Willow:

My hair was a pouf after all of the hairspray and the teasing, and I found one of my mom's old hair bows to put just at the part of my bangs on the right side of my head. The pink dress was freshly clean, and it kind of smelt like vanilla. After some practicing, I could walk in the shiny clear stilettos without breaking one of my ankles. Kennedy had bought them for me yesterday, and they matched the bow in my hair perfectly. I also had bright makeup on.

My mom had given me a strange look from where she was standing in the living room when I walked out of my bedroom, and down the stairs. I looked ridiculous, and I was smiling.

"Honey, you're wearing makeup," she frowned.

"I'm seventeen, Annabelle, and it's prom night," I groaned.

She wasn't convinced, and she hadn't liked it when I called her by her first name. I was only teasing her. She had her light blonde hair pulled up into a scrunchy like she always did, and her feet were bare. Her brown eyes told me she was worried, but she hadn't had to be. So I let her know she had nothing to worry about, and I threw myself in her arms.

"You're a pretty cool mom, you know that?" I said into her neck. Her hands were roaming my back, and I could tell she hadn't liked the magenta-colored prom dress I had on. It made my smile bigger.

"Are you okay, Willow?" she asked slowly.

I patted the back of her head, because this was hilarious, and I was already having fun on prom night.

"Mom, you know how I feel about prom. My feelings haven't changed. Prom is ridiculous," I said.

Her eyes were narrowed when she backed up from me so I could see her face. She studied me for a minute in silence. "What are you doing, Willow? What's this about?"

I sighed longingly. "Kennedy asked me to prom," I shrugged. "So I'm going to prom, mom. And this is what I'm wearing."

She shook her head a little. "But Willow, you look ridic-" She had cut herself off as a smile suddenly curled against her lips. She started laughing. "You're definitely my child. I love you."

"I love you, too, mom."

I hugged my mom again and then went outside. I put my heels in my basket before getting on my bicycle. I rode to mine and Kennedy's home in the woods, and he was already there waiting on me. I took in the view of his tux and his bow tie, then his magenta-colored dress shoes. I laughed under my breath.

I was off of my bike and walking towards him as he stood there. We couldn't contain our smiles.

"You look ravishing, Ms. Monroe. May I have your left hand, please?"

I snorted, then said, "Sure thing, Mr. Danes."

I gingerly placed my left hand in his, and he squeezed it as if he was preparing me for something unpredictable. And it was.

I let out an outward gasp that caused Kennedy's hair to move out of his eyes. "Mother of god, that thing is seriously big."

"So I've heard."

"Shut up, and put that ridiculous thing on my wrist already."

He did, and I felt complete as I looked at the corsage in awe.

We had gotten on our bikes, and started riding towards our school. Prom started at seven, and we'd probably get there just about fifteen minutes after. That was part of the plan.

Running fashionably late was the only way.

We parked in the corral at the back of the school, and I grabbed Kennedy's face once I had my heels on, and we were both on our feet. He bent his knees a little.

"I'm going to do something, but you have to tell me it's okay first."

His eyes were wide, but he nodded. "It's okay," he said slowly.

I kissed his forehead, then both of his cheeks. I looked back at his face, and decided that wasn't enough. I placed another one on his nose and his chin, and then backed away from him with a satisfied smile.

"That should do it," I smirked, and he looked confused.

"What?"

"I just made our prom night a little bit more ridiculous," I whispered.

He blinked, lost in thought, but he shook his head and decided to let it go. "It's time for us to go to prom, Will." He grabbed my shoulder as my hand slipped onto his hip.

My grin was way too big as we walked into the building, and we caught a few stares.

Some people just smiled, and others laughed under their breath. When we were on the floor and past the halls, Kennedy bent down a little and faced me. "Do I have something in my teeth?" He smiled a fixed, wide smile so I could see all of his teeth.

I played it cool. "No, nothing in your teeth," I told him, after stepping on the tips of my toes so I could thoroughly inspect his teeth.

He tilted his head back so I could see up his nose. "Any bats in the cave?" he asked slowly.

I grabbed the back of his neck so he'd tilt his head back up. I made eye contact with him and smiled, shaking my head. "You're good."

He paused, and then smiled.

"You really do look ravishing, by the way. That pretty pink dress is going to cause me some problems tonight," he said, as he went to grab my shoulder again.

I grabbed his waist and sighed, turning to truly face prom and all of its ridiculousness.

There were lights moving around above us, which made the large gym mostly dark. The stage-on-wheels was filled by some "band" made up of students that went to our school. They sounded okay. There was a good bit of people dancing around in the very center of the gym, but there had to be even more that were sitting on the bleachers excluding themselves. There was also an area where we could get food, and drinks.

My eyes hadn't calmed down until they crossed the back of the photographer's head. Prom pictures. I stirred Kennedy in that very direction. We waited in line, commenting on the music and so on until we reached the front of the line.

The photographer was our bald social studies teacher, Mr. Lancaster, and his eye slightly widened when they crossed Kennedy's face.

"Oh, um..." Mr. Lancaster paused, and I mouthed for him to stay quiet. I might have scowled, and threatened him with a finger slicing of the neck. I just knew I was ready to take those pictures right that second.

"You two are together?" Mr. Lancaster questioned us, and we both nodded. "As friends," we clarified in unison.

"How much for Polaroid's?" Kennedy asked, and Mr. Lancaster patted the Polaroid camera sitting on the table next to him as if it were his baby.

"One dollar for one, one dollar and seventy-five cents for two, and three dollars for four," Mr. Lancaster said.

Kennedy winked at me. "We should get one for me, one for you, one for your mom and dad, and one for my mom. What do you think?"

I nodded in agreement. "Sounds good."

"We're getting the one for three dollars." Kennedy dug through the back pocket of his dress pants, and slapped three crumpled dollar bills in Mr. Lancaster's outstretched hand.

We took our places and stood in front of the white canvas. Kennedy's hands were clasped over my waist as I stood in front of him, and my hands I had placed on top of his as we smiled through the camera.

Mr. Lancaster snapped one, and said, "This one is for the yearbook."

I could hear the amusement in his voice, and my smile was real.

He then grabbed the Polaroid camera after placing the other camera down on the side table. He hadn't had to say smile big, because we were, and we were actually happy. Even on prom night.

Mr. Lancaster snapped four pictures of us, and they all spat out at the end of the camera. He waved one at a time at his side for five seconds before placing them on the table next to each other.

He sighed longingly, and then placed his Polaroid camera on the table.

"Knowing you as a student, Kennedy, you're probably going to be pleased with these pictures."

Kennedy's brow puckered for a second in confusion, but he smiled anyway, as he took the pictures in his hands.

"They'll be fully developed in just a few minutes." Mr. Lancaster winked at us before we thanked him and walked off.

Kennedy pocketed three of the pictures, and then took the one he had and waved it around, taking moments to check and see if the picture was developed yet.

"What the hell did he mean by that, Will?" he asked against my ear. He stood up straight, and waved the picture around again.

I simply shrugged. "No idea."

Kennedy was looking at the picture again, now, realization catching his expression. His smile was huge. "So that's what you did." He shoved the picture at me, and I took it in my hands.

I laughed. "Yeah, how could I go to prom with you and not let everyone know you have a date?" I bumped his arm, and he looked down at me.

"Magenta suites you, Kennedy. I'm not kidding," I grinned.

He looked like he was thinking, and then he said, "I'm not going to wash it off."

"That would make me very happy," I nodded, and he grinned as his eyebrows rose.

"I can't believe I hadn't noticed that you had lipstick on," he shook his head, seemingly ashamed of himself.

"It was dark outside," I shrugged. "I'm glad I surprised you."

I could see as he rolled his eyes, then he bent down so his mouth was close to my ear. A new song started playing as he asked me, "Ms. Monroe, may I have this dance?"

I told him yes, and we danced. We danced a lot, and when we sat down, it was when we were eating chips or drinking Coca-Cola.

We hadn't had an almost-kiss as we danced - like when there was an awkward pause in the song. We looked at each other, and we laughed. We were just Willow and Kennedy, even on prom night.

My mom was glad I went to prom, especially after I handed over one of the prom pictures Kennedy had bought.

"You love him, don't you?" mom had asked me.

I told her I did, and we ate vanilla ice cream as we sat on our couch and watched the Golden Girls.

I fell asleep on the couch under mountains of blankets, and my mom's feet were practically jammed up my butt.

I hadn't taken the pink dress off that night.