged again with an employee. Sh exited the counter, this time with a box of lemon squares in her hand and a small tote bag in the other.

"This is for you. Now let's go," she said, handling me the box. I raised a brow, confused. Mei gripped my hand and opened the door, as I exited the shop with her. She extended her other hand and clicked her remote key, unlocking her car door.

"Hop in!" she said, as if I already know what was going on.

"W-wait, I'm really lost. What is this all about?" I asked.

She looked up at me and chuckled.

"We're going prom shopping!

 — — — 

[4:10 p.m.]

"I knew this was going to happen, Piper. I just knew it!" Mei exclaimed, clapping and skipping towards the outdoor mall of Flinnway.

I told her that we didn't have to do some prom shopping, but due to her persistence and the fact that she gave me a box of lemon squares that was free of charge, I had no choice but to say yes.

"After so many years, Beau finally had the balls to propose to you on your senior prom!" she said, dragging me towards a high-end retail boutique store.

Too bad the proposal was all a lie. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Beau set it all up, and I could never tell her that Pascal was involved in it as well—it might start an argument between the both of them and I cannot let that happen.

"Y-yeah," I sheepishly replied. I just had to go with her flow of things for awhile.

The boutique that we just entered was called The Latest Cut, and they sell clothes from the latest fashion, which was not really my thing. One of the salesladies was eyeing me from head to toe, probably judging my outfit. I was wearing an old Disneyland shirt that was two sizes too big, bell-bottom jeans and a pair of Toms—all of them not latest fashion-worthy.