Realistic or Modern Westbrook

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer
​

Sawyer was fine. She was great. She hadn't been super confused for the past two months. Okay maybe she wasn't great. But things at school had been really weird the last month. Trying to talk to Grace was a nightmare and staring at her from across the cafeteria almost always ended in awkwardly long eye contact. On top of all of that, she was pretty sure her whole team knew what happened. It was pretty obvious that she was feeling better. Sawyer had been playing better and generally seemed to be back to semi-normal. At first they probably just thought she was over it, but the stares didn't help. Maddie had told her twice that she was acting kinda strange and Wren just out right said, "Dude, did you guys bone or something?" Sawyer had choked on her orange juice. Wren didn't ask again. So, maybe she'd taken that whole...thing as hope. Hope that she had a chance and Sawyer was beyond determined to capitalize on that chance.

But first, she had to get past prom.

What kind of theme was fire and ice? Sawyer had figured Grace was planning the thing, she always did that kinda stuff, but fire and ice? That didn't really seem her style. Anyway, it was a distressingly annoying theme to try and fit and Sawyer had almost given up when she found her outfit. Powder blue and, in her opinion, cool as hell the suit matched the theme and kinda sorta matched JJ. They were both wearing blue, she knew that. Anyway, it was a pretty cool. Sawyer glanced over herself in the mirror, deciding whether she wanted to wear a beanie or not. She ended up doing eenie meenie miny moe and reluctantly parted with it. It was red anyway, it definitely didn't fit the whole ice thing. So she just ran her hands through her hair, called it good, and turned around to pull her shoes on. Thankfully, she had found them and set them out the night before because lord knows how many times she's lost her damn shoes. Once those were on, she stood up and glanced over herself once more. Her eyes brows creased as she noticed the shoulders were kinda weird. She tried running a hand over them but they still looked kinda weird. In truth, they looked fine, Sawyer was just nervous and trying to project it onto something else.

After Grace and hers little encounter it felt weird to be going to prom with JJ. It wasn't that she didn't want too, Sawyer was more than glad to give JJ company, but she dreaded walking into that place with JJ on her arm and seeing Grace with whatchamacallit (Sawyer still didn't know her name and didn't feel like learning it). But she didn't want to think about that so instead she'd project her nerves on her clothes. Totally normal.

"Dad, does this look stupid? I feel like I'm wearing shoulder pads? Does it look like I'm wearing shoulder pads?" Sawyer's voice floated down the hallway as she came into the living room. Oliver was standing at the door and turned to see Sawyer standing there with her arms spread out, trying to show the no existant shoulder paddiness. Sawyer spotted JJ around her dad and her arms immediately dropped and she laughed a little.

"Oh, JJ. Hi."

"So is it Jules or JJ?" Her dad smirked, turning back to JJ in the door and stepping back to let her in. Sawyer raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing. "Come in, I'm Oliver. I promise this'll only take a second. Sawyer's mom, the most amazing person that has ever lived, was a photographer, she took pictures of everything. I figured I should continue the tradition." Oliver was rambling, like usual.

"Yes, yes, my mom was the most amazing person. Don't bore her, Dad. She doesn't need our whole life story." Sawyer turned to JJ, "But, seriously, shoulders?"

Soap

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Aaron​

The door began to open, and relief flooded through Aaron. Finally, the wait’s almost over. Then he realized it wasn’t Maisie.

He didn’t know why he had thought it would be. It was standard for parents to answer the door, wasn’t it?

He straightened, eyes catching sight of the police badge on Lewis’s shirt. He very purposefully kept his eyes moving, reaching the man’s. When Lewis left, joke finished, Aaron allowed himself a smile, cut blunted as he watched him disappear. “Of course, sir.”

The word tasted like acid. After all this time, he still wasn’t quite sure how to feel about Lewis. At the very least, the man made him… nervous.

This wasn’t the time to think about that, though. He saw movement, and a moment later Maisie appeared, shutting the door behind her. Despite himself, Aaron’s features softened, smile becoming something almost nice. Something meant to be shared.

His eyes trailed down her outfit, and he realized with a thrill that they were kind of coordinating, weren’t they? His smile grew even wider as she said he looked nice, and he looked down at himself almost bashfully, feeling softer and softer as he analyzed his red pants and black converse carefully chosen to match his shirt instead of his pants.

He took pride in that decision, or at least more pride than in the almost-fitting vest that he’d rather pretend was on someone else, someone whose body would narrow enough to make it flattering instead of clunky, or the god-forsaken tie his father had insisted was perfect for the occasion.

He found that even that familiar ache of unfitting didn’t matter too much, that he was too wrapped up in the warmth being around Maisie to notice too much. This was nice. It was maybe even something he could get used to.

He wondered if this was what he had been missing all this time, cutting himself off from the world, and when the thought came that if he had been denying himself this, he had been denying it to Casper doubly so, he pushed it down, far away from himself.

He reined himself in, smile growing smaller but no harder as he looked back to Maisie, leaning in carefully to plant a kiss to her cheek, pulling away almost hesitantly.

“You look nice, too,” he said, gaze dropping to the corsage box in his hands. He pushed it towards her, looking away with what he hoped was indifference. “I thought it might be nice to match.”

Soap​

 

[High5ives]

Kanen
In all honesty, Kanen wasn't really sure why he was still here in Westbrook. Granted, he didn't really have anywhere else he needed to be, but still. Yeah, he and Raven were going to prom, but why was he even bothering to go? Kanen was practically at war with all of Westbrook at this point, going to prom was like willingly stepping into a tank of electric eels. It was bound to go wrong one way or another and chances are, Kanen would be worse off for it. Besides it all, Kanen was literally just living at a hotel. Obviously, it wasn't cheap (Not that money was really an issue for Kanen.) On the brightside, room service was good?

At least there was something familiar about Westbrook. Granted, that familiarity was rooted in years of alcoholism and abuse, but still it was familiar. Even if Kanen hated the town, it was familiar, and that somehow made it better. It's like going to an awful job everyday, its awful and you hate it, but you keep going because there is safety in routine. In this case, it was routine drug and alcohol abuse.

For once, Kanen was sober though. Even though he wasn't too interested in going to prom, the least he could do is stay (mostly) sober for Raven's sake. Raven was among only a handful of Kanen's acquaintances that he didn't routinely fight with.

Sitting in the hotel room, Kanen was admittedly bored though. He'd gotten ready early, because why not, and he didn't really have much else to do now. Naturally that meant he was scrolling through social media, searching for some sort of entertainment. Twitter was his last resort, and all that had to offer was Grace complaining about her dress or something. Kanen groaned and flopped back into the bed with an 'oomph'. TV was boring. His phone was boring. The whole hotel was boring and Kanen was about ready to die from a lack of entertainment. It was like a plague.

Kanen found himself scrolling up and down the same set of messaged on Twitter. Something about safety pins and the dress? Yeah, because that wouldn't look tacky or anything. Plus, what if the rip was big? It had to have been big enough for Grace to notice it and you couldn't just use a half a dozen safety pins to cover that up! Kanen may have been a piece of shit, but at least he knew how to dress! Christ, just get a new dress!

It only then occurred to Kanen that not everyone sold drugs and had wads of cash. Especially not Grace Jackson. She's easily the last person to get caught doing something like that.

Luckily, Kanen was feeling charitable. (He totally wasn't subconsciously trying to make up for years of mistakes or anything.)

He popped up out of bed, keys in hand, and left the room at a jog. If he was going to help, he'd have to be quick. Kanen was more than comfortable speeding across town though. What was a speeding ticket to a drug dealer? Chump change. That's what! He was on a mission now, and Kanen only sometimes left things undone!

The blacked-out Escalade screeched to a halt outside some dress store. Kanen only chose this store based off its reviews on Google, so hopefully they held up. He didn't really want to drive to every store in town to try and find Grace a new dress.

At least Kanen's tux didn't look out of place in the store. The walls were lined with dresses on one side and suits and tuxes on the other side.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Some woman in a pants suit said as she walked towards him.

"Uh, I need a dress?" Kanen shrugged. He just now realized that he didn't know what size Grace was, or how dress sizes even worked. Small, medium, large? Like T-shirts? Or were they like pants where the sizes were numbers? What kind of dress would Grace even want? He figured she'd want something flow-y? What did flow-y even mean?!

The Pants suit lady must've said something, but Kanen didn't know what. He probably wouldn't have been able to answer either though. Kanen knew about suits, not dresses.

"Ok, look. I need a dress for a friend, but I have no idea what kind of dress she would like, or even what size she is. Can you help or no?' Kanen explained quickly.

"I...I don't really know where I would start." The woman replied softly.

Kanen groaned, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes. After a sigh, he stopped. "Ok, come with me and bring a cart or whatever."

With the woman in tow, Kanen took a walk around the store, pointing out red and blue dresses that looked vaguely Grace's size. Not like that was really helpful, Kanen hadn't seen Grace in what felt like forever. Regardless, Kanen ended up with nearly a dozen dresses, about half of which were red and the other half being blue. After ringing them all up, the total about made Kanen sick to his stomach. He could pay it, but really?! It was just colored fabric! How on earth could it possibly cost so much!?

After a short rant about the prices, Kanen did in fact pay the woman before loading all the dresses back into his car and taking off down the road again. Speeding is fun, but don't do it, Kids.

With both arms full of dresses Kanen just about ran up to Grace's front door. He knocked quickly with his foot, but when someone didn't answer in under .5 seconds, Kanen decided he was better off just letting himself in. So he did. God, he hoped this was the right house.

In the living room, Kanen started laying out the dresses on by one. A few draped over the couch, some hanging from the curtain rod. A couple more just hanging over the top of the television. The room looked like a sweatshop for dresses as Kanen hurried to get all the dresses laid out. Time was of the essence. "Graceeee!" Kanen yelled. A normal person would've realized he's just broken into her house, but oh well. Too late now.

Soap​

 

[Soap]

Grace

"Ouch." Grace shook her hand off from successfully poking herself with the dumb safety pin. How did it even tear in the first place? It didn't even make sense to her, maybe she didn't see it when she bought it? She took a deep breath and tried again, it was only then when she heard her mother who so obviously didn't leave yet apparently screaming. The blonde dropped everything she was doing and ran downstairs, right as she heard a familiar voice. "I don't know who you think you are, barging in to our house like this-- I will call the--" Kanen? What?

"Mom, it's Kanen. It's fine." Grace took in all the dresses and... looked incredibly confused, almost like her mother was staring at Kanen because he looked nothing like the young boy he used to be, tattoos and everything she didn't recognize him. It seemed her mother had... somewhat calmed down and had a weary gaze onto the accused 'drug dealer.' Grace wasn't sure if she really believed that part or not. "What's all this?" Grace asked, chuckling a little in awe. Was all this for her? She just posted a silly tweet about her dumb dress being difficult she didn't think that-- this must've costed him a fortune.

Her mother's phone kept buzzing and it was clear she was late because an intruder who was really just one of her daughter's childhood friends broke into their home. "I'm really late, I have to go." A last glance towards Kanen, Kate whispered to Grace "Call the police if he tries anything shady." The uptight mother made her way out the door.

She really had no idea what to say. "I'll find some way to pay you back, this must've been way too much money. How-- why? Did you..." Time was wasting and Grace needed to make sure she got to there on time. The blonde briskly walked towards Kanen and wrapped him into a tight hug, she didn't deserve this but... she had to admit it was nice seeing him around again. Despite a few of his fights he'd got into, she still saw him as that young sad kid who'd play tag with her when no one else would.

High5ives

Maisie

"Maisie couldn't hold back a smile as Aaron leaned in, feeling his lips brush against her cheek, her breath hitched in excitement and she felt like her face was on fire, it was no doubt the blush that settled onto her cheeks merely seconds after. "Oh." It wasn't a disappointed oh, it was just... a surprise. Aaron was slowly becoming an exception to her personal bubble, it's not that she believed he'd hurt her. The more Maisie got to know him, she got to see him for a what a vulnerable and gentle person he was.

Everyone has those special sides of themselves that only few were lucky enough to see; and... Maisie's glad she's that person for Aaron.

Her gaze dropped towards the corsage box and her smile widened as if it was even possible. "This is... beautiful, thank you." She loved it, it was... thoughtful. The fact that he went out of his way to get this for her made it all the more special. Maisie opened the box and slipped it on. The two made their way into the backseat of Aaron's parents' car, y'know, one thing that weird about prom and being only 15. Is that your parents had to drive you because you couldn't.

Nevertheless, she didn't really mind; as long as she was with Aaron. As awkward as it was to introduced yourself in the backseat she did anyway. "Hi, I'm Maisie." Yeah, it was... really awkward.

mikaluvkitties

Juliette

JJ actually had a genuine smile for Oliver, even though his... taste in clothes were terrible. He seemed like a good guy, a good father and for that Juliette was envious. Her smile didn't feel plastered on as Sawyer came out, it only widening at the mention of her name. "It's Juliette actually, I have a varying amount of nicknames. Just... don't ask the people who are jealous of me." Ego? Yes, it didn't matter who she was talking to. She was JJ.

She wondered more about Sawyer's mom, but she wasn't sure if she could've asked about her right here and right now. "No, you weirdo it doesn't look like you have shoulder pads, it's a suit, it's supposed to look like that." Juliette cocked her head to one side and pulled on her jacket, fitting it more onto Sawyer. She glanced around the small house and as dreadful as it was to look at; they had baby pictures everywhere, and seemingly very old family photos, while the interior was extremely tacky and not at all suited to her tastes, it felt like a home.

The few photographs had managed to pull her curiosity way before her manners. "So, what happened to your mom?" It was mostly a question for Sawyer, but Juliette was stupid enough to ask the question in front of her father too. The brunette didn't know Sawyer very well before this, sure, sometimes she barely cheered her on at basketball games or whatever, but she didn't know her. And if she's being honest, Juliette's not quite sure she would've even gotten close to her if she wasn't pregnant. More and more by the second, Sawyer was becoming someone she can trust; someone she can lean on and Juliette isn't really used to having that. But she knows she doesn't want to lose it.

"Sorry, if that's... a sore subject or something. I didn't mean to Impose." Even though she can be a little slow, JJ was raised to have manners, at least to be respectful enough in a way where it'd became most of a habit. Only to the people who really deserved to have those manners from her in the first place; otherwise, she could really care less.

KingofAesir



​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

As Tatum was struggling to do her eyeliner and swearing up a storm in the bathroom, she heard a knock at the door. Of course, that made her swear even more and she couldn’t contain how frustrated she was with her makeup. The question from Caleb’s mouth made it to her ears up in the bathroom and then a mumble from her father and then he bellowed, “Tatum! There’s a boy for you.” It was hard for her to believe that she hadn’t been ready. After another attempt Tatum finally got the wing just right on her liner and she was ready to see Caleb. As she stepped out of the bathroom, she took a deep breath, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest. All she had to do was act like she wasn’t nervous and that they were just friends. Friends, she could do that she told herself as she made her way down the small set of stairs towards her father and Caleb.

Her eyes couldn’t help but look at him in a suit, he was handsome and at least for the night she got to call him hers. When she made it to the both of them, she smiled and of course her mother was gushing about taking pictures. Her father’s face just looked grumpy and annoyed so nothing out of the ordinary, “Mom give him a minute he just got in.” that was when she saw the flowers and the corsage, he had gone all out, “Here let me take those.” She reached for the flowers and then passed them to her mother because her mother had a vase for every flower and a pot for every plant. She could still her clicks from her mother’s camera and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Her eyes looked to Caleb as she mouthed the words ‘Sorry’ to him. It was going to be crazy for the next however many pictures her mother wanted.

She quickly ran off to grab the boutonnière for Caleb and then brought it back. Usually the boys would do the corsage first, but Tatum ignored that and went first. Her fingers slipped just holding onto it and when she finally got it to stay so she could pin it she heard a small sound of pain escape from Caleb. She had stabbed him with the little pin, “I’m so sorry!” she quickly apologized before dropping the pin and she let out a small curse. She was so nervous, and her hands were failing her. In the moments of what seemed like forever Tatum had finally secured the flower onto Caleb and then the resounding click of her mother’s camera for the umpteenth time.

Soap

 

[High5ives]

Kanen
Grace's mother was surprisingly hostile towards him. Like, really lady?! Its not like Kanen hadn't met her a billion times before when he was younger. Plus, Kanen was bringing stuff into the house, not out of it! Who gets mad at a guy carrying armfuls of dresses!? Jeez, a guy gets covered in tattoos and suddenly everyone assumes he's a criminal. (The fact that Kanen actually was a criminal is besides the point.) Despite having the woman threatening him with the police, Kanen went on laying out the dresses, finishing just before Grace came in and saved him from her mother.

Grace looked shocked to see him and the dresses there, which was fair. Kanen didn't often go out of his way for people, especially not like this. Plus, it'd been at least months since Kanen had even seen Grace. Had they even seen each other since Kanen got back from his first trip to Boston? Kanen couldn't even remember. As far as he knew, this might've been her first time seeing him with all his tattoos. When Grace's mom whispered her little warning just loud enough for Kanen to hear, he rolled his eyes and watched her walk out of the house.

Kanen opened his mouth to comment on her rudeness, but before he even got a word out, Grace had already gotten her arms wrapped around him in a hug. He was damn near dumbstruck by it. He stood their awkwardly for a moment. He let her hug him for only a second or two before wiggling out of her grasps and moving to the dresses.

"I didn't have any sort of idea what you'd want, so I just grabbed anything that looked like it might fit." He explained. Kanen was talking quick though, he didn't want to stick around long. Just dropping the dresses off and then being back on his way, that was the idea.

"Hey, but you can't tell anyone I did this. This is between me and you. I don't need people asking me for favors and shit, ok?"

Soap​

 

[Winona]

Adriane

Going to prom had always been one of the things that Adriane had dreamed of since she was a little kid. It was something that had been an impossibility, but finally felt like a reality.

And... now she was staying home, watching Ari. But there was no way that she could have gone if she wanted to -- her body ached, and when she heard the knock on the door, Adriane tried to push away the grimace of pain. She stood up slowly from the couch. At least the living room was right by the door, so it was easy to get there.

Well... it felt like torture.

Adriane opened the door, forcing a smile onto her face as Ariana ran forward, throwing her arms around her. Hell, that hurt. "Hey, sweetheart, I missed you. Grandma has a surprise for you in the kitchen. Why don't you go see what it is?" Ari's face lit up, and she let go of Adriane and took off running into the kitchen.

She was surprised to see Raven at the door. "Where's Mason?" Adriane asked, taking the bag and the toy. Oh please -- she knew what this toy was. The Spiderman that Raven had bought for Ari on the night of Drake's overdose. It held bad memories for her, but Ari seemed to love it. At Adriane's house, she even slept with it.

Adriane winced from the weight of the bag, setting it quickly next to the door beside a few other packed bags. What? She was scheduled to go back to the hospital in Boston. The pain was just getting worse by the day, so a call to the doctor placed her higher on the transplant list. There was another chance, although Adriane didn't trust it.

"You look... nice. You're going with Kanen, right?" She couldn't stand the dude, and Mason had seemed equally annoyed when he'd told Adriane about it -- even though he seemed perfectly happy with Sam.

Soap​

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Aaron​

Despite himself, Aaron’s smile grew. This was already going great. He glanced at Maisie’s hands as she took the box, watching her slip the corsage on. He very carefully did not allow his breath to catch.

With a quiet, almost relieved laugh, he nodded, leading the way back to the car where he held the door open for Maisie and gathered himself. Once she was inside, he slid in, face back to its usual neutrality as he looked to the front, waiting to see how his father would react, a ball of tension and nerves settled deep in the pit of his stomach. It must at this point be clear that Aaron liked Maisie, right?

Would he be mad? Just his usual bastard self? Would he tell Aaron's mother? Aaron wasn’t sure.

He hoped it might at least… hurt the man.

Robert glanced back through the mirror, giving Maisie a kind smile as he moved the car into gear.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Maisie. It’s nice to see my baby girl finally has some friends, even if she doesn’t talk about them to her mother and me.” He shot Aaron a playful look, Casper still silent in the passenger seat. Aaron hoped he was distracted by the patterns he was again tracing on the windowsill.

Aaron tried to ignore the way his stomach lurched.

Soap​

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer​

Sawyer calmed down about her clothes after JJ's reassurance, if only a little. However, she still felt antsy about the whole Grace thing. She didn't want what had happened between them to be some kind of mistake. She really wanted to hope that it meant that Grace still had some kind of feelings for her. If it hadn't Sawyer would be devastated. But, she wouldn't let that take away from her night. This was supposed to be fun and to hell, if she wasn't going to have fun. She'd originally had plans to spike things, but after that whole thing with Grace, she figured it better to not get everyone in trouble. That brought back thoughts to the beginning of the year party at Ash's and she frowned a little. That party had been a terrible disaster, but the beginning of something great at the same time. If Sawyer hadn't shown up at that party, who knows where she'd be now. The party also brought up thoughts of Ryan and made her glance at her phone idly. She'd been texting him on and off, calling sometimes, just to check up on how he and Hajar were doing wherever the hell they were. Sawyer missed him. She should really go check up on the garage, she'd promised Ryan she'd keep it in decent condition. Hell, she'd been thinking about giving her car a new paint job and she might as well use the place. JJ asking about her mom brought Sawyer out of her memories.

Sawyer glanced at her dad, trying to gauge his reaction to the question. She knew JJ didn't mean to be rude, the girl just wasn't very good with emotions, but that had always been a kind of sensitive subject for her dad. Oliver's eyes did cloud a little but he pushed through it, tightening his hands on the camera he held for support. "She died when Sawyer was only about a month old." Her father explained. He didn't go any further and Sawyer took this as her queue to help out. She turned and plucked up a picture frame holding a young man and a young blonde woman, Oliver and his wife when they were just teenagers. Oliver had only found the picture a few days before, while he was rummaging through a box in the garage trying to find an old record. You could tell that Eliza was Sawyer's mother rather easily, she looked almost exactly like her save for strikingly green eyes that Sawyer had not inherited.

"Bone cancer." Sawyer told JJ as she showed her the picture, "It's alright, though, a long time ago. Let's get these pictures so we can go, don't wanna be late." She spun JJ around to face her father. He chuckled and held the camera up to his face.

"Three, two, Sawyer smile, please. Juliette, you look great, by the way. And...snap!" Oliver glanced down at the photo and made a face, "Oh, darn, one more, one more. Sawyer, stand closer to her quit being weird. Okay, one, two." The camera clicked and clicked, and clicked again until Sawyer finally stepped away from JJ.

"Okay that's good, Dad. we really need to go." Sawyer began goading JJ out the door, hoping that she would just follow her lead.

Soap

 

[Soap]

Caleb

He tried to ignore the look on her father's face. Was he being rude? No, I mean, fathers and daughters were just like, strict or something. Maybe he should've put on a different cologane... Oh! Who cares. Caleb isn't her to woo her father-- not that he's trying to woo Tatum of course, that's just stupid. Because... even though she was really pretty, and nice, and sweet. He didn't like him. So, he was here to woo her as a friend.

Whatever that meant.

She came down the stairs and his eyes widened, stumbling over his words before he actually remembered how to speak. "W-Wow. You look amazing." A weary glance towards her father and Caleb decided to be quiet. He tried to ignore how close she was as Tatum was setting the small flower onto the edge of his suit, wincing slightly when the needle hit his skin, and as much as he tried not to, he muttered an 'ow' before he started laughing. "No, no. It's okay." He looked back towards her and for a moment, his smile seemed almost stuck onto his face as he stared at her.

And then the camera flash went off for the hundredth time and it startled him out of the daze that was Tatum. Taking the corsage out of the box he slipped it onto her hand, a small nod of thanks to her mother for taking the flowers minutes ago. "Alright, all set. Uh, another picture? Yeah? Okay." He stood next to Tatum and smiled just as he did in the many other photos his mother had taken back at home. And... she took many. It's not like Caleb could've gotten upset at her, he felt bad so... it's probably why he was a little late.

She probably even thought he was going with Serena... Yeah, Caleb still hasn't broken that news to her yet. But whatever made her happy, well, made her happy. A last wave to her parents as the two made their way out the door and into Caleb's car, it wasn't a very pretty car like most of the other guys on the football team had, but it was nice enough and it worked. Who needed a muscle car when a sedan worked just fine? Opening the door for Tatum as he got into the drivers seat.

"Are you excited? I can't wait to see it, I'm sure you did a great job-- about prom, I mean. You setting it up and everything."

Elf_Ruler

Grace

She allowed Kanen to pull away from the hug. He didn't seem like much of a hugger now, but before she could think about it any longer, she realized it's Kanen. She doubted he was ever a hugger in the first place, god knows how many times young Grace had tried. What? It was her tag technique. No one could ever break from her hugs before she ran away in fear of being 'it'. They were always so surprised by it that it left the small blonde a window to run as fast as she could.

Man, she was really great at tag.

She took in all the dresses with a breath of awe. "Well, I'm sure more than a few of these will fit." She shook her head in shock before it was replaced by a smile. Even though Kanen seemed like he hated everyone, well, he probably wouldn't of bought out a whole store for her so, Grace took that as a compliment. It was nice to not be hated by an old friend. And if today was any indication, Kanen was still a good friend and she wouldn't skip him in a tag-hug, he was probably the last person to see it coming. "Okay, okay. relax." Grace put her hands up in mock defense.

"I won't tell anyone what a sweetheart you are. But just wait here just a second okay? I wanna this one on and I need an opinion." Grace grabbed the one that'd caught her eye and quickly ran upstairs to change, -- so maybe it was really exciting that she had all these dresses to try on.

Let her live out her princess fantasy.

A few moments later she reemerged and gave Kanen a shrug. "Well? I mean, I guess I could try on the other fifty dresses, but I think this one is really pretty, quick, tell me, what do you think?"

High5ives​

Raven

Raven couldn't help but noticed the way she winced as she grabbed the bag and her eyebrows furrowed in concern. So, yeah. She might've not liked Adriane a whole lot-- but she didn't want Ari's mother to not be able to take care of her. "Mason went to go get those dumb flower things or something for his date." So, maybe Raven didn't like Sam either. What? Look, okay, Mason's whole thing with women had started to upset Raven.

She didn't want any sluts in her house, and especially why get the kid attached to some girls he was just gonna throw out the next day-- Who knows if that's what he's planning to do with Sam, or whatever. But... y'know what? Raven's just not gonna think about it, talk about it, let Mason fuck whoever he wants. She could care less. "Oh," The compliment was quite surprising but Raven wasn't about to turn it down.

"Thanks, the dress was my grandmother's." It's safe to say it looked nothing like something a grandmother would wear, so it's clear Raven altered it to her own style. Her style as in; hot and short enough to be slutty, but not-that-slutty. "Yeah though, I'm going with Kanen, I thought it'd been better off to meet there since I had to drop off Ari." After the compliment, Raven's stood there awkwardly as her mind wandered with curiosity.

"Are you okay? I don't know, you seem... different." Nice? In pain? Not so much of a bitch? But she was going to keep those suggestions to herself.

Winona
​

Maisie

Maisie didn't know what exactly to say, she knew that Aaron was trans. It didn't bother her at all. But what did is that his father didn't see him the way he felt, and that alone made Maisie a little upset, but it was his family and she didn't want to get involved or cause problems between Aaron and his dad, so, she figured it was just best to go along with it. "Uh... yeah! It's nice to meet you too. Aaron and I met a few months ago, I'm still kinda new to WestBrook." It's true, even though she came here back in... what was it? November? October? She still feels sorta like an outcast around here.

But thankfully, Aaron, Drake, and Casper had made up for that. They're the longest friends she'd ever had.

Then Maisie then realized what she said; shit, was she not supposed to call him Aaron in front of his dad? She didn't know how his father would react to it but it suddenly made her stomach turn in worry. Thankfully, before his father had enough time to ask more about Maisie's home life she really didn't want to get into, or even worse, have him ask her to talk about herself. They arrived at the school, she waved back to Aaron and Casper's father as they exited the car and Maisie took a deep breath of relief. "So, you guys excited?" She smiled despite the awkward car ride and gestured towards the two boys.

mikaluvkitties
​

Juliette

Suddenly Juliette felt terrible for even asking and she was almost positive that the baby had kicked her for being a complete idiot. At least someone actually called her out on her shit. Sawyer's mom was actually really pretty, and it was clear that the little jock didn't inherit the looks from her hobo-esc father, not that Oliver was completely ugly or anything, but-- whatever looks didn't matter right now. Her mother died really young, what if JJ died when her baby was born? She wouldn't want to leave them with her own parents.

And she didn't really have a father for her baby like Sawyer had her own.

What the hell was she supposed to do?

"I'm sorry for even bringing it up in the first place." It was seemingly okay with Sawyer as she spun her around to take photos, it was clear she hated having her picture taken; but if that was the case, she really should've picked someone else as her prom date, photos were all Juliette cared about. "Thank you, you should lose the color green in your choice of clothing." What? A compliment for a compliment-- well, advice. It was pretty easy for her to plaster on that perfect photo smile, she was practically trained in it by now. "Uhm, excuse me no." Juliette tugged on Sawyer's arm and handed her own phone to Oliver. "Okay, now smile pretty." After she was satisfied with the few photos Oliver had taken, JJ muttered her thanks and pulled Sawyer out the door.


As much as she enjoyed taking those photos, the only thing that was on her mind was those morbid thoughts, that thankfully, started to float away as they went to Sawyer's car, as tacky and nice as Sawyer and her dad were, it was so nice to be out of that house, it was depressing and starting to get Juliette thinking about stupid things that would likely never happen, no way she's leaving her baby, fuck dumb diseases.

Maybe that's what Sawyer's mom thought too.

"Do you miss her?" Well, obviously she didn't remember her... but... babies still loved their moms, didn't they?

KingofAesir




​

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Aaron​

A smile threatened to overtake Aaron’s face, but he suppressed it- He was constantly suppressing everything, wasn’t he? And why? It wasn’t normal. He doubted it was what he really wanted. Wouldn’t it feel good to be honest, even if not to the whole world?

Even if it was just to Maisie?

After all, Maisie respected him, and even if that wasn’t much, it was more than most.

Hell, even Drake had once jumped at the chance to misgender Aaron.

His father’s mouth twitched down in a way anyone outside of the family miss, but he trudged onwards. “That’s great to hear, Maisie! Hopefully, I’ll see more of you around this Summer. Frida’s made sure you know our door’s always open, I presume?”

Aaron fought the urge to bristle, looking out his window as they pulled up to the school.

“Thank you for the ride,” Aaron said, already unbuckling his seatbelt as the car came to a stop, “but we really must be going now. We’ll see you afterwards.”

He opened the door, holding it open for Maisie as Casper took his time clambering out.

As soon as the boys’ father was gone, Aaron visibly relaxed, giving Maisie a nod and a smile.

“We don’t usually go to dances,” he admitted.

Casper​

Casper nodded in agreement, trying to look enthused as he watched his father drive off.

Aaron didn’t mention that there was a reason they didn’t attend dances- They didn’t have friends. And that was all Aaron’s fault, wasn’t it? It wasn’t right that now that Aaron wanted a girlfriend, he could have a friend, but Casper couldn’t.

To be honest, Casper had spent the last few weeks dreading this. He’d be following his brother around all night, ignored more and more as time passed on.

It wasn’t fair, but then again, maybe it was. Casper must have done something to deserve all this, right?

Maybe he was just a bad kid.

Aaron started walking forward, and Casper’s head jolted up, hurrying after him as he tried to hold back the hurt of seeing him smile like that for someone.

Casper couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a smile that genuine grace Aaron’s face because of him.

It hurt. Everything hurt. He’d just ignore the conversation, and then everything would be fine. It should be easy enough, right?

He let his eyes drop to the floor, trailing after Maisie and Aaron.

Soap​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum was still nervous but was more frustrated when her mother wanted to take even more pictures. Eventually Tatum put up her hand saying she was done with pictures. Though she enjoyed spending closer time with Caleb the pictures were too much, at least for her she wasn’t sure about him. Before she left, she turned and placed a small kiss on her father’s cheek, “Don’t be home too late. I know it’s prom so be safe.” It was the first time Tatum had seen him be so lenient with her and it made her feel like maybe her father had some trust in Caleb. He was a good guy after all. She had been drinking less since spending time with him, she didn’t have the need to feel numb with him around and she hadn’t had that with any other friend. Something made her want to try and be better for him because he had cared about her.

When she saw his car, she was a little shocked mostly because all the other jocks had muscle cars but, in the end,, she didn’t care what Caleb drove it just mattered that she got to spend the time with him. It was easy to see he was nervous too even though he had told her this was a just friends thing, “I think it looks good, but I’m biased. I’m excited for everyone else to see it too. Grace had been blowing up my phone to make sure everything was going well with the end portion of decorating.” Tatum had shrugged off the overbearing moments of Grace as the fact of her being stressed out about everything. She let her eyes glance over to Caleb and a small smile fell on her lips, “Thanks for asking me. I know you didn’t have to but…” She paused for a moment, “but thanks. You’re amazing.” She kept her comments to something that was friendly, but the words still meant more to her.

The drive wasn’t long, and they had arrived to Westbrook. This was where the nerves fully kicked in for Tatum and she couldn’t muster the courage to get out of the vehicle. She was concerned that everyone would hate the decorations, that she failed which caused her heart to accelerate. This was something that she wanted not only herself but everyone else to enjoy as well.

Soap

 

[Winona]

Adriane

She recognized that tone of voice when Raven mentioned Mason's date. Despite the pain and aches throughout her body, she still managed a sly smile. Raven was jealous. Wow. She was actually fucking jealous of Mason being in a relationship. Holy shit... did...? "Fuck, you actually like Mason, don't you?" They'd been playing house for so long, Raven must've somehow just fell right for him. Even with him having Ari and being, well, a dick a lot of the time, somehow Raven liked him.

Adriane would've judged her if she hadn't fall for the exact same things. And yeah, looking at Raven now, with her hand clenching the door knob, she felt... jealous. How was it fair that Mason had all of these girls throwing themselves at him while she was just seen as a whore. Fuck it. Chances were, Adriane wouldn't even be alive much longer, anyway.

"Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about your grandma. If you guys need anything, you can just let us know. My parents are... way too fucking nice for their own good."

Soap

-----------------------------

Elise

She was in the passenger seat of Martin's car, carefully fixing her lipstick. Taking Stu to prom wasn't what she had wanted to do on her Saturday night, but here she was. Elise had already swung by Steve's house to see Jace and Ash -- Jace hadn't seemed too thrilled about going, which wasn't a surprise. And Ash, well... god, she was such a mess.

At least Stu wasn't as much of a mess as her two. Well, he still had a couple years to get to their point, and Elise wouldn't be surprised to see him fail. Stu was already such a failure.

Once they exited the apartment, Elise replaced her makeup in her purse and put a fake smile on her face. "Stu, you look ravishing." She said as he climbed into the backseat. "So, your dad tells me that you don't have a date?"

How embarrassing.

"And I can't believe that they're allowing freshman to attend the senior prom!"

Dede​

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

Neck Tie dipped his head and shrank into his seat as Elise turned around to strike a conversation with him. When she complimented his looks, he blushed and returned a little smile. Although she didn’t sound all that sincere, any reassurance was better than none since he was pretty convinced that he looked like a muppet.

Of course her kind words were finite, and immediately after she brought up the fact that he didn’t have a date.

‘Yeah. . . I think a lot of the girls are already going with other boys.’

As if Elise was going to buy that. That woman always had a knack of catching his lies. Plus, he hardly knew any girls. She probably thought he was gay or something, and she'd probably convinced his dad as much. That was probably why they were making him attend this stupid prom, so he could meet some girls and be less socially inept or whatever.

‘Most of the kids are going. I think they’re trying something different this year.’

‘Sounds like a lot of work has gone into it, hm?’ Dad’s voice carried from the front.

‘Mmhm. They were putting up lots of decorations in the gym. But we haven’t been allowed in – I think it’s meant to be a surprise. . .’

As he said this, he felt his hands trembling. Yeah, he was kind of nervous. What if he was the only one without a date? That would officially make him the biggest loser in Westbrook, if that wasn’t the case already.

He glanced out at the traffic praying the light would never turn green. Maybe, just maybe, they’d be stuck for hours and he’d miss prom altogether. Wouldn’t that be mighty convenient?

But he wasn’t getting away that easily. His old man wouldn’t let him. He took the tollway and they arrived at school soon enough. The boy bade his farewell to Elise and Dad. ‘Try to make some friends, won't you, Stu?’ Dad said. With a sigh Neck Tie got out of the car sluggishly and turned his gaze toward Westbrook. The place where dreams come to die.

He took a deep, deep breath – or rather a few – quite a few – and proceeded to put his one foot in front of the other.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

He paused and looked over at the car in front of him. And the kid stepping out of it. A familiar face. He instinctively slipped behind a tree so that he couldn't be seen.

Jesus Christ. Even bloody Aaron could find himself a date.

And Casper. . . Casper was right there.

mikaluvkitties Winona

 

[Soap]

Raven

Raven didn't know what to say. So, yeah, fuck it. Maybe she liked Mason. It's not like it mattered anyway at this point. "Whatever, Adriane." She didn't talk about it any further than that, she wasn't interested in doing so. Seemingly neither Adriane either as she didn't bring it up again, though Raven took note she didn't answer her question and brushed it off with 'a sorry for your loss' and 'if you need anything.' As bitchy as it was; Raven knew it was genuine. "Thanks, ... take care of yourself." It was a genuine thing, even if the redhead cared less about what she drank or slept with; Ari deserved a mom that could be there. And it was clear Raven wasn't meant to be that for her, so... hopefully her actual mother could. She mustered a half wave before continuing her way to the school.

It was a rather cold walk but she needed it, something peaceful and quiet where she could be alone. No three year olds, no Kanen, no Ash, no Mason. Just her. She didn't feel like herself, Raven hated being alone but yet, being around other people had started to irritate her even more. She was damned either way.

She hovered over the school, not actually stepping inside yet; why not wait for her date?

Winona High5ives
Caleb

Caleb listened as Tatum continued on about the prom as he drove. He didn't know Grace very well other than the fact she was friends with Serena, though, come to really think of it. He hasn't even seen them hang out before, but surely it was just the fact that he had stopped paying attention. Because who would lie about a friendship? "I'm sure she'll be proud of you." He teased, there was a small moment of silence before the blonde beside him had... thanked him? "What? No, no. I didn't just ask you to go, for like, you. -- I mean, I wanted to go too. So..." His words weren't coming out like he wanted them to. All Caleb was trying to say is;

"I wanted to go with you."

There, that's... significantly better. "Because you're uh, amazing too." He shook her head, clearly surprised and a little upset on how his words had came out. They ended up at the school not very long after that. He exited the car and opened the door for Tatum extending a hand, his gaze searching hers. "C'mon, I can't wait to see what you've done with the place." A chuckle escaped him.

Elf_Ruler

Maisie

She hated that car ride, his father didn't seem very comfortable with Aaron... being well, Aaron. But that was enough of dumb families and acceptance, so who cared? Let them enjoy tonight. No terrible parents, no awkward conversations. Just them. "That's okay, I don't really go either." Maisie grabbed Aaron's hand and she started to pull him inside of the school.

Like she said earlier, Maisie had started to become really comfortable about Aaron. Those thoughts rang through her hand as she stared down at their intertwined hands. The music to the dance wasn't exactly her taste, but it was music nonetheless. "It's beautiful in here, woah." Maisie took in the decorations with a gaze of wonder before she turned back to Aaron.

"Hey." She wanted to try and ease his worries about tonight; it was just them, enjoying themselves. There wasn't any reason for nerves... unless they kissed, but that probably wouldn't happen tonight, right? Yeah, course. "Thanks for coming with me, you said you didn't really... go to dances, or whatever. But uh, yeah, anyway. That's it." A a nervous chuckle escaped out of her as she averted her gaze from the boy.

mikaluvkitties​

 

[Winona]

Ash


She was... nervous, which felt a little stupid.

It was still a bit until prom actually started, and Ash wasn't nearly even close to ready. Well, she was physically almost ready, but mentally... god, Ash was scared of going to the dance. The last dance hadn't exactly left her with the best feeling, even if it had gone by fairly smooth. But this time instead of Ryder, she was going with Sean. Her new boyfriend. Right. They'd been dating for a couple months at this point and although things were going great and Ash was genuinely happy, it still felt... off.

Maybe she hadn't been ready to move on.

God, why did she have to fall so hard?

To try and clear her mind, Ash decided that heading over to Grace's house -- albeit a bit early -- would have to suffice. The drive over at least left her with time to think and try to contemplate, pushing out all of her worries. Deep breaths, Ash. Deep breaths.

She had taken her dress back off and had it resting on her passenger seat, along with a backpack full of a few other supplies. Before long, she pulled into Grace's driveway. There was another car there -- a fancy one -- but Ash figured it was probably just some guy that Kate was dating or one of her friends. Not thinking much of it, she gathered up her stuff and headed up to Grace's house.

"Grace! I'm here!" She called as she stepped into the house.

Soap High5ives​

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Aaron​

Fighting his smile would have been useless when Maisie grabbed Aaron's hand. He stared down at his hand clasped in hers, everything else fading away. In a situation like this, it was easy to see how he wouldn't notice Stu, especially when Stu was trying not to be seen.

As they entered the school, Aaron began to try and gain some kind of control over his face again, shoving the smile down. Maisie made it difficult, but he couldn't fault her for that, not when he liked it so much. He wondered if he should be worried about that.

The pair entered the dance, and Aaron looked up as she talked about the decorations, and he gave the dance a cursory look.

"The gym looks very nice," he agreed. He saw Maisie turn to him out of his periphery, and he turned to her, unable to keep his face straight when he was looking at her, when he knew that she had asked him to this dance- Her. Maisie. She was so lovely.

Thoughts of Drake rose unbidden to the surface of his thoughts, and he shoved them away.

Tonight was going to be a good night, and he wasn't about to let his heart ache over someone who didn't matter, and clearly didn't think he did, either.

Drake's last words to him echoed in his head, but Maisie's words banished them, and his smile strengthened.

"Maisie, I don't think I could turn down an invite from you." He trailed off for a moment, debating whether or not to continue speaking, especially when he'd already opened up so much to Maisie- Too much, a part of himself whispered. Of course, then he realized he'd probably rip himself open if it would make Maisie happy, if it would keep her with him, and he continued, "I'm glad you asked me to be your date. You're... You're a very good person, Maisie."

Casper​

Casper tried to stand it as hard as he could, but it only took Aaron speaking to Maisie more openly than he had to Casper in years for Casper to feel like he was tumbling.

He couldn't do this.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," he mumbled, though he doubted it was loud enough to be heard as he exited the gym, transformed into something beautiful but still just a gym, urging himself to remain centered as he did, to not stumble and force Aaron to follow him.

It wasn't fair. That was all Casper could think about, again and again as he finally let go of the urge to seem in control, water gathering in his eyes as he let him stumble, palms of his hands pushing into his face.

Somehow, he didn't notice Stu at all.

Soap Dede​

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

What was he doing? He shouldn’t be following the Ollilas around. Aaron had made it clear he wasn’t supposed to see Casper again. If he caught him stalking them like a creep, God knows what he’d do to him this time.

Yet you could argue it was a perfect day for another trip to the hospital. It was either that or prom, and Neck Tie would do just about anything to avoid the latter. Still, the prospect of getting 12 more stitches, and losing another tooth to Aaron, plus his own dignity, easily deterred him from doing anything rash.

Instead he kept watch.

At times the brothers threatened to disappear into the crowd that was already forming in the gym. Oh yes, the gym. He nearly forgot to admire what they’d done with it. It was cool, he thought, but this wasn’t exactly the time to be distracted by all the pretty lights. Neck Tie had set himself one mission and one mission only. Find a way to get Casper alone – and talk to him.

For once he was spared the burden of hard work. Luck was on his side, because Casper suddenly excused himself and shuffled his thin form away from his murderous brother, and immediately Neck Tie gave chase. Quietly, of course. He followed Casper into the hallway. They were alone, and Casper hadn’t seen him yet.

That boy was at the lockers incompetently fumbling for his keys, like always. Now he was going through his possessions, his face was shielded by the opened door. Perfect. Neck Tie, acting all oblivious like he hadn't noticed him, walked over to his own locker opposite Casper's. But he made sure to announce his arrival with loud footsteps. He even coughed once or twice as he was standing at his locker. Come on, Casper, take the hint, please.

mikaluvkitties

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Casper​

Casper sniffled, looking through his locker for the tissue box he was sure was there. He heard footsteps, and he stiffened, pushing himself closer into his locker, waiting for the sound to pass.

No such luck.

He began to shake, thoughts racing as he tried to process- The stranger coughed, and Casper almost recognized them. He glanced back, and through blurred vision, he recognized Neck Tie, which didn't do anything to calm his racing heart.

"Stu?" he said, disbelieving. "Wh-" He couldn't find his words, couldn't formulate his thoughts, couldn't get them out of his mouth. He shook harder, finally shutting his locker and stumbling over to Neck Tie, curling into himself as his locker creaked back open. "...Hi?"

Dede​

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer​

Sawyer was glad to be out of the house. Even if JJ had pulled her back to take even more pictures on her phone, Sawyer didn't understand why she needed to post so much much stuff on her Instagram. She couldn't remember the last time she'd even been on her Instagram much less posted on it. It didn't much matter anyway, they were done, at least until they actually got to the prom. JJ would probably want to take even more pictures there and as much as she dreaded it, she wasn't going to be a bad date.

JJ's question made her pause as she turned the key in the ignition. Did she miss her mom? There wasn't anything she could miss. But, Sawyer did sometimes find herself longing for a kind of motherly love that her father just couldn't provide. She remembered watching the mothers come to pick their kids up after school in elementary while she stood, skinned kneed and dirty, waiting for her father to show up from his job. Oliver tried and he was mostly successful. He tried his damnedest and Sawyer wasn't complaining in any way, but she did wonder what it would've been like if her mother had lived. She turned the key and pulled the car out of the driveway, feeling like she had a good answer.

"There's not much to miss." She paused, "I miss the thought of her. If that makes sense? Like, my dad used to tell me all these stories about how funny she was and stuff and it kinda just made me miss missing out on that. He had all these stories and love and...I didn't have any of it." Sawyer frowned only momentarily before shaking it off with a laugh, "I'm just glad I didn't end up with someone like Ash's mom. That woman is a literal demon, I'm telling you. She crawled out of hell and decided there was nothing better to do than to be an ass." She laughed again and shrugged.

"So, I guess my answer's no. I don't miss her because there's nothing for me to miss."

Soap

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

​

He opened his locker and pulled out the squished head of Westbrook Wolf. Then the rest of the costume came tumbling out, which he trailed beside him now by the tail.

What? It was the end of the school year and he’d cleared out his locker of all his school supplies and books. So the Westbrook Wolf lived here now, sharing the real estate with his resident ants.

He glanced a little sideways to acknowledge Casper. He didn’t act too excited to see him because, well, he didn’t want to come across as desperate or anything.

‘Oh. . . hey,’ he said, almost mumbling. ‘. . . Casper.’

Neck Tie gave the wolf a pat and a little tug to straighten out the creases. He pulled off his neck tie and got out of his suit. Without warning he stripped down to his boxers right in front of Casper, then wiggled clumsily into his wolf form.

‘H. . . how are you?’

Still acting disinterested, Neck Tie tossed his hooman clothes into his locker and slammed it shut. Now his transformation into the Westbrook Wolf was nearly complete, barring the head which he was still holding by his side.

‘What are you doing here?’ he said. ‘Shouldn’t you be at the gym? W. . . with Aaron?’

The emphasis was on Aaron. Maybe he could finally get Casper to talk about Aaron.

mikaluvkitties

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum was a little disheartened by Caleb’s words, but she didn’t let it show for a second on her face. She had to remind herself that being friends could be enough and tonight at least for tonight she could pretend. For her having one magical night was better than no night ever and, in the end, she knew it was better to keep their friendship than to lose it over something as silly as feelings. She had smothered them before she could do it again. She had at one point had feelings for her childhood friend Brayden, but she had mostly smothered them down except for the one time. She shook the memory out of her mind and brought herself back to Caleb, the blonde boy who gave her butterflies.

When they had reached the school and Caleb opened her door, she felt in that moment like she was more important than ever. She took his hand and then once she was comfortably on the ground, she wrapped one arm around his. Intimate but it was seen as something a friend would do, “I really hope you like the inside, we all worked so hard on it but the final set up.” Of course, she was still nervous because what if everyone hated her decorations. A unanimous vote never happened it had been a landslide in the option for what theme one out so she could only hope that no one would hate her design. As they neared the door Tatum stopped, “Caleb.” She was nervous, “You sure you want to be seen with me in front of everyone?” she was feeling her anxiety start to swell in her stomach. The two hadn’t really hung out around others it had just somehow been the two of them or they would text back and forth. “I’m not a cheerleader, or someone super popular and you, you’re well known and doing sports.” She didn’t want him to have to explain himself to his friends and why he was friends with someone like her. She let her hands play with the fabric of her dress as she tried to look everywhere but Caleb’s face.

Soap

 

[Daniel Reaving]

Jackson
Jackson was happy to say the least. These last few months with Talulah have been the best of his entire high school career. Practically not leaving her side since Valentine’s Day as they learned more about each other and grew even closer. Each day Jackson was excited to go out with talulah, explore the town with her or just go to there favorite places and relax together. It was great to say the least. As prom approached he happily asked her to it and was excited to hear her agree to go.

Then the night came. As Jackson took one last look over his suit, making sure it was good, no wrinkles or lint on it. His hair was done and looked good. Once he was done with his little checks he grabbed his wallet phone and keys as well as the corsage he had gotten for talulah. Smiling down at it as he left his house and trotted over to his car, unable to help but take a look over the steel black paint. For the last month he had been using his fathers truck while they finished his car so Talulah hadn’t seen it yet. He would be lying if he wasn’t a little excited to show Talulah His car completed in all its awesome ness. Smiling as he hopped in. Starting the car up with a satisfying roar of the massive engine he had put in it he pulled the car into drive and drove off towards his girlfriends house.

About 10 minuets later due to a little bit of a faster speed than he should have gone, he slowly pulled up to the Woods house. The low rumbling of the car slowly dying as he Shut the car off and hopped out. Making sure he had the corsage he took one last look at his appearance in his window before giving a satisfied nod Before making his way up the steps of the house and gently knocking on the door.

Spoiler

PenguinFox​

 

[PenguinFox]

Prom night. What seemed to be every teenage girl's dream night. Like a preview to their wedding. Everyone could dress up in their fairy tale dresses and suits. Personally Tallulah didn't really get the appeal, but she was excited to spend the night with Jackson. On Valentines Day he had asked her to go out with him and she had happily agreed. Over the past few months everything was wonderful. They were taking it all kind of slow but that's the way Lulu preferred it. It helped to make her feel safe with him, not that he ever made her feel unsafe in any way, but with the steady pace they were going things wouldn't get out of hand or go to a place she wasn't ready for yet.

The theme for the prom was fire and ice and Lulu and Jackson were dressing as opposites rather than in the same color like other couples. Looking in the mirror Lulu smoothed out her dress one more time before turning back to Sam. The two had been getting ready together. Lulu didn't have many friends and was glad to be able to call Sam one of them. "I know I've already said this a few times, but your dress is so beautiful. It looks perfect on you." she said with a grin. Both of them were in fairly new relationships. At least Lulu thought Sam was in a relationship. At the very least she had a date for prom. Lulu didn't try to pry into those details, as long as her friend was happy and safe. "Can you believe everything that's happened this year?" she chuckled lightly at the thought. It had certainly been an eventful year so far. "Thanks again for coming over and helping me out. I'm a little clueless when it comes to..." she gestured to her face. "Being pretty I guess? I never really get dressed up or anything, so I would've been a mess without you. You're a good friend."

The two were just about done getting ready. The plan was for Jackson to meet Lulu at her house then the two of them along with Sam and Sean would all go to prom. Sean had originally intended to also pick up Ash on the way but they had decided to just meet at prom instead. As the two girls were starting to finish up there was a knock on the door.

Sean had been been sitting in the dining room of his house tying and untying his tie over and over again. He had been ready for a long while now and was merely waiting on everyone else. He shouldn't have felt so anxious but there was something bothering him. While everything was perfect with Ash for the most part, there was something off. Something just didn't quite seem right but Sean couldn't place what it was. So yeah, he was nervous about this prom, so much so that there was a tightness in his chest. It almost hurt to breathe.

At the sound of the knocking Sean finished retying his tie for the 87th time and made his way over. Opening the door he saw Jackson. He didn't really have anything against the guy, as long as he was good to his sister. He had already given the boyfriend the standard warning of 'hurt her and you'll lose your manhood' at least a dozen times already. "Hey. Come on in, the girls are still doing...whatever." he gave Jackson a once over. "Nice suit, looks good." If his sister had to date anyone at least it was someone who cleaned up well and could at least easily defend her. There were a lot worse options Sean supposed. The Woods brother led Jackson to the staircase to the upper level and shouted up to the two girls. "Jackson's here, which means we're only waiting on you two!" Checking his watch Sean shrugged. If they left soon they would right on time, traffic permitting. "You at all nervous?" he asked the other male casually. Who knew how much longer the girls would take. Daniel Reaving Gomenesigh Mentions: Winona

Spoiler: Sean and Lulu's attire

 

[High5ives]

Kanen
After Grace had left, Kanen was left just hanging out in the living room. It was awkward to say the least. Kanen had intended to just drop the dresses off and dart but Grace had asked him to stay. Like a good dog, Kanen stayed. Within moments of her leaving with the dress, Kanen had made himself comfortable on one of the couches. He lounged across it, careful not to wrinkle his tux. Idly, he fiddled with the bow-tie, despite the fact that it still looked just fine. Honestly, Kanen just wanted something to occupy his hands with.

When Grace came back, Kanen promptly stood back up again. He eyed her up and down, taking in the dress. Kanen took a moment before he talked. Obviously he couldn't be openly kind though. "I mean, I've seen better." Kanen shrugged. Kanen-speak for 'You look good.' He quickly decided that was a little too harsh though, so he quickly added; "You look good, Grace."

Kanen was saved from another awkward silence when Ash's voice rang out. Of course she was going to be here now. She couldn't have showed up a few minutes later? Kanen didn't say anything, but he didn't move either. He wasn't looking forward to what was most definitely going to be another confrontation, but he was here for Grace. Not Ash.

Soap Winona​