Inferno

~95~ Homecoming

Emma's POV

It's Homecoming tonight! I seriously never thought I would be going. Especially not with Trace!!!! Trace and I are double dating with Luke and his girlfriend, Paige.

Sasha and I are sharing the bathroom. We're both getting ready, curling our hair. "You nervous?" I ask her.

"For what?" She asks, confused.

"Seeing if you're crowned Homecoming Queen."

"Yeah. I really want it" she admits.

"You excited about going with Ty?"

"He's cute. He's just someone to go with, though" she says.

"You still mad that Liam is going to be there?" I ask her.

"It's completely insane. It's not as embarrassing as when mom went to prom, though."

Mom and dad have an appointment with dad's dad. I don't know what it is, they won't tell us. I think that grandpa is sick, though. Dad's been really stressed. They're out of town and they won't be back until tomorrow. Mom was bummed. She really wanted to see us before we left.

Dad got upset when he found out that Mr. West was chaperoning, so he said that none of us could go unless once of our adult family members went. Dad bribed Liam to do it. Savannah is staying at Alex's house tonight so Liam didn't have to bring her.

We finish getting ready and Trace, Luke, and Paige are already downstairs waiting on us. My breath catches. I can't believe this guy is my boyfriend. The difference between us is staggering. One of these days he's going to realize it. Not today, though. So I'm just going to enjoy tonight. I've never been to a dance before.

He comes over to me and wraps me up in his strong hug and kisses me gently.

"You look absolutely beautiful, Emmy" he says, kissing my cheek.

"You look great" I say, smiling at him. He can really work a pair of dress pants.

"Quit drooling over my sister. It's disgusting" Luke says, pretending to be horrified.

"You girls look beautiful" Liam says, coming over and kissing us.

"Ok, mom will kill me if I don't get any pictures. Everybody smile" he says as he takes several pictures. He makes us take several group pictures outside and then several couple pictures, and then single pictures of all of us. By the time he lets us be done, even I'm over it.

"Liam, that's enough" Sasha says, annoyed. Her date got here a bit ago, and they had to get all of their pictures before Liam would let them leave.

"Man, I'm killing this dad thing. I've officially annoyed a bunch of teenagers because I'm taking a million pictures. Look at me, such an adult" he says, smugly.

"No, it just means that you're exactly like mom, and obsessed with taking millions of pictures," Luke grumbles.

"Ah man, you're right. Mom totally would have taken this many. Damn it" he says, disgusted with himself.

"Alright, you beautiful people, go have fun. I'll see you at the school," he says, kissing Sasha and me again.

"You boys better treat all these girls good, hear me?" He asks in a surprisingly stern voice.

"Yes sir" they all say at the same time.

Liam chuckles. "Oh yeah, I'm totally killing this dad thing" he nods as he goes back into the house.

Sasha waves goodbye as she and Ty go to meet up with their group for pictures. Mom already arranged for Hannah's mom to send her pictures.

The four of us go to dinner at a steakhouse. It's super nice. We have fun, but I'm just feeling really self conscious. My dress is tight, and it's showing off my stomach. It's just not flat...Not like Sasha's. Why couldn't I just look nice tonight? My hair turned out great, my makeup is perfect, why couldn't my clothes cooperate for once? I'm very aware of how drastically different Trace and I are.