All that I Want

Homecoming (pt 3)

The school's parking lot seemed to hold more cars than it does on a typical school day and there's a huge line waiting to get into the gymnasium. There were so many pretty dresses, but from afar none of them looked like mine.
"You ready to go?" Chase asks from the driver's seat.
I nod my head, "you did remember the tickets, right?"
He pulls them out of his pocket and holds both of them up, "yup."
"Okay," I sigh, not making a move to get out of the car. There's something about seeing the entire student body at night, and it's not sitting right with me.
"Nervous?" He asks gently.
"Yeah," I breath out.
He turns my face so that I'm looking at him and cups my cheeks, "you have nothing to be nervous about. You're the most beautiful girl here. If you get overwhelmed and want to leave early, we can."
"Okay," I nod before kissing the palm of his hand. "Let's go."
I open the door and get out before he has the chance to open my door for me. The cool air of the night sends goosebumps down my arms and reduces my anxiety marginally.
Chase meets me on my side of the car and intertwines our fingers. As we walk over to the line to get in, a bunch of people stop what they were doing and stare at at us before going back to talking to their friends. We get in line behind Charli, who is wearing a short puffy black and purple sparkle dress, and she turns to greet us.

"Hey guys!" She chirps, "you clean up well," she fixes Chase's collar before turning her eyes on me, "love the dress." She says it in a way that makes it feel like there's a hidden message that she despises me.
"Love yours too," I say back with the same hidden message and reach out to fluff her skirt which causes her to glare at me.
"So," she turns her focus back to Chase with a big smile, "I'm having an after party if you want to come by later. It's at my house."
Chase doesn't even hesitate to turn her down, "no thanks."
She deflates a little before turning to face the front of the line.
Chase leans over and whispers in my ear, "she's just jealous." He winks at me as we walk further up and realize there's only five more people ahead of us before we are able to get into the building.
Once Charli is in the building and out of earshot I turn to him, "she hates me."
He chuckles, "I doubt that. She's just jealous you're way prettier than her."
I ignore the fact that he basically admitted she is pretty, "I don't know, that seemed like a little more than jealousy."
"Next!" the person who's taking the tickets calls us up. Chase hands him our tickets and he marks us off of the list before handing them back to us. "Enjoy the dance."
"Thanks," Chase says as we walk away and through the doors into the gym.
The gymnasium is completely transformed into a ballroom, with twinkle lights cascading down from the high ceiling, a stage with a live band at one end, and tables with black sparkle tablecloths on them and lanterns as centerpieces. At the back of the gym was a white table with finger foods and bowls of punch for the students.
"How did they have the time to do all of this?" I whisper in amazement.
"I think I heard that the homecoming committee had to stay after class today to set everything up," Chase replies.
"Damn," I shake my head. "That had to have taken forever."
We make our way over to the food table and grab some snacks and punch before finding an empty table to sit at. The dance isn't supposed to start until they announce homecoming king and queen, which should hopefully be any minute now.
After we finish our plates, the principal steps onto the stage and grabs the center microphone.
"Good evening, LA High!" He says which earns a lot of cheering in response. "Now that everyone is here, let's announce king and queen so the dance can get started. Ladies first," he grabs an envelope that the vice principal was handing him, "our homecoming queen is... Charli D'Amelio!"
Charli walks up on stage and the principal places the fake crown on her head, "congratulations, Charli."
"Okay, and the homecoming king is... oh, a write in, actually... our homecoming king is Chase Hudson!"
Loud cheering erupts and the look of shock on Chase's face is kind of hilarious.
"Go on," I shove him towards the stage and he stumbles a little before looking back at me with an I don't know what is happening look and walking onto the stage.
The principal places the crown on Chase's head, "congratulations, Chase! Now, it's time for the king and queen to have their first dance."
"Actually," Chase interrupts. He pulls the principal to the side and talks to him, and the principal nods in agreement.
"Very well, Chase would actually like to skip the first dance," my jaw drops at what the principal says and I can see the fury on Charli's face as he continues, "and do something special for his date, y/full/name."
Charli is beyond pissed and has to be escorted by both the principal and the vice principal off of the stage. She storms past me, knocking her shoulder against mine as she says, "this isn't over."
I look up at the stage to see the live band is up on stage, except for now the lead singer is Chase.
"Okay," Chase says into the microphone, "so, as many of you know, y/n and I have been going out for a while. I just recently wrote this song for her, you might have heard a snippet of it on my TikTok about a week ago, and now I'm going to perform it for you, y/n. Because I truly do feel lost without you." He segways into the song and the band starts playing.
"I would walk a thousand miles just to talk to you again, put two Xs on my eyes if you tell me it's the end
Don't know where to go, I don't know what to do
You're the only thing, never wanted to lose
Thought about that night, got another tattoo,
I wish that you knew,
Trying to find my way, I get further every day,
Lost without you,
Would you take my hand if I told you where I am?"