Who's Story is it?

Chapter 6:

The third term, along with its holidays, seem to just fly by and it was already the start of the final term. Any marks given out this terms meant very little to the grade 12's, their final grades were just about set. The hot topic on everyone's lips now more than ever was about graduating and everything that came with it. "What you planning to do after high school? You going to schoolies? I'm gonna miss you so much, let's try and stay in contact yeah?" these were the kinds of questions people were asking. However above all else everyone wanted to know everything about everyone's forma preparations. "Who you gonna take? Who you going with? What you coming in? Where you gonna get your clothes from? What kind of clothes you wearing?" it was during the break one a warm Wednesday afternoon. Neil and his best friend were simply sitting outside the library relaxing. His friend was talking to some of the younger grades, since they all seem to see him more as a role model they could look up to and become. Not someone so out of their league. He then moved over to Neil, nudged his shoulder and asked, "So~ what's the scoop? Asked Ariana out yet?" Neil was shocked and embarrassed and quickly replied, "What? What you mean? Of cause I haven't yet. You know were taking it slow"

"Yeah yeah you mean you're being boring as usual yeah I get that. But the formal's coming up man. This is your chance to make a move and even if it fails it won't be that harsh cause it was for formal. No one's gonna care too much and it's not gonna destroy anything" Neil puzzled over what he had said for a few moments. He thought to himself maybe he was right. Throughout this year he had slowly inched his way closer and closer to Ariana's heart. On top of that it seemed his friend always knew what to do and when to do it. Everything he has told him to do has only ever payed of in dividends. Sure this seemed like a large leap of faith to take but after all the things he's called correctly he trusted his judgement. He was still unsure on how to go about it though, "I can't just like walk up to her and ask though can I? I don't even know myself how I'm getting there,"

"What you mean you don't know how you're getting there? You do realise Scott and some others already booked a limo right?"

"Oh... I didn't know this. So how many does it fit and who's in it?"

"I think it's max is 12 people and so far it's you, me, Noa, Scott and three others, so~ that's about 7. We only really need 10 though, plus I kinda only want 10 cause I need my space."

"So what should I just ask her to come with me to formal with my friends?"

"Yeah... cause that doesn't sound dodgy as hell... you walk up to her and be like hey so me and some friend got a limo for formal but we're still short a few people. You think you wanna join us? That way if she rejects it she aint rejecting you but if she accepts its cause of you, eeeeey~." Neil pondered over this thought for a while. In his mind it seemed solid enough. He eventually agreed to do as he said. He trusted him enough for this.

The day passed on and Neil did not make his move. He was still unsure about how to specifically approach it. He decided he would go home and actually take some time to think, prepare, and rehearse what he would say and how he would ask the question. He stayed up all night preparing what he would say. He spent hours looking in the mirror reciting what he would ask. He treated this with as much care and thought as he would an actual assignment. Eventually he was happy with his performance and decided to get a good night's rest for today. As he entered the school he saw both Ariana walking to school and his best friend hanging out in near the library. He could see his friend signalling him that Ariana was walking his way and that he should go for it now. Neil hesitated a bit shrugging his shoulders slightly. Despite all the preparation he had done the previous night, despite his friends analysis of the scenario and how there was very little to lose if it went wrong, despite all that he was still nervous. His friend decided to pull out his phone and started texting him. He said "dude just do it. One: get it done now and it won't be on your mind the rest of the day, and two: stop being nervous. You got almost nothing to lose man. Just DO IT!" reading gave Neil the reassurance he needed. He took a deep breath in, straightened up his spine, rolled his shoulders back and proceeded to walk towards Ariana. He tapped her on the shoulder and greeted her. She didn't see him coming and was slightly surprised. She looked at him briefly and greeted him back and quickly look down again, embarrassed for not noticing Neil approaching. "So I was wondering... do you know how you're getting to formal?" Neil started off with a hint of hesitation in his voice. "No not really. M-my parents said they would drive me there if I didn't want to go with a group or if I just wanted to go with one or two people. So right now that's probably my plan." Suddenly Neil got another message from his friend. It said, "Don't do it." Neil was puzzled. What did he mean? Soon after a longer message arrived reading, "I know what you're thinking. She said one or two people. Sounds good but don't do it. Too risky. It fails that's everything we worked for down the drain. Just stick to the original plan." Neil was stunned. He looked around looking for his friend. He wasn't at the library and he was nowhere in his line of sight. He pondered for a while of where he could be? How did he know? How could he hear the conversation and how did he know what I was thinking? Ariana looked concerning at Neil and asked "is everything ok?"

"Yeah no its nothing. Well I was just wondering... me Scott and a few others have booked a limo. We got 7 right now and it's a 12 seater. So we were wondering if you'd like to come with us." Ariana pondered over his proposal for a few moments. She asked for who else was coming in the limo. After hearing the names she decided she would go with them. She was hesitant in her decision but she eventually said yes. She thought that perhaps this was would be a good step forward for her and Ariana. The day went on as usual. Ariana and Neil both had a certain aura about them now. They both knew the significance of what they had done and were both happy that they were moving forward. This step however would soon lead to a drastic... unexpected turn.

A few weeks had passed and it was finally the day of the formal. It was decided that Neil and his group would all come meet up around his house dressed up at around 3:30pm. They'd have a half hour to take photos and what not before they'd leave. All the boys came in dressed with a single theme in mind... bow ties. Bow ties was the dress code that night. All kinds of patterns and colours, stripes, polka dots, and classic straight colours. Of cause the stand out of them was Neil's best friend in an old school classic 3 piece suit. Jacket, vest and all. In the end the group consisted of 7 boys and 3 girls. Upon the arrival of the girls jaws dropped simultaneously. The breath taking beauty was that of angels. Neil walked over to Ariana, struggling to even speak proper English, "Wow. You look... just... wow.... I- I-...wow." Her pale skin, even with the light makeup she had, was visibly red like two crimson roses ready for the night. Noa slowly walked over towards Ariana as well, a visible air of arrogance surrounded him as he approached. His hand on his chin he looked up down Ariana as if he were analysing her. "Danm girl you lookin good~ how bout you n me hit it off on the dance floor tonight?" Ariana had no response to this. She simple walked over to the 2nd girl who everyone knew was already taken by one of the other boys. While the rest of the group was talking and waiting for the limo to arrive, Neil's best friend walked over to the 3rd lady of the night, Fiona. Despite her beauty everyone knew she was a bit flaky, but it didn't matter to him. He walked over and with the most flamboyant voice started, "Mmmm mmm girl you lookin so fine! Come on huny doo a lil walk for me, give me a spin suga, work it girl~" Fiona could barely contain herself. She complied with him all the while laughing hysterically. It was clear from his ton and his action that, at least right now, he had no intention of actually hitting on her, he was simply just having fun. "So you ready to shake what ya mumma gave ya on the dance floor tonight huny?"

"Ahah of cause, you gonna shake it with me big boy?"

"You know it suga. At least until the crowd of boys around you gets too much for me to handle sweet thang"

"AHAH puh-lease. That aint gonna happen"

"Oh come now Tiger you and I both know all the boys gone be lookin at you all night." the two both just sat stood their laughing for a while. Soon after the limo finally arrived. They all took a few last photos together in front of the limo before they headed off.

Because Neil's friend did not partake in many of the photos he was forced to be the first on in the limo. It didn't quite make sense to him nor did it make sense to anyone else but they all agreed on it. In the moment at least it made sense. After their little interaction Fiona, now dubbed as his Lady for the night went in with him. They sat on either sides of the limo facing each other. After that Neil and Ariana walked in sitting together on one side next to Fiona while Noa and Scott walked in after both sitting opposite Neil and Ariana. The rest of the group walked in after that. The dividing partition started to roll down once everyone was in to reveal the driver for the night, "Good evening my name is Abdul and I'll be the driver tonight. Just a few rules you know don't break anything, break anything you pay for it and aaah you can make as much noise as you want, you know that's not a problem umm right there next to you habib there's a aux cord so you know you can lay down the sick beats for the night kna' mean bro. but yeah apart from that just have fun enjoy the night." And with that the partition rolled back. The whole limo erupted into laughter after that speech. Everyone was simply going off with stereotypical wog lines like "What a hectic cuz, fully sick bro." and so on. Throughout the drive a mixture of different songs were played ranging from the hardest of gangster rap to the best of Korean pop culture, fresh tracks from the hip hop scene and much more. The one thing that stayed constant however was the look on Noa's face and who it was directed towards. A face if displeasure, so far as to even call it hate and rage, was visible in his eyes. It was only ever directed at Neil. Throughout the drive his eyes would always come back to Neil with that same hatred. Whenever Neil would lean over to say something to Ariana his lips would twitch. He was ready to cuss him out but he knew better. He knew that for the night he had lost and there wasn't much he could do, especially no in the limo. He held in his frustration. This would be the start... the start of the end.