Maria Bo couldn't believe her ears. Her younger, more social and popular, sister Debby had found her a date for prom. For her senior PROM. 'Wow. What boy would decide this year that I like me? Not one person had shown any interest before.' She had gone last year, alone. She listens closely to how Debby had made plans for the guy to meet her outside the dance room.

"Where did you find this guy exactly?" Maria asks tensely.

"Why does it matter? He is not a ho-bo, or a gang member, or anything like that." Debby says, still clearly excited.

"So I do not get to see him until Prom night, huh? Why can't I meet him before that? He has no idea what to wear to match my dress."

"Trust me, Maria. Have I ever steered you wrong before?"

"Fine. And thank you Debby. I love having you as a sister." Debby giggled. "Okay then. It is only a week till Prom."

**************Getting out of the car at Prom***********************************

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves as I step out of my new Honda civic. I was wearing a deep purple, mermaid styled dress. The dress went down to just one inch off the ground and was sleeveless, but was spaghetti strapped. Since this was a mascaraed dance, I was had a light and dark purple mask on. My red hair up in a bun. 'Debby said that I would know this guy because she told him to wear purple.'

I watch as all the other members of her class walked in. She caught the eyes of her best friend, Ally. Ally took a quick look at her date, and pulled him towards me. "Hello, my dear, did you find your mystery date?"

"No," I say with a deep sigh, "He properly changed his mind like Josh, Caleb, and Sean did over the years like you know."

"Oh, Maria, don't worry. We still have 5 minutes until they shut the doors. He may still come."

"Thanks," I say as I give her a big hug, "You go have fun with your date. If he isn't here I will still come in."

"Okay dear," Ally turns around and begins to walk in the doors. But she stops once to look back at me, and then continues in.

*******************3 minutes later****************************************

'Only 2 minutes left. I might as well go in.' I let out a huge sigh, and tears begin to well behind my eyes. 'How many guys must I go through before I find the one who actually likes me?' I feel like not going in, that I was stood up again, when you notice a shadow moving towards your shadow. You quickly wipe the tears away and look up at your mystery date.

He is wearing a light purple suit and a tan tie. His mask was as simple as it could be: a bandana.

"Uh, hello. Are you Maria Bo?" I nod and he smiles. "Great, I am Don. Your mystery man for the night." His smile seems so sincere. He holds up his hand so I can stand and he hooks arms with me as we walk into the dance.

As we walk in, I see Ally's face light up as she sees us, but keeps her distance. We sit down at a table (for two) and order dinner. "So, Don, how did you meet my sister?" He sighs deeply and tells how he met her, and actually saved her from, a gang who were harassing her. "Wow. And thanks for that. For helping her I mean." The rest of the dinner went by silently.

Then the music started to play. First up was a slow song. I groan as I hear it come on, it reminds you of how your last 'date' went. Don looks at you. "You don't like this song?"

"No. I mean, I like it, yes. It's just, it reminds me how last time I danced with a guy and it ended up being a prank." The last few words coming out as barely a whisper, "I need a breath, I am going to the window."

I quickly stand and speed walk to the nearest window just in time to hide the tears. At that moment, I felt a hand on my shoulders, and as I wiped the tears away, I am surprised to see Don.

"Maria, what has those other guys done to you? You are beautiful and smart. Why would they want to hurt you?"

I sigh deeply, and then all hell broke loose as all of the memories come washing in. 'Loser!' 'Worthless!' 'Nobody.' Then the dam broke. I took off running, out of the room, out of the building, and out onto a rock.

"Why am I here? Why did I listen to Debby? What does Don know? How much did Debby tell him? This is probably another prank." You see Don come as I realized I had sad that out loud.

"Maria. From what your sister told me, you are a sweet girl, but you are lonely," with that he came and sat next to me, "You want someone, but you push everyone away in fear that they may break you again." He turns me towards him and I cry on his chest. "You know what; I think I love you already." I look up at him confused, "Why?" "Because you are special."

At that, and he leaned down for a kiss. I am surprised, 'my first kiss is from a guy I barely know'. A smile breaks the moment, and he pulls away. "What?"

"My first kiss. I think I love you too." And with that, I pull him in for a kiss.

"Then you need to know who I really am." My heart aches as I think that I am tricked again. "He begins to take off his suit, and yellow and green come into view. With rest of his clothes off, I gap at the huge turtle I see standing. I smile, not feeling afraid at all. "My turn. This is not me either." I take the whole mask off, the eye piece and the makeup.

"Wow. I like you better this way." I stand and am greeted with another kiss. But this one was different, this one more passionate. I wrap my arms around him as his snake around my waist as we walk together. The next thing I know, we are by the window as another slow song starts up. I groan again, but Don holds onto me. He smiles as he puts his arms on my waist and waits for me to put my hands on him. I hesitate with billions of what ifs. I finally give up and slowly raise my hands. We slow dance for the whole song.

"Look at what we have here. Loner and freak dancing." My heart sinks as I step away from Don and turn to see Josh, my first 'love' with the other guys I 'dated', and all broke my heart. "What do you think you are doing behind my back, Maria? We were, like, so in love," Josh continues, "you get over here and I'll beat up this new 'boyfriend' here." He smirks as the group walk towards us. I begin to cry again as Don looks from them to me.

"What does he mean?" Don looks so cute when he is concerned.

"He was my first 'boyfriend'. They all were in turns, they are the ones that played with my heart until it broke." The tears now running freely. "Leave Don alone! I love him more than I ever did with any of you!" With that I turn to run, still holding Dons hand. That is, until his hand slips my hand.

Josh and the others surrounded Don. "Don!" I cry. Don looks at you, and sweeps his feet out and knocks them all down at once with a round-house kick.

He leaves them in the dirt, runs to you, and picks you up bridal style still running. He jumped up the building onto the rooftops. The full moon clearly showing the tears on my face. Don turns to me and puts me down, and wipes the tears away. "Does this date work? This one better than what those jerks did to you?"

I don't answer in words. I reach to him and he hugs me as I continue to cry on his chest. He kisses me on the top of my head. "This is better," I say in the best I could, "I love you. And this is only our first date."

Don holds me back looks at me closely, "the first? You mean, you still want to see me?" He smiles spreading to me.

"Yes. I believe you are the one for me." I put my hand up to his face and he kisses it before putting it to his check. "Me too." He stands, pulling me up with him, and we begin to dance again to the songs moving out of the open windows. This time, we are closer. He kisses me again as the songs ends.

"I love you." We stand on the roof just hugging each other.