A Prom to Remember

by Sandy Hall

  The third and final text went to her mom, promising she wouldn’t get home too late.

  Jacinta chewed her lip.

  Then she decided to turn off her phone.

  The world was her oyster; she could go anywhere as long as she didn’t get home too, too late. She could even drive around and then meet up with everyone after the prom. Or she could keep driving. Forever.

  The prom had been her dream, but around the time Emma got involved it had started to feel like a commitment that Jacinta wasn’t interested in. Jacinta had kept going along with everything because her friends wanted her to. But she didn’t have to do things just because she was supposed to. Life didn’t have to work like that. She could do something else.

  But she really wasn’t sure where she should go. She sat at a red light, thinking about her options.

  The mall, the diner, and the movies were out. None of them sounded like fun at the moment; she wanted to be outside. She wanted the breeze to ripple through the skirt of her dress.

  She drove around for twenty minutes blasting her “get psyched” playlist. What did she want?

  The answer was ice cream. Jacinta really, really wanted ice cream.

  She decided she’d go to the ice cream place on Main Street and get “dinner.” Followed by “dessert” at the pizzeria next door. Eating dessert first was a minor rebellion, but she liked the decadence of it.

  Jacinta parked about a block away and walked to the ice cream shop. The breeze blew through the trees and rustled her hair. She had put it up in a ponytail, and her sister had helped her make ringlets with the curling iron, but now she’d let it down and it tickled her shoulders as she walked down Main Street.

  She ordered the most elaborate thing on the menu, a banana split, and ate sitting at the café table outside. She watched the cars drive past and thought about where her friends were at that moment. They had probably just arrived at the venue.

  As she stood to throw away her empty ice cream bowl and turned to go into the pizzeria, Cameron Wyatt came stumbling out, barefoot.

  “Hey,” Jacinta said.

  “Oh, hey,” he said, obviously flustered. “You look nice.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “You look … nervous.”

  He pulled on a pair of socks. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the prom with my stepbrother?”

  “Well, it’s kind of a long story, but I promise I didn’t stand him up.”

  “What happened?” Cam asked, leaning down to tie his shoes.

  He seemed like he was in a big rush, but he was asking, so Jacinta decided to give him the abridged version of the story while he continued getting dressed in the middle of the sidewalk.

  It turned out he was a pretty good listener.

  Cameron

  Cameron had watched the clock from behind the counter at the pizza place. It was suspiciously empty for a Friday night, as if everyone in town was going to the senior prom and not just the seniors. There had been a rush of orders between five and six, but now it had completely slowed down.

  The clock ticked past seven. The dance had begun and Cameron wasn’t there.

  He could still make it there without a problem. He’d have to be fast, because if he got there after eight, he wouldn’t be allowed in and the venue was a solid half hour away. But he could do it.

  The door jangled open at the moment that Cameron considered slipping into the restroom to put on his tuxedo. He couldn’t leave the register unmanned, and the only other people working were the chef in the back and a waitress, Heather. Unfortunately, Heather had been on a fifteen-minute break for at least thirty-five minutes.

  He really didn’t want to stand Laptop Girl up. The anxiety of that thought was enough to make him want to leave the pizza place immediately. But he knew if he ran off like that, the reality was that he’d be fired. He needed the money.

  When his replacement finally showed up, Cameron knew he was going to be cutting it awfully close. He ran into the employee bathroom and set the timer on his phone for three minutes. He opened up the garment bag that held his rented tuxedo, but first he closed the lid on the toilet. Tonight was not the night to drop something in it.

  Unfortunately, the tuxedo was far more complicated than he could have possibly imagined. The fly on the pants wouldn’t work, and the cuffs on the sleeves of the shirt wouldn’t button properly.

  The timer on his phone went off long before he was anywhere near finished getting dressed. He decided to just keep moving.

  He ran out of the pizzeria and right into Jacinta Ramos. He had already come to terms with the fact that he probably wasn’t going to make it to prom, so he might as well chat with Jacinta for a minute.

  Cameron listened intently as Jacinta told a brief story about Landon’s girlfriend, Emma, and her surprise for Landon.

  “Emma annoys the crap out of me,” Cameron said. He looked at his phone and sighed.

  “Seriously, are you okay?” Jacinta asked. “You look a little … nauseous.”

  “Um, well, I’m kind of supposed to be at the prom.”

  “I kind of gathered that, but you won’t be allowed in after eight. And the venue is at least twenty-five minutes away.”

  “Yes. I’m aware of all of this. But the person who was supposed to relieve me at work ran late. So it looks like I’m not going.”

  Jacinta nodded sympathetically.

  “I was really hoping to make it,” Cam said. Although another glance at the clock told him he was shit out of luck. It was already 7:45. His shoulders deflated.

  “I’ll never get in now.”

  “It doesn’t seem like it,” she said. “So did you have a date? Are they going to be super pissed? Can you text them?”

  “It’s a weird story. I technically don’t know who my date is. I kind of thought you might be her for a second. But you’re not wearing any lime green.”

  “Wait, what? Who?”

  “It’s kind of an embarrassing story. You probably don’t want to hear about it.”

  “Try me,” Jacinta said.

  “There’s a girl, and, um, we’ve been exchanging messages on one of the laptops in Ms. Huang’s class, and I was supposed to meet her tonight at the prom.”

  Jacinta’s jaw dropped.

  “I thought maybe you were her, just for a second, but I don’t know how you would have known that I was working late at the pizza parlor and wouldn’t be at the prom to meet you.”

  “Why aren’t you at the prom?” Jacinta asked, and he could see the moment her mouth caught up with her brain. “Why are you wasting time with me? Why would you stand her up?”

  “So you know who it is?” he asked.

  “I one hundred percent know who it is.”

  “Who is it? Can you text her? Do you have her number?”

  “No, you dumbass, you have to go to the prom!”

  “I can’t. Ms. Huang said that they weren’t letting people in after eight. There’s no way we’ll make it there in time. We’re both too late to get in.”

  “But why aren’t you there?” she asked again.

  “I told you! I had to work late. Somebody called out, and the waitress was late getting back from break, and my boss is a real pain in the ass.”

  “You could have just left when you were supposed to leave.”

  “I mean, that’s nice in theory, but I need the job. I need the money for college next year. I can’t wander off because I have a girl to meet at the prom.”

  “You’re not much of a romantic.”

  “Says the girl who minutes ago was going to get a slice of pizza instead of going to the biggest dance of her high school career.”

  Jacinta stood up. “It doesn’t matter! We need to come up with a plan! You have to meet … Maybe I shouldn’t tell you who it is yet. Maybe we still have another option.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Jacinta said resolutely. “You finish getting dressed and I’ll drive.”

  He shrugged and followed her. He did
n’t have anything to lose.

  Chapter 27

  Lizzie

  On a scale of one to ten, Lizzie’s excitement level was somewhere in the thousands. To quote Mean Girls, the limit did not exist.

  Madison, Otis, Luke, and Lizzie had arrived at the prom right at seven o’clock. After they found their table, Lizzie took the seat with the best view of the main entrance.

  Luke and Otis headed toward the dance floor, but Madison hung back.

  “Don’t you want to mingle or something?” Madison asked. “The DJ is starting up; why don’t we dance?”

  “I am going to sit here and wait for Mystery Boy to come in.”

  “Suit yourself,” Madison said. “I think it would be more fun to occupy your mind until eight fifteen, but good luck.”

  Lizzie was practically bouncing out of her skin with excitement, but she knew that if she went to dance, she’d miss the moment he arrived. And she wanted to see him, whoever he was. Even if they’d promised to meet at eight fifteen, she had a feeling she would know who he was right away. She watched couple after couple come through the balloon arch at the door. To her relief, she did see several groups of singles that had all come in together, so she didn’t feel like she stuck out too much.

  But there were two things working against Lizzie.

  1.  Lime green was very popular. Boys were coming in with ties, boutonnieres, even sneakers that were lime green.

  2.  All those lime green–wearing boys had a date.

  She believed in Mystery Boy, but she had some nagging worries.

  Why wasn’t he early? She was early because she was excited to meet him. What if he wasn’t as excited? She stared at the banner above the balloon arch.

  A PROM TO REMEMBER! it declared in glittery letters. She hoped it would be a prom to remember for good reasons and not bad reasons.

  Her friends came and checked on her a few times, trying to coax her onto the dance floor. She would join them for a song or two, but then always went back to her post, her eyes glued to the door.

  As it edged toward eight, Lizzie swallowed down her anxiety. She wasn’t usually the type of person to get her hopes up like this.

  She spent a lot of time feeling proud, almost smug, about her ability to remain realistic in the face of even the best news, or the biggest hopes and dreams. It all started when Lizzie was eight and her mom told her that she was going to win a family trip to Disney World.

  Lizzie dreamed about that vacation every night for a week. She started cutting out everything Disney related she found in old magazines and made a collage. She told her friends about it.

  It never happened. Lizzie’s mom didn’t win. And Lizzie learned from that moment on not to get her hopes up.

  But this time, this dance, this boy, had gotten into her head. She had started to allow herself to believe that this might happen. That her big night might be a reality.

  To be fair, she did have a little bit of fun even while she waited. Her group of Madison, Luke, and Otis were fun people in general. It wasn’t like she was alone, sulking in a corner. They made sure to keep her mind off Mystery Boy.

  And she told herself that even if Mystery Boy didn’t show up, she might not have the best night of her life, but dammit, she was going to stay and make the most of it. She was too practical to not stay and have dinner and dessert. To not dance in the dress that her mom bought for her by saving a dollar here and a dollar there.

  So she danced with Otis. And then she danced with Madison. Then she danced with Luke. And they all danced in a group.

  Around eight, Madison snuck her away from the ballroom and gave her the last swig of coconut rum that she had somehow smuggled in.

  “A little liquid courage,” Madison said as Lizzie downed the last bit and coughed. “Just be cool.”

  “I’m cool, I’m cool,” Lizzie promised. “But how did you get this in here?”

  Madison took the empty bottle and shoved it in a faraway trash can.

  “I might have stuck it in my underwear.”

  “Lovely. No wonder it was so warm. And”—Lizzie paused, searching for another word to describe the rum but failing—“and warm.”

  Madison giggled. They turned and went back into the ballroom, and Lizzie felt a little better. And a lot less bitter.

  Along with wondering about Mystery Boy, she was also starting to really wonder where Jacinta was. She marched across the dance floor to Kelsey to ask her, still counting down the minutes and seconds to eight fifteen. It was getting close.

  “Is Jacinta okay?” she asked.

  “Well, hello there,” Kelsey said. “Jacinta is fine.”

  “Where is she? Wasn’t she supposed to be here?”

  “What are you, her mom?” Landon asked.

  Lizzie rolled her eyes. “No, I was just wondering where she was.”

  “Ignore him,” Kelsey said. “He got stoned on the way here. He can’t help being an asshole.” Landon’s girlfriend giggled next to him.

  “Is she stoned, too?”

  “No, she’s honestly just annoying,” Kelsey said, whispering in Lizzie’s ear.

  “Makes sense.”

  “Anyway, Jacinta sent me a text, letting me know that she wasn’t going to make it to the dance or something, but she never really gave me a reason. She just didn’t show up. At least we know she’s not dead somewhere.”

  Lizzie must have looked as horrified as she felt.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t joke like that,” Kelsey said.

  Lizzie nodded. “But you’re right, I’m relieved to know she chose not to come and that she’s not stuck somewhere.”

  At eight fifteen on the dot, she went to their agreed-upon meeting spot. Maybe she’d missed him coming in, maybe she hadn’t noticed some subtle lime green on one of the guys that came in alone. Maybe he was there and she just didn’t know it. She stood by the dance floor for five minutes, even timing it on her phone so she would know when to give up.

  If he didn’t come, all she had to show for this night was a dress she might never wear again, a ticket she wasted money on, and a sinking sensation in her stomach that she had done something wrong, that somehow this was her fault.

  When the timer on her phone went off, she had to face the reality of the situation. It was 8:20 and she had been stood up.

  Lizzie had let her hope get the better of her.

  Cameron

  Of course there had been traffic on the way to the prom.

  Jacinta was driving as fast as she could now that the lanes had cleared up, but it still felt too slow to Cameron.

  “We’re so late,” he said as he fiddled with his tie in the vanity mirror and tried to watch a YouTube video about tying bow ties at the same time. He honestly didn’t understand why they were still trying. They needed a miracle.

  Jacinta glanced over at him. “You know there’s no shame in a clip-on bow tie.”

  “Yeah, but the tux rental place just gave me this one. I didn’t ask for it or anything.”

  “I don’t think your mystery date would mind if you didn’t have a bow tie. She’d definitely understand.”

  “I want things to be perfect,” Cameron said. But that was good news about the bow tie, because he was honestly getting a little carsick trying to look in the mirror while trying to tie it.

  “So late,” he muttered again, looking at the clock.

  “We know we’re late. Repeating it won’t make us less late. And it’s not the point anyway. We’re going because you need to get you-know-who’s attention.”

  “She’s not Voldemort. You could just tell me who she is.”

  “And take all the fun out of this?” Jacinta asked. She peeked at her phone while they were stopped at a red light. “I am a little worried that when she realized you weren’t gonna show up she left and maybe joined a religion that doesn’t allow phones, because it’s been twenty minutes and she hasn’t responded to my good-news text.”

  “Can I see what you wrote?”
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  “Hell, no,” Jacinta said, shoving her phone out of his reach. “Then you would see the contact information.”

  Cameron was nearly bouncing in his seat at the thought that the identity of Laptop Girl was that close at hand.

  “What are we gonna do if she left? Do you know where she lives?” he asked.

  “I do know where she lives. But we’re not going to stalk her. We’ll figure it out. She’s bound to check her phone at least one more time tonight.”

  “Before the full indoctrination takes hold,” Cameron said.

  It took a second, but then Jacinta burst out laughing.

  “This isn’t worth it,” Cameron said, heaving out a frustrated sigh. “She’s not going to be that into me anyway. She’s probably heard that I sell drugs behind the pizzeria. And Ms. Huang is going to think I’m totally irresponsible.”

  “Hey, whoa. What’s with all this pity party stuff? Ms. Huang is going to understand that you have other responsibilities and you were at work. Voldemort is just going to be psyched you showed up. She’ll understand about work, too.”

  “The Voldemort thing isn’t exactly relaxing me.”

  “You started it,” Jacinta said simply.

  Cameron had to smile. He almost had no choice. It felt better to smile than to keep worrying in the same thought circles. He couldn’t seem to relax his shoulders, like they were creeping up to his ears with each passing minute.

  “And for the record, since I didn’t address it earlier, no one thinks you sell drugs from behind the pizza parlor. I’ve never heard anything like that. From anyone.”

  “That’s good news at least.” Cameron patted the arms of his button-down shirt, feeling wrinkly and disheveled.

  As they pulled into the hotel parking lot, Jacinta looked over at him. “You know, maybe instead of trying to look perfect you should leave the top couple of buttons open and roll your sleeves.”

  He shrugged and did as he was told as they got out of the car.

  “Just calm down,” Jacinta said.

  “Easy for you to say.” He leaned against the hood of her car. “Do you have any other pearls of wisdom?”

  She walked up to him and messed up his hair. He’d wet it down in the bathroom, trying to make it look more presentable.