Four average 16-year-olds called Melissa, Lisa, Amy-Leigh and Esme were in their hideout having their weekly gossip session. There was a school dance coming up and only Amy-Leigh and Esme had dates, their boyfriends. 'What'll happen if me and Mel don't find dates? We're going to be totally unpopular and we'll be known as the nerds that can't get a date.' Lisa moaned for the tenth time that afternoon. Melissa shuddered at the thought of being called a nerd. Amy-Leigh and Esme both clamped their hands over their ears, 'Stop worrying!' shouted the girls, sounding annoyed. Lisa sighed and turned to her phone. As soon as the chatter started back up again it was silenced by Brent and Keiran walking round the corner. The girls were startled as they hadn't heard them climb the ladder. 'Hey guys!' welcomed Amy-Leigh happily. Brent waved then walked nervously over to Melissa. While all the others were talking to Keiran, Brent took Melissa's hand and whispered, 'I need to ask you something.' Melissa looked confused but followed Brent, glancing over her shoulder to see her friends enthusiastic faces. Amy-Leigh, Esme and Lisa could guess what was going to happen, they knew that Melissa had such a huge crush on him as usually in their meetings she wouldn't shut up about how he flirted with her. Melissa turned and watched Brent jump down the tree with extreme agility then copied. Just as she was about to land, Brent caught her and gently put her onto the soft grass. 'What's wrong?' Melissa asked curiously. Brent shook his head and took Melissa's hand again, making her smile. 'Will you be my date for the dance, Melissa?' Melissa went pale white with shock. She looked as though she was about to faint. 'Melissa? Are you okay?' Brent worried. Melissa just managed to nod before her knees gave way and she fell to the floor. She tried to get up but she couldn't find the strength. Brent sat next to her head and leant her up against his arm. After a minute of trying to get her strength back, Brent stopped her, picked her up and carried her up into the hideout to shelter her from the cold spring wind. He searched for a fleece blanket, and five minutes later he found one and laid it underneath her, gently shifted her down then curled up behind her to give her warmth. She just managed to prop herself up on her elbow. 'You need to regain your strength, Mel. Get some sleep and we'll talk about it when you wake up.' Brent said soothingly. Melissa gave a slight nod, smiled weakly, then collapsed completely onto the floor. As soon as the girls and Keiran heard Melissa collapse they came rushing around the corner, and the girls gasped when they saw Brent curled around Melissa, who was half-asleep. Brent stuttered as he tryed to explain that Melissa was okay and she'd just fainted from shock. The girls nodded and went to grab their beanbags when Brent stopped them. 'She won't be able to sleep if all of you are sat around her, and she needs her strength.' He told them. 'Mel's our best friend, we can't leave her like this!' Amy-Leigh exclaimed furiously. Brent just shook his head, 'She'll be fine, as long as someone's sat here with her. Don't worry yourself Amy.' Brent reassured them. 'Brent won't do anything to her except keep her safe and warm,' Keiran spoke up. Amy-Leigh just huffed then walked round the corner and slumped into her beanbag, the girls closely on her heels. 'Thanks for that,' muttered Brent. 'No Problem, bro,' Keiran replied. He gave Brent a small wink before walking back round to try and calm down Amy-Leigh. Brent talked to Melissa while Amy-Leigh was raging in the other room. She couldn't fully hear what Brent was saying, but Melissa eventually drifted off to sleep ten minutes after the noise had stopped, looking at him all the while.
Half an hour later, Melissa awoke to the sound of shouting and banging. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself with her head on Brent's lap. She tryed to sit up but failed again. 'Don't stress yourself, Mel,'
Brent half-whispered in her ear. Instead, Brent lifted her up to lean against his arm again. 'H-How long have I b-been asleep?' Melissa stuttered. 'About half an hour, don't worry, it's okay,' Brent added at the apologetic look on Melissa's face. She seemed to relax until she realised the girls weren't there. 'Where a-are Lisa, E-Esme and Amy-Leigh?' Melissa worried. Brent just hugged her and told her quietly, 'Their in the other room with Keiran, they all know your safe.' Melissa still hadn't recovered enough to stand up as when she tried she collapsed to the floor again, only to be caught by Brent. The girls rushed round the corner and automatically started fussing over Melissa. Keiran caught them by the backs of their t-shirts and pulled them back. 'Guys, I-I'm okay, d-don't w-worry a-about me' Melissa said as she tried to sit up again with the support of Brent. She managed to stay up for a second after Brent let go and fell back onto him. 'No you aren't!' Lisa, Amy-Leigh and Esme exclaimed in unision. 'Can we have some privacy now, girls?' Brent asked politely. The girls made noises of disgust but shuffled slowly out of the room. 'So, have a nice sleep?' Brent asked. Melissa nodded, stopped, then wrote really scribbly on a bit of paper, 'yes, I will..' Brent looked confused, 'Yes, I will what?' Melissa smiled and gave Brent a small shove, then Brent figured out what Melissa meant. 'Seriously, you'll go with me?' Brent said breathlessly. Melissa nodded and said very quietly, 'Your cute, sensitive and funny. It would be impossible to say no.' Brent smiled. 'Want to go chat to your friends now?' Brent asked knowingly. Melissa nodded eagerly and tried to stand up but collapsed into Brent's arms.
Brent carried over to the other room where the others were. Just before they walked into the room, Melissa hugged Brent, he hugged her back. 'Thanks for looking after me. I love you,' Melissa whispered almost silently. 'Don't worry about it. I love you too.' Brent replied. Before Melissa could let go of Brent, he kissed her. Melissa smiled then let go. Brent took her into the room and put her down on her black and deep purple beanbag.
Brent gave the thumbs up to Keiran. Keiran saw it and immediately got up and went round the corner to get a sheet of paper, wrote 'Will you go out with me?' on it, scrumpled up the paper and went back around the corner. When he sat down he passed the note to Lisa. She opened it up as Keiran began talking innocently. When she read the paper, Lisa gasped. Although she was slightly stronger than Melissa, it still took Lisa two or three minutes to recover. She drew a lot of heart shaped balloons coming off a rose and the stalk of the rose wasn't in drawing, but writing. The stalk said, 'Of course I will..' She showed it to Keiran and he smiled. Brent stood up, kissed Melissa on the cheek and whispered, 'I'll see you tomorrow, get better, I'll tell your friends to look after you.' Melissa smiled as Brent got back up and motioned Keiran to the door.
Brent walked over to the door and jumped down, landing perfectly again. Keiran followed, but before he jumped, he blew a kiss to Lisa. Lisa blushed bright pink.
The dance was a week away and nobody could concentrate in lessons. Melissa and Esme were designing banners and posters in their tech class, Art and Graphics, while Lisa and Amy-Leigh were making the food in catering. Keiran and Brent were also helping by putting the decorations up and arranging the food in the hall. After the dreaded French lessons, the girls met up in the lunch outdoor area to chat. 'This is torture, I'm barely getting any time to do my homework, and we don't even have our dresses yet!' complained Melissa. 'How about, after school we go shopping for our dresses?' They all agreed to go to town as soon as school finished. As soon as school finished the girls headed straight to town. They stopped right outside Melissa's favourite shop, Doc Black. About thirty minutes of searching, they found Melissa's dream dress, a black tutu dress with dark purple lace butterflies around the hem. She found a beautiful pair of black high heels with glitter the same shade of purple as on her dress. She tried them on and got amazing feedback from her friends. She quickly paid then they jetted off to Lisa's favourite, Primark. Lisa instantly fell in love with a baby pink silk dress with a black ribbon belt and a black lacey hem when she laid her eyes on it. Meanwhile,
Esme had seen a black sparkly ball gown and had rushed off to the changing rooms to try it on. When Esme came out of the changing rooms, Lisa went straight in after her. When Lisa showed the girls, they adored the dress. Lisa giggled, gave a little twirl and went and changed back into her hoodie and jeans. Their final shop was New Look, Amy-Leigh's all time favourite place. She became attached to a lavender school girl type of dress with a creamy coloured belt and lace trim. She took it straight to the till without trying it on, along with a black plain pair of high heels. 'Well that was the shortest shopping trip ever, but it was loads of fun!' The girls nodded with agreement and slumped onto the back seats of the bus and chatted excitedly about the prom the next day..