How Could This Be Real?

125. Prom: Part 2

"Angel, come on, dance with us!" Meg encouraged me, tugging my arm towards the dance floor.

I laughed and pulled away, waving her off. "Meg, I told you, I'm fine! I'll dance later."

"You said that an hour ago! You are dancing with us now, no exceptions."

"But-!"

She grabbed my hands and yanked me onto the dance floor, bouncing around and grinning in success.

I sighed and shook my head, unable to hide a smile. I was trying really hard to enjoy the night, but it was nearly impossible when wherever I looked there were happy couples swaying around the floor and making out in the shadowy corners of the room. It all reminded me far too much of Starlight and the memory was just so bittersweet. I couldn't seem to pull myself out of the emotional rut I'd been thrown into the second I'd stepped into this beautiful room.

I pushed my negative thoughts to the back of my brain and joined Meg in her silly dance, laughing like little schoolgirls playing ring-around-the-rosy. It was a lot of fun and Cam even stole me away from her to spin me around a few times and I just about lost it, his utterly awful dance moves being the best and worst things I'd ever seen in my life.

We spent what felt like hours just goofing around with each other, but I couldn't help but notice the obvious effort they were making to make sure I was always with at least one of them and I felt bad that they felt the need to do that. I was a big girl, I didn't need to be babysat. I knew they just wanted to make sure I didn't get too upset missing David, but I wanted them to be able to enjoy this special night with each other too.

When I told them this though they assured me that last year had been more than enough of an experience that they were perfectly fine spending the night with me. It made me so grateful that I had such amazing and loyal friends. I loved them so much, I had no idea what I was going to do next year once they were both graduated. I had a few friends in my class, but none of them knew me half as well as these two did.

As the night progressed however, I couldn't help but notice that Cam didn't seem quite like himself. He kept stealing nervous glances at Meg when she wasn't looking and he was quite fidgety, which was somewhat normal for him, but tonight it was just... different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was definitely something on his mind and something big at that.

It was at that moment that the music stopped and there was the distinct "tap, tap" of someone testing a microphone. We all turned our gaze to the stage that was set up at the end of the room and smiled as we saw Mr. Mitchell standing there proudly, smiling out at the mass of students.

"Hello everyone!" he said dramatically. "Enjoying yourselves?"

We all whooped and hollered and he nodded in approval.

"Very good, very good. I suppose you all know why I'm up here, yes?" We cheered again and he grinned, gesturing to a pedestal next to him topped with two shining crowns. "That's right! It's time to crown your 2018 prom king and queen!"

I clapped and glanced at my friends standing next to me with a huge smile on my face. I'd voted for the two of them and told all my friends to do the same because they really did deserve it. They were incredibly school spirited and always kind to everyone and both at the top of their class. I couldn't imagine a more perfect fit for the roles and prayed with all my heart that they would win.

I turned my attention back to the stage and listened impatiently as Mr. M kept procrastinating, trying to build the tension as much as possible and everyone groaned and yelled at him to hurry up, so he finally asked for a drum roll as he slowly opened the envelope containing the first name.