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54: The Ride to Prom

Emma

After sleeping through most of the day, I stood in front of my mirror ready for prom. Thanks to the help of Emily, she helped me with my makeup, hair, and dress. I did the same for her. Wow, I looked beyond beautiful in my blue dress.

My hair was breathtaking with the new streaks of blonde and the way it was bundled in a ponytail. Somehow my skin radiated in this dress. My skin had never radiated this much before. Yes, I wanted to cry, but if I did, all of Emily's work would be ruined. Instead, I gave her a hug that lasted longer than it should've.

"Thank you so much dude," Not crying was going to be a challenge.

"Hey, it's no problem. You look amazing. Hector is lucky to have a prom date like you."

At that moment, our hugging came to an end and we both sat down on my bed.

"So, you never found yourself a prom date?" I asked

"No," she replied in sadness with her hands together. "There was this one person who I was hoping who ask, but I never did. I don't think they have feelings for me." An odd silence stood between us for a moment. "But maybe it's for the best. Things would be a little weird if we went to prom together and we ended up dating. I rather not focus on that. Let's just have a good time tonight. 

Everything inside of me wanted to know who this person was. Who was Emily crushing on? Had I been such a bad friend to not realize she had a thing for someone? What if it was Ted? That was a scary thought that I hoped would never enter my head again. Before I replied with another word, we were interrupted by a honk outside. Walking up to the front door, it was none other than Jeremy, Hailey, and Hector. They all looked amazing. Even Hailey was drop-dead gorgeous. It made me almost jealous. Heck, with the way she looked, she'd likely piss off Ted.

Once we all got our pictures taken, we headed out to the racecar. Even though my prom date was Hector, he ended up sitting in the back with Hailey and Emily. Yes, I would be in the front with Jeremy as I would be driving. After all, this was my racecar. Okay, this was also Jeremy's racecar.

"Ready for this?" asked Jeremy who also smelled amazing. This was truly a gift for my nose.

"I honestly can't believe this is happening. We're actually driving to prom in our racecar? Pinch me, because I must be dreaming." Those tears were coming back again.

"To be fair," chimed in Hector. "We all worked on this racecar. Technically, it's everyone's racecar. But I guess you could actually make the argument that this is Marvin's racecar."

Hector would likely continue to blabber on if it weren't for Hailey punching him in the arm. Was Hector nervous? He probably was. He probably never expected me to be his prom date after all these years of chasing after me. And here I was looking like I had never looked before. For some reason, I couldn't wait to dance with him. The boy likely felt the same way.

"I added some more songs to the JEM tape," Jeremy announced as he took the tape out of his pocket. "Actually, I only added two songs, but at least I added something."

With a warm and melting heart, he handed me the tape. A tear fell from my eye knowing that he still cared about something silly as JEM. This would be the only tear that I would shed that night."

"Thank you," I could barely reply before inserting the tape and skipping through the tracks to get to the last two songs.

"You know," Jeremy began again. "I was thinking. Maybe JEM isn't something that can be finished. I mean, there's going to be a lot of great music in the next twenty years. There's going to be new music that I'm going to love. And even though Selena is dead, I'm sure there's going to be new music that you might also love." He took a great happy sigh before speaking again. "I'm glad you didn't throw this tape into the time capsule."

Crap, another tear flew down my face. He was glad I didn't throw it into the capsule? My heart was melting more than it was a minute ago.

"Yeah, me too," I responded. "I hope JEM lives on forever.

Just like that, I found the track to Jeremy's newest edition. Of course, it shouldn't have been a surprise that it was from Blink 182. According to him, it was from their new album. It was a song about going to college of all things. Although, it never once mentioned college throughout the song.

"Please take me by the hand

It's so cold out tonight

I'll put blankets on the bed

But I won't turn out the light."

With the song in full blast and Hailey singing along to the song with Jeremy likely moments away from joining her, the keys went into the ignition and we were off. Yes, I couldn't believe it. The car was actually driving with smoothness. This was something I never expected. The breaks were amazing. It was a shame that we would never see this car again after tonight. But at least I had this special car for one night. Perhaps a new dream was just around the horizon. One could hope.

After a few minutes, we finally arrived at the school as an adrenaline rush had kicked in big time. It was crazy to see how we were surrounded by limos. In those limos, students going to prom were being dropped off. So many people had shown up with a date. Somehow, I could feel that this would be a magical night. Deep down, I hoped this would be a night that nobody in this car would ever forget. Yes, that also included Emily.

The dream is alive! They got to drive the race car! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Remember to comment and vote.

Can JEM truly ever be finished?