Dedicated to OakAndMaple123 for the amazing support on all of my stories. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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"TELL ME AGAIN," I urged Barbara the next day as we both set down our food trays and took a seat in the small plastic chairs. "In your mind, how exactly is this find-me-a-date-for-prom process going to work?"

Barbara passed me a small smile as she arranged the hem of her maroon shirt, a color that complimented her chocolate skin perfectly. "I knew you'd ask that."

We were sitting at a central table in the midde of the cafeteria and the noise surrounding us contained a lot of laughter, gossip or simple student chit chats, so she had to raise her voice a little in order for her words to travel.

"I can't believe you finally gave in to my plan," she smiled again, raising her fork to her lips and putting a large piece of meat in her mouth. In barely four seconds the meat was gone and her mouth was empty again. "But seriously, two days ago you called me crazy for wanting to find you a date. And merely a day later, you ask me the same thing. So who exactly is the crazy one here? You or me?"

I smiled shyly. "People often change their minds."

"Except that Mac changed yours."

No, I wanted to say. The sight of him and Jenny as a real couple changed my mind.

But Barbara already knew that from our phone call the other day.

I frowned. "I just said that it was a crazy idea because there is no way you're going to find someone in what - twelve days now?"

"You're underestimating me, Cece."

"Prove me wrong and I'll believe you."

She chuckled, dumping her fork into the perfectly arranged pile of mashed potatoes gathered on her plate. "May I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Why are you more stressed out than Twenty One Pilots?"

I smiled briefly and then let out a sigh. "I don't know... I guess I'm just worried, you know? Being without Mac is getting so annoyingly lonely. And I hate myself for that."

"I know," she nodded gravely. "He was your first boyfriend and he dumped you after one week. I'm not judging you, Cece. I know I would be a mess too."

I pursed my lips, nodding in appreciation, but I wasn't exactly feeling her words. I was awfully tired - I'd fallen asleep at three the night before - as I had been for the last couple of days, and I was pretty sure I had bags underneath my eyes. I couldn't be bothered with covering them up though.

Barbara continued. "Look, I don't want you to think that I'm forcing you to do this. Honest to God, I just want you to be happy. And it pains me to see you suffer for even one more second because of that bitchsquealer."

I was almost smiling now. "Bitchsquealer?"

She grinned. "A great word John Green has thought me."

"Okay, okay." I sighed. "You're right."

"About Mac being a bitchsquealer?"

"About everything I guess. I'm not gonna waste anymore of my time mourning over his egotism and ignorance."

But it was far easier said than done.

Barbara stretched her hand across the table, patting me on the shoulder. "That's what I'm talking about." She scooped up more of her mashed potatoes and gulped them down after two chews. "Now, what are Cece's options? You know, date-wise?"

I cut a piece of my meat and slowly raised it to my mouth, thinking this through. "Uh, don't really have any. Turns out I was a little bit too busy planning my dream wedding with Mac to notice other boys."

It was meant to be a joke but somehow it came out sounding more depressing than I intended. Luckily, Barbara didn't seem to notice as she chuckled, whereas I tried not to wince at my apparently self-depricating joke.

"Have you tried asking Mitch?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"Yup."

"Wait, you actually did?" she laughed in disbelief. "I was just joking, but now that you said yes, I'm starting to think that maybe - "

"No," I cut her off, knowing where her sentence was going. "I just asked him in hopes that it might shorten this whole date-searching project. God knows it didn't."

Her eyebrows shot skyward. "He rejected you?"

"He didn't reject me, because that wasn't a real promposal. I mean, it's not like I asked him out or something."

"You kinda did," she deadpaned.

I shook my head, placing my fork back on the plate stubbornly. "Nope. I just asked him if he was coming to prom and, well, no such luck. He doesn't want to repeat last year's incident."

"What? But it's not like he can actually repeat it. His date would be different, the place would be different..."

"I know, that's what I told him, but he's pretty focused on skipping prom this year."

"Well if you can't go with him, then we need to start searching for boys somewhere else."

She looked around cautiously and I followed her gaze, realizing much to my surprise that there were a few pairs of eyes from the girls at the nearby tables turned in our direction.

Surely we hadn't been talking that loud, had we?

I ignored them and watched Barbara for a few more seconds as she turned back around so she was facing me again, her brows knit together in thought. I waited for her to speak again and when she didn't, I got back to eating and let my own thoughts fill my mind.

Mac's face instantly appeared before my eyes. It was an unfortunate reflex my mind had gotten used to already. But this time, however, the memory of him only brought rage and melancholy with it.

It wasn't like the other days, when the sight of him made my stomach grow warm and my heart flutter. No, it was the utter opposite.

Even though there had barely been two days since he had broken up with me, I knew - hoped - that I was slowly moving on from him. It was like an emergency button had been pressed after the other day, and my body had gotten into straight Moving-On mode.

I had no doubt my brain was already used to this mode. After having dozens of unsuccessful crushes in the past, your mind starts to become immune with every new reject you get. The brain knows exactly what to do in order for you to move on, and it does it faster and faster each time.

For instance, the tug in my chest had grown just a tiny bit thinner. It was still there, I knew, because there was a pain in my chest whenever I thought about Mac, but it was just a little bit better than the other day and that was progress in my book.

Though I had no idea how I had become a cluster of emotions in such a short period of time. Guess this had always been Mac's talent though. Throwing people into a major mess they could hardly get out of.

"Wait, I know," Barbara spoke suddenly, making me snap back to reality. "My friend Megan from Drama has a brother who's also a senior. He's not going to our school, but I'm sure she can set you up with him."

I wasn't sure I liked how that sounded.

I chewed on my lip. "Oh, I don't know... I mean, I'm not exactly a fan of blind dates and stuff."

"But it's not a blind date," she added excitedly, "that's the thing. The four of us hang out, you guys meet, and then, you know, see what happens."

I nodded slowly, processing her words. "Riiiight."

"So? Yay or nay?"

"I don't know," I sighed, feeling a hole draw inside my stomach. "I just - I kind of feel like we're pushing things, you know?"

Barbara frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, maybe I'm not supposed to go to prom this year." Barbara widened her eyes, but I continued thinking out loud. "I mean, I know I said we'd give it a go, but maybe it's just not meant to happen."

"Oh come on, you promised," she whined, making her sound at least ten years younger. "And honestly, it's not just that. I want the four of us to go to prom together. Enjoying ourselves one last time before going to college." She paused. "Plus, you've missed all of your other proms, Cece. Remember how bad you felt because you couldn't go. And now you have the chance, the last chance to finally see what it's like. Do you really want to miss this one as well? Because of Mac?"

I sighed once again. I started to get a glimpse of the reason Barbara had won the school's debate competition twice.

She was right. I'd missed last year's prom and all the other dances. Thinking back on it, it was almost like all the viruses in the world had made it their goal to stop me from going to prom.

I'd had to stay home each time there was a fun event going on at our school, hugging the toilet and watching the food rush out of my mouth in a disgusting liquid form while the rest of the school was out there, celebrating their youth in the form of elegant clothes, corsages and dancing.

No need to describe how horrendous that experience was.

And it wasn't even the prom itself that had made me so upset then. No. It was the mere idea of being left out of something that was considered so important. For every high schooler out there, proms consisted the go-to fun event everyone desired.

And the fact that I was missing the most desired high school event was enough to make me feel empty inside.

It was cliché, but I wanted to see how that was like. To feel that rush of feelings spread within me while I danced with my date in the purple lights of the makeshift dance floor.

I wanted that.

I needed that in order to stop feeling like I was missing out on something so big. Even though I probably wasn't.

But I wanted to find out.

On my own.

"You're right," I said, and Barbara's face broke into a smile. "I already said I'll do this anyway. I might just as well get used to the idea."

"So," she began, her smile returning sticking onto her face, "I'll talk to Megan and let you know when the magical hang out is going to happen."

I sighed nervously. "Okay."

And that's how Barbara basically set me up with a boy I didn't know on my first non blind date.

And to think people say high school is boring...

They definitely don't have Barbara as their friend.

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Chapter three is here! What do you think will happen next? Will Cece's "date" go well? Let me know in the comments :)

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Next chapter up Monday/Wednesday. Stay tuned x