"L A B E L S"

Episode 30

Scarlett's standing in front of her mirror on Friday night, applying on the last bit of blush with a smile. She had this feeling in her stomach like something big was about to happen tonight...she just wished she could decipher between a good or bad thing. A look of worry slowly begins to appear on her face when she hears the doorbell. She smiles at herself in the mirror, quickly rubs off all of the bad thoughts and rushes down stairs.

Jake steps inside Scarlett's house and looks to his left to see her walking down the stairs. He stares at her with a smile on his face. "You look beautiful."

She smiles and interlocks her arm with his. "Thank you." She looks down at his suit then back up at him. "You don't look so bad yourself."

He smiles and looks back at her mother and stepfather. "It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans."

Mrs. Evans smiles while her arm's around her husband's waist. "You too, Jacob."

Mr. Evans looks at Scarlett with a serious expression. "Curfew's 12:00am."

She smiles and walks over to her parents. "I know, Derek." She gives him a hug and pulls away, looking up at him. "We won't be late." She gives her mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Have fun."

Scarlett smiles at her mother and walks back to Jake before they both walk out the door.

Mr. Evans quickly speaks up before they walk out the door. "Not too much fun!"

Scarlett shuts the door behind them and walks to the car with Jake.

Jake looks up at the dark sky then back at Scarlett. "It looks like it's about to let loose. We better get you to the dance before your dress gets soaked." He smiles and opens the car door for her.

~~~

Dani's sitting on her couch with a bowl of rocky road ice cream, wrapped up in a blanket and flipping through channels. She has a blank expression on her face as thoughts of what she lost consume her mind.

Mr. Landon walks into the living room and sits on the couch beside his daughter. "Hey, Dimples."

"Hey, dad." She continues flipping through stations, not bothering to look over at him.

"What's with the frown?"

"The Fall Ball's tonight."

Her gives her a look of confusion. "Since when do you care about school dances?"

Dani sighs and flips off the TV, turning to face her dad. "I don't, it's just..."

"You were hoping a certain someone would have asked you?"

She gives him a look of surprise. "Yeah...how did you know?"

"I may not understand boy problems like your mother would of but I'm not an idiot, hunny."

She hides a saddened smile and glances down at the blanket in her lap.

"If you really like this boy, why didn't you just ask him?"

"I was going to but...he asked someone else and she said no but...I didn't want to be his second choice."

"You should never be someone's second choice, Dimples. You're far too amazing to be anyone's second."

She smiles at her dad, honestly grateful for the support. She was starting to regret chickening out. "Thanks, dad."

"Well, why didn't you just go with Joseph? I thought you guys always go to these things together...on the rare occasion you actually go, anyways."

She looks back down at the blanket and begins fiddling with the strings on it.

"What? Did that kid actually get a date to this one or something?" He snickers, jokingly.

"Nope, he's probably doing the exact same thing I am right now."

"I haven't seen him around here in a couple of weeks. A friendship like that is hard to come by. You don't want to lose it." He smiles and grabs the TV remote off the table, flipping it on and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

~~~

Taylor's in her bathroom, scrubbing at her arms, legs and stomach trying to remove the markings she put on herself weeks ago. She gets most of the markings off of her stomach and legs but the mark down her arm is still fairly visible. "Nothing a shaw won't cover." She sighs and stands there wishing the marks and scars on the inside were as easy to get rid of. After doing her makeup and hair she slowly slips her light blue dress on and looks in the mirror once again. Instead of feeling an overwhelming wave of insecurity and doubt, she feels...pretty. For the first time in a long time...she feels pretty. She smiles at herself one last time before walking down her stairs and turning to her mother, expecting some snide remark.

Ms. Alison looks at her daughter from the kitchen and begins walking towards her. She stands in front of her and smiles lightly. "I really like that dress. You wear it well."

A shocked expression forms on her face as she jokingly looks behind her, and then points to herself. "I do?"

"What, you don't like the dress?"

"No...I'm just not used to compliments from you."

Ms. Alison lightly swats her with the dish rag before turning around. "Oh, stop it; I give you plenty of compliments."

Taylor rolls her eyes, knowing that's a lie and wondering what her mother is on. She hears the doorbell ring and turns around to open the door as her mother walks back into the kitchen. She opens the door to find Nick smiling at her and holding a small blue flower.

She smiles at Nick and looks down at the blue corsage in his hand, amazed by how close the color is to her dress. She looks up at him with surprise and curiosity. "How did you know?"

He shrugs and hands her the flower. "Lucky guess and...blue is your favorite color."

Taylor smiles and takes the corsage.

He looks down at her dress and back up to her face with a smile. "You look amazing."

"Thank you."

"Ready to go?"

She nods and begins walking towards the door but before she walks out she takes a look at herself in the hallway mirror. She shows a small smile at herself before taking a breath and walking out the door.

~~~

Chelsea's getting ready in her room with Nicole lying on her bed, waiting for her to finish up.

Nicole sighs impatiently and looks over at Chelsea with boredom. "So...why is it that I'm sitting here, waiting on you instead of at the dance with Tony?"

Chelsea looks at Nicole through the mirror while applying makeup. "Because Nicole, you're my friend and friends don't go to dances with a date if their friend doesn't have a date."

"I still don't understand why you didn't just ask some guy to go with you, it's not like you're at the bottom of the social food chain, Chels."

She closes her compaq and turns to Nicole with a frown. "I did ask someone and he turned me down."

Nicole rolls her eyes and sits up. "Nick was never a viable option, Chels. You knew that going into this whole elicit affair."

"I am the only viable option. If he thinks he can just choose that frizzy freak over me and get away with it, he's got another thing coming. I may be easy but I sure as hell ain't no toy he can just take out whenever he feels like it." She turns back to the mirror with a smirk. "Nick's going to get what's coming to him tonight even if I have to take that little bitch down with him." She smirks deviously and applies some lip stick.