Stranded... With Him

Chapter 35

"What?!" Isatu yelled. My eyes widened as she slammed my locker shut. "What the hell do you mean by I'm not going to prom?"

"Exactly what I said."

"No. No. No. No. No." Sophie said shaking her head. "This has been your dream- our dream- since freshman year. You can't just not go to senior prom. You missed junior prom and it wasn't the same without you!"

"It just doesn't feel the same." I said starting to walk off. They finally caught up and walked by my side.

"Air, you have to go."

"Yeah! Last year you planned the entire prom and didn't even get to see it." Isatu reminded me.

"It'll be fun! Even better this year since you have Dean."

"What about the hottest senior ever?" Dean said waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Hi." He smiled and kissed me.

"Hello gorgeous."

"See! You can't not go! You'll be the cutest couple there!" Sophie then said pointing to us.

"Go where?" Dean asked grabbing my hand.

"Prom." He looked to me.

"We're not going?" We stared at each other for a few seconds before Isatu said something.

"Don't you want to go Dean?"

"Honestly I thought it would be kind of fun." He said looking back to me.

"So you'll go?" Is asked. I looked to my best friends. They were watching me with wide eyes and big smiles, hoping I would say yes.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Dean smiled and kissed my temple while Is and Soph jumped up and down.

"Dress shopping tonight at 5."

"Be ready!" Is yelled as Sophie dragged her out to the parking lot. I sighed and followed.

I don't understand why they want to go dress shopping now. There's still a couple months left until prom.

Wow, I really have changed. Last year I would've been done with shopping already.

"You really didn't want to go?" I moved closer to Dean as a few idiots ran by.

"Not really. Honestly, I just felt like staying in with you and having a night together."

"Babe, we have nights together all the time." I nodded. I threw my bag into the back seat and looked up to find him staring at me. "It wouldn't hurt us to go to prom."

"I already agreed." He smiled and walked around the car. I leaned against the back door as he put his hands on my waist.

"I know. I just wanted to let you know."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to do a little dancing." He chuckled and kissed me.

"We better work on your dance moves." I hit his arm and he walked to the other side, laughing.

"They aren't that bad."

"Babe, I've seen you dance before. Remember our little island dances?" I got in the car shaking my head, trying so hard not to smile.

"You can walk home, Grant."

"You look amazing today." Dean whispered from behind me. I smiled as he wrapped his arm around my stomach, stopping me, to kiss my neck.

"Come on love birds. Apparently there's exciting news." Nora said very excitedly. Notice the sarcasm used? Nora never seemed to be happy anymore.

"What's going on?" I asked looking around. LeeAnn, Steve, mom, and dad stood around the kitchen table smiling. On the table were envelopes with mine and Dean's names on them.

I set my backpack down and tried to take in all of the different colored balloons. This is so weird.

"We have been saving the letters until you got most of them." Mom said excitedly.

"Acceptance letters." I said quietly. Dean looked to me and then to the table. I took another step and picked up the envelopes.

I applied to a few places around the country, most of them in warmer places. I also figured if I applied to schools farther away I would be able to start new.

"You've always wanted to go to UCLA." Dad smiled when I picked up that one. He was right. For some reason I always took interest in that school. Either UCLA or Stanford.

I took a breath and tore the seal.

"Dad?" He looked to me. "I can't. Can you read it for me?" He nodded and reached for the letter. Dean grabbed my hand, to which I put both of my hands around his, while staring at my father. Dad looked up to me.

"Honey? You've... Been accepted!" Dean picked me up and spun me around.

"I knew you'd get in." He whispered before kissing my forehead. I then hugged my parents. Steve smiled and pulled out a hat from behind him. He placed it on my head then hugged me.

"Your turn." I told Dean. He picked up a random letter and smiled at me. "Which one?" I asked now standing next to him.

"A community college." He shrugged.

"Did you get in?" LeeAnn asked trying to contain her excitement.

"Yeah." He said with a smile. "I got in."

"So how shall we celebrate?" Steve asked clapping his hands together twice. "Our kids just got accepted to college and we need to celebrate."

"Everybody be ready in ten minutes. We are going out to eat." Dad said.

"They didn't finish all of their letters." LeeAnn told the two.

"They most likely got accepted to all of them. Now come on."

"UCLA, huh?" Dean asked flicking my baseball cap.

"Possibly." He leaned down and kissed me.

"I'm proud of you, babe."

"And I of you."

"That community college has nothing on UCLA."

"I don't care. It's still college."

"I still don't know if I'm going." He pushed my hair off my shoulders.

"That's up to you." He nodded and looked at the table. My eyes immediately landed onto the Stanford letter. Before we could take another step they were calling for us to leave.

"After dinner." I sighed hoping that dinner would be quick so I could see the other possible acceptance letters.

"So this one is perfect!" Isatu said with the biggest grin.

"Agreed!" I told her. She turned around to me and gave me a look.

"I just don't feel like doing this right now." I looked into the mirror. The dress I was wearing wasn't so bad. The only thing I didn't like was how it was strapless. I have never wore a strapless dress ever since that eighth grade dance.

I shook my head at the awful memory.

"I found your perfect dress." Sophie told me. She shoved me into the dressing room with the dress. "You'll love this one. I promise."

"You said that four dresses ago." I said unzipping the one I was in. Soph sighed.

"Just try it." I looked at it as it hung on the hook of the door.

"Its not even attached. It's two pieces."

"Its the style, Air. Just try it." I mean it was pretty. I sighed and began to put it on.

"What the hell kind of-" Before saying another word I shut up. This was beautiful.

Who would've thought that a two piece dress would look so well on me? There was a black material over my boobs, obviously, but covering my back and shoulders was sheer. The top had sparkle sequin thing covering it. The soft silky skirt fell to the floor. On the waist of the skirt was a lining of sparkles, matching the top.

"Holy shit." Isatu said from behind me. At this moment I didn't care that they just walked in. I was in love with this dress. Well it technically wasn't a dress, but you know.

"You're getting it." Sophie said with a smile.