«God Save the Prom Queen.»

•1: Beauty

Emerson sat in their room, falling onto their back. It wasn't pleasant waiting for the day everyone's been waiting for. Their door had opened, Sarah — their mom — peeked in, "hey sweetheart. Do you want to go dress shopping? I know my princess — soon to be queen, would like that. You want to look wonderful for when you win the crown!"
They shot up, smiling a porcelain face, Emerson nodded.
"I would love that, mom," their tone sounded tired, yet ecstatic. They started to get up, when Sarah had handed her hand to them.
"Queens always have an assistant."
After last year, their mom had been disappointed, forcing Emerson into winning Prom Queen. After all it was Sarah's dream to win Prom Queen in high school. There was a total redo of their life after they had gone to prom in freshman year.
Sarah was bad. Worse than Brent. Even he was bad.
"We're going dress shopping, hun," Sarah had shouted to Brent. He had scoffed, and then acted like Sarah hadn't said anything.
Emerson wondered how they were still together. It was horrible at their household.
Sarah had dragged Emerson to the car, and started it off, the music blaring.
"Too many bottles of this wine we can't pronounce, too many bowls of that green stuff, no lucky charms."
"You know, if you ended up being a gay, I wouldn't have you in the house anymore. You seem like you're becoming one. Who's been changing you," Sarah asked, scoffing, "sweetie, just know I want the best for you."
"Too many white lies and white lines, super rich kids with nothing but loose ends, super rich kids with nothing but fake friends."
"No one, mom. I'm just feeling less okay with the clothes I'm wearing constantly, I kinda just want a temporary change," Emerson lied, the only person they were out to was their boyfriend, Travis.
"Whatever you say," Sarah trailed off, spending the rest of the ride in silence.
"She wash my back three times a day, this shower head feels so amazing. We'll both be high, the help don't stare, they just walk by, they must don't care, a million one, a million two, a hundred more will never do."
Emerson was lost in thought, staring out the window as they listened to the music.
"Too many bottles of this wine we can't pronounce, too many bowls of that green stuff, no lucky charms. The maids come around too much, parents ain't around enough. Too many joy rides in Daddy's Jaguar, too many white lines and white lies. Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends, super rich kids with nothing but fake friends."
Once they arrived, Sarah grabbed Emerson by the wrist and ran inside, the dresses were all beautiful, Emerson was awestruck. Running around the store like a child running around in the toy store, they found the most perfect dress. They knew that they would make Sarah proud. The dress was a silky peach, lace embroidered the sleeves and skirt. Adorned with gems and butterfly details, they turned it around, and a bow adorned the back. The tails were also filled with gems, starting heavily at the base and spreading out as they reached the top.
They looked at Sarah, smiling widely. This was perfect. Was it in their price range, though? They checked, and it was close to being out of it. Sarah saw the dress and she had ran over to Emerson.
"Emma! That looks so wonderful," Sarah gasped in awe. She grabbed the price tag and looked at it.
"We can get it, right?"
"Yes. We can. You're going to look beautiful."