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It was a night to remember. It was homecoming and I was planning to go with my boyfriend. We had been secretly dating for about a year but no one except a few very close friends knew about us being together. I remember neither of us told our parents about us dating because we knew we’d never be allowed to be together. I mean I was the most popular girl in the school and everyone knew who I was supposed to be and he was someone who had just moved here and wasn’t well known at all. Not that it mattered to me. I still loved him. I just knew my parents wanted me to date someone with lots of money and that they would kill me if they knew about him. See, my parents are very “money will get you everywhere in life” and a lot less about relationships with people, and actually having friends. Maybe that’s why my social skills were practically garbage.
Anyways, I had a plan to meet him at the dance. I had told my parents that there was a homecoming and they said that I had to go to it and entertain everyone since I was the most popular kid. Apparently, people can’t function without the popular people there too. My dad had driven me to school and reminded me to be myself. As if my popular front I put on was actually me. I was never myself unless I was alone or with my boyfriend. I got out of my car, promising my dad that I would “be myself,” and went inside. Immediately I was swarmed by people who had their phones out for cameras and were recording me and asking me all sorts of questions. I put on a fake smile and took a bunch of pictures with them while waiting for a break so I could get some air. Eventually, one of the teachers came over and told everyone “Start dancing!”
I went over to a group of my friends and was talking to them when I saw my boyfriend come in and stand by the fruit punch. I told them I was going to get some punch to drink and offered to get some for them too. I started making my way towards the table. It took forever to get across the room because everyone tried talking to me on my way over, and I knew that it would be rude to just leave them so I kept stopping and having conversations with them. This is one of the side effects of being popular, everyone thinks that you’re perfect, and they want to know how you look so good or whatever they want to know. What they don’t know is that it’s all fake. I fake my smiles, and I fake how happy my popularity makes me.
Eventually, I make it to the fruit punch table and I grab a cup and fill it up. My boyfriend sees me and bows to me. I start to laugh, smiling for real for the first time since I got to the party. “Oh stop it!” I say. “You’re making me blush!” He takes my hand and kisses it, putting on a show for the people around us. “Can I ask you for this dance?” he says with a glimmer in his eyes. I can feel the people around us stop what they are doing and start staring at us. I can’t help but feel annoyed that they have to look at us. Can’t we have any privacy? I know that they are waiting for me to reject him but I surprise them all when I put my arm around his shoulders and say “yes.”
He grabs my hand and leads me out to the dance floor just as a slow song is starting. He moves his hands to my waist and I wrap my arms around his shoulders and look up at him. His big eyes are staring into mine and I notice that he just shaved. His hair is neatly combed back with a side part and he has a smile on his face. We start to dance and I know people are recording us and that I’ll be seeing the videos posted all over the internet but I don’t care. I just look into his loving eyes and savour this moment. It might be one of the last ones I have with him if my parents find out.
When the song ends he grabs my hand and leads me out of the gym. I ask him, “Where are we going?” and he says, “You’ll see.” He busts open the door to the stairs and leads me up onto the roof. “What are we doing out here?” I ask. He tells me, “I wanted to be alone with you tonight, without all the cameras.” My heart leaps and I pull him into a big hug and whisper into his ear, “I’m in love with you.” I feel his arms tighten around me as if he never wants to let me go. We pull apart and he kisses me. His lips taste like love and happiness. When he pulls back and says, “I’m in love with you too” we both have huge smiles on our faces. He tells me, “I’ve been meaning to do that for a while, I just never had you alone.” I pull him into another kiss, holding his body against mine. I’m so busy kissing him that neither of us realizes that other people have shown up on the roof, having followed us out of the gym. It’s when I see a camera flash that I know we are in so much trouble.