The Prep and Moi

Chapter 20 - Forgetful Sighs and Twirly Mantras

Now, if I had been born and raised as a normal teenager, then I would never have hesitated to gush over the fact that Ash was holding my hand and asking me to the dance, a dream that anyone could've ever dreamt of, but, of course, who would I be if I did that?

I tilted my head to the side slightly and questioned, "Dance? Wha– what are you on about?"

Ash's eyebrows furrowed to a small degree, perhaps wondering what kind of hard drugs I might've consumed to cause my instant memory loss. Yet, the more I kept my focus on him and his confused expressions, his mannerisms reminded me of how Chris reacted to certain things and especially how much I missed him.

"Dammit!" An elongated curse that progressively got louder by the second resonated behind me, making me blink a million times over. "Are you genuinely this stupid?"

I released a large sigh of relief when I realised it wasn't Ash who'd said those hurtful words. If it had been, I would've booted him out of the world.

Letting her booming voice reverberate in the condensed area, an instantaneous reaction to turn around meant I would witness my best friend stalking over to me while aggressively clutching onto two light pink and blue bags of candyfloss.

When I concentrated on the force Destiny was putting into strangling the plastic candyfloss bags, I almost peed myself. It wasn't hard to imagine who she thought she was trying to end. And with Shawn's nervous energy flowing into the picture as he sensibly kept his distance away from her, my fear increased even more.

"Don't do that!" I exclaimed tensely with my sight still set on the poor candyfloss. "What is it? What have I done now?" I emphasised, holding up my hands in a half-surrender action.

Destiny first mocked me by repeating what I had said before frustratingly groaning, "The ballroom dance, Mack, Ash is asking for you to go to the dance tonight- gah! What will I do with you?"

"Girls–" Ash hesitantly interrupted, but his interruption was interjected by Destiny.

"She's better than this, I swear!" She shouted frantically, "She's just a little slow in," she moved her fingers to the temple of her head, "...this department." Her violent eyes returned to me, preparing herself to say more, but holding it in.

While I watched Destiny crumble in the embarrassment that I'd indirectly caused her, out of nowhere, the memory of neatly packing a dress into my suitcase returned to my mind, and the reason for it.

My eyebrows elevated and a smile lifted on my lips after I made an acknowledging sound. "Oh, I remember now! That dance..." I awkwardly laughed for a few seconds before foolishly asking, "What about it?"

A chorus of sounds caused by audible exhalations transpired, and for a good second there, I even thought I heard some of the passing guests join into the debacle.

When I settled my gaze on Destiny, her intense green eyes were already glowering at me like she was ready to punch me, and for the first time in forever, I was officially petrified of looking at my best friend. With my eyes wide and my shoulders shaking like something out of a cartoon, I closed my eyes to try and relieve the pressure of getting whacked by Destiny. But it never came. Instead, all I felt was something slide over my shoulders and then being pulled into a warm source. Feeling a little disorientated by the sudden movement, I forced my eyes open and adjusted.

"Hey," Ash quietly greeted, and with his hand hanging over my shoulder, he swished it around, successfully keeping my attention. Swiftly, I twisted my head to glance at him but was unable to anticipate how close our faces would be to each other. "So, how about it? Before Destiny ends you, will you go to the dance with me?"