SURVIVORS |J.FOLEY ¹

VIII. destroy her

CHAPTER EIGHT
DESTROY HER

Madison watched from afar. She watched the scene fold out from before her. Standing at her locker, she found her eyes glued to where Hannah and Clay stood. They stood infront of the prom tickets, laughing, meanwhile Courtney and two of her friends tried to convince Hannah to go to the dance.

Madison smiled, she hadn't gotten her prom ticket yet but she knew that she was going to go. She loved attending prom, she never had dates though. Sure, she'd been asked plenty of times. But she never wanted to go with any of them guys. She only wanted to go with one guy.

"Mads!" A voice called out. The voice that she wanted to hear, the voice that she loved hearing. Madison turned around to face Justin Foley who practically sprinted down the corridor, breathlessly. "Have you gotten your prom ticket yet?" He asked.

"Nope." Madison shook her head. She let out a small laugh. "Guess how many guys asked me this year." Madison told him, Justin raised an eyebrow as a way of telling her to continue. Every year, Madison kept track of how many boys asked her and she and Justin would laugh about it. "Seven."

Justin paused for a moment, taking the information in. He was surprised. Surprised that they hadn't given up yet. Madison had rejected every single guy at their school, and people still bothered to try. "And..."

"And what?" Madison questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. "No, I don't have a date." She rolled her eyes, knowing that was what he was getting at. "When have I ever said yes to anyone at this stupid school?" Madison laughed to herself.

"Good." Justin mumbled underneath his breath, causing Madison to look up at him as if to ask what was so good about not having a date to the most romantic event of the year. "There's actually something I wanted to ask you, Mads." Justin said, only causing more confusion to fill Madisons face. "I want you to be my date to the prom."

Madisons face immediately dropped at his words. Her arms slowly fell down from her chest. Justin? Justin asked her to prom? Madison had a million questions. But for some reason, she couldn't find herself asking them.

"Just as a friend?" Madison questioned, curiously. She and Justin were nothing more than friends. She didn't want to ruin anything by making it romantic. She'd spent her whole life with him by her side. They'd always been together. She couldn't allow anything to ruin that. But, inside she wanted nothing more than for him to say no.

Justin paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. Inside, he wanted to say no. He wanted to tell her how he felt. But he couldn't. She seen them as just friends and nothing more. He knew that she didn't see him like he saw her. They were just friends.

"Yes." Justin finally managed to get out, a small sigh escaping his lips as he did so. He wanted to take it back, to tell her no, he wanted her to be his date. His proper date.

"Sure." Madison found herself saying with a smile on her lips. "I would love to be your purely platonic date to the prom, Dusty." Madison answered. Great.

Prom was amazing. For some at least. Madison went to prom thinking it would be the start of something. Madison and Justin. The couple people had been waiting for for years. When they showed up together, hand in hand, people thought that it had finally happened. Madison and Justin were together, finally. Wrong.