Circles | Tyler Galpin

02. Prom

Sunday rolled around fast. Too fast.

You already had your dressed picked out a month in advanced. This day was going to be special, maybe this will be the day where you could actually be yourself.

The time was 4:30 and you were already 30 minutes behind schedule. You get your makeup ready, making sure to get every detail and shade right. This day had to be perfect. After your makeup fiasco was done you got your hair prepared, you simply straightened your hair and added volume with hairspray. You got your bra on and effortlessly slipped into your prom dress. You nervously zipped the back of the dress up, dreading to look into the mirror to see your final look. You steadily built the confidence and stared at your reflection.

...

...

Your reflection was straight cutting into your mind. You couldn't believe what was staring right at you. You happily grinned, until your thought process to abruptly interrupted by a car honking outside. You collected your thoughts and started heading outside, your high heels becoming an obstacle along the way. You allow your boyfriend in as your dad stands at the door way of the kitchen in disbelief. 

"Y/N....  you look beautiful." Your dad says in shock, unable to take his eyes off you.

"Aww...dad.." You say, feeling your face flush from embarrassment.

"Damn baby...I never saw you look so pretty before, though the dress is interesting." Jay admits as he traces his eyes up your body, ending at your chest.

You go through the stereotypical parent montage where you spend 20 minutes at the front door taking prom photos, yada yada yada.

"Make sure to bring her back by 12!" Your dad yells at your boyfriend, giving him the intimidating dad look. 

Jay gulps as he gently grabs your hand and guides you to the car.

You arrive at the prom on schedule, you force your body to have proper posture as Jay opens the door for you to escape the spacious car. You slowly walk up the stairs, holding Jay's hand as you both enter the room. You're immediately greeted with loud, poorly bass top 100 pop music coming from the DJ booth. The smell of spiked punch and body odor roams the spacious room. You try to find your group of friends, which wasn't hard as they were all grouped together in the middle of the dance floor. You and Jay get to chatting with the group. You try your best to put on your best smile, best posture, best attitude, but the music was driving you insane deep down. You couldn't even hear your thoughts, that's how loud it was. 

As the hours passed so did the students. The room was filled to the brim with young adolescence and hormones. Dancing, underaged drinking and loud mediocre music was surrounding your big group of friends, but no one cared. This was the night to be as crazy as you can, without the teachers noticing of course.

The blaring music was suddenly lowered and your schools principle entered the stage, the light focusing on his frame.

"I wanted to thank everyone for respecting the rules we set in place to have this be a safe environment for everyone! As a token of my gratitude I am here to announce the prom king and queen! justrememberthatifyouarentpickeditdoesntmeananythingyou'restillbeautifulinsideandout."

You nervously glare at your principle. Why does such a stupid title mean so much to you? It's not like if I lose you will suddenly lose all your friends, or your incredibly hot boyfriend, you come to realize it must've been an ego thing. 

You anticipate the as the silence creeps up on the building.

"This year's prom king is......."

"JAY DAVIS!" 

The room starts roaring. The football jocks start dog barking at Jay and clapping overshadows the building. He slowly walks up the stairs and stares at the crowd of people, a crown and sash being gently placed on him. The clapping and roaring dies down as the principle prepares to announce the queen.

"And the the long awaited queen..! This year's prom queen will be...!"

Your heart stopped, you wished the world would just pause at this moment so you don't have to hear your principles voice anymore. You don't want to know the answer.

"REBECCA HANDMAN!"

Cheering, laughter, clapping, and roaring is spilled across the room, seeming to surround you. You're standing dead in the middle of an epicenter, and that epicenter is the falling of your ego. You watch your best friend of years walk confidently up those stairs, receiving her crown and sash, and the best of all, locking arms with YOUR boyfriend. He looks at her with the same eyes he looks at you with, and it breaks your heart.

You notice Rebecca staring at you, not with the nice, friendly eyes she always glances at you with. She looks at me with a face of accomplishment. She can tell she's broken into my skin, and the worst part is it seems like that was her plan all along. 

You regained control of your body. You slowly left the building, your thoughts running rampant. You truly didn't care about winning queen, what you cared about was your sudden safety blanket of popularity and being loved suddenly becoming irrelevant. You weren't loved enough, just like how your mother made you feel. You feel the warmth of your tears change the temperate of your face as you enter outside of the cold night. You tried not to let the uncontrollable wave of emotion ruin your makeup that you spent so much time on, but your feelings were too strong to contain. You needed time to collect yourself, and you were willing to spend as much time needed.

47 minutes went by, people were starting to leave the building to go to the after party, hosted at your boyfriends house. You were trying to decide to even show up or not. You decided to try and join the flock of people leaving the building, when two familiar faces catch your eye.

You stare at your boyfriend and your best friend, making out near the football field of the school.