𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙨 ➳ 𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘺

(12) Choking On Her Alibis

The school's own student made band played away on the stage at the prom night as Hayley, Taylor, Lynn and Jenna all boogied away together.

Hayley was undoubtedly jealous of Lynn. She couldn't help but keep a close watch on the girl with Taylor, all along the car ride to the school and even now while they were dancing. She just wanted to make sure Taylor wasn't going to get hurt. Maybe she was being a little too protective.

Still, despite the above, Hayley was still enjoying herself a little. She was spinning around and clapping along to the music all while dressed in her tux.

Taylor had taken over so much of Hayley's attention that she'd subconsciously separated him from his actual date - and her own. Jenna and Lynn gave each other confused looks but eventually giggled as they watched who Lynn assumed were two guys dancing.

Jenna felt a slight bit worried for Hayley, though, knowing about her situation with Zac. She also knew that Hayley had quite a number of feelings for Taylor, hence why Hayley must have wanted to dance with the guy on her own.

Making sure Hayley would remember that Taylor came with Lynn, Jenna pulled her friend aside and began to slow dance to the calmer song that had just come on.

Huffing and puffing as she felt out of breath, Jenna then put on a smile. "Oh, I'm having such a good time. No one here knows I used to be overweight."

Hayley wasn't really listening to Jenna, she was too busy burning holes in the back of Lynn's head as she stared the girl down. Taylor was gently kissing Lynn's neck and cheek as they danced, making Hayley even more jealous than she already was.

"Tell me again that Lynn and Taylor belong together" Hayley asked her friend as they slow danced. She just wished she could go home and forget all about Taylor, even though that would be impossible.

"Lynn and Taylor belong together" Jenna repeated Hayley's words, although it didn't mean that she agreed or believed them. Her best friend really was in a sticky situation.

Hayley frowned, not being able to take her eyes off of Lynn and Taylor being all romantic and gooey. If Hayley hadn't created Hayden, Lynn would never be with Taylor. But if Hayden didn't exist, Hayley wouldn't have met Taylor - the whole thing was a mess.

Jenna looked up and noticed that the singer of the school's band was checking her out. The guy then shot Jenna a wink which made her blush.

"That guy up on the stage singing, he's totally into me" Jenna grinned excitedly, hoping that maybe tonight she could score a real date.

Hayley wasn't the only one watching Lynn and Taylor. On the other side of the dance floor, Alex was totally disinterested in his second best date, watching Lynn and feeling jealous of Taylor. Hey, for the first time ever, Hayley had something in common with Alex.

As the band finished their last song, their singer announced that they were taking a short break from playing. Jenna figured this would be a great opportunity to introduce herself to the singer.

"I'm gonna go and talk to that guy, do you mind?" Jenna asked her best friend, though she felt a little bad.

Hayley shook her head to signal that she didn't mind, but her attention was still almost fully on Lynn and Taylor so she had only half heard the question.

"If it means anything, you've been the coolest date I could've imagined for prom" Jenna complimented her best friend, giving her a hug as she spoke.

Hayley watched as Jenna walked off and let out a small sigh. She couldn't take this anymore, watching Taylor was just going to ruin her night. Instead, she decided to head off and get some punch.

Spotting Tay at the punch stand, Hayley shot the girl a friendly smile. "Hey Tay, how's it going?", she asked, wondering how the girl was. She had totally disappeared the other night after being left alone with Jack.

"Oh my gosh! Hayden! I'm so sorry about the other night. I felt like a visitor from the planet of the hoes" Tay frowned, looking down at her feet out of embarrassment.

Hayley would usually laugh at Tay's comment but no ounce of her felt joyful enough to. "It's okay, we all make mistakes", she answered, referring to Taylor's partnering with Lynn.

Billy, the nerd from Hayley's gym class, walked around prom with his bird as his date. He approached the punch table and waved at Hayley and Tay.

"Hi, I would like to feed my bird" Billy announced, placing his pet onto the bench. "She's hungry."

Tay clapped her hands together with excitement as she watched the bird on the table in front of her. "Aww! Isn't she the cutest?"

Noticing Hayley hadn't answered her about the bird, Tay looked over at the girl. Following where Hayley's eyes were fixed at, Tay let out a sigh.

Across from the punch table was Jenna who had her arms around the singer of the school's band. They were getting along like a house on fire.

"How could she do that to you?!" Tay exclaimed as she folded her arms over her chest. "Is she cheating on you in the middle of prom?"

Hayley was glad for Jenna, seeing as the girl had been looking for a boyfriend all year. The singer of the band was a guy Hayley had briefly gotten to know during History class, so she actually had a sense that he would treat Jenna well.

"Oh, um, we have this open kind of relationship. She can date whoever, whenever" Hayley shrugged, thinking of the first excuse that came to her mind.

There were a lot of parts of being Hayden that Hayley wasn't going to miss and one of those was the constant lying. She hated being someone else for all the wrong reasons. This wasn't natural, it was all made up and orchestrated.

Picking up her cup of punch, Hayley hadn't even noticed the extra weight in it, having been so focused on all the thoughts that were running through her mind.

"Watch out!" Billy shouted, reaching across to Hayley's cup. Yanking his bird out of the cup, he let out sigh of relief. "Sorry, it's her first prom."

Hayley and Tay looked at each other and let out a laugh or two. Hayley was genuinely laughing and smiling this time, which she was appreciative of. Who would've thought that Billy would be the one to cheer her up?