Once

Fifty Two

Elle ended up being pleasantly surprised: prom wasn't nearly as tragic as she'd imagined it would be.

It was being held in the theatre, for some reason. Presumably they'd decided on that, as opposed to the hall or the gym, so they could set it up that afternoon without disrupting any lessons or lunchtime. And also, if you're going to have a theatre in a school the size of Farway High, you might as well use it for something.

Elle and David came in through the doors at the back, and Elle was immediately intrigued. The tiered seats had been pushed back to create a big sunken square area in front of the stage. There were little tables and chairs set up there, giving it the vibe of a sort of burlesque-style nightclub. Up on the stage the curtains had been drawn most of the way, leaving only a small open gap in the front, like a door. The stage itself was being used as the dancefloor, the closed curtains cutting it off from the rest of the room where people could sit and chat. It made a nice sort of effect. Through the crack between the curtains she could see a mass of moving bodies leaping about to the music, and the constant swirling lights of a disco ball dancing across the wall.

She'd been right about one thing, though. There were balloons - tons of them, dozens of silver and blue orbs hanging all around the room. But somehow they didn't look sad, or even really that tacky. The lights of the disco ball glimmered over their shiny surfaces like the lights of a thousand little fireflies.

"It's... alright," Elle said, both surprised and impressed as she looked round the room. "Like, I don't hate it."

David, nodding beside her, said, "Yeah, I suppose it's cool enough."

She shot him a sideward glance.

"David, about what you said -"

"Hey, there are the guys." He gave her a hard look. "You gonna go talk to them?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Want me to come?"

"Do you mind if I say no? I could kind of use a minute with them on my own."

He smiled at her.

"Of course. I'll go get us something to drink, if you like."

He set off toward the refreshment table, and Elle, taking a deep breath, walked slowly across the floor to the table where her friends were sitting.

They looked amazing, all of them. Sellan had on this skinny biscuit-coloured suit and a long thin tie that made him look oddly dapper - only oddly because Elle would never had associated Sellan with a word like 'dapper' before. Maggie had gone for a very plain dress in a sort of pinkish off-white. It was bizarre not to see her in her regulation black, but bizarre in a great way. The soft rosiness of the dress made her pale skin gleam like the moon.

And Jax and Russell - well, naturally they both looked incredible. Jax was wearing a dress that either she or her mum had certainly made themselves. It was in this huge bold print: bright green leaves on a background of deep purple. On anyone else it would have looked garish and lurid, but Jax could more than pull it off. It was set off beautifully by the small bands of gold she'd used to pin her hair into place on one side.

Russell, of course, had outdone himself. A berry-coloured suit over a soft pink T-shirt, with a huge blood-red alien of a flower pinned to the lapel. It was easily the campest, most ostentatious outfit Elle had ever seen him wearing. And he was easily the coolest-looking guy in the room.

They heard her coming. Her sequinned shoes squeaked a little on the parquet floor. Maggie, seated facing toward her, nodded at the others and they all looked round. Jax and Russell stood up as she approached, so they could - what? Greet her? Confront her? Bar her way?

She stopped a few paces away from them. She could feel herself playing with her bracelets and she didn't bother trying to stop herself.

"I'm not meant to be here," she found herself saying. "Me and Kaye had an argument yesterday and I'm grounded. But I had to come here tonight. Partly because of - because of the stuff, y'know - but partly to see all of you. I just - I don't know. I'm sorry. I didn't want to let tonight go by without seeing you all. I know you probably don't want to see me right now, but... well, like I said, I'm sorry."

Then something happened that Elle had not been prepared for. She'd been braced for an argument, even prepping herself mentally for the inevitable tears to start falling again. But instead Russell moved very quietly to her left side, and Jax moved very quietly to her right. They both leaned into her, putting their foreheads down on each shoulder. It was almost like a hug, and almost like some pagan ritual, like the way in some cultures you would put your head to a sacred stone or a monument. But whatever it was, it was powerful. It was a gesture that was worth a hundred conversations, a thousand thoughts. It was as if they'd found some cosmic way to pull all of the magic out of Farway and pour the power of it straight into Elle, filling her up from each side.

Maggie and Sellan had moved round the table by now, and the little group of three became a hug of five.

There were a few moments of silence. Everything was being said in it that needed to be said.

At last it was Jax who broke it, by whispering right into Elle's ear:

"Nice dress, by the way."