Epilogue…
Lydia fussed around my hair and despite how annoyed I would normally be by that, I couldn’t help but smile happily. The loose curls Lydia had expertly styled hung perfectly and I knew that without her help, my hair would be a disaster, like the many times I’d tried to do it by myself in preparation.
Mel’s and Grace’s looked just as nice, of course, and as we all crowded around the huge mirror in Mel’s equally enormous house, I could barely recognise any of us. Including Lydia, who had made just as much of an effort herself - being Grace’s date to prom.
We’d figured it out so that Lydia and Matt would be able to join us at prom and not miss out on all the fun. After consulting Mrs. Danks and making sure we reminded her of all the hard work Grace and I had put at school and just how well we’d done on our final exams, we’d managed to persuade her to let us bring dates from outside the school.
We’d decided it would be best not to mention just who they were, after all she’d seen Jord and Matt fighting, which hadn’t exactly given her a great opinion of him. And as far as she was concerned, Lydia was the girl who’d been Jord’s girlfriend and cheated on him with his own brother.
They didn’t seem like very likely candidates when it came down to the lies she’d been fed over time.
Unfortunately, Jord was the only person I couldn’t officially go with, despite him being my obvious first choice. I might be living happily with him, I might have defied government enforced laws to be with him, but going to prom was the one thing I’d never be able to do with him. That had been a big downer on the day.
Of course he would be there, but it wouldn’t be the same knowing he’d be flocked with other girls the entire time. Other girls he’d have to be polite to, possibly even dance with.
I once again shuddered at the thought and held back a grimace knowing prom was going to be more of an ordeal for me than anyone else. I’d have to avoid Jord and watch him being flirted with by every girl who thought they had a chance with him now we’d officially graduated.
We had decided it would be easier to just keep us a secret, for risk of annoyance from the rest of the school who had finally decided that Leonie’s rumours were just that. As much as prom would be annoying if I had to avoid Jord, if I had to listen to snide comments from the rest of the year it would be even worse - especially from Leonie.
After that, though, I wouldn’t have to see any one of them again.
He was downstairs with Matt at the moment because he’d decided that even if we didn’t get the actual prom together, he wanted to see me beforehand. I was glad of that and I could feel the nerves creeping up on me even now; even if there wasn’t really anything for me to be anxious about.
I’d faced a lot worse than this in my life so far, in the last year, even. One night would be nothing.
I ran my hands down my dress to calm myself, even though I wasn’t stood up. Everything would be okay now, this was like the milestone of mine and Jord’s relationship. This was the point where afterwards we could just be a couple, two people with no need to stay apart from each other in public.
Lydia smiled in achievement and finally stopped fiddling and spraying the huge can of hairspray she’d managed to lug up the stairs. I took a final glance at my cascading locks and grinned. There was a reason I was only a receptionist at the hair salon and she was the real thing.
I touched the loose curls and grinned at Lydia through the mirror in front of me. “Thank you!” I exclaimed ecstatically, half because I was sick of sitting still and half because of how great she’d made it look.
She smiled proudly back at me. “It’s my pleasure.” She assured me. “Now come on, let’s get you downstairs so that Jordan can ogle you whilst he won’t be getting harassed by the rest of the school.”
I wanted to half grimace and half smile at that. Thankfully, the grin was the one that surfaced and as I stood up, the material that had been crumpled against the seat rearranged itself to be sitting perfectly just above the knee. The lilac colour was just pale enough, but not so much that it washed me out.
Grace and Mel joined me standing up and their equally contrasting dresses righted themselves. Grace had opted for a long green number that matched her eyes perfectly, whereas Mel was in short and red. I could guess it was a less slutty version of what Leonie would be wearing and it amused me that Leonie would look like a cheap tramp at the side of Mel.
Lydia, who was dressed in a simple black dress so she didn’t attract too much attention from the people she didn’t know, opened the door for us.
Walking down the stairs, I felt the jitters in my stomach again. This was probably the only time I’d get to be with Jord alone tonight - well as alone as being with Matt, Lydia, Grace and Mel could be. At least I knew they wouldn’t be flocking around him thinking he was going to be interested in them now.
I let everyone else walk in first and smiled when I saw how impressed Matt was with Lydia’s appearance. “Wow,” he muttered, grabbing her into his arms and twirling her around with a grin. “You look great.”
She smiled shyly. “Thank you.” She replied, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.
I smirked at them. They were much cuter together than Jord and I. I descended the steps last and glanced at Jord, who was watching me intently. He was wearing a suit, not a tux, but it still looked amazing on him. It was just simple, but effective.
He grinned at me when I reached the ground floor, but didn’t make the same overdramatic moves that Matt had. He settled for just placing his hands on my waist gently and giving me a tender kiss on the lips. “You look gorgeous.” He whispered against my ear.
Lydia made an affronted sound. “How come I didn’t get gorgeous?” She asked Matt with a raised eyebrow.
Matt chuckled. “Jordan’s the soppy one.”
Jord glared at Matt, but I was smiling. I loved how Jord was so romantic when it came to me. “Come on, let’s get some photos in.” Grace urged, everyone grabbing cameras and preparing to pose for the endless photos we’d not doubt be starring in variously.
Jord wrapped a gentle hand around my waist and pulled me into the side when it was our turn. We both grinned for the camera and I knew that would be a photo worth keeping.
“Where are you meeting Ben?” I suddenly asked Mel, remembering that she was the only one who had an actual date to the prom. After all the time she’d liked him, she’d been over the moon when he’d asked her to go with him.
Mel smiled dreamily to herself. After Zack she’d not been with anyone else, but Ben was a good person and I was glad that she’d got someone worth sleeping with now. “In half an hour.” She stated happily.
“Where, at his house?”
She nodded. “Yeah,” she agreed. “In fact, I’d better get going now, just so I’m not late.” She grinned at me.
I smirked. “That probably means we should be going as well, since we’re at your house.” I pointed out.
Mel laughed. “You know you can stay here for as long as you want.”
“I know.” I chuckled. “But I don’t think your dad would appreciate that so much.”
Mel’s dad had kept the house and her mum had moved in with her new boyfriend. Mel was on surprisingly good terms with them both and even more shocking, they were on good terms with each other as well. Mel being shot had brought everything into perspective for the both of them now - they were doing considerably better than my own parents, that was for sure.
Once I’d been granted the emancipation, my parents had been released and been allowed to return home. Social services still thought that I lived with Matt and whenever they happened to put in an appearance, I was. It had all be quite straight forward in that respect. It was just my parents who clearly hadn’t learnt anything and continued to abuse drugs just as much as they had before. Only now, they had nothing left to lose.
I still saw them occasionally, but I tended to avoid it. Even Jord’s mother treated me better than them.
I still kept in touch with Anna as well. When we weren’t officially classed as police and suspect any more, it was amazing what a good time we could have together. She admitted that she’d been in a relationship with one of her university lecturers when she was studying and that’s why she let me off so easily in the first place.
It was a shame she couldn’t be here for my prom as well.
“Come on, then.” Grace urged us all out the door. “We need to get going.”
Whereas the rest of the school had invested in things like limos or fancy horse drawn carriages, we’d just decided to go in our normal cars. In fact, we’d decided that Jord, Grace, Matt, Lydia and I would all fit in Jord’s car and since his was the most expensive, that was the one we were travelling in.
It might look slightly suspicious when we arrived all together, but it wouldn’t matter who thought what after tonight. I’d finally be able to walk around in public holding Jord’s hand. I’d be able to kiss him without anyone thinking it was wrong. No one would know our back-story. We’d just be a regular couple the same as anyone else.
Jord kept a gentle hand wrapped around my waist and guided me out of the lounge. After slipping my feet into the overly high heels that brought me up so my head was for once on level with Jord’s, I grinned at him. “I like being tall.” I remarked, not having to stand on my tiptoes when I pecked his lips this time.
“I like you being tall too.” He agreed, kissing my lip in return. “It’s much easier to do that.”
Matt pulled a face. “Enough with the soppiness.” He chastised playfully. “We’ve already gathered you’re the one who’s good at it. Now, we do need to get going.”
“Right, right.” I agreed, not quite stepping out of Jord’s embrace, but moving far enough away so that we could actually get a move on. “Have you got your keys?”
Jord nodded. “Yeah, right here.” He dangled them off his second finger and smiled. “Time to go.”
Mel locked the door behind us and got into her own car, which she was going to Ben’s house in. Then the rest of us piled into Jord’s vehicle; me in the front and the rest in the back. We didn’t bother with the radio and I settled for sitting sideways, so I could talk to both Jord and the people crammed in the back.
I laughed at Matt when I saw him, crushed between Grace and Lydia in the back, looking very pimp-like. “Enjoying yourself?” I inquired with a smirk.
Lydia pulled a face. “He’d better not be.” She warned him with a teasing tone.
“Of course not.” He replied innocently, putting a comforting arm around Lydia and winking at me.
I shook my head in amusement and Jord took his eyes from the road to glance at me momentarily. “You should all get out and then let me drive around to the car park. I’ll have to come in afterwards.”
I grimaced. “This is going to be awful.” I muttered quietly.
Jord fixed me with a sideways glance. “Just because you couldn’t go with me doesn’t mean you have to act like today is ruined. You can still have fun.”
“Not being able to go with you isn’t actually what’s bothering me.” I admitted, causing him to gain an affronted expression. “It’s more to do with the fact that every other girl in the year is convinced they’re going with you.”
He grinned, despite my seriousness. “Jealous?” He teased.
I fixed him with a pointed look. “How can you, of all people, talk about jealousy?” I asked, reminding him indirectly of the first time he’d kissed me.
Jord at least flushed slightly. “Hey, I’m not going around kissing any of your relatives.” He defended himself. “You can understand me having got slightly jealous.”
I smirked. “Yes,” I conceded. “I just thought I’d remind you.”
“I’ve hardly forgotten.” He muttered grimly.
Matt was laughing then. “I knew I was good.”
Lydia scowled at him. “Is there something I’m missing?” She demanded.
“It’s nothing.” Matt assured her, shaking his head with amusement. “I just kissed Jessica for Mel’s benefit once when we were fake dating. Let’s just say that Jordan wasn’t too happy with me.”
“I’m not surprised!” Lydia exclaimed incredulously.
Matt chuckled. “As her teacher, his only concern should have been that she was kissing someone in the car park.” Matt pointed out, smirking.
Lydia grimaced, but I laughed at Matt. “You say it as if part of your reason for doing it wasn’t because you were trying to make Jord jealous.”
Matt grinned. “I’m not even going to deny that.”
“You’re a bastard.” Jord summarised flatly. “And Jess, just don’t pay attention to anyone else, I’m sure they’ll get bored when they realise I’m not moving away from the wall.”
I sighed. “You don’t have to be boring just so you can avoid annoying me.” I told him seriously. “You can have a good time as well.”
“And what do you expect me to do, other than stand and watch everyone else having fun? Dance with Mrs. Danks?”
Grace, Matt and I all snorted with sudden laughter at that mental image. Lydia, who had never seen the woman, just sat their awkwardly, not knowing who we were talking about. “Oh, god, yes, do it.” I urged him hopefully. “I bet Mrs. Hippo is a great dancer.”
He fixed me with a sarcastic look. “I don’t find you at all amusing.” He told me.
I smirked. “Yes you do.” I contradicted him. “And you can talk to Matt, because I’m pretty sure he’ll be just as bored as you since we dragged him along.”
“At least he can actually dance with Lydia.” He replied bitterly. “Even if he is your date.”
I grinned to myself. So much for me being jealous. “We’re here.” Grace suddenly announced, speaking for the first time from her corner in the back of the car.
Our prom was being held at the local football stadium, which meant the car park was enormous. I could already see the lights and gatherings of people from where they were traipsing, in their extravagant gowns, towards the function room we’d hired.
When we were pulling into the car park, several people managed to see us, including Leonie, with her increasingly depleting group of friends. Through the car windows, she managed to pick out Jord and I, but just as she started pointing and making a fuss, we’d passed by and everyone stuck to giving her funny looks and ignoring her.
It was funny how people had finally started to realise what she was really like. Ever since he TV appearance, people had started to feel sorry for me, and come to the realisation that Leonie was a manipulative bitch. Somehow, that didn’t stop her having friends, though and she managed to retain a decent social life, despite people constantly backstabbing her.
It was no wonder people had stopped listening to the one truth she’d been determined on spreading around - that Jord and I were in a relationship.
When we had parked the car, in some distant corner where no one would see us getting out at least, we opened the doors and started piling out into the car park.
“Let’s just get a couple more pictures before we go in.” Lydia urged with a smile on her face. She looked positively thrilled to be reliving her prom, whereas Matt wasn’t so enthusiastic and I guessed the only happiness he was getting, was from seeing us all so excited.
We arranged ourselves into various couples and I had one with Matt, who was my official date to prom, several with Grace and Lydia and even more with Jord.
“Making up for the official one you’ll not be having?” Mel asked as she sidled up beside us, Ben in tow.
Jord and I, who were posing together for the final photo. Jord was kissing me gently on the cheek, whilst I blushed.
Ben, who obviously wasn’t aware of mine and Jord’s relationship, gaped incredulously. Whilst I wasn’t actually concerned that he knew, since we weren’t actually illegal anymore, I didn’t want him spreading it around the school any time within the next few hours. “I thought Jord might be offended if I only got pictures with his brother.”
Matt chuckled. “Jordan’s already offended you’re going with me in the first place.”
Jord glared at him. “I’m not.” He denied seriously. “You’re only coming so that I’m not the only bored one here.”
“Am I missing something here?” Ben voiced what his facial expression was obviously conveying.
Mel just patted his shoulder. “It’s best just not to ask.” She advised him seriously.
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Can you blame me for being slightly curious? How come these two are coming to prom anyway, I don’t remember them being at our school?” He inquired, gesturing to Matt and Lydia.
“I’m Jordan’s brother, and Jessica’s date to prom.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Jord. “And this is Lydia, my girlfriend, she’s Grace’s date.”
“This is all really confusing.” Ben shook his head in amusement. “I’m not going to bother ask any more, but seriously Jessica? You and Mr. Armstrong?”
I shrugged. “At least you look genuinely surprised.”
Matt chuckled from behind me. “I guess Leonie’s rumours weren’t as easily believed as we all thought.”
Ben suddenly turned on him. “Didn’t you used to be Jessica’s boyfriend?” He suddenly asked, shocked once more.
“Fake.” I assured him. “In fact, most of what I’ve done in the last year has been a lie, so I’d just wipe the slate clean and look on it from here on out if I were you.” I advised.
He laughed. “Fair enough, I think I’ll just roll with it.”
Mel smiled genuinely at him. “That is most definitely the right attitude to have.” She appraised him. “Now come on guys! Let’s go and have fun.”
I sighed and gave Jord a quick peck on the lips. “Have fun at the wall.”
He grimaced. “I’m sure I will.” He replied. “Have fun with my brother.”
“I’m sure I will.” I mocked with a smirk.
He got back into his car, where he’d sit for a couple of minutes until we were safely inside, whilst we headed towards the main entrance. Despite me being Matt’s date, he walked with Lydia and I walked with Grace. I wouldn’t have had it any other way, though. Lydia looked like she was enjoying herself so much.
“You know, when I first came, I didn’t even think I’d end up going to prom.” She admitted as we walked.
I shot her a sideways glance, actually understanding what she meant. Even though I’d been friends with Mel, and all her other bitchy friends, I’d been tempted to just avoid the whole ordeal because I knew that I wouldn’t have enjoyed it with those people. “I bet you’re glad you’re here now, though.” I said seriously.
She grinned. “I am.” I agreed. “I’m glad you got Lydia and Matt to come as well, somehow it just wouldn’t be the same without them.”
“You’re right.” I said, looking ahead of me where Matt and Lydia were walking along, appearing very in love. “And Mel too.” Her and Ben were walking ahead of even Matt and Lydia, and they looked just as happy. “I miss Jord.” I complained, pouting like a child.
Grace snorted. “We’re nearly there now, you can go and lurk around his wall as soon as we’re in there.” She assured me. “Although you probably should have brought a baseball bat to get rid of all the unwanted attention he’s going to get.”
“You really know how to make me feel better, don’t you?” I joked sarcastically.
She grinned. “I’m here to help!”
We arrived at the door then where the official photographer and the deputy head, Mr. Davy, was stood. Since Matt and Lydia were ahead of us, he glanced at them with a hard stare when they tried to pass through.
“I’m almost certain that I know all the pupils in this year group and you two are most definitely not part of them.” He drawled monotonously. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, please.”
I coughed from behind them. “Maybe if you checked your list,” I gestured at the piece of paper he’d probably not even glanced at all night. “You’d see that they’re on it. Matt’s with me and Lydia’s with Grace.” I explained coldly.
Mr. Davy looked at me with a cool glance after sweeping over the names on his list. “Fine, go ahead, have a good night.” It didn’t at all sound like he meant it, but at least we got to move away from him.
“I guess it’s no surprise he ended up on the door.” Matt commented as we got into the pairs we were supposed to be in. “He’s not exactly the life of the party, is he?”
I smirked. “I’m shocked he even turned up.” I replied. “But I’m pretty sure he wears that suit to teach in anyway.”
We both shared a laugh as we walked past the photographer, who got us grinning at each other. “Jordan will be in soon, then you can ditch me for the ugly sister.”
I shook my head in amusement. “I don’t think I’ll be able to just stand about and talk to him, somehow.” I told him seriously. “I think you might have underestimated the annoyance of the rest of the girls in my year.”
He chuckled. “I think you might have underestimated how good looking my brother actually is. You see, if I was the teacher here, people would be queuing up.”
I pretended to give him a once over with my eyes. “I think I underestimated how vain you actually are.”
Grinning, Matt stood still as we waited for Lydia to join us. “You can afford to be vain when you look like this.”
I rolled my eyes. “Now I really miss Jord.” I told him seriously.
“Well, there he is.” Grace subtly gestured over to where he was walking in alone, trying desperately to avoid any attention.
Whilst there wasn’t some kind of fan girl hoard that instantly whooshed to beside him, it didn’t take long before he’d gained some attention and the first group of people he walked beside engaged him in conversation. He looked across and met my eyes. I smiled, but it didn’t last longer than a couple of minutes, before he was laughing in a way that actually looked genuine, I was pleased to say.
If all Jord did was stand about looking morbid, it wouldn’t let me enjoy everything as much as I wanted to.
“Let’s go and get something to drink.” Lydia suggested, from where she was now stood beside Matt, holding his hand.
Mel and Ben were still with us at the moment, but I didn’t doubt they would disappear soon enough. Mel would take any chance she had to keep Ben impressed with her after she’d waited so long for this to happen.
Whilst we all huddled in a corner, talking and laughing about trivial things, I kept my eye on Jord. It wasn’t long before he managed to escape the people he was talking to and hide next to Matt in our corner. “Having fun?” I asked him teasingly.
He glared at me, but smiled nevertheless. “Yes, actually.” He admitted. “But it’s definitely better over here.”
I grinned. “Near the wall.” I teased.
He shook his head in amusement. “I don’t expect you to stay here with me all night, you know.” He told me as Mel and Ben went to go and dance.
I shrugged. “Trust me, I wont be doing.” I replied with a smirk. “But for now, I’m happy here with you, Matt and Lydia.” Whilst they were stood with us, so that we didn’t look overly suspicious, they weren’t actually paying any attention to anything other than each other.
I took this time to look around at what everyone else was wearing and who they’d come with. I wasn’t particularly interested in the school politics, but it was mildly exciting to see who had forged relationships with who since I’d last taken note.
I wasn’t surprised by who I saw in general and everyone had basically the same dress, just in different colours, with or without sleeves, different lengths. The only couple I was surprised by, was Zack and Leonie.
That just proved what a low she’d stooped to. If she needed to go to prom with the boyfriend who’d cheated on her with her supposed best friend, then she hadn’t had any other offers. And Zack was obviously taking what he could get due to the reputation he’d earned himself.
“I just realised that my mum and dad didn’t even see my prom dress.” I suddenly remembered, pulling a face and glancing down at myself. Mel’s parents had both seen her in it before we left and Grace had made sure to do herself up before she got to Mel’s so her parents could get pictures with her.
My parents, however, were more than likely oblivious though, sitting on their sofa high as a kite.
Jord sent me a sympathetic look as I’d expected. “We can nip there afterwards, if you want. We don’t have to go home for any reason.”
I still couldn’t help the small smile that worked its way onto my face when Jord referred to his house as my home as well. We’d been living like that for months and I was more than used to it. We’d definitely become closer because of it and for that reason, I couldn’t quite regret the events that had led to that consequence.
But, I did still miss my parents. They’d been the only constant in my life for years and that had changed dramatically. Whilst I understood they weren’t the perfect role models, they were still my parents.
“Do you mind?” I checked. I still hadn’t broken the news to my parents that Jord and I were together; they even still thought I was living with Matt. Consequently, Jord tended to avoid my parents, just because we didn’t want the drama that would come with them finding out about us, even now. “My parents-”
I was cut off when a girl in my year sidled up beside me, a warm smile on her face. “Hi Jessica.” She beamed at me.
I stared at her momentarily, trying to recall the name of the girl I thought I must have talked to about twice in my life. “Hi Emily.” I reciprocated the smile, somewhat less enthusiastically. “I like you’re dress.”
I glanced at Jord, who was trying to hold back a grimace. We both knew there was only one reason Emily had suddenly chosen to become my best friend. “I like yours too.” She grinned at me. “I haven’t seen you out on the floor yet, though, who have you come with?”
I gestured to Matt, who was still too absorbed with Lydia to have noticed our newest visitor. “Matt.” I explained, as though the name would mean anything to her.
“It looks like he’s paying you plenty of attention.” She remarked sarcastically.
“That’s probably because he’s with his girlfriend.” Jord supplied, his tone having changed from the light chatty one to the annoyed one thanks to our conversation having been interrupted.
“Why would he have come with Jessica if he had a girlfriend?” Emily asked, stumped.
I rolled my eyes. Why did people always decide to be so inquisitive when they talked to me. Surely everything I did wasn’t that complicated. “Because Lydia’s left school, so she had to come with me to get in and Matt went with Jessica.” Grace explained for me, sounding equally annoyed at Emily’s unnecessary questions. “I’m going to get another drink.” Grace excused herself then, managing to avoid this girl’s annoying presence.
She smirked at me as I glared. “I might join you, actually.” Jord added innocently, making me turn my glower on him.
“Don’t you dare.” I warned seriously.
He grinned at me. “It was worth a try.”
I shook my head. “No it wasn’t.”
We both shared a smile, but Emily was quick to interrupt. “You should probably go and see if your friend Grace is alright. She’s been getting a drink for a while.”
“I’m not surprised.” I muttered, sending an obviously fake smile at her because she had no doubt heard me. “I think I’ll stay here, thanks.”
Jord smirked at me, knowing I wasn’t going to let this pass easily. I could handle one person well enough, I hoped, so I wasn’t going to sacrifice Jord’s company until I was forced away from him. “Sounds like a good plan to me.” He agreed, more fearless knowing that the person he was talking to wasn’t officially his student anymore.
Emily glanced between the two of us with a look that could almost be recognised at suspicion. For once, I felt fearless, though. Whilst she might be able to make the rest of my prom slightly less enjoyable by spreading any kind of rumour about me, it wouldn’t detract from anything else in my life. Jord and I were legal in every sense of the word now. There was nothing anyone could do to say otherwise.
“So, Mr. Armstrong,” Emily blatantly turned the conversation away from me and onto him as well. “Are you going to miss teaching our year group?”
He glanced at me. “Not particularly. There’s certain advantages to not teaching you lot anymore.”
I smirked to myself. He was enjoying playing with fire here. “Things like what?” She inquired confused, obviously oblivious as to what he was insinuating. “I can’t think of any reason why you’d not want to teach us anymore.”
I smirked. “Yeah Jord, we surely weren’t that bad.”
He smirked at me, sharing my thoughts at how much we’d both suffering due to some of the member’s of my year group, namely Zack and Leonie. “Did you just call him Jord?” Emily inquired incredulously.
I fixed her with an annoyed glance. “Yes.” I said blatantly, looking back to Jord and waiting for him to supply me with an answer.
“Can I call you Jord to?” She asked him instead, making him frown.
“What? No.” He shot her down immediately. “I hate it when people call me that.”
Her face became even more confused and I smirked to myself. I loved confusing people with mine and Jord’s queer habits, but I’d never been able to enjoy it before because of the risk it posed to the both of us.
Matt chose that moment to turn around and rejoin our conversation, but I guessed that was only because he noticed we had unwanted company. “Having fun?” He asked us with a smirk.
I scowled. “Decided to finally pay me some attention?” I inquired cheekily.
He grinned. “Feeling left out?” He pouted at me and I chuckled. “I thought you’d be much happier talking to Jordan all night.”
“I was.” I agreed, not-so-subtly glancing at Emily to emphasise the ‘was’ in that sentence.
Matt laughed. “Well, I think I’ll steal you away from my brother for a while, since you are my date after all. We can go dance for a while.”
I noticed Jord’s suddenly horrified face and I grinned at him. This was as good a time as any to get him back for trying to sneak away with Grace. “That sounds like a fantastic idea.” I told Matt, taking his arm and continuing to grin happily at Jord.
“Jessica’s date is your brother?” I heard Emily ask as Matt and I prepared to leave.
Jord let out an aggravated sigh. “Don’t leave me Jess.” He begged dramatically. “I don’t think I can bare it.”
Emily, who he was blatantly doing this in front of, looked offended, but it didn’t inspire her to leave Jord alone like anyone else would have done. Instead, she stayed where she was stood and looked at him expectantly.
I waved sarcastically at him, whom Lydia had chosen to stand next to since I’d stolen her boyfriend. “Oh, and I was going to say that my parents aren’t exactly your biggest fan, so if you don’t want to go see them then I don’t mind. I’ll show them the pictures of my prom dress.”
Emily’s face turned even more shocked, just as I’d expected, and I smirked to myself. Jord, who looked even more annoyed at me, still found himself answering the question regardless. “Well, I’ll probably drop Grace off first and then me, you, Matt and Lydia can go and see them, since they think you’re living with Matt anyway. They’ll want to see you in your prom dress.”
I smiled at him, genuinely this time. “I know.” I agreed. “Even if they don’t remember it in the morning, at least I’ll have been.”
He gave me a sympathetic look, until Emily started to open her mouth to interrupt again. “See you later.” I stopped her briefly by talking to Jord, then grinned at him as he prepared to face her wrath of questions.
There was nothing like putting him in a dire situation.
Matt and I moved out to where everyone else was dancing then and we grinned at each other. “That was cruel.” He commented as we started to get into the rhythm. “I almost feel sorry for him having to deal with her.”
“Ah, but it’s an almost, and that’s what counts.” I stated seriously.
I glanced back over to him and did feel almost guilty as I saw him run an exasperated hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself down. Lydia, who was stood at the side of him, appeared to be holding back her chuckles.
He met my eyes and narrowed them whilst I smiled innocently.
Our eye contact was only interrupted by the DJ making an announcement. “It’s time for the student teacher dance!” He declared, smiling down at someone at the side of him, someone who I quickly recognised at Grace. I grinned to myself. So that’s why she’d been so long.
Jord was by my side in practically an instant. He’d had to nearly run away from Emily, who’d been tugging on his arm hopefully. “Thank god for Grace and her good ideas.” He muttered, avoiding eye contact with the girls who were glancing at him disappointedly.
Slipping his arms around my waist as the music started, we began to move in time. I returned the gesture and my arms were soon around his neck, although I felt suddenly self conscious with the realisation that I had never danced with Jord before. Also, when I glanced around, I noticed several of the students who were teacher-less had chosen to watch us.
“This could have been your perfect opportunity to have that dance with Mrs. Danks.” I told him with a smirk as we glided past her and the unfortunate person who had gained her as a partner.
He shook his head in amusement. “That wouldn’t have been student and teacher though, would it?” He pointed out.
My smile widened. “That means there’s still time, then!” I declared happily.
“I don’t think so.” He contradicted me seriously. “I’m happy to stay dancing with you and avoiding everyone else thank you very much.”
I shrugged. “I can manage that.” I complied happily.
Jord pulled me slightly closer, so that we were in a more intimate position than the other couples, who all appeared very awkward around each other.
“I get the feeling we’re the only two who are actually enjoying this.” I told Jord as the song reached its climax.
Jord chuckled. “I couldn’t care less. This is the most fun I’ve had all night.”
“Even though I didn’t get to officially go with you, I still got photos and a dance. I think that’s probably more than I’ll get with Matt.”
“Good.” Jord muttered.
He pulled me closer again then and I shook my head in amusement. “Jealous.” I chirped in a sing-song voice, goading him shamelessly.
Closer again, so that our face were mere centimetres from each other, he smirked. “I am not.” He replied seriously. “I am surely allowed to love my girlfriend.” Being called that was almost as surreal as the home comments, and it made me grin further and actually stand on my tiptoes so my head was even closer to his.
The music died down then, but neither of us moved.
When we did move, it was to bring our lips together in a gentle peck.
In that moment, I’d forgotten we were in the middle of the room, with people’s eyes on us.
When I heard the claps, that had been started by Mel, Grace, Lydia and Matt, though, I found myself grinning at Jord. There was nothing wrong with our relationship anymore.
I pushed forward and kissed him again, in what was the second of many kisses I would be giving him in front of people who couldn’t judge us anymore.
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That's the end! And bloody hell, it took me long enough to get there. My laptop broke and so I've been lacking on the internet connection front, but I'm repaired now and back to business - not that there's anymore of this story left to upload! :(
I hope everyone enjoyed it! And for those ASoIaF and Game of Thrones fans out there, I couldn't help the "wall" references I kept making there ;D I've been obsessed with the series recently!
And for people who are upset I've finished this and am almost done with The Kissing Ban, I'm well under way with a new project that I'm going to start uploading once I've finished my current stories.
Also, I now have a Tumblr account - external link.
I really can't thank my fans enough for supporting this story - so THANKYOU! I love you all guys and I really hope I haven't disappointed anybody too much when it got to the end, because to be honest, I think i've finished it off pretty poorly.
Well, this is it anyway, and this is the end of Jess and Jord's story now, there won't be anymore sequels.