It was December now. I was supposed to be happy because it was nearly Christmas, but to be honest, Christmas just seemed like another day to me. Forget family - all my mum managed to do for Christmas was put a chicken in the oven (not even a turkey) and hang up some Christmas lights. I had never had the pleasure of opening an advent calendar, or getting twenty presents. I just merely got a hoodie or a book from both my mum and Levi. And then that got worse, because Levi wouldn't give me a present. Levi hated me, and therefore would ruin Christmas for me. It wouldn't be too bad with Aiden around, but then, I was pretty sure that he would be going back to Australia with his direct family. The only thing I was looking forward to was the prom, just in a few days time, on the seventh of December.
The whole year was buzzing about the school dance. Already I knew that this was the most special dance of the year - at least for the GCSE students. It was the Christmas one, exclusive to Year Ten and Eleven, and guaranteed to be nothing like the piles of crap that were the almost monthly Parents Association Discos. It wasn't exactly strictly Year Ten and Eleven - actually, if you were in the older years, you could come as long as a Year Ten or Eleven invited you. The teachers kept insisting it was a time for fun, and a date wasn't essential. But nobody cared about that. In fact, the teachers weren't even going to be there, just a few volunteer parents and a DJ.
If you didn't get a date, you were doomed to be a loner for the rest of the night.
It was funny, because I was one of the first people to get a date, surprisingly enough. Well, not exactly a date, just a someone to drag along with me so I wouldn't be more alone than ever. Aiden was a charmer, and if people believed that such a sweet guy like Aiden would like me, then they might finally give me a chance and give me some friends. If people believed I could turn up to a half-party and be normal, I had a chance. I would be popular.
It was now or never - I had to prove them wrong at the dance. It was the best opportunity I had.
***
"Lexi..."
"Yeah?"
"You know that dance in a few days?"
"Yeah..."
"Um..."
"What, Thomas?"
"Will you go with me?"
"Well..."
"Lexi?"
"I'm kind of already going with someone else. Sorry."
I could never forget that look of disappointment and sadness that was on Thomas's face.
***
"Lexi?" Aiden called from the other side of my bedroom door.
"Yeah?" I answered, top-coating my newly done nails.
"Are you ready yet? We're gonna be late for your school dance!"
I fanned my blue nails for a while, and then looked in the mirror. I looked okay, for once. I was wearing a new turquoise dress that I had bought earlier that week, that went down to my knees. It was covered in gems and sequins, with a flower design and suited me quite well. My hair was the problem - but after watching endless hair tutorials from YouTube, I settled for a fishtail braid with a sky-blue flower clipped into it. Adjusting the straps on my dress slightly, I opened the door to see Aiden grinning at me.
He looked quite good, tonight, actually. Aiden had a good old suit on, and his hair was all messed up like it normally was. I guess boys didn't have to spend so long on clothes, but then they always managed to look better in less time. As for girls, it took me at least two hours for my hair alone and I still looked awful.
But we didn't have any more time to get ready so I had to stick with what I had.
"Ready?" Aiden said, grinning.
"Ready," I agreed, smiling back. I just had a feeling that this was going to be the night. I wasn't psychic or anything, but I just had a feeling.
He put his hands into his pockets as we slumped down the stairs, and I re-clipped my blue flower into my hair.
"Oh my God, you guys are going together? God, you're such a loner, Lexi. Even that Thomas dude wouldn't go with you!"
We turned around and saw Levi. Even Levi looked better than me. He was in a white suit, and had gelled his hair back.
Why did I have the ugly genes and the worst social genes that I had ever seen?
"Levi, we went over this. You can't just call your twin sister a loner like you mean it!"
Aw, supportive Aiden. I looked at Aiden gratefully.
"Yeah, but come on, this is complete incest. First she literally tries to make out my best friend, and no, I don't care if she was drunk, because if she wasn't a complete idiot it wouldn't have happened. Then, she practically takes you out on a date! You! You're her cousin!" Levi argued, as if I wasn't even there.
Aiden glanced at me. "We're going as friends."
"Isn't it obvious she's using you?" Levi stared at Aiden in disbelief. I rolled my eyes. Trust Levi to twist things. I was literally bringing Aiden along for company, and if he didn't think that, then that was his problem. Soon people would know the real me.
"Why would she use me? Lexi's too nice to do that," Aiden said, and I was so grateful that he thought that I was nice. He was one of only two people, the other person being a science-geek who was obsessed with me. "It's more like you're the mean one, Levi."
Levi let out a grunt of annoyance. "See for yourself." He ran down the stairs, nudging both me and Aiden, ignored my mum at the bottom of the stairs with her camera out and walked through the front door, slamming it behind him.
"You teenagers are too confusing," my mother said, as me and Aiden got to the bottom of the steps. My mum looked shocked after that outburst. "Did Levi really just say that?"
"Yeah," Aiden replied before I could.
"Don't worry, he was probably in a bad mood," I said, with the cheesiest smile I could muster.
Aiden looked at me, perplexed by my lie about Levi to my mum, but didn't say anything. I tried to tell him not to say anything about Levi, telepathically.
I missed mine and Levi's twin telepathy.
"Hey, teenagers are confusing," I grinned, and my mum swallowed that up.
Life is confusing.
What is the meaning of life?
***
It was two hours into the prom and I was as bored as ever. Aiden had abandoned me to go hang out with people his own age. I had tried to make an entrance with him and I was pretty sure it worked, because the Populars were obviously surprised that I could make friends. Friends! A foreign word in my mind.
Even Francis looked at me in surprise, surprise that someone normal could actually befriend me. I smiled at everyone in view, and then sat down, making sure my blue dress stood out as much as possible. After grabbing a few bites of food, Aiden and I went onto the dance floor and attempted dancing, but it ended up just being chatting and moving our feet to the rhythm. A few people were looking at us and whispering, but I was pretty sure it was positive. If they could see a perfectly normal person appreciating me, maybe other people could appreciate me.
It was twenty minutes later when Aiden went to talk to a friend from the older years, who had come with a Year Eleven. And since then, most of the night had gone by for me in silence whilst I tried to pretend to like the awful music that was going on; even though this was meant to be the best disco, the music was not great. I had barely said anything, just trying to look like I was waiting for someone to get food or something. I didn't want anyone to think I was a freak. I had wandered around with a cup of Coke at one point, watching various couples and friendship groups have a good time. Without Aiden, I was completely alone and being the normal awkward turtle I was. That was, until I bumped into Holly, but instead of glaring at me, she smiled.
"You know that Aiden boy you came in with?"
"Yeah?" Was she going to forgive me and believe me once again?
"Isn't he, like, your cousin?" Holly asked inquisitively.
"Yeah," I confirmed, trying to look as friendly as possible. Holly raised her eyebrows and walked away.
I wasn't sure if she had forgiven me or not, as she went back to join Lucas.
Oh, how losing friends was so hard.
I was happy that Holly had at least decided to stop ignoring me and actually say something conversational to me. I turned around, grinning when I saw Isaac behind me.
"Wait, so your boyfriend is your cousin? God, you were drunk at that thing with-"
I groaned, not understanding why he was bringing up the last party again at first. Then I remembered, and I instantly figured out why Isaac was looking at me with such a big grin. My mind was complete horror.
"No! Aiden came with me as a friend! That's disgusting!"
Isaac laughed. "If you say so, then."
I walked away, still disgusted, and headed back to the food area. Trying to forget the graphic images that Isaac had brought into my mind, I picked up a custard cream. I had visited this place countless times, with lack of other things to do. The parents who were running the stall were even getting pretty curious as to why I seemed to be so hungry.
"Hello, darling," one of the parents said, handing me a biscuit. "You're coming here a lot this evening. I mean, all of these two hours you've been practically permanently here!"
I smiled uneasily. "Just a bit bored, you see."
The other parent looked at the dance-floor. "Looking a bit empty over there."
I chuckled. "Nah, I don't dance."
"Where're your friends?"
Crap. "They couldn't come," I lied. I had told way too many lies tonight, and I couldn't take any back without looking like a loner. It was lucky I didn't go red or look into a weird place when I was lying though, because everyone took in my lies like usual.
"Don't worry, they're having the prom awards in about ten minutes."
"Prom awards?"
"Yeah. Haven't you had them before?"
"No...I was home-schooled all my life."
"You know, it's in all the movies. Best dressed, best couple, prom king and queen? To be honest, I disapprove of all of this rating of people, but this is you teenagers' night, so we might as well enjoy it!" The parent handed me pineapple and cheese on a cocktail stick, and I grinned.
"Right, okay, thanks!" I walked away. Prom awards. These sounded exciting. If I won something...
Not like it would happen, but still. Aiden might win something, and being the person he came to the prom with, I might have got attention.
Maybe.
I walked over to the other side of the room, where they were preparing the prom awards. It was funny that I had the most interesting and informative discussion with my classmates' parents, but I guess that was how life worked. The unexpected always came.
There were twelve categories: best dressed guy, best dressed girl, best haired guy, best haired girl, best looking guy, best looking girl, nicest guy, nicest girl, best couple, best dancer, and prom king and queen.
I knew I wouldn't get nominated for anything, let alone have a chance at winning, but I quickly wrote down Aiden on five nomination slips and hoped the judges liked the look of Aiden. I could see some of the Populars quickly scribbling away on nomination slips, probably nominating each other by the looks of it. There were three judges that I could see - Ashley, one of the Year Elevens and one of the parents.
Ashley. How lovely.
I quickly shuffled away before they started making fun of me again, and bumped into Aiden on his way to the food table. He turned around and grinned at me.
"Having fun?"
"You bet!"
There were so many fibs I was telling just so I couldn't be a loner again.
Loner or liar? Liar or loner?
They weren't important lies, I thought to myself. Aiden and I went to the dance-floor again, where they were playing some jazz hit from the sixties, and held a conversation for a while. We were surrounded by people dancing in pink dresses and navy suits, either shaking their hips and going for the full workout or standing around with the odd jump. The dance-floor was just a wooden planked floor, with the DJ at the front of the room and throwing disco lights everywhere. I found it quite annoying, actually, when the room was constantly changing from red to orange to zebra-stripes, and so on. Surrounding this area was the much-loved food table, with all of its cupcakes and carrot sticks, the prom awards area and the unofficial sitting-down-because-we-can't-be-bothered-to-enjoy-this-song area.
"Listen up, prom princes and princesses!" Ashley's voice boomed over the crowd with the cheesiest sentence I had ever heard.
"We have chosen the winners of this year's prom awards! As you know, there are twelve awards..."
They explained the whole concept of the prom awards as everyone gathered around the voting booths. I was crossing my fingers, and trying to adjust my fishtail braid at the same time. It wasn't very successful, but all the same, everyone was shaking with anticipation.
I had only been at this school for about three months and even I could understand why the prom awards were so important.
"So...the best dressed guy and girl goes to...Isabelle Norman and Zach Yately!"
Both were Year Elevens, and they walked to the front. They received a trophy each.
Sure, not a fourteen-carat gold one, but a trophy all the same.
A trophy.
They weren't even dressed that well - sure, Isabelle was wearing a purple dress that must have cost Buckingham Palace, but Zach was just wearing a black suit, the same as everyone else. He was probably the Levi of Year Eleven, except he didn't look the sort to not care for a sister, let alone a twin sister.
They carried on announcing names. Aiden's name didn't come up once. I didn't know why I was concerned for them, but none of Robyn, Holly or Lucas's names came up either. They all seemed to have turned into popular people who everyone admired. But they weren't a Popular at all. They didn't pick on people with less reputation than them, unlike the classic likes of Ashley and Levi.
Francis had gotten best hair, even if her hair looked like a birds' nest. Isaac had gotten best dancer, although I hadn't seen him dance once. Ashley appeared to have given herself and Levi best couple, as they smiled sickeningly at the audience, the trophy in their two hands. They even kissed, which was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen. They didn't even go together, but then their current personalities were identical – selfish and bratty.
The parent went up to the microphone. "And the prom king and queen are...Jake Emberson and Victoria Roselli!"
There was a scream and two Year Elevens tore through the crowd to claim their trophy. I clapped with everyone else, but not with as much enthusiasm. I thought tonight, everyone would start seeing Aiden and give me a chance, seeing that I could make friends who weren't the rejects of the year. But no - I was just the same as normal. And it was nearly the end of the night. My plan had failed.
I didn't think it could get any worse.
"Thank you all for attending the-"
"Wait!" Levi ran up to the microphone, grabbing Ashley by the hand. "We have one final award."
The parent looked mildly shocked, whilst the Year Eleven judge looked confused.
"Well, this doesn't exactly have a trophy. Who votes Lexi Lewis, 10E as Number One Slut, Attention-Whore and Most Annoying Idiot?"
Everything seemed to run in slow-motion as everyone turned to see me in my stupid blue dress with my stupid plait.
This couldn't be happening.
I had just had it announced that I was the slut, attention-whore and idiot of the year. It was beyond anything they had done to me before, and as I felt all eyes on me, I just wanted to dig a hole and stay there. I was ready to cry, as hands slowly went up. I couldn't believe that this prom night had turned into the worst of my life.
I hated myself.
I honestly wanted to die.
I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. I couldn't stay here any longer.
"Lexi, would you like to come out and show yourself, as you have clearly won this award?" Levi shouted.
I looked around me, trying to blend into the crowd, but everyone seemed to be staring at me with their hands up.
"Hey! Lexi isn't one of them!"
A familiar voice screamed, and ran onto the stage. I didn't even know Thomas was coming.
"Oh, would you like to share that award with Lexi-Loo?" Ashley said, spitefully whilst everyone turned away from me. I was trapped. I couldn't escape. I was trapped. I couldn't escape. "She's a slut, flirting with every boy she saw at her birthday party! She's an attention-whore, using her cousin to try and get attention, thinking that if she brought a hot boy along, everyone would like her! And she's an idiot, because she thinks it would work!"
I was feeling quite faint and dizzy, and I had to get out. Now the whole of Year Ten and Eleven hated me, and thought I was all of those three words.
I didn't think I was any of them. I just hated everything about myself. Everything, from my hair to my useless paintings. I hated it, I hated it, I-
"Lexi, I can't believe you used me!" Aiden turned me around with the deadliest glare I had ever seen in him. "All this time I've stuck by you, and you just go-"
I turned and ran. I needed to get away from this shouting, this crowd, this hate...
"Lexi, are you okay?"
Thomas. "Go away!"
Thomas stopped me, his hands on my shoulders as I finally made it out of the doors, into the fresh air. "Look, I'm your best friend, you can-"
"I said, go away! I want to be alone!" I shouted at him, tears already streaming down my face.
"I tried to-"
"Well you didn't try hard enough! Look, I want some time to myself!"
Thomas tried to hug me. "Well, I'm going to go in there and-"
"No! Don't do anything!" I pushed him away, still screaming at him. "Get the hell off me! I want to-"
"But Lexi-"
"I said, get the hell away from me! Now!"
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Edited 29/4/15
Meh. I don't really like this chapter that much, lol, but get ready for some major Lexi drama in the next few chapters.
So yeah. I hope you liked this chapter, and don't be scared to message me about stuff - I will try to reply!
Song on the side - Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy.
Thanks for reading, please comment, vote and fan! :D