Chapter Text
Winter fessed over her hair while walking in the halls with her friends to the gymnasium, Jessica was busy making sure her makeup wasn't smudged from crying after her boyfriend broke up with her on the night of prom, Olivia was posting pictures of her dress to social media, and Emily was keeping everyone talking by yapping away about anything that went on in that girl's head.
"Guys we should have an after-prom party! Y'know just us no guys since...y'know, sorry Jess" Emily suggested, giving Jessica a look of sympathy which only made Jessica roll her eyes.
"I'm quite fine Emily, I should've realized how much of a jerk he was, it's just that he made me ruin my damn makeup which is pissing me off the most," Jessica dismissed while looking into the little mirror she held in her hands, she always seemed to blame herself for not realizing things sooner. Winter raised an eyebrow after putting bobby pins in her hair to get her braid-bound bun to stay in place.
"It's okay to be upset towards him y'know, that really was messed up of him to ditch you on one of the most memorable nights of senior year and not even having the decency to at least do it beforehand," Winter pointed out while they walked, all Jessica did was shrug.
"I'm aware, but I wished I could've broke up with him because I saw his flaws not the other way around," Jessica replied. "Plus I certainly don't feel like lookin' like a loser without my boyfriend by my side, people are gonna notice."
"So? It's not like others don't have a date? Just look at me and Emily," Olivia piped in, looking up from the bright light mode of her phone to talk directly to Jessica.
"Yeah, plus maybe one of us can pretend to be your date" Emily added with a wiggle of her eyebrows which made the group laugh.
"Really now? Which one of you is gonna be my date for tonight?" Jessica played along, Emily and Olivia raised their hands up and tired to get higher than the other like this was a real competition. Jessica noticed Winter didn't volunteer and opted to watch. "Scared of the competition Winter?" Jessica commented and Winter shook her head with a smile.
"No I could easily win I mean who could resist me?" Winter answered, dramatically guesturing to herself before twirling around in her light yellow sun dress. The white back bow's ribbons swung around when she did so. "No but seriously, you already know I have Dipper as a boyfriend and obviously my date"
"Wait Dipper is actually gonna be here?" Jessica asked in disbelief at the fact that Dipper--the most anti-social friend Jessica had who would barley hang out with Winter's gang--was coming to prom.
"Mhm!" Winter confirmed with a happy smile. "To be fair I did have to make a deal with him that I would buy him a new video game and bring him to Starbucks for coffee for the next 2 weeks but he said he would do it and he seemed a little excited about it--a little" Winter informed and Jessica gave her a hum, now seeing why Dipper was going to tolerate coming. "Plus, I really wanted him to come to see if I win Prom Queen and he wins Prom King or something! Y'know like in those movies or whatever." She continued optimistically as they walked into the gymnasium, the groups ears immediately filled with the sound of pop music that was considered "school-appropriate" inside and their eyes were met with colored lights on the floor that made the gym light up purple and blue and the sight of most of the junior and senior student body all together in this room. The group squinted at first at the overwhelming sight before their eyes adjusted to it.
"I think you would be a good shoe in for Prom Queen Winter!" Emily said, continuing the conversation. "And Dipper too! For uh- Prom King of course!" Emily quickly added before Winter thought anything else about her opinions. Winter smiled at the compliment and nodded.
"Aw thanks Emily!"
"Just saying what we're all thinking" Emily responded, the racoon-dyed haired girl walked next to Winter once Jessica spotted her newly ex and said a short goodbye and went over to give him a piece of her mind and Olivia drifted away after getting distracted by chatting and taking pictures with some other peers. Winter and Emily chatted together in content with their other two best friends parting ways for now. They walked around and said their hellos to others for a few minutes, but during one of the conversations, Winter felt a tap on her shoulder which made her spin around to see who it was and she saw Dipper himself standing there. Winter's face seems to brighten up at his appearance.
"Oh Dipper you came hiiiii!!!" Winter beamed and stepped closer to give him a short hug. Dipper took a minute but he also hugged her back.
"Hey I said I would, plus I wouldn't want to miss out on our deal," Dipper pointed at his own head like he was reminding her of her promise with a knowing look on his face, Winter rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah, hey you cleaned up nice" Winter pointed out about him being in a suit with a blue tie and the way his hair was actually brushed and wasn't hiding under some type of hat. Dipper smiled a little at the compliment. "Reallll nice" Winter decided to add in just to mess with him with a small wink.
"Hahahaha real funny, I'm used to your talk by now," Dipper declared even though he was definitely a little red at the way she said it. "Uhm I have something for you." Dipper seemed to remember, pulling out something from his pocket that Winter couldn't see yet. "Hold out your arm, close your eyes too." Dipper gently instructed, Winter's curiosity deepened but went along with it and closed her eyes. She felt his hands working somewhere around her wrist, working together to get something secured on it. "Okay you can- you can open them now." Winter didn't take another minute and opened up her eyes to look at her wrist, she saw a lovely corsage that was made up of white flowers. Winter let out a light squee of delight at the thoughtfulness as her hands lightly flapped around.
"Ahhh! I love it so much Dipper thank you!" Winter exclaimed, making Dipper's smile widened at her happiness.
"I thought you would like it, I saw it at a store nearby and I got a matching flower see?" Dipper pointed to a small white flower that was pinned to his suit. "I hope it's not, too corny or anything, plus it's for me being a pain the other day about coming, I just- I just don't want to get overwhelmed by all these people you understand right?"
"No no Dipper it's lovely I promise and it's okay, I didn't want to go without you though that's all. I might've not gone this year if that was the case," Winter explained to him, her hand drifting over to his. "But let's go have fun okay?" Winter suggested, Dipper nodded before they heard a voice clear their throat.
"Hello you two?? Did you just forget I'm standing here Win-Win!" Emily called Winter out Winter bit her lip slightly.
"Nooooo of course not!" Winter answered innocently but caved after a minute. "Okay maybe a little sorry, but I'm going to go with Dipper now okay?" Winter informed so Emily knew, Emily shook her head.
"Hmm alright I'll see you girlie" Emily gave confirmation and walked away back to the people she was talking to. Winter gave a nod of it being okay to Dipper as she lead him elsewhere.
~
Dipper and Winter stayed together the remainder of the time, they went over and talked to Mabel and some of Winter's other friends and eventually had a few dances together and at some point someone hijacked the music to put on more exciting music that a teacher immediately shut down. Dipper didn't want to be separated from Winter since he would have no idea who to talk to besides Mabel and a few stray friends if it weren't for Winter.
The time came for the most important announcement of the night,
Prom Queen and King winners.
The music stopped as an administrator stepped up to the microphone and tested it before speaking. They went on a discussion on how they hoped everyone was having a good time and important (aka boring) school announcements that somehow snuck it's why into the speech. Winter, Dipper, and Mabel all stood together now as they looked up at the top of the bleachers where the administrator was talking.
"Anyway, just wanted to say a goodbye to our soon departing seniors which brings me to the highlight of tonight." The administrator started, looking down at a paper that seemed like their speech written out. Their last words meant to clearly refer to Prom Royalty winners. "After a week of tallying up suggestions for our senior Prom Royalty we have come to our answer, for our Prom Queen I would like to welcome our girl's soccer team leader to the stage. Congrats Winter Blyes!!" The admin announced as the crowd cheered and clapped for Winter, Winter felt like her heart was about to stop but also felt a since of pride at winning, her eyes lit up as she hugged Dipper and kissed his cheek.
"Ackk Dipper!! I won I won!!" Winter declared with a bright smile, Dipper hugged her as Winter jumped up and down while hugging him.
"Okay, okay! Jeez your making me dizzy but you deserve it Winter," Dipper answered, gently getting Winter to stop jumping so much. Winter real eased him from the hug and Mabel decided to take her hands and jump in a circle with her.
"Yayy you go girlll!!! But we'll celebrate after go get your crown!" Mabel said after the jumped around like that twice and Winter nodded eagerly in response and went up to the bleachers. Winter let the administrator put the crown on her head and the sash on her waist.
"And now for our Prom King I would like to welcome..."
This was it, Dipper was going to be called up and they were going to celebrate all night and dance with their crowns on and-
"Kai Wellian!"
Winter blinked and then went still, the crowd didn't noticed as they clapped for the Prom King winner, Winter looked down on the ground.
That wasn't Dipper,
Not even close,
The reality of the social hierarchy of their school came crashing down on her suddendly, this wasn't fair, Dipper was her boyfriend not some boy she barley knew! He should've won not him. Winter looked down at the corsage like it would give her the answer to how she felt. She saw Kai coming out of the corner of her eye, Winter picked up her head before announcing in a sure voice.
"I renounce my title" Winter said suddenly, making the crowd go quiet and into whispers about what was happening. Winter took off her crown, the light above her gleaming in her disappointed eyes. "I don't want to be Prom Queen, to the people who votes for me, especially in the senior class, you should've known who to vote for as Prom King if you were going to vote for me." Winter expressed to the crowd, she handed back the crown and sash--her crown and sash--to the admin and walked off the bleachers.
~
Winter sat outside on the steps of the high school for a while, the party was about to end and she must've been out there for at least 15 minutes at this point. Winter heard the creak of one of the doors behind her, it made her look up and she saw Dipper there.
"Hey, I missed you in there." Dipper greeted, trying to sound casual even though his words were true, he sat on the steps next to Winter. She scooted closer and leaned on his shoulder in the silence before Dipper commented again. "Why did you do that? In there? I knew I wasn't gonna win." Dipper questioned, his words blunt with truth and realism behind them, it stung and burned.
"Because it's not fair Dipper, I wanted you to be up there with me and they voted for me and people know I'm dating you now! So for them to not even vote for you just feels...cruel" Winter ranted, crossing her arms over her chest. She sighed. "I just, I wanted it to be us and I romanticized it to the point I was surprised that you didn't win." Winter admitted, she knew Dipper wasn't popular like her even while they were a couple, but she didn't know that people weren't even going to try to consider in.
"Well, it's not that important anyways I mean it's just a plastic crown they got from the dollar store anyway." Dipper responded, making Winter chuckle at his reasoning.
"Guess so, but it would've been romantic in a way" Winter added, leaning into him a little bit more. "I wanted to dance with you but with those dumb plastic crowns as royalty for just tonight." Winter talked wishfully, Dipper looked at her. His dark eyes perceived that he was listening to her.
"Oh, well maybe we should just get our own plastic crowns and sashes to- uhm- try to recreate it." Dipper muttered as a suggestion, it made Winter smile a little at the thought.
"You would really do that?"
"We-Well! I was just suggesting!" Dipper backpeddled at the realization of how cringe that sounded. Winter giggled and let out a content sigh. She sat up and gave him a brief kiss on the lips.
"I love you Dipper"
"I love you too Winter"