Wild

Chapter 27

Xander's POV

Sunday morning.

I start rolling on my bed from side to side constantly, planning the day ahead. I have my agenda all written out on my table, but it is so far (Not, but you get the idea). I turn to lay on my right side and think about school. I guess I can put off homework for a few more hours. I turn to lay on my left side then, pondering if I should go out for a run. It is, after all, a beautiful day out. The sun rose above the horizon hours ago, not like I was there to see it, and the sky is clear of any belief that it's going to rain. I lay on my back, staring at the faint blue ceiling, with little marks scribbled here and there, and I think about prom. Two weeks. Technically, it's thirteen days.

I never really understood the big deal about prom. This is the first year in my life I'm attending prom. Everyone else seems excited at the mention of the magical night, but I just don't feel it. What is the gist of it, how is everyone hyped about a night where you dress beautifully and slow dance with your date to her favorite song? Oh.

Now that I think about it, I do understand the gist of prom.

Based on Cameron's "prolonged experiment and observation", prom can be divided into three sections. There's the pre-prom, where you 'prompose' to a girl in an extravagant way and hope she'll nod her head and hopefully cry (I don't know why). There's prom night where you have, must, will, should, dance with your date to a fast song and a slow song, and should successfully kiss your date at the end of the slow song. Then there's the after-prom. It's not a party. It's a decision. Prom night usually ends like a fairytale, but once you're over that, things get pretty awkward. It's the stage where you'll have to decide if you want to be together with your date, or you just want to be friends. Or even worse, strangers; like you've never danced, talked, or kissed. Ouch.

Cameron has been to prom once – his senior year. He tried promposing to a girl with a five balloons spelling the word 'prom?' but a stupid bird flew low and popped all the balloons at once, so he gave up on asking her out. I wasn't there to see it, but I can imagine how hilarious that would've been. Anyways, Cameron ended up going to prom for an hour with his so called 'squad' and left because, and I quote, "the punch was bad". But of course, I knew it was because all his other friends had dates and he didn't.

I lay on my bed. The big, empty bed. Four blue walls surround me and distract me as I try to think. It is ridiculous how humans' attention get be diverted by the slightest of things. So I shut my eyes and think again. I focus, and I concentrate. Then I open my eyes, realizing that there's nothing to think about. I know who I'm going to take to prom. I've known it since- technically, I decided yesterday, so, you get the idea.

Cameron took me to the store to buy the essentials for a promposal while he shopped around in the clothing section. He could use some new clothes. I threw a pack of balloons, a post-it note, and some strings in the cart and wheeled out to the cashier.

"That'll be seventeen sixty." The cashier said, and I hand her a twenty dollar bill.

She smiles. Is it hard to smile and be nice to people all day?

I wonder, but I don't ask her that. It would simply be rude.

I smile back at her and leave the store. Strolling around for a few more minutes until Cameron was done picking out some new shirts, I called Caleb. The guy is a huge prick but he's the only close friend of mine who is male. I would call Veronica for this task, but she's an annoying tattle mouth who cannot be trusted with confidential matters. I mean, if you tell her the country's nuclear secret or something, she'll be the very reason why World War Three will happen.

"Ye-llo?" Caleb's voice emitted out of the phone speaker along with a drowsy undertone.

"Hey Caleb, I could use a favor." I said, lowering my voice even though no one could possibly hear me.

"Sure, Xan! Anything! The C-man is down for anything!" He exclaimed with enthusiasm before knowing what it is. C-man. What a pricky nickname for a prick.

I explained my elaborate plan and told him to meet me at school once the night falls, then spent the whole afternoon blowing up balloons and writing on sticky notes. Okay, so maybe I didn't use the whole afternoon and maybe I stole a few naps in between, but a man without naps is an angry man. No one says that, do they?

Surprisingly, Caleb showed up on time.

"Xandy Bear! What up, dawg?" Caleb shouted too loud that I shushed him. Sometimes I wonder if he actually completed middle school.

I would never agree to the way Caleb speaks, but I need his help now, and beggars don't get to complain.

"The key?" I whispered, and Caleb threw me a ring of clattering shining silver.

"Say, what are you up to Xan?" Caleb leaned against the side of the cold, hard locker doors as I fumbled with the key in the dark lightning.

"You'll see," Was all I said.

Swiftly, I did what I had to do, checking my sides for other bystanders from time to time. Finally, I shut the locker which clearly didn't belong to me, and left at the speed of light, although Caleb was nowhere to be found.

***
"Are you kidding? You did great up there!" Astrid said, nudging me in the stomach as we roamed the hallways.

English just ended with presentations and I was one of the many presenters. Each of us had to read a book by Shakespeare and present it, so I chose Romeo and Juliet.

"No, are you kidding? I was a nervous wreck!" And I still am now, to make it worse, I am more nervous right now than I've ever been.

We came to a halt at Astrid's locker, and I wait for her to open her locker and trembling fists. Sweat is rolling down my forehead as I anxiously watch her fidgets with her combination.

Then she opens it.

Here goes nothing, I told myself.

The sticky notes from last night are still intact, the balloons bursting out of the locker. "WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?" those were the words on the post-it notes. I watched as everything in Astrid's hand collapse onto the ground, and I smiled. Her hands shot up to cover her mouth as she squealed in quite an octave, and hugged me. No, scratch that, squeezes the daylights out of me.

"I can't believe you-" I felt the warmth of her tears on my shoulder. "Oh my God." She manages to whisper through all that crying.

"So?" I said, still smiling.

"Yes, Xander. Yes." And I've never been happier, and I've never seen her this happy either.

And I hug her back, tighter than ever before. I don't want to lose her.

So this is what pre-prom feels like.

She lets go first, and I let her. I gawk as she takes something out of the top of her locker and hands it to me.

She adjusts the ribbon around it before handing it to me. "This is for you."

Green Day was written on the record. I take it. The moment the tip of my fingers came in contact with the cover of the record, it sent a strike of chills down my spine, and it all comes back to me.

The days and the nights. The hits and the shouts. Mom and dad. Younger Cameron and I. The laughs and the cries. The life back then, the life before back then. Mt. Werth. The fire truck, the fire escape, the hugs, the kiss, everything. Astrid. How she would listen to my endless rants, how she'd tease me anytime possible. Her reassuring glances at everything I do. The butterflies that appear out of the blue when she's around. My poor attempts at hiding from her. Her fear of thunder and lightning and me being there for her. Her eyes that lit up during the night. Her laughs that come with my every threat of violence. The way her head fits perfectly on my shoulder. The one who stayed. The only one who never left.

Then I see the slight smile on Astrid's tear stained face, and without any self-control, I allow my instincts to take over and brush my lips against hers, making up for all lost time.

I remember.