Help Me Learn

Waiting

Rome and Aldrich had finally learned that the upperclassman that they'd been doting on was named Yao Wang.

And since senior-junior prom was coming up in about a month, both of them wanted to ask the girl of their affections to the big dance. Which in their case, was the same person.

They devised a plan to ask Yao to the dance. One of them would ask and if he got rejected the other would go with her. Completely foolproof, right?

Rome would ask her first.
He walked up to Yao, flashed his iconic smile, and handed her a piece of paper.

"Will you go to the prom with me~?" Rome asked, putting his charismatic charms to good use.

"Huh? S-sure." Yao said tentatively, and plucked the slip from Rome's fingers.

Rome, then, did a happy dance and blew a kiss at her before winking and skipping back to Aldrich.

"Haha! She said yes~!" Rome bragged, blissfully unaware that his real-life Legolas was about to smack him on the head.

Yao walked home that afternoon, thinking about how to ask his mother if he could go to the prom. This would be difficult, but fairly straightforward.

His mom always made him go to all the dances, wasting money in his opinion, and made him wear a tux, even though it was a casual formalwear dance. Usually, he only sat in the restroom the entire time, drowning out the music with sleep.

He turned a left onto his respective street and, when he went into his house, he took his shoes and coat off, and brought his bookbag and permission slip with him to his mother's home office.

Yao knocked on the thin door of his mother's office and listened for confirmation to come inside.
When he heard a faint "Come in" Yao opened the door and went inside.

"Can I help you?" She asked briskly, peering above her glasses at her wayward son. She was obviously annoyed that her son had walked in on her while she was working. Something Yao knew he wasn't supposed to do.

Yao stared at the woman in front of him for a minute before scratching the base of his neck and letting out a quiet chuckle and a sigh.

"I was wondering if you would sign this permission slip for me..." He said timidly, as to not upset his mother. He pulled a piece of paper out from his bookbag and slid it across the impeccably organized desk for his mother to read.

She picked up the slightly crinkled piece of paper and glanced at her son.

"You really want to go to prom?" She asked, disbelieving her son's motives. Never once, had he asked to go to a dance. Mrs. Wang stared at her son, making him really uncomfortable in his current situation.

Yao nodded slowly and discreetly glanced at the slip before snapping his eyes back at his mother.

She noticed this small movement and wagged her index finger to signal her son to move closer to her. Yao stared at his mother for a second before complying to her silent command.

Mrs. Wang glanced up at her son, making sure he was watching, as she pulled a pen out from its respective place. All of her movements were precise as she signed the slip and slid it back to her son.

Yao stood up and took the slip back from its place on the desk. He bowed to his mother in thanks before taking his bookbag and leaving the room, tears threatening to spill.

(596 words)