Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE - BEGIN AGAIN

"You don't even drive to school," he said. "When did he do it?"

She shrugged. "He must've sprinted here right after school! How cute is that!"

"That's pretty adorable," I admitted.

Lorelai's grin spread from ear to ear. I hadn't seen her that excited about anything in a while. "Now...how do I even get this stuff off?"

"A razor," Alec said. "Duh."

I stared at him blankly. "You're literally an idiot." I turned to Lorelai. "Hose it off. That's probably why he used shaving cream. It's easy to get off."

"Why is he asking you now?" Alec asked. "Isn't prom in, like, May?"

"People have been getting asked for weeks," she said. "Better safe than sorry! I'd hate to go to prom without a date."

I nodded in agreement. "So guys. I have news. Let us migrate to the bench swing."

"What's up?" Alec asked as the three of us sat down.

"Well I went to the doctor's earlier today," I told them, "and I got my last treatment."

"Wait, what do you mean your last treatment?" Lorelai asked, not comprehending.

I smiled. "I'm done for now. It's gone."

"Your cancer's gone?" Alec asked, shocked.

I nodded. "Almost! As of this treatment, I'm cancer-free!"

"That's fantastic!" Alec exclaimed, engulfing me in a hug.

"I mean, it'll come back, that's a given, but I'm okay for now!"

"Are you going to be able to start going back to school again?" Lorelai asked hopefully.

I nodded. "Starting Monday!"

"That means you can go to prom!" she said.

I laughed. "I doubt that'll happen," I told her. "No one'ss going to want to take a girl with no hair to the prom."

"You are not missing junior prom!" Lorelai exclaimed, astonished that I would even suggest such a thing. "You will go and you will like it!"

I rolled my eyes. "No one will even take me!"

"So go without a date," she insisted. "I'm not going to let you stay home alone that night.

I shrugged. "I'll worry about it later," I told her. "Prom is months away."

* * *

In the mean time, prom was the least of my worries. By the time Sunday night came, I was really stressing out about going to school the next day. I hadn't been for months and I had no idea how my classmates would react towards me; I had been pretty much MIA for three months and I didn't exactly have much hair. Highschoolers were judgemental. I was terrified.

I planned my outfit carefully as if it were to be worn on the first day of an entirely new school year. I picked out a nice scarf to wear with it, my favorite boots... anything to take attention away from the bandana that I would be wearing on my head. Sure, my hair would slowly be growing back from now on, but it couldn't happen soon enough. I longed to go to school in my traditional I-don't-give-a-shit sidebraid, but that wasn't even an option.

Sleep that night was almost nonexistent. As much as I had veen longing to return to school for these last few months, I was dreading the next day. I was dreading my first day back.

When I woke the next morning, the dread was real. I pulled myslf out of bed and dragged myself through my old morning routine. I ate my sad excuse for a breakfast (key lime pie yogurt...judge me), dressed myself, and met Alec and Lorelai outside at 7:20 in the morning, two hours and ten minutes before I usually woke up.