Juliana

40. PrOm?

*3 Weeks Later*

Who was I kidding? Yeah. This whole just friends thing with Jules was so not working. I was wrong; I had to abort the mission.

I was in English class right now. Juliana was sitting at the desk directly to the right of me. The room was dead silent, like you could hear a needle drop, because we were supposed to be reading, but I just could not think about anything to do with school right now. Senioritis? Perhaps. Luckily for me, Mrs. Lee was busy doing something at her desk, so it was easy to skip out on the reading.

One thing in particular really bugged me right now, though. See, people had been asking each other to go to Prom all week, and Juliana hadn't mentioned Prom, not even once. I mean, why hadn't she mentioned Prom yet? Everyone else was going crazy about it? I mean, that was a girl thing right? Why didn't she care? We were friends now! She could talk Prom with me. I could handle her going to Prom with another guy. Okay, so maybe not, but still. Now, the question was just which one of these idiots asked my girl out?

"Robbie!" Juliana looked up from her book, hissing at me. "Stop it."

"Stop, what?" I asked genuinely. I had no idea what I needed to stop doing.

"You're bouncing your leg like crazy!" She whispered back, "If you have to pee, just raise your hand and ask already."

"Nah. That's not it." I spat back quickly, in a hushed tone.

"What then?"

At that moment, Mrs. Lee shot a glare over at Juliana and I that silently demanded us to shut up. However, I was not done with my conversation with Juliana quite yet.

"Tell ya later." I mumbled back as fast as I could. I could not let Mrs. Lee catch me.

A billion hours later, the bell rang, signaling the freedom to move to our next class period. Juliana and I both had Chemistry next. We were walking to class together again.

"So, since Prom is the talk of the school right now, I gotta ask... are you excited for Prom? Are you going with anyone? Do you have dress yet? What color is it? What style is it?" I asked her.

However, instead of a response, Juliana just walked a crap load ton faster. I was practically running and dodging students left and right to catch up with her.

"Jules. Slow down!" I shouted, basically. I knocked into a student or two, maybe even took some of them down. "I'm not asking because I'm jealous. I'm asking because I'm a friend. Are you a sensible shoes or a high heels kind of girl? I am just asking because I care about these things. See? I'm a good friend is all."

However, much to my dismay, she didn't stop. I did sit right next to her in Chemistry, so I'd be able to talk to her there without her running away. Since she hadn't really talked to me about Prom, I was able to draw two conclusions.

1.) She hadn't been asked by anyone yet.

2.) She had been asked out already and just doesn't want to make things awkward between the two of us.

I decided that I was gonna take the risk and put my plan into action.

Taking my seat next to Jules at our lab table, I laid the groundwork for my master plan, "So, Jules, I thought you should know about these two new elements they recently discovered, you know, being all science-y and all."

She looked at me and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "It's not nice to tease a science nerd with those kind of things, Robbie."

"But I'm forreal!" I put my right hand on my chest. "One is named Prenanin and the other is Omenien."

She cracked a smile, but then turned serious again. "I'll have to ask Mr. Saltzstien about them, then. Thanks for letting me know."

Yeah. This totally was not following my plan. I had to do something and quick. I bent over and dug around in my backpack, bumping Juliana a couple times.

"Robbie! What are you doing?"

"Sorry," I glanced up at her, "I'm trying to find something."

Eventually, my hands found their way to the two wooden blocks. I laid them out on the table. One had "Pr" on it and the other had "Om" on it. They looked like the blocks on the periodic table. I pushed 'em together and got Jules's attention.

"That's what I was getting out of my backpack."

She looked down at it and studied it intensely. Then she looked back up at me, shaking her head. "No, Robbie." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I just... I can't."

Mr. Saltzstien hushed the class. Right now, I didn't care about Chemistry; I just wanted to know why Juliana had rejected me.

*The Next Day*

After a quick trip to my locker to grab what I needed, I went to Juliana's locker. When I first got there, she didn't adknowledge me; she just continued to get her books and binders out, stuffing them one by one into her backpack.

"Really, Juliana," I leaned against the lockers. "please just tell me. I'm a man; I can handle it. Who are you going with to Prom?

"Nobody, Robbie." She said, exasperatedly.

"Then why not go with me?" I cocked my head to the side and looked her in the eyes.

She shied away quick. "I dunno." She swayed side-to-side and shrugged her shoulders. "I was planning on a group date kinda sorta thing. Plus, I don't think we could go to Prom together and keep our friendship platonic. Cause you know... it's Prom." Her eyes widended.

"We could do a group thing, and I promise I won't make it anymore than you want it to be. Just pleeeeeasssssseeeeeee. Pretty please." I had now decided that begging Juliana was going to be the only way she'd go with me. To sweeten the deal, I slipped in something that only she'd get. "Pretty pretty please, with whipped cream and a cherry on top?"

Now, Jules was grinning like a possum, which made me really happy. I loved to see her smile; it lit up any room she was in. "Do you promise that you won't make any moves on me?"

"Yes." I nodded my head in agreement. "Absolutely. Positively. One hundred percent."

"And we will be going together as friends within a group of friends?"

"Sure, why not."

"Then, okay. I'll go with you." She smiled and shut the door to her locker.

"Score!" I did a fist pump in the air.

Juliana burst into laughter. "Walk with me to Homeroom?"

"Anytime, Blondie." I winked at her.

"Haven't heard that one in awhile, and you do know that you're one of the few people that I'll allow to call me that, right?"

I zoned out on the rest of the walk to Homeroom because I was beyond psyched that Juliana was going to Prom with me. Sure, she had agreed to going as friends and in a group, but still she was going to Prom with me. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was better than nothing! Patience was a virtue that I was learning how to possess.

*A/N: Y'all... this is chapter FORTY... Not sure how I feel, haha. :'D*