C
Back Then: 18 Years Old
I tossed another Kleenex into a flower pot and plopped down onto my porch's rocking chair. I'd been tempted to go to prom without Andrei and have a good time anyway, but my make-up was a disaster, and the second my dad's new girlfriend (i.e., my mom's best friend) showed up to "help" me with it, I fucking lost it.
As if my dad's idiocy wasn't enough, Andrei's cruelty cut me deep. He was the first guy at our school to ever ask me out, and I thought he actually liked me.
My heart felt heavy and I couldn't believe that he could be so mean. We'd texted each other nonstop for three weeks straight about all the things we were doing to prepare for our big night and he'd said, "I want to share my prom with someone I've secretly had a crush on for a long time."
I can't believe I fell for that shit...
I picked up my phone and sent him another string of nice texts to prove that I was the bigger person.
Me: FUCK YOU, Andrei! I hope your dick falls off!
Me: I can't believe you played me for all those weeks!
Me: Fuccckkkkkkkkkk Youuuuuuuuuu!
Shaking my head, I tried not to think about how much fun everyone else was having. Tried not to picture the parade of luxury vehicles that was standing outside the ballroom and the nonstop nineties music hour that our principal had promised.
I was tempted to text some of my friends (Well, "associates") and ask them how everything was going, but I held back. Not a single one of them returned my text when I said I wasn't able to come to prom anymore.
They didn't even ask me why.
As I was contemplating how I was going to spend the rest of my night, Bea's blue convertible cruised down the street and into her driveway next door.
Stepping out of her car, she tossed her jacket over her shoulder and I waited for her to walk over to the passenger side and escort Amanda up to her room, but she didn't.
As she let the top down, I realized no one was sitting in the passenger seat.
She took off her bowtie and tossed it onto the backseat, then she made her way over to me.
"Don't you dare think about stepping onto my porch, Bea de Leon," I said. "I will scream bloody murder."
"I'll take that risk." She smiled and sat in the rocking chair next to me anyway. "How was your night?"
"Seriously?" I snapped. "Like, you have the audacity to sit there with a straight face and ask me that?"
She didn't say anything. She just stared at me.
"I just want you to get it over with," I said, sighing. "Go ahead and rub all the salt in my wounds. Tell me everything I've missed out on tonight, and try not to say it with too much enthusiasm if you can."
"Trust me, I really want to, but there isn't that much to say."
"You could at least tell me who won Prom King," I said, surprised that she was being somewhat decent about this. "The fact that it's not 'you' is the highlight of my night."
"There was no Prom King because we never got to that point," she said. "Prom was cancelled."
"Ano?"
"Well, more like postponed on the account of a certain incident."
"Oh... Was the incident something awful? Like, did something fall from the ceiling?"
