𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐃

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Eighteen

    "We're going prom dress shopping and we're dragging you along because this is not something you can do last minute, Nora," Kristen dredged on as the three of them walked over to the redhead's car, "You're totally gonna get prom queen so you need to be a stunner."

    "There's no way in hell I'm gonna be prom queen and even if I am it's going to be out of pity because of all the Mason stuff," Nora sighed as they all crammed into her car, Amarie taking shotgun as always. "I do not wanna be prom queen. I mean, it would be nice and the crown is cute, but I'm never gonna be that girl."

    Amarie laughed at this, turning around to say, "Nora, you literally are that girl, though. Cheerleader, blonde, perfect body, perfect grades, you're literally a cookie cutter prom queen, just accept it. Don't worry, we'll make sure you look cute. We just need a dress that's going to match the crown!"

    "You guys are living in a fever dream," Nora laughed as she settled in for the drive. Living in a small town, the nearest mall with a proper dress shop was thirty minutes away so they were going to be there for a minute. As much as she loved where she was from, she longed to escape from it. Not just because of the shopping, though. The one thing she was absolutely going to miss about her home were the friends she had, but if she ever came back, Kristen and Amarie weren't going to be there. They were going to be off in an apartment in a city somewhere. However, Nora wanted to keep a tight grip on them regardless of where the three of them ended up in the world and none of them were willing to let go of their little group. At least, that was what she hoped was going to happen when they all left for college. The fear mongering part of her mind kept telling her that nothing good was going to come out of leaving, but she was doing her best to ignore it. Whether she liked their small town or not, she was suffocating here.

    "Nor? Why are you so quiet?" Kristen asked from the drivers' seat, "Do you not like the prom queen talk? We can totally cut it out, we're just excited for you, but I know you're going through a rough time right now so we can just chill out."

    From the back, Nora sighed, running a hand through her hair and pulling a few loose strands with it. Maybe she was balding from stress, that's cute. Muttering to her friends, she said, "No, no, it's not that. I just... we're all gonna stay friends after we graduate, right?"

    Amarie turned around to give her a look as if she were crazy. Scoffing, she remarked, "Of course! I think I would die if we lost contact with you, Nor, I'm not exaggerating when I say that, too. We love you and we're always going to be your best friends no matter what."

    Nora hated to admit how little reassurance that gave her. The truth was that none of them were going to know until it happened or it was too late. It terrified her, everything about the future did. She knew she had to get out of her own head, but she couldn't stop. She could feel herself becoming her own worst enemy; it was insatiable the way her thoughts were desperate to eat her alive. She never remembered it being like this, but maybe it had always been creeping closer and closer as the dread of finishing high school dawned on her. Nora couldn't wait to get away, but the uncertainty of what was going to happen once she did was killing her.

    She sighed to herself, knowing she needed to simply calm down. The world was not ending; the biggest thing she had to worry about at the moment was going to be prom. Everything else could wait.

    As they arrived at the mall, they immediately made their way to the racks of the first formal dress shop they saw and got to work. As they did for every dance the three of them went to, they searched for dresses for each other because they knew each other better than the three of them knew themselves. That's what best friends were for, right?