Afterlife || irwin

[ 24 ] 2014

[ 24 ] 2014

-

"Hazel said she wanted to go to the prom, and since we last went to school here, we thought we'd crash St. Genevieve's. Then we get here and Harleen tells us you're having some sort of anti-prom. That's so like you."

-

Harley submitted her request to have Calum be her date to the prom, and the turn around for an acceptance or denial of the request took three days. When she was called into the principal's office three days later, the principal explained to the seventeen year old that she could not allow a student who had been expelled, an opportunity to participate in the prom or the rest of the senior activities. She said that there had to be some form of consequence for his actions. Harley hardly thought it was fair, seeing as though Calum was innocent in all of it. But Billy would not come clean, and Calum had gotten over it by now. With one of his scholarships lost already, lost in the basketball playoffs, Billy still wanted a free ride to the school of his choice, and he could not do that if he had a stain like that on his record.

Despite Harley's pleading to have it happen otherwise, Calum forgave Billy for getting him expelled. He figured that he already had tons of fights in his permanent record, and Billy Quinn had suffered enough in losing one of his precious scholarships. Getting kicked out of St. Genevieve's would do no more harm to Calum's file than he had already done himself. Both Billy and Cindy were grateful to Calum for that.

With Calum unable to attend the prom, Harley didn't see why she would attend either. Most of their friends had left Australia anyway. She could still go, and hang out with Billy and Cindy, and Niall and Andrea. But Billy and Cindy would likely be hanging out with the other populars anyway, and Harley did not want to see Luke Hemmings. He was as troublesome and annoying as a pebble in her shoe. She also didn't want to be an awkward third wheel with Niall and Andrea. 

As the days passed and the night before prom rolled around, Harleen knocked on her daughter's door and pushed the door open. There was a warm smile on her face. The events of the last few months had done a lot to mature Harleen and mellow her out a bit. She was expinentially less bubbly and cheerful than she usually was. Now there was a more motherly warmth to her smiles and her behavior. Having Arthur around was also good for her. As much as it hurt Harley to admit, she seemed a lot happier. Not that she wasn't happy with Aaron, but it had always been obvious that there was something missing, at least on her part. Aaron was completely devoted to her. Or maybe it was also the fact that she didn't get a lot of sleep most nights because the twins kept her up with their crying. Harley wasn't sure, but she'd believe any theory.

"Do you need help setting out your stuff for the prom tomorrow?" She asked her daughter. She had done the same with her son Billy, with the help of Arthur as well. The situation was a bit difficult when it came to Billy. He didn't dislike Arthur and he wanted his mother to be happy. But Aaron was his father and he didn't want to feel as though he was betraying him by so openly accepting Arthur so quickly.

Harley gave a shake of her head. She was laying on her bed, on her back, blue eyes trained on the ceiling as she was lost in thought. She couldn't believe that she had only been in Sydney for the entirety of one school year, yet it felt to her like a whole decade. In all that time she had met all kind of wonderful people, Ashton included. Her mother's voice was the only thing that had gotten her out of her thoughts. She realized she hadn't told her or her brother that she wouldn't be attending. "No mum, that's fine. I'm not going to the prom tomorrow."

Harleen inhaled a gasp of surprise, bringing a hand to her chest dramatically. There was the overly emotional mother Harley hadn't seen in a while. "Why not, sweetheart?" Though it really shouldn't have been a surprise to her. Harley wasn't very social to begin with and the only reason she would have gone in the first place was to go with Calum.