Flashback

I felt a familiar flip in my stomach as we approached the doors to the banquet hall. I was actually nervous. I don't know if it's the fact that everyone from school is here, and we're all just seeing each other in a place other than school, or if it's that we're all dressed up or maybe that we'll all be dancing. Or maybe I'm nervous that my expectations of what "Prom" is supposed to be won't be met by the reality of it. I'm not sure, but one thing I do know, is that I'm actually shaking a little bit as we are walking through the doors into the elegantly decorated hall.

"Too bad we don't have nice gentlemen as dates that would open the door for us." Rosalie said, joking and pulling the doors open for us.

"That's okay. We don't need dates. We'll have more fun just with us girls anyway." Elizabeth said.

"I think so too. I think if we had dates it would be kind of awkward because then you don't know if he'll want to spend time with you or his friends and then we wouldn't be able to be together." I explained. I'd always learned it was more fun to go to dances with your friends rather than a guy.

"I really hope the decorations are good. I heard they were pretty lame last year." Mallory said.

"I think they'll be okay. The committee seemed pretty excited about them, so I think they'll be fine." I said.

As we spoke, we walked through and saw the inside of the hall. There were big golden arches surrounding the entryway. When you went under the arches and through the french doors, you could see all the tables, which were decorated with a vase of white roses in the middle and had elegant table cloths flowing down to the floor. The whole room was pretty dark, except for some flashing lights that shined on the dance floor. Overall, everything looked very beautiful. It was all very classy.

"It's so beatiful." Mallory murmured beside me. We all just kind of stood near the enterance, taking everything in. There was a food table with small snacks on the right wall, and in the left corner, there was a drink table. From what I could spot, it looked like there was a punch bowl. There were already a lot of people here, even though it only started fifteen minutes ago. Some were seated at tables, talking to friends, and others were already on the dance floor. The DJ was already playing music, so I guess they didn't want to waste a good song. Some people littered the side walls and the corners too, standing in huddles with their friends.

There were teachers and principals standing spaced out around the big room, talking to each other while making sure nobody was up to any trouble. It seemed a little ridiculous to me that they have to watch us so closely, but I completely understand. Our age group these days doesn't really understand how to make good choices, so its probably better that they're here to make sure someone doesn't do anything stupid.

"Well shall we find a table and sit for awhile, or do you girls want to go straight to dancing?" Elizabeth asked us.

"I think we should get a table, check out the scene first." I suggested. They all agreed, so we went to the corner, where one of the only open tables was. We all took a seat, chatted a little bit, got some little snacks, and just generally were having a great time.

There was a group of guys standing in the corner near our table. They were all huddled around each other, and it was quite odd, but I always see the same group in the hallway standing around in a small crowd like that.

"Well guys, I think it's time we hit up that dance floor." Mallory said, eyeing up the mass of moving bodies.

"Sure." I said. To be honest, I'm kind of one of those people that doesn't beg for attention, so dancing publicly in front of everyone was a little awkward for me, but I want to have a good time tonight, so I'm going to just not worry about what anyone thinks.

We all agree and head out to the floor. In the middle of the hardwood dance area, is the big huddle. It's where all the, I guess you would say 'cool' kids go to dance, which basically means they all just grind up on each other. Girls on girls, boys on girls, boys on boys..we can see it all. I'm not about to join in on that, uh..fun, I guess you'd call it, so our group doesn't head too far in.

We stay on the outer corner of the floor, just dancing among ourselves and having a good time.

"Yeah, Mal. Twerk." Elizabeth laughed. I brought my eyes to Mallory, who was shaking her booty like there's no tomorrow. We all laughed at her as we moved to the beat.

Several songs--and embarassing dance moves later, we headed to the drink table to get some refreshments. There wasn't much of a line, so we went straight up. The table was decorated nicely. They had set out a bowl of punch for us. There was also water and tea options. I started filling my cup up with the red-colored fruity smelling punch, when I felt a presence behind me.

I looked out of the corner of my eye to see a tall boy with a mess of brown curls on top of his head. Harry, I think his name is. I've seen him around school plenty of times. He's not the type that I normally associate with though. I finished filling my cup and then averted to the side, where the girls were waiting for me.

"It's interesting to see everyone all dressed up." Rosalie said, beside me.

"I know. Everyone cleans up very nice." I said, smiling at the thought. We all nodded as we looked around in a calculating manor.

It's crazy to think sometimes everyone here goes to school together. Our school is so big, it's impossible to know everyone, but I would've never guessed that this many people were in our class. Most of the people here I've seen around school, but there's a few faces I don't even recognize at all.

Watching everything going on makes it even more surreal. I've always been interested to watch how people act in different situations. Now, more than ever, I can really see the way people adapt to the situation around them. Everyone is crazier now. More wild, and more open. But I'm guessing on Monday, when we get back to school it will be like nothing ever happened; like we never all together or all participated in this dance together.

Some couples were dancing together, others just danced in ways I didn't even know bodies could move. The dance floor seems to get crazier and crazier as the night goes on. There's people lifting each other up, sort of crowd-surfing over the dancing bodies.

I feel like I could just watch all night. I don't necessarily need to partake in any of this. I'm just as happy watching and looking from afar. Just taking it all in. Seeing the way it all goes.

"Earth to Paisley." Mallory laughed beside me, bringing me out of my thoughts. "What's going on inside that head of yours?"

"Oh, I'm just watching. I feel like I could just watch all night. Just see how everyone acts." I said, looking back towards the dance floor.

"Oh I know. I love to people watch." Elizabeth agreed with me. "Like, look at that Luke and Ava girl. They're all over each other. She's in my Chemistry class and is really pretty quiet. I would never guess her to be like that." She grimaced as we all stared at the pair.

"She has a hidden wild side." Mallory said, sending us into an eruption of giggles.

"It's just interesting to see how people act. I wish I could just like, know their story and stuff, and just watch how they act in different settings." I said as we walked back out to the dancefloor.

"I'm pretty sure there's a job for that." Mallory said.

"A stalker?" Rosalie asked.

"No, a psychologist." Mal answered, and we all laughed. We headed back to our little corner of the floor and started to break down again, feeling energized from our little water break.

The DJ played a few songs I knew, and the girls and I had a ball dancing along with our peers. It was nice to just let go. Just forget and not worry what others think of me. Not worry about the stresses of life, but just have fun.

And that we did. As the night drew on the amount of people in the crowd of dancers lessened slowly. People had after parties and better places to go, I assume. My group was definitely not doing anything like that. We're the goody goodies.

It was about a half hour before midnight, when prom was supposed to end. The dancefloor had about a third of the people that it had before. My feet were throbbing and my legs were starting to have the consistency of jelly. I could tell my friends were starting to feel the same. This was the most dancing I had done since my uncle Ed's wedding when I was thirteen.

"These dancing feet are wearing down." I smiled, looking down to my feet, the dark purple polish shimmering on my toes.

"Me too. I haven't partied this hard since...well ever." Elizabeth said, laughing and the rest of us joining her.

"Whenever you guys are ready we can leave." I said, since I was the one who drove us all here.

"I'm ready." Mallory said, her outspoken side peaking through.

"Me too." Rosalie said and Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

"Okay. That's fine. Do you want to grab our stuff and go, then?" I said, leading the group back to our table. Along with the others, I grabbed my wristlet and put my high-heels back on, which of course I had taken of so I could dance more easily.

"Everyone ready?" I asked, and sensing we were all prepared, we headed out the door. Outside, some of the principals and teachers wished us goodbye, telling us how they hoped we had a good time.

We got settled in my car and I made sure I had my seatbelt on.

"I had a really good time tonight." I started a conversation as we were on our way home.

"Me too. I had more fun than I was expecting." Rosalie said. "I was actually a bit apprehensive, because you know this whole thing really isn't my scene. But, I'm really glad I came."

"Yeah, it was fun. I could've done without watching all the sexual griding though." Elizabeth mentioned.

"What Liz, you didn't like it?" Mallory joked around. Elizabeth was probably the most modest of us all.

"No." She said seriously, sending us all into an eruption of giggles.

"Let's see. I think the fastest way to drop everyone off would be to go to Mallory's first, and then Elizabeth and Rosalie, since you both live in the same neigborhood closest to mine." I said, plainning the route in my head.

"What, are you trying to get rid of me?" Mallory said, faking outrage.

"Yes, that's exactly what we're trying to do." I said, mocking her serious tone.

"Wow. Okay then." She said and then laughed at the end.

"I'm kind of sad I'll probably never get to wear this dress again." Rosalie said, caressing the puffy pink fabric of her dress. I can understand her despair. It's not often you get to wear an extravagant dress like the one she had. The dress is absolutely stunning, especially on her slender figure. It's a soft, baby pink, and big and puffy, princess-stlye, with lots of gems and sparkle all over it.The bodice of the dress was covered in them. I don't really speculate myself wearing my dress again either, as much as I too love my own.

"Well you looked great in it." I complimented her for the hundredth time tonight. I've always wanted and over the top dress like that. I tried many on when I went dress shoping, but my mom and cousin Hattie agreed that they just ate me up too much.

"Thanks. We all looked pretty good, I must say." Rosalie answered.

"Yeah, I mean, how did we all get out of there without getting some sort of male attention?" Mallory asked, seemingly amused. I pulled right into her neighborhood as she spoke, turning onto her street and into her driveway.

"Because we're not willing to take these gorgeous dresses off for them." I answered. It was sad but true."Well at least we have some dignity, am I right ladies?" She said with enthusiasm, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the car door.

"Yep, you're right." I said, always amused and admiring her confidence. "Goodnight, Mal."

"Goodnight, Paisley. Elizabeth, Rosalie. Drive safe." She said, shooting us a smile before slamming the car door shut and waddling barefoot to her front door, heels in hand.

"What are we gonna do with her?" I laughed, backing out of the drive way, ready to go to the next place.

"Who knows." Rosalie mused from the backseat.

We were all relatively quiet on the way to the other neighborhood. It started to drizzle a bit and the sky started to appear stormy.

"It looks like it's going to rain." I said.

"That's okay. It can rain all it wants to now. It didn't mess with our picutres earlier so that's all I care about." Elizabeth said. We had all went to a park before prom to get pictures together and stuff in a pretty setting. It was really sunny earlier, so our pictures turned out really good, the sunbeams highlighting the sparkle in all of our dresses.

"Good point." I said, although I really hoped the storm would somewhat hold off until I got home, so I wouldn't have to worry about driving in the middle of it.

I was soon pulling into Elizabeth and Rosalie's neighborhood. It was a pretty big neighborhood, with huge houses. Everyone living here was well off. Elizabeth lived near the front and Rosalie towards to back, so I swung down Elizabeth's street first.

She said her goodbyes and, like Mallory, walked to her house barefoot. Backing out, I went the short distance to Rosalie's house.

"Well thanks for driving all of us, Paisley. It was much better to arrive all together than to meet at the dance."

"I agree. I would've felt so awkward walking in by myself."

"Me too." She smiled. "Well goodnight." She shut the door behind her and walked into her house. Making sure she got in okay, I backed out and exited the neighborhood, ready to finally make it to my house.

I was kind of relieved for the night to finally be coming to an end. It sure was fun, but it was also exhausting.

I approached a stoplight, merging into the left turn lane. There was really no one on the road, just me and one other car. Even so, the light was taking forever. I don't understand that. Why have a bunch of red lights when there is nobody coming. They have motion sensors, so they know I'm here waiting and there's like what, one car coming. I thought to myself, seeing just a peak of headlights coming this way.

Glancing back at the light, I was happy when I saw I had a green arrow. I took my foot off the brake and placed it on the gas, my hands gripping the steering wheel, turning it slowly.

It was too late to stop when I realized the other car wasn't going to. My foot involuntarily applied more pressure to the gas and my hands gripped harder to the steering wheel, my fingers wraping around the thick rubber tighter than I ever have, my knuckles slowly turning to white.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion, but at the same time it happened in the blink of an eye. I felt the piercing pain in my side first. It started there, slowly and achingly spread from that precious spot to every fiber of my body.

I lay there still, unable to move any part of my body but my eyes. They rolled around in their sockets as my whole body pulsated in pain.

My car was in pieces around me, like I was in the middle of a junkyard. I moved my eyes to the sky above me. The moon shined bright behind the storm clouds, the rain starting to fall harder and harder as every second passed. I couldn't feel the rain hitting my skin though. All In fact, I was hardly feeling anything anymore. The pain was starting to lessen, all my limbs feeling numb.

It was eerily silent around me.The only sound to be heard was the thunder rumbling above me.

I heard footsteps in the silence of the night and a man came into view. It was him. Harry. I looked up at him hopelessly, his eyes wandered my body before slowly meeting mine.

His eyes were an emerald green. They widened in shock as they bore ceaselessly into mine. I held eye contact with him for what seemed ages. He stood there, unmoving, I'm sure a million thoughts running through his head. I was the complete opposite.

I was suddenly feeling quite calm, very calm. I could hear the distant sound of sirens and I'm guessing Harry could heart them too, becuase he turned his head in the direction of the noises and his shockingly bright green eyes parted from my own.

It was the minute that I couldn't see those green eyes anymore that everything went dark.

* * * * * * *

It is cold outside,

so put on your coat.

And don't close this story,

Without casting a VOTE.

lol I can't write poetry, but please vote for this chapter if you liked it!!! ◡̈

Macy xx.