🎱. . .CHAPTER 52 ! -----
( real life . . . messages . . . )
❛ fuck the formal ❜

ᵣₑₐₗ ₗᵢfₑ !

          Matt stands at the front of the mcdonald's line with maria on his side in the mall, staring at the menu as everyone else stands behind him. mikayla pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, her arm resting on nick's shoulder as lucille and mason are next to her.

          after going home, showering and getting changed, matt picked up everyone else for their mall trip. they haven't all been here together in a while, a good opportunity for them to spend time while also doing something productive.

          miks can't help but feel chris standing right behind her, even without glancing back she just senses his presence and it's driving her crazy. she's trying her hardest not to fold with nick right next to her, but chris is making it pretty difficult and she's not sure whether or not he's doing it on purpose.

          matt quickly turns around, leaning on the counter. "what do you guys want?" he questions and everyone stands in silence. he glares at his friends, waiting for a response. "literally anytime soon would be nice."

          "pancakes," chris says, the ghost of his breath lingering on the back of mikayla's neck. she was so right about him standing close to her.

          matt glances at mikayla, waiting for her to speak but all she's thinking about is waking up in chris' bed. she wonders what led up to that moment but she shakes her head quickly to stop any thoughts from continuing. "pancakes too," she quickly replies and hears the way chris is grinning right now.

          mason groans from the back, resting his head on lucille's shoulder, his hungover state fully on display. mikayla turns back and shakes her head at him, clicking her tongue as this isn't even unexpected to be honest. but she'll always love mason and lucille, even when they're the party animals that they are.

          matt orders for everyone, his arm linked with maria's and mikayla just loves how he treats everyone different from the way he treats her. them dating was pretty unexpected but she isn't complaining, loving the person that he is when it comes to her. he pulls out his wallet from his pocket, taking out a couple dollar bills to pay.

          "I feel like i look like some sort of monstrous beast," mikayla huffs, looking at herself in the mirror and staring at her reflection. she's trying on a dress and it's genuinely the ugliest thing she's ever seen.

          nick nods his head. "you really do," he agrees and mikayla slowly turns her head to stare at him sitting on a beige beanbag. "not you, the dress is just fucking horrible," he backs himself up, defensively throwing his hands in the air.

mikayla's irritated so she chooses to enter her dressing room again to take it off and try on a different one. she surprisingly removes it by herself, placing it back on the hanger before trying on the next one.

          lucille, maria and mikayla all have their own dressing rooms at the back, the store being slightly empty with only couples since it's sunday. but it's november and they all desperately need to start preparing for the winter formal that they somehow convinced lucille to attend.

probably the fact that it's mikayla, lucille and maria's last dance with the boys before they graduate is the reason she decided to give in and come. chris on the other hand, definitely has not changed his mind about going to the dance but there's nothing they can really do to persuade him since he's oddly stubborn.

the boys are all spread out in the dressing room area, giving the three girls the opportunity to get their opinions on the dresses.

maria's already found her one, thanks to matt's
help and she's satisfied while sharing a beanbag with him. her dress only took her a while to find—a black strapless, matching gloves accompanied by fur at the top as well as silver heels that compliment her jewelry choices. as soon as she walked into the store, the dress practically called her name and after trying it on, matt encouraged her to get it. despite black being a pretty simple color choice, it's the 'perfect match' in matt's words.

lucille's moving at a sluggish pace in and out of the dressing room, genuinely hating each dress that she's trying on. mason passes her a rose gold strapless dress and she lifts it up, examining the material. "this is gonna look so ass," she sucks air through her teeth, walking back into the dressing room and closing the curtain behind her.

"you're gonna look fine lucille!" mason reassures her from where everyone else is.

she only peeks her head out of the curtain, narrowing her eyes at everyone. "shut up mason," she retorts, instantly backing up into the dressing room.

          mikayla leaves her room in another dress, hanging up the dress that she didn't like back up, her fingertips trailing the rest of the materials. she rummages through the designer selection recommended by one of the staff members, only being able to afford it because of of her parents. she thanks them in her head, but she knows she only has the money because that's their love language.

          mikayla secretly glances at chris, noticing how he doesn't even really look interested in his surroundings. his head is down and his eyes are glued to his phone, consistently typing and swiping on his screen. she tilts her head in confusion, wondering why he repeatedly has these mood swings. it irritates her at times because he has this habit of never speaking his mind and if he does, he'll barely say anything.

          "—miks," someone's voice fills her ears and it snaps her from her trance, stopping the rest of her thoughts from continuing. it belongs to maria and she looks concerned, resting her head on matt's shoulder. "the dresses?" she points at the area that they're all hanging up in.

          "i can't find one i like," mikayla huffs and places her hands on her hips since she's tried all of them on already. she doesn't want to stress out or annoy the rest of her friends because she can't find a dress that suits her style by going to other stores.

          a groan of annoyance leaves her lips as she picks at the dress she's already got on. it's a spaghetti strap dress that's a beautiful shade of lilac with flower accents all over it that also reaches her feet. the top half is also lacy but for some reason she doesn't feel like wearing it. the dress is gorgeous but there's something off about it.

          "the one you're wearing," someone says and she just knows who those words belong to, not really expecting it since she thought he wasn't paying attention.

          of course chris had to say something, his words quite literally making mikayla's cheeks heat up and only making it even harder to stay away from him. she turns around slowly, looking down at her dress then back up at him. "thanks," she mumbles with a small smile and chris just nods his head, shifting his attention back to his phone.

          lucille suddenly appears from behind the curtain, the grumpiest look ever plastered across her face. her arms are folded and there's a frown on her face. "fuck. my. life." she seethes, making them chuckle.

          "the dress is beautiful lucy," mikayla says with a grin, examining the long, rose gold dress with a slit that reveals her thighs. miks glances at the rest of her friends, forcing them with her eyes to give nods of encouragement to lucille.

          mason looks around at everyone, narrowing his eyes. "do you guys have suits?" he questions, not even bothering to ask chris since he isn't going; matt and nick nod their head. "ah shit, so it's just me then," mason sighs and rolls his eyes.

          "who cares about winter formal anyways," nick adds on from the beanbag he's sitting at, showcasing how much he really does hate school dances. "sorry but i'm only going because i have nothing better to do."

          lucille agreeingly points her finger in nick's direction. "fuck the formal!" she yells a little too loud because now some of the elderly couples are looking her way, judgmental looks on their faces. she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, embarrassed but at the same time she couldn't care less about what other people think. that's an attribute they all admire about her.

"so mason just needs to get a suit," mikayla announces, referring to his excessive laziness. "then we're all set?" she asks and everyone else nods but just as she has the urge to ask another question, her phone pings from on the floor next to maria. she assumes it's nate, gratefully taking it from
her friend's hands.

ᵣₑₐₗ ₗᵢfₑ !

( UNKNOWN & MIKAYLA ! )
( unknown contact & mikayla )

unknown contact
Hey
It's Noah

mikayla
ohhh
shit hey
i forgot u had my number

mikayla changed unknown contact's name to noah🤘🏼 !

noah🤘🏼
You busy?
I was thinking of hanging out
You down

mikayla
im kindaaaa busy sorry
another time tho
maybe

noah🤘🏼
Damn
Didn't think you were even gonna consider it

mikayla
why

noah🤘🏼
My party was our first real conversation
Since that one time during English

mikayla
when we got paired up
rightttt
i remember

noah🤘🏼
You busy after school tomorrow?

mikayla
i dont think so

noah🤘🏼
Cool
Can we chill
At yours

mikayla
oh
just us?
idk how nate would feel

noah🤘🏼
So you just do everything he says?

mikayla
no..

noah🤘🏼
Great
So is Nate gonna be there

mikayla
hockey game....

noah🤘🏼
😁
I'll drop you there after school
Then we can yk
Do whatever
Have something I need to ask you too

mikayla
i mean i never said yes
i might have plans
but
um okay
ill just see u at school tmrw

noah🤘🏼
Great.
See ya Miks
read

( NOAH & CHRIS ! )
( shitty lacrosse player & chris )

shitty lacrosse player
Guess who stole just your bitch Sturniolo

chris
bruh what the fuck do you want

shitty lacrosse player
Just needed to flex rq
Guess whooooo stole your bitch.
I'll give you 3 guesses 😉

chris
fuck you?

shitty lacrosse player
You're not gonna be the only one
If ykwim 😏

chris
you're a weirdo

shitty lacrosse player
And you're hoeless
Yikes! 😬
read

ᵣₑₐₗ ₗᵢfₑ !

Chris scrunches up his face as he looks up from his phone and at mikayla. she isn't smiling like how she used to when she'd text him, so chris just chooses to assume that noah was just saying random shit to get in his head.

"can we pay for the stuff and go?" mikayla asks the rest of the group, clearly desperate to get out of the dress she's currently wearing.

but for some reason, chris now cannot stop staring at her. obviously he wasn't just solely paying attention to his phone before, he just immediately looked down at it whenever mikayla glanced over at him. he knows that she probably feels a certain type of way about everything, also considering how she hasn't mentioned what he said to her last night. he doesn't know whether to be grateful or not that miks isn't addressing it, but then again, chris was drinking too last night so he's convinced he just said random shit because of his state.

chris hates how easily he gave up on himself and mikayla just because of what nate said to him. he feels like he could've fought for it and nathan maybe would've changed his mind seeing as the only reason he doesn't want chris dating miks, is because of his past relationship. now chris just knows that he messed up by not saying anything back and just agreeing with what nate said.

he chews on the inside of his cheek hard, debating on what to do now. for one, he definitely isn't going to the dance, even though he has a tailored suit waiting for him at home that he hasn't told anyone about, not even his brothers.

maybe there's a small part of him that's wondering what could happen if he just stopped being a pussy and asked mikayla to the dance, especially because matt almost told everyone a couple days ago. of course chris told matt and nick that he was planning on asking her but now that plan is scrapped.

he sharply exhales, watching as mikayla makes her way back into the dressing room to change back into her normal clothes. the store is still quiet; chris can pretty much only hear matt and maria conversing, grins on their faces, as well as mason and nick showing each other things on their phones.

chris wonders how he's gotten himself into this position. at the start of the year, he felt so...confident? no. that's not the word on his mind, but it's all he can think of right now. i mean, come on! chris knows that if he hadn't had that fake relationship with mikayla he would still be that same lacrosse player who loses count of how many girls he has on his socials.

now look at him, attempting to chase over a girl he's not allowed to have. he clamps his eyes shut, fighting the strong urge to slap himself in the face at the way he's fallen for her. he doesn't know what it is about mikayla for that makes her so special but it's something that draws her to him.

whether it's her hair, her facial features, her habit of making everyone around her laugh, her—

"CHRIS!" nick yells, snapping him from his trance and continuing thoughts. he's slightly crouched in front of his brother, snapping his fingers in his face. "did you hear what he said?"

chris opens his eyes quickly and gives his brother a dubious look. "yeah?" he lies, his gaze falling to mikayla leaving the dressing room. his eyes jump back to his older brother, forcing an awkward grin.

"liar," nick whispers, straightening his posture so he's fully standing up. he looks at mikayla, then back at chris and he stares at his younger brother, a smug grin spreading on his face. they're brothers so nick definitely knows chris was lying and what, or rather who, chris is looking at.

mikayla passes by chris, her dress in a garment bag and thrown over her arm. he looks away quickly, sneakily taking one last glance and he notices how she looked back at him; chris swears he saw the ghost of a smile on her lips.

the more time chris spends away from mikayla is the more he realizes that this tension between them could've been easily avoided if he just stood up for her. he needs to let mikayla go, it's just harder than expected.

"kid, we're leaving now," matt announces to chris and he nods his head, standing up and watching mikayla pay for her dress.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ arianna speaks ¡
noah is so icky he needs to leave asap

now that i'm thinking about it...you guys are gonna come for my throats once you realize what's coming
FOR THE PLOT THO