Something Beyond Me

Chapter 1 - The Starting Grounds

"Adalee Kate Sanswood, you better get your ass downstairs this second young lady! The photographer is about to leave and I am getting your photos! Now Adalee!" My mother, Miranda, yells into the foyer, letting me know that the photographer is about to leave. She wants to get pictures for me, she's always nagging how "Once it's done, it's done. Every moment needs to be photographed so that it is never forgotten,". It's my junior prom, so I guess it's a little important.

I grab the last earring out of the Tiffany box and poke it through my ear in a swift moment. My mother will be furious if my pictures aren't done. Downstairs awaits my friends with their dates; Kaytee (she perfers to be called Kaytee Fawn) with Nathan, Shayla with Chance (who we all call the vampire because of his red hair), and Arielle with Tanner. I go alone because I think all of these dances are overrated and I don't believe that I need a guy to "make it better". If anything, it'll make it worse.

As I approach the staircase, I take a deep breath before I get surrounded with cameras and fake smiles because in reality, my friends isn't really want to get pictures, they just wanted the limo ride. I take a step, gently tapping the wooden stairs and force a big smile on my face that makes my mother happy. My mothers happiness is all that matters. The cameras flash at me from left and right, giving me no time to stop and take another breath, until my younger siblings run up and...

" Sawyer, Maxwell, stop, your sister is trying to go to prom!" My mother screams into the foyer once again, stopping my younger siblings from splattering paint all over my dress. I would of laughed and been more happier if it did happen, but my mother would be having WW3 with my siblings.

For the next hour, my friends and I are tossed around the house, in weird positions that shouldn't be spoken. Once the pictures were done, my mother, with a single tear down her cheek, waved bye as she went back inside the mansion. My father stood with a corsage, and a tear surfacing he's eyes.

"Adalee, be good. Have fun, not too much fun. Then when you get back, you're grounded," my father chuckled out a laugh and put the white carnation on my wrist. I laughed as well and smudged the tear out of his eye. And with that, we left for the "greatest night of our lives". I honestly don't get why everyone makes a big deal out of these stupid dances.

**** At Prom ****

"OH MY GOSH, LOOK AT THESE DECORATIONS!!" Shayla, who doesn't usually say anything, yells out into the gym, then hugs Chances arm tighter. It looked good. There were thousands of flowers glued onto anything there was in the gym, with the dj stand booming out every song you could imagine. My friends all get into a circle and danced. In that time, about 5 slow songs had played, Shayla and Chance *finally* kissed, while Kaytee Fawn and Nathan were off somewhere else. Now speaking about it, I hadn't seen them since we had gotten here...

I stood on the gym walls, smushing the hydrangeas that hung on the walls. The teachers that were chaparoning looked at me like I was on drugs, one even asked if I want to dance with him. No thank you 👋.

Another hour went by, strangers looked at me and walked on by looking at me like I was dirt. Kaytee and Nathan hadn't returned from where ever they were at (Some senior told me that they were in the bathroom, then he winked at me.) and Shayla and Chance were still on the floor. Arielle and Tanner had disappeared too. I had finally decided that this was all a joke, I grabbed my belongings, hunted Kaytee and Nathan down (They were in the bathroom), and left the gym. That was my night. It truly was "the greatest night of my life".