KENNEDY
The best thing about surviving senior year is that we get rewarded with one epic night to end our whole high school experience, Prom Night. The junior prom at Oakland was spectacular and even though I didn't have a date, I still managed to have fun. But now at Pine View, I have a boyfriend who asked me to be his date with the most thoughtful Promposal and a great group of friends that we are going to have so much fun with.
All that's left is for me to buy my dress and I'm good to go. Me being the procrastinator that I am waited until the day of to buy my dress but I am not worried. Astrid is taking the day off work to help me go dress shopping and after we're done we'll go by the salon to get my hair, nails and make up done in time for Isaiah to pick me up.
The door bells rings startling me from my Pinterest search of dress ideas and I nearly drop my phone.
"Kenny can you get the door please." Astrid yells from across the house.
"Are you expecting someone?" I ask.
"Yes, thought we could use an extra pair of eyes today." She replies.
I had no idea she invited someone else for our shopping spree but I shrug it off and get off the couch to go open the door. They say the more the merrier, right?
The doorbell rings again just as I get to the door. I swing it open to reveal the last person I expected to see this morning.
"Hello Kennedy."
"Mom? What are you doing here?"
Before she can reply Astrid speaks up behind me. "I invited her."
I turn to her with a confused face. "Why?"
"You two have been fitting long enough and apparently I am the only reasonable one in the family, at least concerning this, so don't give me that look Kenny." She scolds seeing the scowl on my face. "You know I love you and I will always have your back but this fight with mom and dad has gone of long enough. You all love each other so we are going to fix this and what better way to start than a girl's day."
As much as I hate admitting it, Astrid is right. My parents and I have been fighting for too long and even though we have been acting civilized towards each other since the accident, things are still not fully okay between us. I have missed them and if Astrid thinks that this is the right move than I will take it.
"I ..."
"There is no getting out of this so no ifs or buts from you." Astrid demands cutting me off.
"I was just going to say I hope you brought your Amex." I say with a smile turning to our mother.
She smiles and nods. "Even better, I brought your dad's."
"Perfect." I grin stepping aside to let her in.
Astrid smiles at me happy that I have agreed to let bygones be bygones so we can move on. There is still a lot to talk about and hash out but for now we start with a shopping spree courtesy of my dad's black card.
Half an hour later we are out of the house and onto the side of Manhattan that mother calls her second home. For a while I had forgotten how much fun my mom can be. Shopping with her was always fun and today is reminding me of how much I'd missed partaking on such activities with her.
"You look perfect darling I think we've found it." Mom declares as I walk out of the dressing room.
We've been to a dozen stores already and I've tried on so many dresses with her dismissing each and every one until this one.
"You think so?" I ask twirling around making the material of the dress float around me.
I knew I wanted a pink theme and might have been a little bit too optimistic about how easy it would be to find a pink dress but after hours of shopping and mother's cynicism I think we've found it.
"Yes, it's gorgeous." She praises.
"What do you think Astrid?"
My sister gets up and walks towards me. "I think you look amazing and will definitely be the belle of the prom." She answers.
I turn to the mirror with a big smile on my face. The dress we have chosen is long A-line square neck, lace-tulle dress with a side slit.
"I like it as well." I declare.
"Good, then take it off and we'll pay for it and have it bagged. We still have shoes, hair, nails and make up to sort out." Mother decrees.
"Yes mother." I nod stepping away from the mirror to get back into the dressing room.
As I am getting changed my phone rings and I excitedly pick it up when I see that it's Isaiah calling me. "Hi baby."
"Berry, did you buy your dress yet?" He inquires sounding a bit anxious.
"Yes I did and not to toot my own horn but once you see it you are going to swallow your tongue." I reply.
He sighs heavily which makes me worry because that's not the reaction I was expecting from him. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that."
"Huh?"
"Berry I have some bad news." He says and my heart drops.
Please God, not again.
The accident was weeks ago and Isaiah is back to his full health but part of me will always worry about him. He is doing much better now, he quit work at The Mayfair, is going to therapy and working on fixing his insomnia. It was worrying there for a while but he is doing good and I am very proud of him.
"What bad news?" I ask looking at my dress.
"There is no better way to say this ... Prom's been cancelled." He informs me.
My initial reaction is to burst out laughing. I laugh so hard I have to sit down before I topple over.
"Don't mess with me Carter, you are wearing that tux, there's no getting out of this. Did Wes put you up to this?" I ask knowing how the two have been hanging out a lot lately.
"I'm serious Berry." Isaiah insists and the tone in his voice lets me know how serious he is so I sober up and my smile fades.
"You are?"
"Yes." He insists and proceeds to tell me everything.
By the time I walk out of the changing room five minutes later, dress clutched in hand, my mood is already down the drain. I was really looking forward to prom and now we can't go anymore.
"What's wrong darling?" Mother asks picking up on my mood change.
"Prom has been cancelled." I mumble sadly.
"What? Why?" Astrid exclaims.
"A couple of seniors tried to pull off a prank that went wrong. They ended up flooding the whole school including the gymnasium where prom was supposed to be. No venue means no prom." I reply sadly.
"I'm so sorry Kenny." Astrid apologizes hugging me.
"It's okay, I'm just bummed Isaiah didn't get to see me in my dress tonight." I mumble.
He even got a pink bowtie for his tux to match my dress perfectly and now we won't get to take all those cute couply photos I'd imagines for us.
"Good thing we hadn't paid for this yet." I smile sadly looking at my dress.
Mother who has been quiet since I dropped the news perks up all of a sudden. "You are going to have your prom night." She declares.
"Mom didn't you hear what I just said, no venue no prom." I remind her.
"Oh I heard you which is why we are going to get you a new venue." She insists.
I love how optimistic she is being but it can't be done. "How? Prom was supposed to be in a few hours."
She looks lost in thought for a moment while Astrid and I exchange confused looks. Then her face lights up as if she's had a light-bulb moment. "You can have it at the house, we definitely have the space and it's been a while since we had a party."
"Thank you for trying mom but this is not your kind of party." I chuckle at the thought of a hundred plus students at our house.
The only parties mother is used to hosting are galas and tea parties for the rich and famous. A teenage high school prom is a far cry from that.
She takes my hands in hers and smiles at me. "I know but it has come to my attention that I may have been doing this parenting thing all wrong. It will take time to make up for eighteen years so let me start with this. You and your friends deserve a great prom. And besides I've seen what a positive impact they've had on you this year so it will be my way of saying thank you to them."
Mother seems convinced by this and I like the fact that she is thinking of doing this for me but there is also the small detail of the fact that my friends don't know just how rich my parents are.
Yes, after a whole academic year together I still haven't told them, sue me.
Mother is willing to try and so should I. She is also right about one thing, my friends deserve a great prom so if that means them finding out the real truth about me then so be it. It's long overdue anyway and I don't want us going our separate ways for college before they learn the real truth about me.
"Mom it's a sweet thought but it'll still be a great undertaking. Are you sure that you can do this? We've been planning that prom for weeks and you only have a few hours." I ask her just to be sure she knows what she is getting herself into.
"Darling, have you met me, I am the queen of parties and will throw you and your friends an awesome one." She declares.
"Well okay then, let's have ourselves a prom. Thank you so much mom." I say hugging her.
Astrid gives me a thumbs up with a big smile on her face.
"You are welcome darling, one condition though." Mother requests.
"Which is?" I ask warily.
"The students who flooded the school are not invited." She insists making me laugh and sigh in relief.
I thought she was going to ask for an obscene request. "Deal, they are in jail anyway. They were caught on the school security cameras and arrested."
"Good, then let's go throw a party!" She cheers taking my dress from my hand and walking towards check out.
"You've made her really happy." Astrid whispers as we watch her.
"I know and I am happy too." I answer.
Due to the change of plans, Astrid and I end up going to the salon without mom because she has a prom to plan. By the time we part ways her party planner is on hold as she's on with the school asking for a message to be sent to all seniors with a change of venue. This new plan is so last minute but there is no one I trust more to come through for me. Eloise Foster might have questionable ways to raise children but she is one hell of a hoot when it comes to throwing the best parties.
After our very fruitful visit to the salon, Astrid drives me over to her place to help me with the rest of the preparation. Isaiah is picking me up from her place and from there we will go home which for the night will act as our prom venue.
"You look beautiful Kenny." Astrid compliments as she takes photos of me in her living room.
I am dressed and all ready to go, just waiting for my date to arrive. "Thank you, I feel very pretty." I reply posing some more.
The doorbell rings so Astrid goes to get the door which reveals Isaiah looking dashingly handsome in a charcoal black tux, white button down and pink bowtie to match my dress.
"Kenny, your knight is shining armor is here." Astrid announces dramatically as if I can't see him.
She opens the door wider to let him in and the bewildered look on his face once he sets his eyes on me is exactly the reaction I was hoping for. And to think I would have missed that look were it not for mother stepping up.
"Like what you see?" I tease Isaiah twirling around for him to see the full dress.
"Like? Berry you look magnificent. I love it." He answers.
"Thank you Iz, you look great too." I smile walking up to him.
He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me in for a kiss but we keep it short because Astrid is standing right next to us.
"I brought this for you." He says holding out a pink corsage matching his boutonniere.
I hold out my hand and he places it on my wrist. "Thank you.'
"Picture time." Astrid announces startling me a bit.
We allow her to take as many pictures as she wants before she lets us go.
"Are you ready for everyone to know?" Isaiah asks me as we ride the elevator down.
"Yes..." I trail off uncertainly.
"That doesn't sound so confident."
I sigh and lean into his shoulder. "I'm just worried about how they will react when they realize I have been lying to them for a whole year."
To be honest, I wanted to tell them a long time ago but I always kept finding excuses, then the accident happened, followed by finals and here we are.
"They love you and they will understand." Isaiah reassures me.
"I hope so."
"I know so."
He sounds so confident so I let his words wash over me. I take a deep breath crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
When we arrive downstairs I am surprised to see a white limo parked out front.
"You got us a limo?" I exclaim in surprise.
"Actually Parker did, he said he wanted us to have the whole prom experience, no expenses soared." Isaiah explains.
"This is amazing, thank Parker for me."
"I will. Ready?" He asks his hand on the door handle.
"Yes." I nod and he opens the door for me.
I step in to another surprise of all our friends at the back of the limo. When Isaiah asked me if I was ready I didn't know he meant right now but how can I be mad when I get to ride a limo to prom with all my friends.
"Princess!" Wesley cheers when he sees me.
He is dressed in a blue tux, looking dapper and ready to party.
"Hi Wes." I reply giving him a side hug.
"You two look amazing." I compliment the other duo of our little group.
Kristie's dress is a two-piece African print dress consisting of a cropped tube top with lantern sleeves and a high waisted maxi skirt. She looks amazing and so does Baron whose black tux trimmings matches the material of his girlfriend's dress.
"So do you, I love your dress." Kristie replies.
"Thank you." I blush beaming happily.
Isaiah gets in next to me wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
"A little warning would have been nice." I whisper yell referring to his little surprise of our friends sharing the limo ride with us.
"Surprise?" He grins cheekily at me.
"That I definitely am." I mumble.
"There's alcohol in here!" Wesley exclaims pulling out a bottle of champagne from the mini fridge.
"Why are you always finding things you're not supposed to find?" Baron asks me.
"I was hungry."
"You're always hungry."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are you big baby."
"You're younger than me so you're the baby."
"By a month!"
"Still counts."
"Guys cut it out." Kristie demands and they both fall silent.
It's always entertaining to watch Wesley and Baron go at each other but sometimes they pick the wrong place and time.
"So what do we do with the bubbly?" Kristie asks.
I open another compartment to reveal champagne flutes. "How about we get this party going?" I suggest.
"We are eighteen." Baron reminds us.
"Legal drinking age in more than half the world and besides we are not driving so we might as well indulge." Kristie counters.
"I'm in." Wesley declares.
The three of us turn to Baron and Isaiah who are looking at us warily.
"I'm in." Baron caves.
Isaiah sighs in defeat. "Me too I guess."
"Welcome to the dark side love." I grin as I kiss him before handing everyone a glass.
We pop the bottle open and pour it into the glasses. "To the best night of our high school lives."
"Cheers."
"You are a bad influence Berry." Isaiah whispers kissing my temple.
I turn to face him and kiss his chin. "Just you wait till after the party, then I'll show you how bad I can be." I seductively whisper in his ear.
His breath hitches and his grip on my thigh gets tighter. "I look forward to it."
"Me too." I grin.
"Hey lovebirds!" Kristie calls out forcing us to pull apart.
"What?"
"Do you know anything about the new venue? All we got was an address but no more information past that?" Kristie asks.
Isaiah looks at me and gives me an encouraging smile.
Here I go.
"I bet it's like a huge hotel or something." Wesley cuts in before I can say anything.
I am about to correct him when he rambles on. "Or a super-secret location by the planning committee to surprise all of us."
"I don't think so." Baron argues and they leave no room for me to correct them as they keep arguing on where we are going.
Any time I try to speak up, they interrupt me so I give up and decide to wait until we actually get there. Seeing is believing after all.
Isaiah is sympathetic towards the fact that the boys won't let me get a word in but he can't make them listen so he pours me some more bubbly and we relax for the rest of the drive.
When we get home the driveway is lined up with lanterns and fairly lights leading up to the house which is more lit up than it's ever been.
"Ready for this?" Isaiah whispers in my ear.
I take a deep breath and nod. "Yes."
"It's a castle!" Wesley exclaims as he rolls down the window to expose the house.
I am about to correct him but in a way he is right. I have lived here my whole life so it's just home to me but when I view it from other's perspective I guess it does look like some sort of castle. The line of cars is long but it's moving fast and before we know it we are at the front and there's a valet there opening the door for us.
"I am liking this." Kristie giggles as Baron helps her out of the car.
Wesley is next, followed by Isaiah and I. There is a red carpet leading all the way to the front door where mom and dad are standing welcoming everyone inside. I tighten my hold on Isaiah's arm as we walk up the front steps towards my parents.
"Kennedy, you're here!" Mother exclaims as soon as she sees me. "You look wonderful darling, you too Isaiah."
"Thank you ma'am."
"Thanks mom, dad,' I say hugging them.
"Mom and dad?" Wesley mutters looking confused.
There is no escaping this time so I go ahead with the long overdue introductions.
I turn to them and nod. "Guys I would like you to meet my parents, Eloise and Reese Foster, our hosts for the night. Mom, dad, these are my friends, Wesley, Baron and Kristie."
"It's so nice to meet all of you, welcome to our home." Mom replies.
"Home?" Wesley mumbles even more confused.
"Guys, there's something I need to tell all of you." I say knowing there is no better time than the present to come clean. "I'm sorry it has taken this long but I am low-key rich." I confess.
"Parents? Home? You live here and these are your parents?" Wesley asks looking around.
I nod turning to Baron and Kristie who have been silent the whole time. "Guys?"
"I knew." Kristie admits and its my turn to me surprised.
"Me too." Baron adds.
"Don't look at me, I didn't tell them." Isaiah says when I turn to him.
"He didn't." Kristie assures me.
"Then how did you find out?" I ask.
"Miss June asked for help planning the senior class trip. I was curious about who funded us when I saw how much money was donated so I did some digging and I was able to find out who the donor was. After seeing the familiar last name, I connected the dots and confirmed it with a little online search." Kristie confesses.
"And she told me after she found out." Baron adds.
"Are you guys mad?" I ask biting my lip nervously.
"Mad never, just confused why you felt the need to hide that you are a Foster of The Foster family from us." Kristie asks.
"At first I didn't want to get bullied for being more different than I already was, then when we became friends I didn't want you guys excluding me for being rich and when I saw that you're not those types of friends I kept putting it off until today." I confess.
"I'm not mad, just impressed that you were able to keep it secret for this long but now that I think about it there were signs." Baron replies.
"Yes like the fancy lunches, the gifts and the facts that spending money on us never fazed you." Kristie lists out.
They are both smiling at me which means they are not mad. "Thank you for being so understanding about this guys."
"Of course." They smile and we hug it out.
"Wesley?" I mumble turning to the silent giant.
"You guys knew? Everyone knew but didn't tell me?" He exclaims looking angry.
I knew at least one of them wouldn't take it so well.
"It was not our secret to tell." Kristie defends.
"You told B." He retorts.
"He's my boyfriend."
"I feel so betrayed." He cries.
"Wesley, it's still me, princess." I reason.
"Yeah but you are an actual princess." He groans.
"Kinda but I am still the same girl who has shared all her lunches with you, tutored you, gave you free ice cream at Frosty Dream and made that drawing of you for your birthday. Kennedy your friend not the heiress." I express.
He looks like he still wants to fight me on it but after Isaiah I am closest to him so he knows our bond is deeper than this secret that I hid from him. He was my first friend at Pine View so I wouldn't want to lose him especially after what we have been through as a group.
"So a butler really has been making all your lunches?" He asks.
"Up until two months ago, yes." I answer.
"I knew the food tasted different." He remarks making me laugh.
"So are we good?" I ask him.
Instead of a reply he leans down and hugs me, I smile and hug him back.
"You know I can never be to mad at your princess."
"Thank you Wes."
"Now that we all know Kennedy is richer than we can all possibly fathom, how about we all go have some fun." Kristie suggests.
"The party is in the formal ballroom, Kennedy if you would do the honor of taking your friends." Mother informs us.
"It will be my pleasure. Thank you so much for this mom, dad."
"You are welcome darling, have fun." Father replies.
"We will." I say as I lead all my friends inside.
They are all bewildered by our house as we walk through it headed to the ballroom. Our theme for this year was Enchanted Forest which was kind of ironic to me because of the whole Princess Merida joke but I let it go. As soon as we walk into the ballroom we are happy to discover that mother has gone above and beyond for us. She took our Enchanted Forest Theme and gave us a real fairy tale.
"Welcome to our senior prom guys." I invite.
"Yes! Now this is the life. I love rich Kennedy." Wesley decrees kissing my cheek soundly.
I laugh as he picks me up and twirls me around before setting me down.
"Let's go take pictures." He says dragging Baron and Kristie with him.
"Are you ready for the best night ever?" I ask Isaiah turning to him.
"I've already had a few of those since you joined Pine View but I am not opposed to adding one more to the growing list." He replies.
"Me too." I nod and pull him down for a kiss.
Wesley comes back and pulls us apart dragging us to the set up photo booth.
When I started at Pine View I was scared shitless that I wouldn't fit in and would be bullied. That did happen but I also became part of an amazing group of friends that have made my senior year worth my fall from grace after leaving Oakland. Without them I would have failed and probably flunked out.
We only have one summer left before we go off to our separate Ivy League's but we are going to make the most of it. For now, I am going to have the best prom night with my best friends and my amazing boyfriend as we bid our high school days farewell.