"So, tell me. Who are you going with to prom?" I ask Pete, as I flip a page in my book. Pete smiles, and chuckles a little bit. "
What? What about that question is so funny?" I ask. Pete shakes his head.
"It's not the question, genius. My mom found an old picture of us from the 8th grade," Pete says, and he tilts his phone screen for me to see. My eyes bug out as Pete continues to laugh. It's a picture in which my face is so dotted with pimples that it looks like I have chickenpox. Middle school was rough like that.
I attempt to snatch the phone out of his hand, but he quickly pulls it away and drops it in his pocket. "Oh, you better not show that to anyone," I snarl. Pete chuckles.
"No promises. I'm totally not going to put this on Facebook and make this my lock screen. But anyways, I asked out Isa Black from my English class. She seems so nice, and she said yes. So I'm going with her," Pete says. I nod, while flipping another page.
"Nice. Why didn't you ask Sonia out? You guys could've gone as friends," I say. Pete looks like he wants to vomit all over me.
"Are you kidding? I'm sorry, but I want to enjoy prom. I don't want to spend it with someone who argues with me over why my tie doesn't match my suit," Pete says, and I scoff.
"Come on. She's not that bad. She's just a little bit stubborn," I say.
"Yeah, Pete wouldn't be able to handle it," the voice of Sonia says, as she approaches our table. Sophia follows behind her, and she sets her things down.
"True that. I can't handle you when you try to convince me that I have horrible fashion sense," Pete says, as Sophia sits across from me.
"It's not my fault that you always look like a clown got barfed on by Pinocchio." Sophia snickers alongside Sonia's sass.
"It's not my fault you disagree with my fashion sense." Sonia shrugs.
"That's fair. But I can't help it when-." Sophia cuts her off before she can continue to claw at Pete.
"Come on guys. Stop bickering. Next thing you know, you'll be arguing over why I shouldn't dye my hair," Sophia says. I shrug.
"To be fair, that's probably the next thing that they'll be arguing about," I say, and Sophia nods.
"Fair enough. But enough of that. Sonia, who did you ask to prom?" Sophia asks.
"I asked Nick Henson. He said yes as well," Sonia says. Pete scoffs.
"I don't think you guys are fit for each other," Pete says. Sonia raises an eyebrow at him. A little bit of weird triumph is in her eyes. She knows how to use to this information against him.
"Are you jealous, Peter?" Sonia shoots him a suspicious look. Pete shakes his head.
"Jealous? Ha, in your dreams. But, he's a really weird guy. Why would you ask him?" Pete has a look on his face that is like annoyance, inquiry, but somehow, with a pinch of jealousy in there as well. Sonia's hand flies up over her heart.
"Aw, you actually care about me! That's cute. But why is that any of your business? I can go with whoever I want. Plus, he's a nice guy, and we're friends. It's not like he's going to propose to me on prom night itself," Sonia says. I shrug.
"Come on, Pete. Don't be so paranoid. She knows what she's doing. Give it a break," I say. Pete sighs.
"Fine. But he's still not good enough for you," he says, while Sonia rolls her eyes.
"Anyways, how are we going to get to prom, Sophia? Do you want me to rent a limo?" I ask. Sophia shakes her head.
"I don't want you to go broke, Ray. And plus, you can drive. Or I can drive. Cars exist for a reason," she says, and I chuckle.
"That's a fair point. Pete, do you want me to give you a ride as well? We both know that your mom will start screaming when she finds out that you're driving," I say. Sonia snorts, while Pete scoffs.
"Nah, it's fine. I'll think of something," he says, and I shrug. I look at Sophia.
"So, belle, what color are you going to be wearing for prom?" I ask her. She smiles. "Dark blue. I think you'll like it," she says. I smile.
"Of course I will. You look beautiful in everything," I say, while blush dusts Sophia's cheeks again.
"Now I'm getting so excited for prom. Why are you such a smooth talker?" she asks. I shrug.
"That's the way I am," I tell her, as we continue to study.
On Saturday afternoon, I'm sitting on a chair next to my desk, watching YouTube. My mom would yell at me for watching YouTube and not studying, but I'm watching it for a good cause. I need to know how to tie a tie so that it won't look like a dog that attempted to tie a bow on a ribbon with its mouth.
While I'm watching YouTube tutorials, my mom walks in unexpectedly. My head whips around to see what she's doing. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for prom? Didn't you say that you're going to meet Rob and Henry at the park for pictures?" she says. I nod.
"Yeah, I'm just getting some work done," I tell her, and my mom cranes her head around to see what I'm doing. When she sees what's on my screen, she starts to chuckle.
"That's what you were worried about? Ray, honey, your dad knows how to tie a tie. Why don't you ask him?" my mom looks confused, but amused at the same time. I shake my head.
"It's okay. I don't need his help. I can learn on my own." I don't budge, because I want to do this on my own. My mom scoffs.
"Stubborn as always. Ray, get dressed. Ross, come help Ray with his tie please!" my mom hollers as she walks out of my room. I sigh, slam my laptop screen shut, and I go to my closet, where my suit is waiting.
Granted, I could've rented a suit from my local boutique, but I got lazy and I didn't want to have to pay because the boutiques here are as expensive as a can of caviar.
Plus, why pay money when your dad has too many suits to begin with? My dad just lent me one of his to wear, and I found it perfect. I pull on my black pants, button up a clean white shirt, and slide on a pitch black coat to go along with it. I slide over to a mirror, where I take my fingers and tidy up my hair so that I look perfect tonight.
Once I'm done polishing myself up, I exit my room to where my mom and dad are standing. They're talking with Randy, possibly joking about how they never imagined my love life to actually be successful, and then they notice me walk into the room.
When my mom notices my presence, her jaw drops. "Oh my! Ray, you look so handsome! Ross, your suit was perfect!" my mom squeals. I chuckle.
"Thanks, Mom. Thanks for lending me your suit, Dad," I say. My dad's hand finds it way to my shoulder, and he pats it.
"No problem, Ray. Now, I think it's time that I teach you how to tie a tie," he says, while holding a black tie in his hands. I raise my head up a little bit, and he drapes the tie around my neck.
"Okay, so you see this shorter end and the longer end? Wrap the longer end around the upper part of the shorter end, like this," he starts, while demonstrating so on my tie.
"Say, Ray, you're going to meet Sonia, Pete, Rob, and Henry in the park, right?" Randy asks.
"Pull the long end up through the loop," my dad says, while I listen to him and formulate an answer for Randy.
"Yeah, that's the plan. I just hope that Pete is there on time and not scrambling at the last second to actually find a suit," I say, while Randy chuckles.
"Bring it over the front, and back through the loop again," he says, while my mom hurries around, scrambling to arrange things.
"Do you know who Sonia and Pete are going with?" Randy asks. "Bring it through the knot in the front," my dad says, while finishing up my tie.
"Pete is bringing- thanks, Dad- a girl named Isa, and Sonia's bringing a guy named Nick. I don't know who Rob or Henry are bringing," I say. My dad straightens out my tie a little bit more.
"You look great, Ray. So sophisticated," he says. I smile.
"Thanks, Dad. I can't wait until next year, when Randy has to go through the exact same thing, and I get to sit back and laugh," I say, while my mom scoffs.
"You're going to help us, don't you worry," my mom assures, while she puts a flower in my handkerchief coat pocket.
"Okay, here's the corsage for Sophia. I trust that you know how to put it on her?" my mom asks. I nod.
"I do. I think this is the only part of the night where I actually know what I'm doing," I say, while my mom sighs.
"Oh Ray. But anyways, have fun, and take lots of pictures," my mom says, as my hand grasps the car keys.
"Definitely. See you later!" I call, as I walk out the door.
"Bye, Ray!" they call, as I walk out the door. My confidence is piling up high, as this is one of the biggest nights of my senior year. This is the time where I can hang out with everyone, and just have a blast before we all go our separate ways in life. Ah, I'll treasure this moment.
When I start driving to Sophia's house, excitement fills me up completely. How's she going to look? What dress will she wear? How's her makeup going to be? So many questions buzzed about my head, but they got a quick answer because I pulled up to Sophia's house quickly.
With my hand clutching the corsage, I walk up to her door. Sweat starts to glisten my forehead, while butterflies flutter about my stomach. I don't even know why I'm nervous. I should be excited. Damn you nerves.
My thumb presses the doorbell, and almost immediately, I hear footsteps from behind the door. Before I can curse my nerves out any more, the door unlocks, and Sophia's mom opens the door. Her face lights up when she sees me standing there.
"Ray! You're here! Sophia, are you coming?" her mom calls. "I'll be right there!" she calls back, as I hear her slipping on her shoes.
"I think you're going to like it. This is a really special night for you guys," Mrs. Smith says, and with that statement, the clicking of Sophia's heels makes its way to the front of the door. When I lay my eyes on her, I gasp a little bit, and my eyes widen.
She's wearing an off shoulder, dark blue dress that falls to her ankles. Her hair is swept up into an elegant updo. A sharp winged eyeliner is drawn to contrast the subtlety of her calm brown eyes. Dark red lipstick makes her lips look fuller and smoother. The locket resting around her neck glistens in the May sun. Black heeled shoes add an extra inch or two to her height.
I bite my lower lip a little bit, and flash a warm smile towards her. "Have fun, guys. See you later, Sophia," her mom says.
"Bye, Mom," Sophia says, and she steps out of the house, with her mom closing the door. Sophia strides over to me, so that we're closer together.
"You look amazing, Ray," she says. I smile.
"Belle. You look breathtaking. I think I nearly fainted when I saw you. You look absolutely gorgeous," I say. Sophia smiles.
"It's not much, Ray. I wanted to go for a little bit of a simper vibe," she says. I smile.
"You look beautiful no matter what," I say, and she smiles again. I open the package, and I hold the flower in front of her.
"May I?" I ask. She nods, and she lifts her wrist. I place the corsage on her wrist, and I pin it to make sure that it doesn't fall off of her.
"I'm so ready to take this night on. But of course, we have to take pictures," she says. I hold out my arm.
"Shall we?" I ask, and her hand grabs my arm.
"Let's go," she says, and we head off to the park to take some killer pictures.
When we get to the park, we go to the spot that all of us agreed to meet so that we could pose and take some pictures. When we get there, by our luck, Sonia and Nick are already walking there as well.
"Hey, Sonia!" Sophia calls, and Sonia's jaw drops. To be fair, she does look really good. Her medium length hair is curled, and she's wearing a green V-neck dress, which brings out her green eyes.
"Sophia! Dude, you look amazing! The dress looks great on you!" she says, and they start to throw compliments at each other. While they're having a compliment-athon, I feel a hand clamp itself on my shoulder. I turn around, and Henry is standing right there.
"You've made her so happy, Ray," he says, while looking at Sophia. I smile.
"Mission accomplished, Henry. That's what I live to see," I say, and Henry chuckles.
"Man, I feel so nostalgic right now. We were a group of 5 kids, building Legos, and now, my two closest friends are now dating. I'm too old for this," he says, and I chuckle.
"Cute. Yeah, I never imagined that we'd ever be together. I don't even know what to expect nowadays, as everything's a surprise. That's probably the best thing, though. Now, I'll be surprised in the best way possible," I say, and when I say that, I can feel Pete come up to me.
"You here, Pete?" I ask, and turn around. Pete's standing there, with his date, Isa, floating on his arm.
"You're good, Ray. And you ready to take some pictures? Because I'm so ready," Pete says. I nod.
"We're all ready," I say, and we all go to the lake to take some pictures. When we get to the lake, I can see Pete eyeing Sonia a little bit. It's like he's indirectly checking her out, but he's trying to make it as discreet as possible. When we're about to take pictures, Sonia speaks up.
"Pete, are you okay? You can't take your eyes off of me," Sonia says, and Sophia snickers. Pete shakes his head.
"No no. It's just that, you look really nice today, Sonia," Pete says. I can see Sophia smirk a little bit. Sonia raises an eyebrow.
"That's the first time you've ever given me a genuine compliment," Sonia says. Pete shudders.
"Don't get used to it. I don't feel good after telling you that," he says. Sonia scoffs.
"Well, anyways, thank you, Pete. I appreciate the compliment," she says. Then, I whip out my phone to take out pictures, while realizing one thing.
"Um guys?" I ask. Everyone looks at me like I'm about to announce that I'm running for the next president of the USA.
"We don't have anyone to take our pictures," I say. Pete groans.
"You always have to screw up with something when it comes to these things. Ray, you're the student body president! You should be more organized," Pete says, and I sigh.
"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think this through," I say. "I can take your pictures for you," a woman's voice says, and we turn around. I smile.
"That's very nice of you. Thank you," I say, handing her my phone. We all gather together, with the women standing in front of the men.
"Alright, nice. Smile!" she says, and we all smile. After that, we all take individual pictures, with our dates, and we're all happy afterwards.
"Thank you so much, ma'am," I say. She smiles.
"It's no problem. Have fun, you guys," she says, before walking off to do her own business. I walk over to Pete, and we talk again.
"I'll start driving to the place. See you soon?" I ask. He nods. "See you soon," he says, and I hold out my arm again.
"Shall we, belle?" I tell Sophia. She smiles at me again, and takes my arm. We then walk over to my car, and we continue to spend our night in happiness.
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Eeek! I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long! This was one chapter that I always saw coming, and I always knew which point in the book I was going to write it in. What do you guys think will happen at prom? Let me know.
Hey everyone! Welcome to the last chapter that's going to be split into two parts! I guess you guys kind of saw that coming. You guys know the drill. I'll publish the second part on Wednesday.
That's pretty much it. Hope you all liked this chapter!
Please vote/ comment/ share/ follow/ message if you like my work! See you all on Wednesday with the second part of this chapter! Have a great week!
Love you guys,
Shree