𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐃

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Twenty-Five

The one thing Nora never expected to happen on the night of her senior prom was for her to be crying on a sidewalk with her two best friends by her side. The three were on the edge of the curb, all their heels placed beside them for the sake of comfort, as they waited for Kristen's mom to pick them up. Nora had debated calling her own mother, but she had to admit she was embarrassed. This whole thing was just embarrassing. The chill of shame caused goosebumps to rise on her fair skin while both of her best friends wrapped their arms around her.

"How could I have been so stupid?" she remarked through her tears. She was fully aware that her makeup was absolutely ruined, but that was a trivial thing to worry about in a moment like this. Triviality seemed to be the only thing Nora could only hold onto in times like these. Speaking of simple matters, Nora reached into her clutch and pulled out two ten dollar bills and handed them to Kristen. The redhead scoffed, but took the money anyway. High school tragedy aside, a bet is a bet.

Amarie sighed, "You weren't stupid, no one saw this coming."

"I did, though, we talked about it. Neither of us really felt like we deserved each other, I just didn't realize she felt so strongly about it," she sniffled, bringing her hand up to wipe her eyes. "I wanna hate her, but I can't. All I want is for her to be mine, I've always wanted that. I just... I don't know if I'll be getting what I want."

"Remember when I told you," Kristen began and Nora had a feeling she knew exactly where the girl was going with this, "that you needed to ask yourself if everything you have with Edison is worth it?" Nora nodded. "I need you to answer that question now. Is this all worth it?"

With no hesitation, Nora knew the answer. She had always known the answer. "It's worth it. I know it is."

With those words, Kristen's mom pulled up to the curb and the three girls helped each other to their feet and got in. The ride home was quiet and thankfully, her mom didn't pry.

"I can't believe I won prom queen just to get dumped immediately after. Kind of bittersweet," Nora sighed as the three of them walked into the house and settled onto Kristen's bed. This kind of moment, of course, called for an emergency sleepover. The three of them had so many emergency sleepovers in their time, they all had their own toothbrushes at each others' houses. "Well, there goes senior prom."

"I mean, if you really think about it, the dance doesn't mean much. All we need to remember is that no matter what, we made it," Amarie mused as the three of them, still in their prom dresses, laid down on Kristen's bed with their eyes trained on the ceiling. "We are going to finish high school in two weeks and nothing is gonna change that. Four years of rollercoasters, of girlfriends and boyfriends, of stupid cheer injuries, of drama, whatever it was. It's gonna be over and we got through it. This dance is just a symbol of that, just because part of it sucked doesn't change that."

"High school feels like a fever dream and I haven't even finished it yet," Nora sighed, attempting to rub her runny makeup off with her hand to no avail. "I just want this phase of my life to be over."

"Including Edison?" Amarie asked, looking over at her best friend.

"Not including Edison. But that includes the part of my life everyone thought was perfect. I'm tired of being seen like some one-dimensional mary sue. From here on out, this stupid perfect life is not going to be mine because it hasn't been perfect in a long time," she mouthed off. She had no idea how deep or how long these feelings had been buried, but now they were spilling out like a tap left running and spilling over.

"Woah," was all Kristen said at first, but soon she realized what was going on with her friend, "This... this has been something you've been feeling for a while now, hasn't it?"