Prom Night

“Go get 'em, Star Girl.” Hailey said before walking back towards the group’s direction.

Before Hannah got the chance to walk towards the group herself, Sam rushed her immediately into an embrace. “Oh my god, there you are! Are you ok? You’re really hot. Are you getting sick?”

“Sam, relax. I’m ok.” Hannah assured with a giggle. “I just wanted to check up on Jordan. He seemed really upset about something.”

Sam crossed her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow.

Hannah blushed. “What?”

“So…Nothing happened?”

“No. Nothing happened.” Hannah answered.

Sam followed Hannah’s gaze towards Jordan. “Spill it. I’m not buying it.”

Hannah always hated how both Sam and Melanie could see right through her whenever she was lying. Sam was always the good cop, trying not to push too much to get her to fess up while Melanie was the bad cop, outright calling Hannah out to spill the beans about what she was hiding.

“I hate that you can see right through me.”

“You know how I roll. Now spill it.”

“Ok ok…” Hannah squeezed her eyes shut before letting the words leave her lips. “We might’ve kissed.”

Sam’s eyes lit up once her brain processed the words that came out of her best friend’s mouth. “Might’ve?! Oh my god this is great! We HAVE to tell Melanie!”

“Keep it down, Sam!” Hannah covered Sam’s mouth with her hand as she looked around making sure nobody in the group heard. “No! We can’t tell Melanie yet, I’ll never hear the end of it. The only people who know are you, Hailey and probably Leon.”

“You kissed Jordan and didn’t bother to tell me of all people first?!” Sam lowered her voice. “How was it?”

“It’s so hard to explain. I can’t really put it into words how it made me feel.” Hannah answered as her cheeks turned red the more she thought back to the moment.

Sam smiled as she watched her best friend try to explain how she was feeling.

“Relax. I won’t tell anyone. I’m happy for you, hun. I’m really happy that you finally got your time to shine.” Sam hugged her again.

The two of them walked back to the group to see Joey and Leon having a chugging contest.

“Ready to go again?” Joey asked Leon, who by this point had already probably drank more than he could handle.

“You win.” Leon conceded.

“I told you.” Jordan took a sip of his own punch. “Should’ve listened.

“How has your bladder been able to withstand almost SEVEN cups of punch, Joseph?” Ashley asked, laughing.

“I have the bladder of an Aussie.” Joey responded, burping.

“That is not healthy, Joseph.” Hannah laughed, taking a seat at the table.

“And you’re not even fully Australian, dimwit.” Beth joked.

“Yo! Joey! It’s time. We gotta get these votes in order before it’s time!” Enrique Thompson, a member of the prom committee, called out to him.

“Oh well, that’s my cue. Don’t miss me too much, my beautiful friends!” Joey said, handing his cup to Chris, getting up from the table and hurriedly walking off.

“Y’know, sometimes I wonder how we got stuck with such a cool guy like Joey.” Chris said.

“Luck maybe.” Ash giggled.

With a clearing of the throat, Leon spoke. “You should be thanking C-3PO and I.”

“Why am I C-3PO?” Jordan asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re tall, golden and get on my nerves.” Leon jokingly elbowed him with a wink.

“Actually, I’m more of a Luke Skywalker.” Jordan said, imitating a lightsaber.

“Yeah sure. Whatever you say, Duke Star Runner.” Beth said, as she wrapped her arms around Hailey’s shoulders.

“Hey! That’s not funny!”

“Alright, party people! We’re gonna turn things to snail’s pace a bit with a slow jam!” The DJ said through the microphone. “Make sure to get those prom royalty votes in before it’s too late!”

“C’mon, Leon! Let’s go dance.” Melanie tugged at his sleeve.

“Eh, I don’t know, Mel.” He rubbed his neck nervously.

“Stop being a baby and let’s go.” She practically yanked him out of his chair.

Chris and Ashley also got up, disappearing to likely go dance as well.

“See ya!” Hailey said, dragging Beth away.

“Careful, Hailey! I’m still in heels, y’know!” Beth said, trying to remain standing.

“Guess that leaves us.” Hannah said.

“I guess it does.” Jordan awkwardly tapped his cup.

C’mon, Hannah. It’s your night.

“May I uh…have this dance?” They both said in sync.

“Uhhh.” They both awkwardly laughed.

She held her hand out to him.

“You may.” He said, chugging the rest of his punch before taking her hand in his with a gentle smile as she led him to the dance floor.

Once the pair secured their spot, Jordan gently held Hannah’s waist as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

The way she held onto him.

The way his fingers touched her skin. 

The smell of her perfume.

His very gentlemanly behavior. 

The way her lips had felt against his own. 

Him as a whole.

Her presence simply sent butterflies into his stomach.

The way he made her feel sent her heart into overdrive.

She simply laid her head against his chest as they swayed back and forth to the slow music. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing.” She smiled at him.

He could tell that she was lying to him. “It’s about what happened, isn’t it?”

He could see she was too flustered to outright say it but regardless of whether she was going to deny it, he already knew the answer. “Believe me, it’s still trying to process in my brain as well.” He said. “I can’t exactly wrap my head around it either.”

“Did you mean all of that stuff you said when it was just us out there?” She asked, a hint of fear of his response behind it.

Gently moving strands of her wavy dark hair behind her ear, he answered the question with genuinity. “Every single word.”

Hannah’s face began to turn red with embarrassment as he leaned forward and placed his forehead against hers. Her hands traveled to his bowtie, playing with it and the buttons on his shirt.

“You really do look so different without your glasses.” He said. “You’re lucky people can tell the difference between you and Beth.”

“Thank you, Jordan.” He opened his eyes when he felt her arms wrapping around his neck. “For just always being yourself and not feeling the need to put on a show for me.”

He didn’t say anything. He really didn’t need to. She knew that he was proud of himself based on that cordial smile on his face.

“Boom!”

They both shot up and looked to see Beth snapping a picture of them then high-fiving Hailey.

“Beth! I’m gonna kill you.” Hannah playfully threatened, chasing after her identical twin sister.

“Ah. My dearest brother.” Hailey said, moving her glasses to the bridge of her nose with a smirk.

“Did you really have to ruin the moment?” 

“It was Beth’s idea. You gotta admit it was funny.”

“Hilarious.” Jordan grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Oh ease up, sourpuss.” Hailey nudged his shoulder. “Just wanted to check up on you in all honesty.”

“Right. My bad.”

“Y’alright? I heard about your little interaction with Hannah.”

“Leon told you, didn’t he?” Jordan asked, a look of betrayal on his face.

“No. It was Hannah herself, plus even if he did, it’s not like I’m your sister. You gotta remember that I’m usually the first to pick up on these things before anyone else does. You should know this. Need I remind you about Dad’s favorite mug?”

“You knew about that?” His eyes widened.

“Oh definitely. I took the fall for it. You’re lucky I bought another one before Dad would’ve killed you.” Hailey said, a smug expression on her lips. “Anyways. I have a lovely lady to get back to. See ya, chump.”

“Yeah. See ya.”

Jordan looked around the room before seeing Matt standing against a wall. Moving around the crowd and towards him, he leaned against the wall. 

“What’s up, Muscle Man?”

“Oh. Hey, man.” Matt flatly greeted.

“Woah. What’s wrong, man?” Jordan placed a hand on his shoulder. “What’s got you down in the dumps?”

“I don’t know, man.” Matt looked down in defeat.

“Dude, what happened? You’re scaring me here.”

“I guess watching everyone be all happy together dampened my mood a bit.” The jock finally admitted.

“Damn man, I guess that could dampen someone’s mood." Jordan crossed his arms. "Wait, but you came with Jess, shouldn’t you be out there with her having a good time?”

“She seems more occupied with Emily. I don’t want to make a fuss about it, y’know? She’s clearly having fun.” Matt answered.

“Huh. I do suppose that’s true.” Jordan rubbed his jaw in a thinking manner. “I’ve been meaning to ask you since it's been on my mind.”

“Do you like her?”

This question stumped Matt. Now that he really thought about it...Did he like her? 

They were pretty close due to their statuses as a cheerleader and star linebacker. They did flirt here and there but Matt always took it as friendly flirting, he never really took it as romantic flirting…or did he? 

She flirted with everyone else in the group in a friendly manner so what made him so special to her in particular?

Matt rubbed his neck. “I don’t know. She’s Jess. Head cheerleader. The girl every guy here drools over. I mean don’t get me wrong, she’s gorgeous there’s no doubt about that but she'd never be into me.”

“I mean…what’s really stopping you?”

“I’m not her type. I mean just look at me. She is so out of my league. She’s like Paris Hilton and I’m some random guy on the street.”

Jordan looked behind the taller young man and grinned.

“What? What’s so funny?” 

Jordan pointed behind him.

Realizing what Jordan was grinning about and pointing at, he facepalmed. “She’s right behind me. Isn’t she?”

“Wow, Matty Boy. I didn’t take you for someone who downplayed his chances.” Jess said, hand on her hip, a wide grin on her face. “Gotta hold yourself to a higher standard than whatever you’ve got going on there.”

“Welp. That’s my cue. I’ll let you dig yourself out of this one, Matty Boy.” Jordan chuckled, giving a pat on his shoulder.

“So...uh how’s your night?” Matt nervously asks the beautiful blonde in front of him.

“It’s going. Kinda boring in all honesty. Could use some liquid courage if you know what I mean.” She leaned against the wall.

Matt chuckles. “I don’t think your parents would like to find out that you’re drinking.”

“Not if you’re a snitch and tell on me.” Jessica devilishly smiled.

The two laugh at the joke, their laughter only stopping when the room echoes to the voice of the DJ making an announcement.

“Alright prom-goers, it’s finally that time of the night you’ve all been waiting for! Time to announce prom royalty!”

The pair hurriedly walked back over to the group and stood awaiting the results. 

“Who do you think will win?” Chris whispered to Jordan.

“Who knows. Likely Mike and Em. I'd be surprised if it wasn’t.” Jordan crossed his arms.

“This year's Prom King for Blackridge High is...Class President, Michael Munroe!”

The room began to cheer and clap.

Everyone in the group groaned in sarcastic surprise as they watched Mike make his way onto the stage and accept the crown onto his head with grace.

“Now for all my beautiful ladies out there…this year’s Prom Queen is….”

“Me.” Jessica proclaimed.

“Hannah Washington!”