AUTHOR'S NOTE UP HERE FOR A MINUTE OK
Hi fam, so theres this thing on 5sosxawards account and basically Project Ugly is up for a cute lil award. So if you like this book or something you should go vote for it. It's under best Luke fanfiction, and it would really make me all happy or whatever (it's k if u don't). BUT LOL BEFORE YOU GO TAKE A GANDER I'M LOSING SO BAD IT'S FINE I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT THIS UNTIL LIKE A DAY AGO SO OOPS. Now heres the story!!! (There's going to be an author's note at the end too bc i got A LOT TO TELL U ALL ABOUT!)
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To get the feel of how prom day was going for Melody the show Toddlers and Tiaras would summarize it. Her friends had turned into the crazy pageant moms that wanted to make sure that their daughter was the one who would win first place in the competition. This was no competition, but it was classified as one of the biggest events in high school senior year history, so that was good enough.
Nikki was pulling at Melody's hair, twisting it in ways that she literally could not understand. Autumn was working on Melody's face, smothering it in makeup, which happened to be weird since Mel hadn't put makeup on in months. Now Melody was not panicking about looking good for prom, she was terrified of how Luke was going to handle it. She still hadn't told him about Project Ugly, or Ashton, so tonight would be the moment of truth. She could only hope that he would handle it well, but the odds weren't in her favor.
"You have so much hair," Nikki whined for at least the tenth time.
Melody tried to laugh but it was more like a choking noise that came out of her throat. Autumn eyed her suspiciously, she had been trying to drill it into Mel's head that everything was going to be fine. It was only human to think it wasn't, she couldn't help feel nervous that Luke was going to absolutely hate her for keeping the truth from him for this long.
Melody groaned, "He's going to hate me."
Autumn and Nikki simultaneously sighed, "He's not going to hate you," Autumn reassured her.
"You don't know that," Mel pouted.
"And neither do you," Nikki countered.
Melody rolled her eyes, she was trying to think of ways to get out of prom but there was no way she could leave Luke without a date. He had promposed to her after she bought her dress, and it was so cute she almost cried.
She was inside watching Netflix and eating ice cream like always, when her breadstick of a boyfriend asked her if she wanted to hang out at his house. Thinking nothing of it, she went outside and Luke was standing next to her car with the dorkiest smile on his face. Melody of course was confused until Luke popped the hood to her car, and then she saw it. There was a poster and Luke had written "Even though you won't let me drive your car, will you break down and go to prom with me?" Of course Melody said yes, and now she was in this position.
"You're done," Nikki and Autumn both said.
Melody stood up to look in the mirror, she looked like her old self. Autumn did her makeup flawlessly, and her hair looked like a professional had done it.
"Thank you guys," she said, turning to hug the both of them. They gave her light hugs just to ensure that her hair and makeup stayed in place.
"Now you two need to go get ready, I'll pick you up later," Melody spoke as she basically shoved the two girls out of her house.
"Don't mess up your makeup!" Autumn called while she was walking down the stairs.
"Or your hair!" Nikki added.
Melody gave them both a thumbs up, and closed the door. She now had a full two hours to herself which would be full of horrible scenarios in her head, and sheer panic. She wanted to bite her nails into little stubs, but she couldn't because she had just gotten them done and she was not going to throw away $25 just because she was nervous.
After pacing around her house, and trying to watch tv, Melody's mom was pushing her out the door to take pictures of her in her prom dress.
"Mom, I really think you have enough pictures," Melody mumbled, through her smile.
"Okay, you're right. Do you have Luke's boutonniere, and your ticket?" She asked making sure Mel wasn't forgetting anything.
"Yeah, I think I'm good."
Melody's mom and dad were both beaming at their daughter, "Okay, go have fun before you make your mother cry," her dad joked.
Melody laughed curtly, and made her way to her car to pick up Nikki and Autumn. The three of them decided that they really didn't want to take a limo because they didn't have the money and Melody loved her car anyway so it wasn't a big deal.
Mel pulled up to Autumn's house, which was where both Nikki and Autumn were and walked up to the front door. She only had to knock once before the door was swung open by Autumn's mother.
Her eyes went wide when she saw Melody, "You look absolutely stunning," she praised, and motioned for her to come inside.
Autumn and Nikki were putting finishing touches on their makeup, and then they were all outside again to take pictures. Melody's cheeks were starting to hurt from all the smiling she was doing, but she preferred this over seeing Luke any time soon.
"Okay, we've got enough pictures of the three of you to last a lifetime," Autumn's mother laughed, "go have fun."
Melody sucked in a deep breath, and tried to compose herself before Autumn and Nikki dragged her off to her car. Mel was purposefully going under the speed limit, to ensure that they didn't arrive at prom too fast.
"Melody, I'm going to grow grey hair before we get to prom," Nikki complained, from the passenger seat.
"Can't drive well in heels," she lied, Nikki knew it was a lie because she saw how tightly Melody was holding onto the steering wheel. Her knuckles where ghastly white, and Nikki was slightly afraid that if she tried clutching the wheel any harder the bone would literally pop through her skin.
When the venue the prom was being held at came into view, Melody almost started hyperventilating.
"You're going to be fine, everything is going to be okay," Autumn said, trying to calm Melody down.
Melody didn't answer, but found somewhere to park and turned her car off. Autumn and Nikki were already out of their seats, which meant this was it. She had to face Luke now.
She slipped out of the car, making sure her dress was situated before she made her way into the building. Prom was being held at a fancy hotel in the area. Autumn and Nikki grabbed Melody's hands as they walked through the door. The music had started, and people were everywhere. They were serving food now, but Melody wasn't hungry at all.
"I'll go find us a table," she said, and made her way to an empty table. As soon as she sat down, her eyes scanned the room trying to locate Luke. She hadn't found him, or any of his friends yet, so maybe they weren't here. She checked her phone, there were no new texts, she looked through social media and liked all of the prom pictures her classmates had been posting on instagram.
She looked up to see Autumn and Nikki walking towards the table, but it was more than just them. Luke was following closely behind, with Ashton, and Michael.
They all had made it to the table, Melody had to look up at Luke now.
His jaw was slack, and his eyebrows were knitted together in confusion. The next person she looked at was Ashton, who seemed just as nervous as she was.
"Isn't your girlfriend pretty, Luke?" Nikki asked, elbowing Luke's arm.
Luke turned his head to look at Ashton, and Melody's body went rigid. It was happening there was no turning back now.
"Oh my god," he finally spoke, running a hand through his hair. He tipped his head back and laughed.
"Luke..." Melody began, but her throat had a knot in it the size of Texas, she couldn't get another word out.
His harsh gaze was now focussed on her, "You knew."
Melody's bottom lip quivered and she looked to Ashton, he looked like he was in pain now.
"You all knew? Didn't you?" He asked looking around at everyone. No one met his gaze. He laughed again, it sounded menacing and cold. He was clutching Melody's corsage in his hand so tightly, that the flower was beyond ruined now.
"Luke, it's not her fault," Ashton spoke up.
Luke didn't take Ashton's comment into consideration, he acted as if he hadn't even spoken.
"I fucking trusted you. You were the first girl that I really felt something for. Was this some kind of joke to you? You don't even look like the same person right now. Did you think I wasn't going to find out?" Luke couldn't think straight, too many thoughts and emotions were swirling in his head. He couldn't make sense of this.
Melody cowered back into her seat, "I was going to tell you."
"Tell me that you fucking made out with my best friend, and that you were this girl that I liked last year? I don't get it what made you change? Did you do this to make fun of me?"
Michael put his hand on Luke's shoulder in attempts to calm him down, but Luke shrugged it off.
"No I just-"
"You just what?" Luke growled, then very suddenly turned to Ashton, "You planned this didn't you? You thought this would be a hilarious joke on me. So you can win again. Right, Ashton?" He was yelling now, and his face was gradually getting red.
"What are you talking about? Win what? You have her, why are you getting so worked up about this now? She's yours, and you're focussing on what happened in the past," Ashton retaliated, he showed confidence in his words, which was something Melody was seriously lacking at the moment.
"You didn't recognize her that's on you," Ashton concluded.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Luke asked, directly to Melody.
She swallowed hard, "I was scared of how you would react, and I kept putting it off because I didn't want to lose you. I didn't want this to happen, and now this is all my fault."
"I can't believe I didn't see it," Luke mumbled to himself mostly, "Why did you change?"
Melody diverted her eyes to her lap, "It was a self confidence thing, I wanted to see if I could make it through a year without makeup or nice clothes."
"So you used me to boost your self confidence?" Luke snorted.
"No! That's not it, I didn't expect for you to come along at all, Luke," Melody choked out.
Ashton grabbed onto Luke's shoulder this time, "Dude, stop."
"No, you stop! It's been fake. All of this is fake, I don't know what you aren't seeing but this has been one huge lie," he was yelling again.
"Luke-" Ashton tried, but Luke wasn't done yet.
"I love her and it's been a lie! This whole thing happened around a lie."
Melody lost her breath, her throat felt like it was closing. She was shaking horribly, and she hadn't even realized that she was crying until he had spoken those words.
"I wasn't acting any different, it was just my clothes," Melody tried to reason with Luke.
Luke dropped the torn up corsage on the table, and stormed away without bothering to answer Melody.
"I need to get out of here," she cried, she could barely breathe. Melody was really trying to keep it together as best she could, but it was hard when it felt like there was a huge hole in her chest. Luke had said he loved her, and now she was losing him. She hadn't even figured out if she loved him yet. If she was hurting this much, then she was pretty sure she loved him, she loved him so much.
She stood up from the table, trying not to trip on her stupid dress, and made her way towards the door. Nikki was trailing behind, and Autumn had stayed behind to talk to Ashton before following her friends.
"Mel, wait up," Nikki called, but Melody could not slow down. She couldn't let all these people see her crying. She made a beeline for the bathroom, and once inside she dropped to the ground. Nikki made it inside soon after and immediately was on the ground hugging her best friend.
The only way to describe Melody was the Kim Kardashian ugly cry. Nikki was rubbing her back trying to soothe her, but it wasn't helping, nothing was going to help now. Melody's chest was on fire, and she was barely getting the air she needed into her lungs.
"He hates me," she cried, over and over again. Autumn slipped into the bathroom and sat on the opposite side that Nikki was on.
"I think I love him, and he hates me," Mel whimpered into her hands.
Autumn and Nikki exchanged looks, "We know, Mel. He doesn't hate you, he's just confused."
Melody violently shook her head, "No, he hates me," she sobbed.
The three were in the bathroom for a while, and multiple other girls had come and gone. A few gave the girls strange looks, and Nikki would mouth to them that there was nothing to look at.
Melody had finally stopped crying, but she didn't even want to look at her makeup, because she could only imagine how much of a clown she looked like.
"I want to go home," she said quietly. Her throat was raw from trying to catch her breath, and bawling her eyes out.
Autumn and Nikki stood to there feet, and grabbed Melody's hands, "Let's get you home," Autumn nodded.
The three stumbled out of the bathroom, with Melody's head bowed in shame. She wanted to get away from all of these people, and get out of her dress.
"Let me drive," Nikki asserted. Melody was too tired to argue so she handed her the keys. It would be safer with her driving anyway.
Mel climbed into the passenger seat, buckled her seatbelt, and curled up into a ball. She wanted her bed and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
Melody wiped underneath her eyes and sniffled, "He hates me."
"We're here for you, Melody," Autumn replied.
"Always," Nikki added.
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OOOOOoh emotional ok. Um hi!!!!!!! It's been a while but I'm back again. I feel like no one likes this anymore it's ok. Told you prom would be big drama. I feel like it's rushed but idk, I could have done better but it's late and I have a bad ass headache so this is it. I literally feel bad for MELODY LIKE POOR BABY SHE WAS JUST TRYING TO LIKE HERSELF WITHOUT MAKEUP. Idk Luke is just overwhelmed so he's bein a dink stay tuned for more alright.
I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL MY FRIENDS I DID IT. It was so surreal like I still feel like I have to go back to my high school in September. Also my diploma (I spelled this as dimplomo the first time around nice) is not a piece of rolled up paper it's like a framed little dinky piece of paper in like a leather book thing idk it's weird. I always thought diplomas were rolled up and tied nice idk you know what I'm talking about. OH I WAS KILLING IT AT GRADUATION THOUGH MY EYEBROWS CAME TO SLAY THE GAME LITERALLY, my eyeshadow was pretty nice too. It was a nice time I liked it. I LIKED GRADUATION MORE THAN I LIKED MY PROM.
Prom was legitimately awful, I had my makeup professionally done and I came out looking like snookie from season 1 of Jersey Shore it was awful. My dress also didn't fit!!!! And I didn't get to take pictures with my friends like I wanted to, it was a mess I cried multiple times.
But then I went away for prom weekend and LOOOOOL LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THAT. We called the house our trap house to start it off. Like rap music was playing 24 hours a day, and everyone was the definition of turnt. It was annoying tho because I was literally mom for the weekend like I was taking care of people. BUT THIS KID WAS HIGHKEY TRYING TO DO THE DO WITH ME AND I WAS LIKE NO SIR NOT TODAY NOPE, AND THIS OTHER KID GRABBED MY BOOB I WAS LIKE FAM WE CAN'T PLAY THIS GAME I DON'T WANT THIS. The trap house was tragic, and we had some party crashers and I thought the cops were going to be called so I hid in a box in the basement. It was wild to say the least. Also someone threw up on a wall it was DISGUSTING.
Will anyone read that probably not it's fine I love talking about the trap house because it's so funny.
I love u guys for putting up with my terrible writing and awful updating patterns. Thank you for your comments and votes you guys are literally so nice to me. I really do appreciate all of you.
-Amanda