LILLIAN sat on her bed whilst staring at her phone as her friends, Jade and Michelle, try to get her ready. Jade gave a knowingly look toward Michelle as Michelle shrugged. Jade then motioned Michelle to get Lillian's mother. Michelle nodded as she quietly left the room.

Jade sat beside Lillian, "You okay?" She asked as she looked up at Lillian.

"I don't know?" She spoke barely above a whisper, her gaze glued to her phone.

"Wanna tell me why you're staring at you phone and not getting ready?" Jade questioned softly, peeking over Lillian's shoulder to see a blank screen.

"She's been glued to that phone since yesterday." Lillian's mother, Leila, spoke up as she sat on the empty space next to her daughter.

"Why?" Michelle asked, taking a seat on Lillian's swivel chair.

"I don't know. All I know is that she was out with Peter yesterday and she came home around after sunset, going straight to her phone." Leila shrugged, pushing a few strand out of her daughter's face.

"Peter almost kissed me and he hasn't talked to me after." Lillian mumbled.

"What do you mean 'almost'?" Jade asked as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I-I was- Peter a-asked me to teach him how to dance a-and I-I started venting about falling for t-the wrong person?" Lillian stated more as a question as her eyebrows furrowed. "I was-I was crying and he was telling me that everything was going to be okay or that it wasn't my fault. Then h-he uh," Lillian cleared her throat, still in shock of it all, "w-was leaning in to- and I-I-I just left. Now we're not talking." She shook her head in confusion.

Leila gave her daughter a comforting hug, "Oh, sweetie." She spoke softly, "Just give him some time. He's probably feeling the same way as you right now and doesn't know how you feel or is scared to talk about it."

Michelle and Jade nodded in agreement as Lillian looked up at her mother, "But he's with Liz. He likes Liz not me." Lillian refused to believe anything else.

Michelle scoffed, "No, my flower. You got it all wrong." She stated as she shook her head at her friend's response.

"Peter is into you, as much as he refuses to believe it, but he really is." Jade added as she caught Lillian's attention. "You should've seen the way he was looking at you whenever you were with Elijah." She chuckled a bit, "He would have this little irritated glare toward Elijah because of the fact he was with you instead of hanging out with us or more specifically Peter." She said softly as she tried to cheer her best friend.

Lillian smiled at Jade's words, blushing a light shade of pink. Her smile faltered and then faded once reality hit, "I'm sorry." She said softly as she looked down at her folded hands.

"Sorry for what?" Michelle asked. "You didn't do anything wrong, flower." She reassured.

Lillian sighed, "I know. It's just... I don't think I can go to homecoming." She shrugged.

"Lillian, I did not go shopping with you and buy a dress that you really wanted just for it to go to waste." Leila pointed out. "You'll be going with MJ and Jade. They'll make sure you have a fun night," She reassured her daughter, then turning her attention toward Michelle and Jade, "but not too much fun, alright? I don't need her coming home drunk or pregnant. Got it?" She added sternly.

Michelle and Jade nodded quickly, "Got it." They said in unison.

"Okay, sweetie. I gotta head to work. Have fun at homecoming and be careful. If anything happens just call me and I'll come pick you guys up." Leila said as she gave a light motherly kiss on top of Lillian's head. "Love you." She smiled before leaving the room.

"Love you too." Lillian called out to her mother before turning her attention toward her friends. "I'm not going." She shook her head.

"And why not?" Jade questioned as she crossed her arms, Michelle following suit.

"Because..." Lillian shrugged, "Eli's gonna be there."

Michelle rolled her eyes, "Lilly, are you serious? Jade, Ned, and I got you covered." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Now what's the actual reason?" Jade questioned once again.

Lillian sighed, rolling her eyes, "What about Peter?" She asked as she crossed her arms.

"He's gonna be busy with Liz," Michelle spat out truthfully, "but you shouldn't worry about that. You know why?" She raised an eyebrow, giving a small playful smile.

Lillian softly chuckled, "Why?"

"Because you got us." Jade finished Michelle's sentence, smiling. "Now let's get ready, please?" She desperately begged, giving Lillian her best puppy dog eyes as Michelle gave Lillian her best pleading pout.

Lillian rolled her eyes playfully before letting out a defeated sigh, "Fine." She smiled as they all began to rush and get ready for the next two to three hours. Jade and Michelle ran out to Lillian's living room to pick up their gently placed dresses on the couch and quickly walked back to Lillian's room to continue getting ready.

...

ONCE the girls were ready to go, Lillian had to beg her brother to drive them to the dance. After a small argument and then a compromised deal, Nathan finally agreed to taking them. Lillian was in a nude with black laced sweetheart neckline knee-length dress that has colorful butterflies surrounding the hem of the skirt that also scatters upward. Jade was in a very light beige knee-length a-line dress with gold lace accents on the skirt of the dress. Michelle was in a yellow patterned knee-length dress that has some white accents on the top of her dress along with a white collared neckline. They all felt very confident in their dresses, Jade pulling out her phone to take a group selfie with her lovely friends.

"Lilly, can I talk to you for a sec?" Nathan asked his sister as he pulled her to the side, Michelle and Jade going inside the school's gym to wait for Lillian.

Lillian looked up at her brother with her eyes narrowed in confusion, "What's up?" She breathed out watching her surroundings carefully.

"Jade told me about what happened with uh... Garret? Elliot-Elijah? Whatever the hell his name is." He said as Lillian let out a small chuckle at her brother. "I just wanted you to know that I got your back, sis." He smiled before continuing, "Even though you're like hella annoying." He teased, nudging her slightly as they both laughed.

She shook her head as she rolled her eyes playfully, "Gee, thanks." She smiled as started heading toward her friends.

"No, but seriously. I'll be your bodyguard if I have to. No one messes with my baby sis," He shrugged, "Well with an exception of family because y'know it's family."

She rolled her eyes once more at her brother's response as they both entered the school's gym, "I'll be good, Nate. Just have fun." She let out a light chuckle as he nodded, both leaving their separate ways.

"Lilly, you made it!" Ned called out happily, grabbing the attention of the small group of friends he was with. Lillian walked up to him, seeing Jade and Michelle with Ned as well. "For a second, I thought you weren't going to come." He laughed. "Can't leave me hanging all by myself."

"I would never." Lillian shook her head as she laughed.

The group of friends dance a little bit as they talked amongst themselves, having the time of their lives. Ned then noticed Peter just standing at the doors of the school, waving at a starstuck Peter. Michelle noticed Ned waving at Peter, smiling as she waved at Peter as well before flipping him off half-jokingly. Lillian turned around to see who Michelle was flipping off, seeing Peter finally walking in. Peter looked at Lillian in awe, absentmindedly walking toward her.

"What did my dad say to you?" Liz interrupts as she walks up to Peter.

Peter shook his head as he remembered the conversation he had with Liz's father. His face going pale, realizing that he had to stop him and ditch his date. He gulps, "I-I gotta go." He stuttered, feeling his throat slightly dry up. "I-I'm sorry. You don't deserve this." He told her as Liz's eyes narrowed in confusion.

Before Liz could even speak, Peter runs off and runs past Michelle and Lillian. Liz scoffs in disappointment whilst meeting up with her friends. Michelle looked over the direction Peter had ran off to, looking at Lillian, "Are you going to check and see what's up with him?" Michelle asked Lillian whilst pointing at the direction Peter went.

Lillian shook her head, "I don't think that's a good idea."

Michelle rolled her eyes, pulling Jade over by her elbow, "Tell Lilly that she should go check up on Peter."

Jade faced Lillian before sighing, "Lilly. My person. My little lily flower, go check up on Peter." She told Lillian as she places a hand on her shoulder.

"No. I-I think Ned should do it." Lillian suggested.

"I should do what?" Ned then joined into their conversation once he heard his name.

"Uh, check up on Peter. He ditched Liz and left that way." Lillian told him, pointing down the hallway that Peter ran into.

Ned chuckled, "What?" He drags out the 'a'. "Peter ditched Liz?" He chuckled nervously. "T-That's crazy... I'll be right back." He cleared his throat as he discreetly tried to follow Peter.

"You got to be kidding me." Jade spat out with disgust, Michelle following her gaze as she crossed her arms.

"What?" Lillian furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, turning around to follow their gaze. Her breath getting caught in her throat as her eyes meet Elijah's somewhat cold ones.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked, grabbing a hold of Lillian's hand. "In private."

"If you want to talk to her," Jade spoke up, prying Elijah's hand from Lillian before intertwining her small fingers with her best friend, "you can talk to her here."

Michelle intertwined her fingers with Lillian's free hand, "Or you could just leave. I prefer the last option."

Elijah scoffed, "I'm pretty sure Lilly can speak for herself."

"I don't wanna talk to you." Lillian finally said.

"Lilly, I just wanna talk." Elijah pressed further as he started to grow irritated, taking a step closer to Lillian.

"She said no, asshat." Jade retorted whilst taking a step closer to Elijah to keep him away from Lillian.

"Back off, bitch." Elijah spat, pushing Jade away from him causing her to stumble backwards against Lillian. Elijah felt a tap against his shoulder, turning around.

"Yeah, hi." Nathan said sarcastically before his fist met with Elijah's face. "That's for my sister." He breathed out. "Hopefully, that'll bring back some brain cells for you to know that's not how you treat a girl."

Michelle discreetly picks up a cup of punch that was near her, pouring it onto Elijah, "And that's for shoving my girlfriend into my best friend." She said, crushing the now empty cup in her hands before letting it fall on top of Elijah.

Elijah scoffed, trying to fix himself, "Whatever." He muttered, walking away from the group.

"Girlfriend?" Nathan asked, taken aback from Michelle's words.

"And what about it?" Michelle sassed as she walked over to a blushing Jade, wrapping her arms around Jade's waist.

Lillian sighed, "I told you that you weren't her type." She shrugged, looking over at her brother. "Thank you." She smiled. "I love you guys." She smiled at Jade and Michelle, gushing about how she's lucky to have them. She pulls them in for a group hug as they laughed for a bit.

Nathan pulled away from the hug, "Well, now that my job here is done. I'm gonna go try to cheer Liz up." He winked as he left, Lillian rolling her eyes at how typical her brother is.

"Are you gonna go check up on Peter now?" Michelle reminded, her arms still wrapped around Jade as they slightly swayed along to the slow song.

Lillian sucked in her teeth, nodding. "Yeah." She sighs nervously.

"It's going to be fine. Just breathe, you got this." Jade smiled, reassuring her as Flash comes in the building excitedly shouting out that Spider-Man has his phone and is driving his car (well, technically his dad's car).

Lillian's eyes widen at Flash's words as she takes off her heels quickly, "Um... tell Nathan that I'm gonna get a ride home with Peter or Ned, but he should still drive you guys home. Okay? Okay, bye. Love you guys." She said hurriedly as she quickly makes her way down the hallway.

"Ned!" Lillian called out softly as she looked around her to find Ned. The further she went down the hallway, she saw the library/computer lab lights on. Opening the door to see Ned twirling in the swivel chair back and forth in between the rows of computers around him. Her eyes narrowed at Ned, "What are you doing here?" She questioned, closing the door softly behind her.

Ned spun around in his chair to face Lillian as he smiled nervously, "Uh... I'm," He trailed out as he tried to think of a good lie, "looking at... porn?" He said more as a question, giving her another nervous smile.

Lillian rolled her eyes playfully, "You can cut the crap, Ned. I already know about Peter's secret."

Ned sighs in somewhat relief, "Which... secret?" He blurts out dumbly.

Her eyes furrowed in confusion, "Seriously, Ned?" She shook her head as she laughed before her smile faded, "Is he okay?"

Ned nodded as he spun around in the chair, "Yeah, he's okay. Y'know Peter, always saving people." He chuckled softly, trying to reassure her that everything is okay.

"We should get out of here before we get in trouble." Lillian pointed out as Ned nodded in agreement.

"I'm gonna call my mom so she can pick us up and you can go home." Ned told her as he pulls out his phone. "Peter's gonna talk to you soon about something."

Lillian narrowed her eyes in slight confusion, but doesn't question it as they both start heading out the back of the school. Lillian noticed the damaged buses and a few flipped over. She opens her mouth to say something, but Ned just shook his head as he dragged Lillian along with him. Once Ned's ride showed up, he opens the door for Lillian as she gets in the car. Ned doing the same after her as he tells his mother where to go.

- :: -

( author's note :
this is a long chapter n i'm
not sorry about it,,
double update tonight? )