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Her dress had to be pink. With diamond earrings to match the glitter eyeshadow her papa had given her for her birthday. Paulina's prom night had to be special, which meant she had to look special. If she could find some rubies to go with her red clutch, it would be perfect.
If only she could find a date.
She would usually go with Dash, who was happy to play her boyfriend most of the time, but he had decided to take Kwan’s ticket instead. It seems he didn't want to ditch his secret boyfriend to spend the night with his fake girlfriend.
Whatever. She was Paulina. The princess of Casper High. She'd find a date. Somehow.
Before she could put her books in her locker, the sounds of someone being chased down the halls startled her into dropping them. When the screeching of tennis shoes on vinyl only got closer, she dared to look down the hallway. She was honestly waiting for a rush of people, followed quickly by some disgusting bug ghost or something like that. Phantom was always there to save her, but it still gave her the shivers to think about.
She breathed a sigh of relief when it was only Valerie sprinting down towards her.
Still catching her breath, Valerie stopped in front of her. "Just play along." She said, sending a glare that meant there was no room for debating.
The hallway she had come sprinting down quickly spit out another student, this time Nathan, the freshman who everyone knew had a crush on Valerie. He ran up, catching eyes with Paulina and furrowing his eyebrows when Valerie wrapped her arms around her waist. For a moment, she felt the urge to back off and make a joke about the foreign action, but Valerie's previous words kept her in place.
"Please go with me, Valerie." Nathan said, nearly sounding like a whiny kid and gasping for air. He clasped his hands together in a begging motion. "I'll do everything you want forever."
Paulina held back her distaste for his desperation. If she ever said anything like that to most boys, she'd pay for it. Valerie actually shivered and audibly swallowed what Paulina assumed was her disgust at Nathan's childish pleading.
Her grip on Paulina's waist tightened slightly, a warning to not try anything. "Sorry, Nathan." She said, "But I'm already going with Paulina."
That…wasn’t what she was expecting to have to play along with. If anything, she was waiting for Valerie to say that Paulina was going to send the jocks after him if he didn’t stop. After kicking her out of the A-listers, something that even an incel like Nathan had to have known, she hadn’t expected Valerie to even lie about something like going on a date with her.
Hell, she thought she had missed her chance with her after that stupid move. She was still caught up in the single-minded hive that was the A-listers when that happened. Something that had all but dissolved after Valerie left. It turns out that kicking out the kindest, most honest of them left them only with the fights she had been keeping under control.
Her, Dash, and Kwan still stuck together, but Dash and Kwan only stuck around her because she was Dash’s get-out-of-jail-free card when it came to his parents asking questions about his dating life.
If she was being honest, she missed Valerie. She missed the nights they spent gossiping and painting each other's nails. The nights where they would drop the rich girl acts and say all the things they weren't allowed to say with anyone else. Thinking back on it, it was stupid to kick her to the curb for something she couldn’t help. But she couldn’t say all that right now because Nathan was staring at her for not saying anything.
Paulina smiled at Nathan. “Sorry,” she said. “But I asked her out last week.” She stared down at him, dropping her smile. Nathan shriveled under her gaze. “And I don’t like it when boys get in the way of girls' night.”
He squeaked when she leaned in, immediately turning around and rushing away before she could say anything else. When he was safely around the corner, Valerie sighed and dropped her arm from Paulina’s waist. The warmth of her hand still lingered.
“Sorry for using you.” She said, turning to walk away, “I know you don’t want to be seen with a loser or whatever, so thanks.”
She didn’t even register it in her mind, but before Valerie could take two steps away, Paulina grabbed her and pulled her back. She seemed confused but didn’t pull away.
“I don’t…” She said, swallowing the sudden nerves caught in her throat. “I don’t think you’re a loser.”
Valerie waited in silence for her next words, which she had to choose carefully if she didn’t want to mess this up.
“It was shallow to kick you out like that.” She said, and tightened her grip on her hand, “I’m sorry.”
She reached into her pocket, pulled out the crumpled prom ticket that was meant for Dash, and placed it in Valerie’s hand. She took the ticket, unfolded it, and stared at it. Then she looked up at Paulina, who tried to convey that she was serious about this as best she could.
“You don’t have to.” She added, trying to smile. It came out half-hearted, considering she realized she’d probably go alone if she said no halfway through the sentence. “But maybe we can forget about how horrible I was for one night and go together?”
The moments in between her words leaving her mouth and Valerie reacting went on for what felt like hours, but eventually she did speak. Paulina braced herself for the most horrible things she could say in response. She would deserve it after all that she did to her when she needed a supportive friend the most.
“If you’re serious about ditching the popularity high horse,” she said, and Paulina nodded furiously. She was serious. She was done with all of that. “Then I’d love to.”
“Really?” She asked slowly, waiting for the moment when Valerie would laugh in her face.
“Yeah.” Valerie said, tucking the ticket in her pocket and crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I’m curious how this will turn out.”
Paulina would take ‘curious’ over ‘loathing’ or ‘pity’.
“I’ll see you Friday, then? As my date to prom?” She needed to make sure that this was for real and not some misunderstanding, even if it seemed pretty real to her.
“Yeah.” Valerie said, then leaned in and placed a quick kiss on her cheek. “See you then, princess.”
Valerie walked off before she could see her dissolve into a flustered puddle on the floor.