Holding On To You

Chapter 1

Paul's POV

And I'll be holding onto you.

I sigh as it starts raining. I wanted to go for a nice, quiet walk while listening to music. But no, it has to rain. As throw my hood over my head, I hear footsteps behind me.
I turn around abruptly to see a girl with only the lightest sweater on walking slowly behind me. She has what looks like brown hair and blue eyes that are darkened by the weather.
She doesn't notice me and continues walking, pushing past me. I clear my throat. She spins around and jumps slightly. "I'm sorry..." , she mumbles. I've heard that accent before. As I look her over, she seems familiar to me. Then I remember.

One Year Earlier ...

Ugh. Junior Prom's coming up. I don't even have a date. I might as well not go, right?
My best friend, Jamie, starts walking toward me. "Hey, Paul. Have you found a date for the prom yet?" "No, have you?" "Yeah, his name is Dylan. He seems sweet. I'm excited."
I smiled. Jamie has always been a ball of excitement. She's always talking and laughing her heart out. That's why we're friends.

Later that day, I'm walking out of my Advanced Algebra class. I see a girl with a dirty blonde ponytail and a tall, masculine guy with the common fuckboy haircut. Like mine.
The girl, who's name I think is Vienna or something like that, looks as if she wants to cry. Her boyfriend, or what I think is her boyfriend, runs a veiny hand through his brown hair.
"Dylan, I thought you were taking me to prom! But no, you go behind your girlfriend's back and ask another girl. I thought you genuinely cared about me." I'm guessing her boyfriend is the guy who asked Jamie to prom.
"Vi, I do, but Jamie ... she - she's hot. And, she didn't have a date yet, so..."
"Wow. You're so shallow, Dylan. I'm starting to believe I never loved you. We're done."
Vienna starts walking away and is too distracted by what just happened that she rams into me. I stumble backwards and she turns red. "I'm sorry ..."
She has a Canadian accent. "It's fine. What's wrong? You seem troubled."
Vienna bites her lip and shakes her head.
"No, I -"

"Your boyfriend asked someone else to prom?"

She nods and her bottom lip trembles. "Yeah. This girl Jamie. He thinks she's -"

"Hot, yeah, I heard. Jamie's my best friend, actually. I'm Paul."

"I'm Vienna. I moved here from Canada two months ago and met Dylan on my first day. We fell in love. But apparently he only wanted me because I'm 'hot'."

I shrugged. "Shallow guy, huh?"

"I guess so. Listen, I gotta go. Nice meeting you..."

I nod. "Okay, bye."

THE NEXT DAY.

I see Vienna again. Jamie doesn't meet me at my locker. Must be with Dylan. Vienna and I talk about Prom, classes, Jamie and Dylan, and exams coming up. She smiles as the bell rings and walks to her next class.

ONE WEEK LATER

Vienna and I have gotten close. Extremely close. She's basically replacing Jamie now, who's always with Dylan. Tomorrow's Prom. We don't have dates yet. I'm planning on asking Vienna to Prom.

And I do ask her. She says yes, with a squeal. Prom's going to be great. Or at least I hope so.

PROM NIGHT

I pick up Vi and we go straight to Prom. As we walk in, Fifth Harmony is blaring and girls are humping their dates. I'm immediately nauseated, and Vienna seems to be, too. We look at each other, nod, and walk outside to the picnic table next to the school.
We start to talk, and 20 minutes later, we hear voices.
"What the hell? Dylan, you don't just bring someone to the Prom and go off with other girls making out."

"Jamie, I can explain ..."

"No. You're disgusting."

Vienna turns around at the same time as me. Dylan's eyes look bloodshot, lipstick all over his face. He must have gotten high before he came.
Vienna gets up and walks toward Dylan. I try to stop her but she ignores me. "Hey, what's going on here?"
Dylan glares at her and yanks her by the arm. She screams. He pulls her in. "Dylan, st-" He starts kissing her harshly and groping her at the same time. I push him away and stand in front of Jamie and Vi.
"What the hell are you thinking, you bastard? What, are you high?"

"Yeah, why?"

Vi looks at the ground. "That's why you never could spend time with me. You were out getting high with your 'bros' weren't you?"

He nods and pushes her against the wall. "You're coming with me." He yanks Vienna by the arm and drags her inside. Jamie looks at me.

"Paul, I'm sorry, I would've asked to go with you but Dylan was so demanding."

I nod. "I get it."

We go inside and I wait for Vienna for an hour. She doesn't come back for the rest of Prom. After that night, she was out of school for a series of days and there were rumors that she had gotten homeschooled but no one knew.

I forgot about her. She left me. She broke my heart even though Jamie was by my side. Prom was supposed to be great. But I just ended up getting my heart broken. Great, just amazing.

Present Day

"Vienna?"

She nods with a sad smile.

"Paul ..."

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING MY FIRST CHAPTER I HOPE IT DIDN'T SUCK. 😂

much love,

- ashlee / @joshlerisrealx ❤️