An Unforgettable Night

51 0 1
                                        


*Trigger Warning ⚠️: contains blood and gore*

A few days later, the night of the homecoming dance arrived. Leilani wore a knee-length royal blue dress, her hair in a braided updo, and wore converse sneakers. Her grandmother, Abuela, questioned her choice to wear sneakers while visiting the house, but Leilani didn't mind and told her that it was just a modern fashion trend. Stanley, once again, wore his baby blue suit. After they took a bunch of pictures (much to Leilani's annoyance), they finally headed off to the homecoming dance.

When they arrived at the school, Stanley and Leilani sat in the parked car. "I've never really been to homecoming", Leilani said.

"Never?", he asked.

"Never. I've been to prom, but that's it", she explained.

"Well, I guess we'll have to make this one count"

When Stanley and Leilani arrived at the dance, the gym was lit with lights and filled with blaring music, and students in formal attire. They walked through the gym until they ended up running in to Dina and Syd. "I'll be right back. I'm going to talk to Syd," Stanley said to her.

"Okay", Leilani replied. Stanley bleachers and started talking to her. It seemed like a serious conversation, but she was glad to see the two friends reconcile.

After chatting with Dina for a while, Stanley and Syd rejoined the group. "Dina, you look,um..like a Christmas tree", Stanley told her.

"Thanks, dude", Dina replied.

"Oh, God, Whittaker's staring at us", Stanley pointed out to their principal, Mr. Whittaker who stood against the wall, looking at the group of teens before walking off. "It's probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened in his entire life", said Syd, referring to their eventful time in detention.

"By now, he probably thinks we're plotting to vandalizing his office", Leilani added.

"Could be", said Dina.

"I don't know, guys. I mean, we're wanted criminals. Why are we out here in the open? Exposed. First rule of a heist is split the loot and split the fuck up, right?", Stanley asked.

"What loot? All we did was disrespect this fine institution", Dina said.

"And disrespect ourselves", added Syd. They all laughed. Then, the DJ started playing a new song. "Sorry, this playlist is all over the map. I'll be right back", Stanley said before walking over to the DJ. She heard him ask if he knew any Bloodwitch songs and chuckled to herself. After that, he returned to Leilani while the DJ continued to play the non-Bloodwitch song. "At least, you tried", she said.

"I know. I just wanted to make this night special for us", he told her.

Then, the group went to the dance floor and danced. When a slow song came on, Leilani slow danced with Stanley. She stared in to his soft brown eyes before resting her forehead against his. What mattered in that moment was that he with the one person that she was comfortable with. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?", a teacher announced on the mic. Phoebe saw everyone's attention turn to the teacher on stage.

"It's time to introduce your homecoming king and queen, Jeff Butters and Julie Frasheski!"

The gym clapped and everyone watched Jeff and Julie walk on stage. "Where do I begin? First, I would like to thank my mom for meeting my dad-", Jeff was cut off by Brad grabbing the mic. "Listen up!", he began. The teacher tried to intervene, but Brad stopped them. "Give me a second! Give me a second! I would like to take this moment to talk about something very important that affects everyone here. Sydney Novak!".

Stanley and Leilani looked at Syd, who looked puzzled. "Hey, Sydney, raise your hand. Give me a little wave, so that everyone can see you", Brad called out to her. "You see, what a lot of people don't know about Sydney here, is that she is one hell of a writer". He held up a book with a cat mermaid, which Phoebe recognized as Syd's diary.

He jumped off stage and moved closer to Syd and Dina. "Yeah, you know, it's..it's funny because everyone is so fast to call me an asshole, but while I was downstairs, banging Jenny Tuffield at Ricky's, guess what Syd was doing upstairs? Kissing my girlfriend", Brad continued, sounding more aggressive. The crowd gasped. "Now, don't know get me wrong, chicks get drunk, they make out. I'm all for it, but..being a full-on dyke, that's a whole other ball game"

"Oh, shut up, Brad", Dina said.

"And don't get me started on the daddy issues on this one. Everyone in her life thinks she's a piece of shit, and I mean everyone"

Stanley left Leilani's side and stormed towards Brad. "Hey, man! Leave her alone!", he yelled. Brad punched him in the face, causing him to collapse to the floor unconscious. "Brad, what the fuck!?", Leilani yelled back at him. She didn't care what was holding her back, she just wanted him to pay for what he did. As he continued to speak, she stormed towards him. "And get this. Sydney believes that she has-"

Then, something unbelievable happened that stopped her in her tracks. Brad's head burst open, causing crimson red blood to splatter on Leilani's face and dress. His headless body collapsing to the floor with a loud thud, forming a pool of blood. His brains and eye sockets laid scattered around it. The whole crowd of students, also covered in blood, erupted in screams and scattered out of the gym. Dina covered her mouth in disbelief and walked away. As Leilani stood in shock, she turned to Syd whose eyes met with hers. Without a word, Syd turned away and walked out of the door. Leilani quickly snapped out of her state of shock and realized that he was still holding Syd's diary. She grabbed it from his limp hand before anyone could see. She knew it was wrong to take something that wasn't hers, but she felt that her instincts were telling her to if it meant helping to keep Syd's powers a secret. Then, Leilani remembered the first thing that came to her mind-Stanley.

She quickly turned around to find Stanley starting to gain consciousness. Leilani rushed over to the boy knelt down to help him up. He looked around at the chaos, confused as to what unfolded. "I'll explain later. We have to go!", Leilani told him. She helped him up to his feet and the two exited the gym.

~~~~~

Brad's blood dried against Leilani's skin as her and Stanley drove away from the school in silence. She eventually told him what happened after he got punched, but aside from that, none of them had anything else to say during that car ride. Leilani knew that Syd didn't mean to do what she did and that none of it was her fault. If only Brad kept his fucking mouth shut, she thought to herself.

Leilani let Stanley stay at her house while her parents and siblings were in bed. She gave him an ice pack and he sat on her bed, pressing it against the purple bruise near his right eye. Leilani took the opportunity to step into the showers. As she washed the blood off of her body, all she could think about was the way Syd made Brad's head burst like a water balloon.

She eventually slipped into a big grey T-shirt and plaid pajama pants, and joined Stanley in her bedroom. He was holding Syd's diary. "I'm worried about Syd", Leilani said.

"Me too, but what also matters is that we have to keep this a secret", he told her, referring to the diary.

"Can you stay for the night?", she asked him.

"But what about your parents?"

"I'll take care of it. I just don't want you to have to deal with your dad", she told him. "Plus, I don't want to be alone after what happened".

"Okay", he said. Leilani rested her head on his left shoulder and looked down at the floor. "Where are we going to go from here?", she asked him.

"I don't know", replied Stanley.

End of  Act I

New Girl on the Block | I Am Not Okay with This FanfictionWhere stories live. Discover now