SENIORS | shawmila

nine.

Camila leaned over the counter in Shelby's bathroom, trying to keep her hand steady as she put on eyeliner. Her heart was pounding, though she wasn't sure why. It was a little ironic, she remembered almost three years ago, being in this exact same place getting ready for her first date with David. She didn't remember being that nervous back then, but tonight was different.

There were a half-dozen other girls around her. Someone was playing music on their phone, Camila's favorite pop as they laughed and talked excitedly about their dates. Gabby kept talking about how hot Alex was going to look and Shelby kept joking about how many guys she was going to dance with tonight.

"Dance?" Camila smiled, looking up from the mirror. "Is that code for something?"

"Shut up—" Shelby laughed, shoving her in the shoulder playfully.

Camila was trying to act as if her insides weren't swarming with a million feelings right now. She just kept forcing a smile, going back to fixing her hair and makeup, listening to the other girls laughing and talking.

She'd picked her dress out a few days before, fretting over shades of pink in the outlet mall. She finally chose red after Shelby and Gabby wouldn't shut up about how good she looked in it. Camila had then texted David a picture of the dress so he could match.

She was a little nervous about showing the dress to her parents, but she couldn't exactly avoid it. As she suspected, Sofia said she looked like a princess, her mother said it was gorgeous, but her father seemed a little unsure what to think, staying very quiet when she first tried it on for them.

"You just look so grown up." He finally said quietly.

"I am grown up now, Papi." Camila reminded him.

"Almost." He kissed her head.

Shawn was the only person Camila hadn't shown her dress to, and weirdly, she wanted his opinion the most. Would he think she looked as good as everyone else said she did?

She'd watched him last night at the football game. She and David had gone together, Camila in her school sweatshirt for the first cool night of the year, sitting with the crowd of her friends. She'd spotted April first, her hair making it easy. She and Shawn walked the field together taking pictures. Camila watched them more than the game, her breath caught in her throat every time she thought they might hold hands.

Camila had let David hold hers later that night on the walk back to his car, only because her fingers were cold.

Finally, the guys arrived in their cars and there was a discussion on who was riding with who. Shelby quickly went downstairs as everyone else finished getting dressed. Camila zipped Gabby up and Gabby did the same to her, Camila feeling even more breathless when the body of her dress squeezed tight against her ribs.

She stepped into the shoes she'd bought, having searched for the smallest heels available, and followed Gabby and the others downstairs. The guys were all dressed in their tuxes, some having already taken their jackets off and rolled the sleeves up. A few of them had their ties undone already as well. They all gasped dramatically when the girls came downstairs.

"Damn, baby!" Alex took Gabby's hand. "You look so hot!"

"So do you." She giggled.

"Save it for the dance floor, you guys—"

Camila locked eyes with David and her inner freshman heart pounded just the slightest bit and she actually blushed. He looked handsome, his light brown hair combed perfectly, his blue eyes shining as smiled at her.

"You look beautiful." He said softly.

"Thank you." She smiled. "You look really handsome."

Everyone tried to squash each other into group photos and Camila wrapped her arm around David's, not sure how many pictures she wound up in. They then walked out to the cars, the talks of who was riding with who and how it didn't matter because they were all going to the same place and then all coming back to Shelby's afterwards.