One Normal Night: Lord of the Flies

Chapter 5

The next few days flew by quickly, Jesse wasn't as rude to me and Presley still didn't know about the dance. I was beginning to think of Jesse and Ben as friends; which meant that i could finally use the plural version of that word.

The courtyard is usually empty during the last period of the day. The yellow brick walls surround a couple of rusty picnic tables garnished with leaves from the surrounding maples, who dropped their leaves like a dog shedding its fur. Presley and I sit at a blue table, silently, getting a head start on homework. Yes, it's our early dismissal period, but the less time I can spend at home, the better.

"So it looks like neither of us have dates to this dance... again," Presley sighs, flipping the page of her math textbook.

I stay silent, feeling bad she would be going alone to the dance.

"I guess I was kinda hoping for Ben to ask me..." she says, flipping her hair.

I turn, in surprise. "Ben?"

"What?" She replies. "He's cute and he's nice. There's not many guys in our school like that."

I laugh. "You're not wrong."

"So, I was thinking at instead of going alone to the dance this year, we could stay home? I'm sure we could find something on Netflix," Presley says, laughing. She knows we're always able to find something on Netflix. I mean, c'mon. What else are two single best friends supposed to do on a Friday night?

I should tell her about Jesse, but she looks so excited that something else comes out instead. "Yeah, I'm down with that!" Shit.

We go back to talking about Pinterest boards and US presidents, sharing a bag of potato chips.

"Wait, Danes, can you help me with this math problem? My teacher doesn't explain anything I swear," Presley says, wiping the chip grease on her jeans.

"Yeah, sure," I reply, going to grab my calculator out of my bag. "Shoot, I must've left my calculator in Physics."

"I got it!" Says someone behind me. Presley and I turn to see Ben, holding my graphing calculator in his hand.

"Oh, thanks," I say, grabbing the calculator.

"No problem," he replies. "Hey, I heard you were going to the dance with Jesse?"

I freeze, and look at Presley. She's staring at me, wide-eyed and confused.

"Hello?" Ben waves his hand in front of my face.

"Um... n-no," I stutter. Ben raises an eyebrow. "I mean- yes," I finally say.

Presley glares at me, starting to pack up.

"Cool, I guess? Would you be willing to let me in your group?" Ben asks awkwardly.

"Yeah, yeah that's fine," I mumble, gathering my things too.

"Great!" He says. "So it will be Heather and RJ, Corey and Michael, Lydia and Luke, and me and Adrianne."

Presley stops, closing her eyes. She hates Adrianne as much as me, and now she's going with Presley's crush?

"Great," I say, as happy as I can be, even though I just learned I would be going to homecoming with a bunch of jerks.

"See you later!" Ben says, turning around. I turn to Presley.