Chapter 31

       "Mom, no," I said. "You took enough pictures during graduation. I don't need anymore pictures."

       Mom gave me a flat look. "Atticus, I don't care what you say. It's your prom night."

       "Yeah, and prom isn't that big of a deal," I said. "It's just a stupid school dance."

       "Then why are you going?" Evelyn asked from her spot on the couch. She was really enjoying Mom trying to take pictures of me and begging for me to bring Orchid here so she could take even more pictures.

       "Uh, because I have a girlfriend," I said. "If I didn't, then I wouldn't be going because I'd just be sitting there doing nothing."

       Evelyn snorted. "I'm glad to see your girlfriend forcing you to do things you don't want to." 

       "You know, I was going to say something about your boyfriend, but then I realized you don't have one," I said. "Come on, pick up the pace. Even I'm dating someone and I'm emotionally detached." Before Evelyn could reply, I looked at Mom. "I need to go now, and no, you're not getting any pictures of me and Orchid."

        Mom scowled. "I have such an ungrateful son."

       I just shrugged before heading out the door and to my car. Even though Orchid was my date, we decided to meet at the venue where prom was being held because she told me her mom wanted to take a lot of pictures as well.

       I really hated getting my picture taken, and I was happy Orchid understood that and didn't beg me to get pictures taken. I was so lucky to have such an understanding girlfriend.

       When I got to the venue, Orchid was already waiting for me outside. She looked absolutely stunning in her red prom dress, and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful girlfriend. No other girl could ever compare to her.

       I walked over to and immediately pulled her into a hug. "You look absolutely stunning," I said.

       "Thank you," Orchid said. "And so do you, as always."

       "You know, it might not be a good idea to boost about my good looks," I said. "Which I definitely have."

       Orchid laughed before kissing my cheek, then pulling away. "You always know how to make me laugh. Come on, let's get this stupid dance over with."

       "I thought you liked prom," I said as we walked inside the building.

       Orchid shrugged. "Kind of."

       Our school always outdid themselves with prom decorations. They never held back with the amount of decorations they used, and everyone was always excited to see the themes and how they played it off.

       This year's theme was A Royal Night, which I found very suiting since my date was a Prince.

       As I was looking around, I spotted one person near the food table who really shouldn't be here, so Orchid and I walked over. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

       "I'm eating food, obviously," Wilder said. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

       "I mean, why are you at prom?" I asked. "You're a freshman."

       "Yeah, and freshmen are allowed to come if they have a date who's a senior," Wilder said.

       "You have a date?" I asked. "Who?"

       "Me," Alan said. "I invited him because I would be spending all my time alone, and he hates couples as much as I do so we're going to judge everyone together while eating food."

       "I also get to witness people make a fool out of themselves, so it's a win-win," Wilder said. "Now if you'll excuse us, we're taking some food and heading to a table to judge everyone silently."

       As Alan and Wilder walked away, Orchid chuckled and said, "Well, at least Alan won't be alone. Otherwise he'd be complaining the whole time."

       "I wouldn't blame him," I said. "I wouldn't go to any school dances if I was single, especially because I have no friends. Seeing everyone have a good time with their girlfriend or boyfriend, or even friends, would make me want to vomit."

       "Hey, I can vouch for that," Orchid said. "Before I started dating you, seeing my brothers in their relationships being all cutesy made me want to hurl. Now, let's go dance."

       "No," I said. "No way. I came here and that was enough. I'm not dancing."

       "Come on, it's not that bad," Orchid said. "I won't force you if you don't want to."

       Of course, hearing Orchid say that made me actually want to dance only because she wasn't forcing me. If she did force me, I would just be against it even more because I was that stubborn.

       "Okay, fine, but only for a little bit," I said.

       Orchid smiled before leading me to the dance floor where quite a few people were, but we made sure we stayed closer to the end of the dance floor so we wouldn't be so close to these sweaty humans.

       I ended up having a lot of fun dancing with Orchid, and we stayed on the dance floor longer than I intended us to.

       After dancing for quite some time, we got some punch and some food before bringing it to the table Alan, Wilder, Nolan, and Jerome were sitting at.

       "How's silently judging everyone going?" I asked.

       "Oh, great," Alan said. "We ended up learning quite a few things, including some guy who's planning on dumping his girlfriend after prom so he could get with her best friend, and they've already hooked up a few times."

       "But little does that guy know that his girlfriend is planning on doing the same, but so she could be with his best friend instead," Wilder added.

       "That's so... Why?" Orchid asked.

       "Like I say, straight relationships are confusing," Nolan said. "I don't understand you hetero breeders."

       "Dude, I'm pretty sure there are some gay relationships out there where the same thing happened," Alan said.

       "Don't generalize us," Jerome said.

       "Yeah, don't generalize us," Nolan said.

       "Uh, I was just saying... You know what, I'm not even going to bother," Alan said. "There's no point trying to win an argument against you two. It's like arguing with a brick wall."

       "At least I don't have the personality of one," Nolan said.

       "Damn, where did that sass come from?" Wilder asked.

       "Oh, he holds it back but once it's released, everyone should run and never look back," Orchid said. "It's amusing."

       The student council president, whose name I honestly forgot because she wasn't relevant to me, got onto the stage as the current song ended. Once everyone looked over, she began talking. "Well, I hope you're all having fun tonight," she said, and a lot of people cheered, which made her smile. "That's what I love to hear. Now, here comes the moment you've all been waiting for. Prom King and Queen."

       "Shiiiiiiit," I said as everyone cheered again. "I forgot about that. Suddenly, I don't want to win. Can I hide in the washroom?"

       "What? No," Orchid said.

       "But I don't want to be the centre of attention," I whined.

       "If you win, just tell her that you don't want to dance," Jerome said. "That happened at my prom. The Prom Queen was too shy to dance in front of everyone, so they just got all the couples to dance with them."

       I still didn't want to win.

       Once the cheering died down, the student council president continued. "First of all, I want to congratulate all the nominees for making it into the race. However, as most of you may know, none of the nominees won this year since more than seventy-five percent of the votes was a write-in."

       "Oh, thank goodness," I said. I didn't have to be the centre of attention.

       "Aww, I kind of wanted to win," Orchid said. "Not for the sake of winning, but to rub it in my dad's face."

       "No, now he's going to be mad you didn't win," Nolan said. "He wanted someone to carry the tradition since Ryder didn't."

       "Nah, I'll just blame Alan," Orchid said.

       "What? Why?" Alan asked.

       "Uh, because I blame you for everything else," Orchid said. "It's what siblings do. Now shush, I'm trying to listen to see who stole my crown."

       "If there's one thing I love about this school, it's how one person can inspire us all," the student body president continued. "One of the winners tonight has been such a huge inspiration to us, constantly smiling after everything that has happened and never letting anything tear them down. Another thing I love about this school is inclusion. Inclusion for all ethnicity, religion, sexuality. There are some people out there, Felix, who don't agree with it, but one person disagreeing wasn't enough to make a negative impact. And all of that is why I am so happy to announce this school's first ever Prom King and King, Nolan Prince and his boyfriend, sorry, fiance, Jerome Roy!"

       That... Honestly was one of the best things that could ever happen at prom. Having a gay couple win the prom court was a huge step for the LGBT.

       And everyone, well most people, definitely agreed considering how loud they were cheering, and because Nolan and Jerome were a write-in. They weren't original candidates, yet a lot of people decided to vote for them anyway.

       "Aww, yay!" Orchid said, giving her very shocked brother a hug. "Congrats! If anyone were to steal my crown, I'm glad it's you! Now go!"

       "You know, he didn't technically steal your crown," Wilder said as Nolan and Jerome got up to head to the stage. "Only a Prom Queen could have stolen your crown. They won Prom Kings."

       "Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious," Orchid said.

       "You're welcome," Wilder said.

________________

Wilder, I love you. I missed him because he hadn't been in a few chapters for a while, so I made him Alan's prom date. cx

So, Orchid and Atticus were originally going to win Prom King and Queen, but I have never read a story where it was a Prom King and King or Queen and Queen, so I wanted to make that happen. cx I'M ALL FOR EQUALITY WOO. (that and because im biased towards jerlan lol oops)

Besides, who wouldn't vote for Nolan and Jerome?

You know what I love? My internet being shut off just because I accidentally missed a few dishes when I washed them yesterday. Yeah, the one day I forget to take dishes off the table, my dad decides to punish me and shut off the internet, even though my younger sister never washes the pots and pans on the stove. But her internet doesn't get shut off. Because favouritism.