The Gang Leader's Shorty

Chapter 36

Lexi's POV-

Cole and I enter the school hall arm in arm to see an abundance of twinkling fairy lights and stars glistening above us. The girls who organised prom did an outstanding job, I was expecting a low budget punch bar with crappy, grungy speakers. 

I find my friends and all of the girls gush, compliments being thrown all around, "Wow! You guys are so beautiful," I exclaim and they all say their thank you's and start to pull Cole and I to the dance floor where my favourite song 'If You're Over Me' by Years and Years is blasting. Cole and I start to do some weird dance moves, generally having fun without a care in the world. We are laughing and smiling, something I thought I'd never be able to do again in all my years. 

"And now to announce prom king and queen!" One of the girls who organised the prom announces from the stage at the front in her glistening pink dress and everyone quietens down in anticipation, "There are a lot of adorable couples this year and there were some really close results...the prom king is...Cole Stone!" She cheers and everyone starts to whistle and clap as I push him to the front, nobody really surprised at the outcome of the votes. 

"And the prom queen is...Max Smith?" She looks confused and looks through the results again, only to confirm that Max won prom queen, something that nobody was expecting judging by the tense silence that disperses around the hall as people look around, whispering as Max shrugs and straightens his suit, strutting shamelessly to the front of the stage and accepting his crown. Being Max, he walks up to Cole and plants a sloppy kiss on his cheek and Cole looks disgraced. 

The spotlight dance comes on and Max and Cole awkwardly slow dance looking like the gay couple of the year as everyone is holding on to each other, supporting each other as we double over, laughing incredulously as we watch Max's beam and Cole's grimace as they dart around the floor.  

Afterwards, Cole is asked to say a few words with Max but Max darts, not being a good public speaker due to his incapability of saying anything mature, "I'd rather perform a song for you all to get into the mood," Cole smirks as people cheer and 'whoop' at him from the floor. The music for 'Sugar' by Maroon 5 begins to play and we all jump around to the music, smiling without a care in the world after the hard year we have all faced. 

***

About an hour later, Cole and I are setting up for our duet performance. For the past hour we have danced, drank a bucket full of rubbish, laughed and joked with our friends, kissed, hugged, everything that I could dream of this night to be.

"Right, time for some live music!" I announce down the microphone and people turn, clapping. Cole starts, "We have decided to do some duets so may I introduce the song 'Everything Has Changed', not live because I want to dance. We recorded this so here it is," Cole introduces and the music starts from our CD and we both smile encouragingly at each other as we head to the centre of the dance floor and start to slow dance to the music. Various people join us from all angles of the room. 

As the song comes to a final we get claps as we go back up to the stage and to our microphones. Cole and I smile out to the crowd who just slow danced to our voices and the next song rolls in, 'Perfect Two', which has to be my favourite since Cole absolutely hates how it sounds. 

We both start to sing what we had rehearsed but I get a shock when Cole smashes into 'I'm Yours', a mashup which was very much not planned and makes me feel like I have been transported into poorly written episode of Glee. I look to him with my eyebrows creased but carry on singing what I thought we were supposed to be singing. He gives me a thumbs up and I feel myself relax as people start to sway to the music.  

The song comes to an end and we exit the stage to supportive whistles and claps, the band taking over our position so we can both join our friends. James and Ryleigh come straight over, "That was amazing, guys, well done!" Ryleigh exclaims and gives us both a quick hug. James smiles and winks at me, seconding her comment, "Thanks," I smile widely at them both and Cole mimics my actions and slides an arm around my waist, pulling me into his side.