Prom
Sitting in the middle of the room I listen to the voices crashing through my head. Everyone is buzzing with the school year coming to an end, however I am no where near as excited as they are. All anyone can think about is prom, senior week and going off to college next year. Whispers trail across the room during our teachers lecture. No one listens because there is no point, we are almost done and we just can't wait to get out of this place. My ears start to burn when I hear people gossiping about the party this weekend. I scribble useless flowers on my notebook as my teacher calls on me for the answer.
“Ellie… you must know.” Of all people, why me? Fifteen other people in the room and he has to call on me. I know kids say this all the time, but he is really out to get me. Mr. Freemount, my strange science teacher, has never liked me, ever since some one drew on his water molecule. One day he came into class to see Mickey Mouse drawn on the model and he accused me of it. He is so set in his ways that he can't stand to think he could be wrong for once. The last bell of the day drowns out my soft voice; I grab my bag and glide out the classroom door.
The wall next to my locker holds one of the many prom posters, "The Night of Your Dreams as Hollywood Stars" it reads. I have not thought about going, it is a month away, most people already have dresses and dates, both of which I lack. I stare at it when tall Nate smacks into my shoulder. Feeling like a brick wall just ran into me he turns around. His perfectly white teeth smile at me like a model in a magazine.
“Hey, oh sorry Ellie. Oh are you going to Zack’s this weekend?” I am speechless, this is not the first time I have ever talked to him, and I have lots of classes with him. I am just shocked he cares if I am going or not. Before I can reply he speaks for me. “Good, I will see you there.”
"Ellie, hurry up we are going to be late." Keira is my best friend; she always looks out for me. She was the first person to talk to me when I got to East Side High last year. She was stuck with the job of showing me around, one of the many duties of class president. At first she seemed disgusted but after a while she warmed up to me. Keira was one of the most well known people in our school, for lack of a better word, she was popular. She was different then the rest of her friends though. She actually cared about school and didn’t want to be the person in everyone’s conversations, although, somehow she always did. Her poker straight hair rested in a loose ponytail, Keira could wear a trash bag and still look gorgeous. She has brown hair, tan skin and always has the latest clothing item. On the flip side I am the total opposite; blonde hair, pale skin and wear whatever is clean. We were headed to the mall to look at dresses.
Moving to Florida from Michigan had ups and downs. The heat was the one thing I would never be able to get used to. The beach was practically in my backyard and everything was in walking distance from everything else. The mall was small but I never really found myself there to begin with. After several hours of shopping we both found the perfect dresses. Each dress uniquely made to fit our body type; her concealed curves and my pencil straight body. Every weekend I either spent time with my family, or over Keira’s house. Saturday morning came; I woke up zombie like to head off to work at the grocery store. All I could think about was the party Keira was going to drag me to that night. My heart started to pound just thinking about my past experiences. The loud music, alcohol and random people making out in dark corners made me shutter.
“Ellie, what are you afraid of? It’s just a harmless party, and besides what are you going to do tonight anyway? Sit at home?” Keira never understood what my deal was.
“I guess you’re right, pick me up at 8.” mumbling in defeat as I hung up the phone.
Hours rolled by and so did Keira’s car in my drive way. I run out the door as she honked the horn for me to get a move on.
“Why are you in such a rush to get there anyway?” Watching her hands fiddle with the radio.
“He is going to be there!” Keira always thought I was perfect for this guy Nate he was tall, dark and all the girls loved him. He was the typical jock who always came out smelling like roses, his life was perfect. Secretly I loved that about him, I never told anyone and still haven’t. Keira just knows me well enough to see through my disguise, which can sometimes be annoying.
Pulling up to the party I could feel the music blasting over our own, people screaming and the street lined with cars. I could see the bomb fire on the beach from where I stood on the street. With a little pull from Keira we were in the house socializing in no time.
Monday at school was the most I ever talked to Nate. Each day came with something new, first it was talking, then it was walking down the hall and soon we would hug outside my class room and he would leave. People whispered as they pasted, but I didn’t care, they were just jealous. Soon the day came when Nate asked me to prom. Things were starting to happen. Both me and Keira had dates and soon to be boyfriends. Keira was going with Nate’s best friend, which is weird for me to understand because she could have practically any guy she wanted. However Keira chose a guy that you would never have thought of as the boyfriend type. He was the best player on the golf team and took all of the AP classes. He is the type of guy that you would never notice until he was pointed out to you, but once he was seen you saw how cute he really was.
Prom was in a week, the plans were all made, tickets bought, limo driver hired and so on. Right when everything was going great the one thing I wished would never happen did.
