Between Love And Hate

Chapter Thirty-seven

Raven

"So, prom?" I asked, pulling a black and blue striped hoodie over my head.

"Uh huh!" she replied, "Don't you want to go too?" she asked.

I ignored how cute she sounded in the morning. I groaned loudly under my hoodie, still trying to pull it down. Tough luck.

"Nah. Proms are boring. I'm not cut out for dancing around sweaty hormonal teenagers. The whole idea irks me." I said, picking up my glasses and book bag.

"Oh well. Anyways, you look pretty cute in that hoodie." She said.

I wanted to yell, mess her hair up, do something nasty... "Yeah, well thank you very much for offering to help when I nearly died from suffocating while trying to pull the hoodie over my head!"

Instead of being nice and saying sorry, she burst out laughing, ignoring my grumpy face. And even if I wanted to smile because her laugh made me happy, I didn't.

"Now c'mon, babe. We're going to be late and Applebottom will scold us. I'd have liked his name if it had been Bennett, Bernard or something though." I said, pulling her out.

She kept laughing, the happy sounds resonating through the walls of the hallway and I couldn't help thinking about what had happened in the last few weeks. After all, I was this close to losing her. But not anymore. Jace was far far away in prison and he was currently getting help for his obsession. Unfortunately, he had some serious sort of mental disorder. Maybe someday he'd become a good person, I don't know. That wasn't my problem though. The Only issue I have with him is Janelle, and if he ever comes back looking for trouble, I'd give him double. Since he escaped the first bullet luckily, he wouldn't escape a second one.

Just like I had predicted, Applebottom was raving mad. Someone had spilled coffee on his favorite pants. He kept talking in my face about ethics, little droplets of spit coating my face as he absentmindedly continuously yelled at me, until someone tapped him.

"Applebottom, Sir. I got you coffee." The voice announced.

Applebottom paused spitting in my face and turned to face Janelle. Eyeing her aggressively.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said, I got you coffee," Janelle replied. Half the class gasped, even I did.

"Why?" Applebottom asked again.

"Well, I heard someone ruined your morning and your special pants by spilling coffee on you. And I wanted to fix it. It's black coffee though, with only a cube of sugar an..."

"That's enough!" Applebottom interrupted, "I just hope it's not poisoned." he said.

"Ah no. I wouldn't want to kill my favorite teacher. Now, do you want this coffee or something?" Janelle said convincingly, shoving the coffee cup in his face.

Applebottom took the cup, said something between a mumble and thank you before ignoring our complete existence.

There goes my morning, ruined a second time and I can't complain, at all. 

I'd planned something for Janelle. I knew just how much she wanted to go to prom and even if I hated the idea, I wanted to make her happy. Something more like her happiness came first.

Skipping through the halls with her, a freshman walked up to her, a red rose in hand. He offered her the flower and she took it, a little surprised. Some more people did, even the janitor. She kept smiling like she had won the lottery.

"Do you know why they're handing me roses?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I'm as clueless as you are." I said, pretending to not know anything. She took a long glance at me as we got to her locker.

She handed me the flowers and I waited patiently for her to open her locker. She opened it and took a step back as romantic cards and flowers came tumbling out of her locker. She stared at me, completely shocked. She picked up one card and flipped it open, ignoring the growing crowd.

She read out loud. "I want you, all of you. I want you and all you can give. I want you, and the more of you that you can give. I want you, imperfections and mostly, you..."

I watched as a tear left her eye and yet still, I didn't do anything. I wanted nothing but to take in all her reactions. She dropped the card and picked up a blue one, it was handmade. I'd made it myself. I watched as she traced a finger on the cover and then flipped it open. Like before, she read it out loud.

"We've got today and the rest of our lives, but we only get one night for this. Let's make unforgettable memories. So, Prom?"

When she turned to face me, I kept quiet. The whole student body must have gathered behind us. I said nothing, I only pulled out a blue card from my hoodie pocket and handed it to her.

She flipped it open. Inside, the words Yes and No were boldly written. Janelle nodded, smiling as she lifted her head and jumped to wrap her arms around me, laughing loudly.

"You idiot! You could have just asked me like every other normal person would." She said.

"Babe, I'm not normal. I don't think I ever was, and besides I did this for you, wanted to make it special."

She removed her arms from around me, "I'm keeping all of these and I'm going to read all of them too."

I chuckled. "You can. I have no objections."

She kissed me, her arms snaking around me again. When she broke the kiss, we pressed our foreheads together. I had to lean down a bit, thanks to her height, but that didn't matter.

I'd found Janelle at a time when I least expected. It was safe to say, Janelle was a part of my life I wasn't willing to let go.

She cleared her throat, "did Kattie know about this whole thing?"

I swallowed, "she...she uh, she does. Uh, in fact, she ah, she planned all of it." I replied, scratching the back of my head.

"That traitor!!! Y'all should have given me some heads up!"

"It wouldn't be a surprise then."

"Oh, yeah. I'm still ending Kattie though."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Kattie pull Morgan along with her. She knew Janelle would come for her.

"At least, you're my date to prom." Janelle said.

"Yup, I am." I cooed. She chuckled, before pulling me to our next class.