It was a beautiful spring Saturday night in Fair City, and all the teenagers- including our own Becky Bottsford- was getting ready for junior prom. The night that every high schooler anticipated for their entire junior year.

Becky was getting ready in her room. She had especially anticipated this night; she saw it as a night where she could feel completely human for once, where she could immerse herself in their life and feel like life was completely perfect for once (even if she knew it never would be). Plus, it would be a relaxing break from being Wordgirl, at least for a while.

Becky heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"One minute," She said as she finished zipping up the back of her red, strapless, knee-length prom dress. Once she did so, she opened her bedroom door to see Violet standing there in a light purple spaghetti-strap dress.

"Oh my gosh, Violet, you look so pretty. Scoops is so lucky…" She said regretfully. She was still a bit miserable since Scoops asked Violet to the prom. She saw that the two definitely made a happy couple, but it was hard to get over a crush of so many years. To get over time wasted like that.

"Thanks, Becky! You look so beautiful, if you had a date tonight, he'd be luckier than mine." Violet said.

"Somehow, I don't think that's true." Becky said, trying to mask the unhappiness in her voice. The two went into Becky's room, Becky fixing up her makeup and Violet sitting on Becky's bed, picking up and checking out a pen with a rose made of paper and decorated to look as real as possible.

"Oh, but it is," Violet said in her usual, quiet and delicate voice, looking up to Becky briefly before looking back to the remarkably realistic pen. "I think any guy would be lucky to go with you."

"Oh, you're just trying to make me feel better." Becky responded.

"About what?" She asked.

"W-what? Nothing, never mind." She said. No, she hadn't told Violet that she was upset that she was going to prom with Scoops, because she didn't want to upset her. Violet just shrugged it off and looked back to the pen. The two were silent for a moment.

"Hey, who got you this pen? It's so amazing." Violet asked.

"Oh, Tobey made it in study hall one day and gave it to me for my favorite pen. He's actually a really good artist, he colored the whole thing by himself. He drew me that awesome portrait of the city skyline over there, too." Becky explained as she brushed back her hair and pointed to a framed picture on her desk.

"That's so sweet!" Violet responded. "Why didn't you go to prom with him? I think you guys would be cute together." She asked.

"Nah, it'd be weird. We're good friends now, I don't wanna screw that up." Becky explained, partly lying. She wanted to ask him, but something inside of her was keeping her from doing it.

"I don't think you'd screw anything up, but that's your choice…" Violet said. The two were silent for a long while before Becky finished getting ready and stood, grabbing a handbag and heading towards the stairs.

"Come on, let's go!" Becky said, half sadly and half excitedly.

The two went downstairs to meet Becky's parents, Scoops, Violet's mom, and Scoop's parents. The three friends posed for several pictures before they headed over to a hotel in town, where the prom would be held in one of the large ball rooms.

Once they arrived, Violet and Scoops went off to dance together for a while, so Becky met up with some other school friends for a while.

Becky, dancing happily, glanced across the dance floor to see Tobey, standing alone by a wall, watching everyone dance. Becky excused herself to go talk to him.

"Hey, Tobey, why aren't you dancing?" She asked. Tobey shrugged, a smile coming to his face at Becky's presence.

"Eh, who wants to dance with a guy like me?" He said plainly. Becky bumped him lightly and playfully with her hip as she smiled.

"Aw, don't be that way. I bet there are plenty of girls out there that would want to dance with you." She insisted.

"Yes, but I don't really want to dance with them." Tobey said plainly.

"Why not? There are plenty of great girls out there that would be cute with you." Becky said, hoping he'd continue to be uninterested.

"They're not really my type." He said, folding his arms. Becky glanced at him as a comfortable silence settled between them. She was surprised by how handsome he looked. He was sporting a white tux jacket, black bowtie and white longsleeve collar shirt with white tux pants.

Suddenly, she felt butterflies in her tummy. Becky looked around at the dance floor as everyone was dancing happily. Everyone had a date wrapped around their arms, and everyone was happy. Then Becky looked at herself, and felt so pitiful. Because of her superhero obligations, she hadn't even really had that much time to think about prom. She had just made the preparations in the last week. In all truth, she hadn't had that much time to think about bringing a date; but if she did, she had only considered Scoops or Tobey.

Suddenly, the room got very warm for Becky, and she felt the air begin to thin and clog her throat with the scents of the occasion. She looked back out to the dance floor to see Violet and Scoops dancing together, and then suddenly felt dizzy.

"I-I gotta go, see you later…" She said, in a frenzy to get outside. She rushed past the crowd and through the doors, proceeding to slow down and walk down the sidewalk once the fresh outdoor air soothe her.

Tobey rushed after her, seeing clearly that something was wrong.

"Wait up," He called after her. Becky stopped and turned to see Tobey running after her.

"Oh, sorry Tobey, I just needed some air." She explained. As Tobey approached her, the two took a seat on a nearby bench.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing," She said, choking back the irresistible urge to cry her eyes out. She looked away from Tobgey to hide it before continuing. "I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine to me." He said. He looked at her with a gaze that said 'tell me what's wrong'.

"Look, I'm fine, okay? Why do you care?" She responded.

"Why do I care? Why do I care? How couldn't I care? You're my friend, Becky. Quite frankly, I don't think I have a choice but to care a great deal for you." Tobey responded, passionately speaking. Becky let a small smile escape. She had to admit, that was cute.

"You're such a dork." She said playfully as she looked down to her shoes. "But you're awesome, too."

"What could possibly possess you to think anyone wouldn't care about you?" Tobey asked.

"I don't know, I can be so lousy all the time. I'm always disappearing when people need me most, I mean, I figured people would stop caring for that after a while." Becky said, looking up into Tobey's eyes.

"You may be absent a lot, that's true, but people care about you because you're a great friend when you are there, and that's all that matters. People that start caring for you, Becky, soon find that they can't stop." Tobey said, speaking out of experience. Becky noticed his smile faded and his expression became very serious. It only made the butterflies in her tummy worse.

Becky remained silent, a bright rosy blush coming to her cheeks.

After a long, awkward silence, Tobey glanced over to her nervously.

"I never got to tell you how beautiful you look tonight." He commented nervously as a rosy blush came to his cheeks as well. Becky looked to the ground and then back to him.

"Oh, thanks, I guess. I kinda just found this last minute. I've been so busy lately that I've only had time to find this. I-I don't think it looks very good on me, but oh well."

"Actually, you're wrong again. I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." Tobey said, without thinking. He blushed immensely once he realized the magnitude of what he'd just said.

"Ew, you don't mean that. This was like, the only dress left because I was so busy that I couldn't shop for one till like, last Tuesday. And my makeup and hair suck because I didn't have the time to book a hairstylist to do it for me." Becky explained.

"I most certainly do mean it. You're the most beautiful girl I've seen here tonight." Tobey responded. His comment caused a bright rosy blush to cover Becky's cheeks.

"Well, it doesn't really matter 'cause tonight hasn't been all that that fun so far..." Becky admitted.

"Why ever not?" Tobey asked.

"I-it's a long story..." Becky answered. "And I don't really want to talk about it."

"Are you sure? Talking about it usually makes you feel better." Tobey insisted. Becky let a small smile escape as she looked down to the ground.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She said.

Tobey glanced over her shoulder and into the ball room to see Scoops handing Violet a cup of punch.

"Is it about Scoops? Because you don't need that jerk." Tobey asked. Becky was silent for a moment.

"Yeah, it is. I'm just a little upset that he asked Violet to prom." Becky explained.

"Hey, you don't need that jerk. He can have Violet, hell just be missing out on the real treasure: you." Tobey said. Becky brushed a piece of hair behind her ear as a blush returned to her cheeks.

"I guess I was just so hung up on him for so long that I couldn't see that this was bound to happen since the beginning. I mean, when I was younger, I wanted me and him to happen so badly that I refused to realize that he didn't want it to happen between us." Becky explained. Suddenly she felt the tears coming to her eyes. She began to bawl, throwing her head into her hands. Tobey rubbed her back comfortingly.

"He's just a loser. Anyone who doesn't think you're totally awesome is stupid." Tobey said.

"You don't mean that." She said as she continued crying.

"Yes I do. I mean it now, and I'll always mean it. Come on, Becky, you don't need him! I always saw you as a strong, independent, carefree type of girl. The type of girl that doesn't let anything like this get to her. That's why I like you, Becky. What happened to that girl?"

"I'm far from carefree." She responded miserably, referring to her double life as Wordgirl.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing, never mind…" She said, looking down to her feet. The tears were still dripping down her cheeks, and Tobey couldn't stand it.

"Come on, it can't be bothering you this much that your friends are happy." Tobey said.

"No, it's bothering me that I was so stupid!" She bawled. "All these years, how could I not see this coming?!"

"You're not stupid, Becky, you just didn't let yourself see what you didn't want to see. We all do it at one point in our lives. It's really only human." Tobey insisted.

"Ugh, don't call me that!" Becky said angrily as she stood from the bench and walked a few feet away, folding her arms miserably and letting the tears flow from her eyes.

"What- human? Why can't I call you human?" He asked, confused. Becky, realizing what was just said, calmed down.

"Forget it, I'll tell you about it some other time." She said as she took a seat on the bench again. Tobey just shrugged it off.

"It's just that, when I was younger I had so much hope for what my life was going to be like in the future. I was so happy with the way things were. But everything changed on me. Back then, I thought I might have the courage to tell Scoops how I actually felt someday and that after that we'd be happy as a clam. I was so busy doing everything else I have to do that I didn't see it was never going to happen. Plus, it didn't help that I was constantly trying to convince myself and the world that your attempts to flirt with me weren't as much as a failure as everyone thought…" Becky explained, mumbling the last part.

"What was that last part?" Tobey asked.

"N-nothing," Becky said quickly and nervously. Tobey shrugged it off and continued speaking.

"Anyways, life has a lot of changes, Becky. Nobody really likes them, we all just learn to accept them."

"Well, change sucks." Becky said miserably.

"Indeed, it does. But hey, take a look at me for example. I used to be a malicious little brat, who was bent on destruction, but things changed and so did I. It was hard to go good, sure, but I did it, and I'm better off for it. Change is most often a good thing, no matter how ugly it seems while it's happening." Tobey said. Becky giggled.

"Hey, in your defense, you weren't really bent on destruction, you were bent on getting Wordgirl's attention." Becky said with a smile as the tears crusted in her eyes. The two were silent for a moment.

"Hey, you know, if you wanted Wordgirl's attention you should've just been nice to her. She would've been willing to fall for you the way you wanted her to." Becky said, her comment bringing a rosy blush to both their cheeks.

"How do you know that?" Tobey asked, his eyes boiling with a curious expression.

"I…" Becky began. How to protect her secret identity this time? "I kind of saw it by myself. Plus, she's kind of hinted at that in conversations." Becky explained. Tobey nodded in understanding, causing a silence to fall between them again.

"Do you still like her?" Becky asked.

"Who?" Tobey asked.

"Wordgirl. Do you still like her?" She asked.

"Not…as much as you." He said nervously. Becky smiled and blushed at the comment. Silence again.

Suddenly, the faint sound of the last dance of the night was heard from the ballroom. Tobey, hearing it, stood up. When Becky wiped her eyes and looked up to him, his hand was outstretched to her. Becky looked at him in bewilderment for a moment before she placed her hand in his outstretched one. Tobey helped her up, and led her into the ballroom.

Tobey placed his hands on Becky's waist as Becky wrapped hers around his neck. The two swept slowly across the dance floor, the world around them immediately dissipating. Nothing else existed or mattered at that moment but each other.

Becky looked into Tobey's eyes and smiled. She slowly moved in and pressed her lips against his. Tobey kissed back passionately, and suddenly it was as if Becky had been struck by lightning. The electric feeling surged through her body, going all the way down to her toes, back to her head, and then moving through Tobey in the same manner.

Upon parting, Becky rested her head on Tobey's shoulder and they continued mindlessly dancing.

After a while, the janitor was forced to shove them out, so Tobey and Becky began walking home.

They had been walking in silence for a while before Becky decided to say something.

"Hey, thanks for cheering me up," She said as she looked down to the ground, arms folded (it was getting a little chilly). She looked up to him before continuing. "I really appreciated it."

Tobey admired her sparkling, happy eyes and her bright smile for a moment before responding.

"Hey, it's what I do." Tobey responded.

"Well, I like what you do now a lot more than what you used to do." Becky said with a smile. Tobey noticed her begin to shiver, as she was wearing a strapless dress and it was getting a bit nippy outside, so he removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders as he spoke.

"Yes, well, me too." He said with a smile. Becky clutched his jacket and wrapped herself in it.

The two reached Becky's front step. The two stood there in an awkward silence for a long moment before Tobey decided to break it.

"So, I guess I should've asked you to prom after all, eh?" He said in an attempt to make a joke to lighten the mood.

"I guess so." Becky responded nervously. The awkward silence between them resumed for a few minutes before Becky broke it.

"Well, goodnight, I guess." She said, moving in to kiss him on the cheek. Tobey stopped her, an action that took Becky by surprise.

"Wait, before you go, I have to know something." He said. Becky looked into his eyes and saw a sort of lost puppy look; a mix of nervousness, seriousness, and sadness. She remained silent and listened.

"After a night like tonight, I need to know that you're not doing this for any reason besides you want to. I mean, not because you feel like you have to, not to make anyone jealous, just because you want to. Because I…I know I'm not your favorite person, given our history, I mean, I've tried to destroy your house multiple times-" Tobey asked, beginning to ramble. Becky cut him off by placing her hands on either of his cheeks and pulling him in for a kiss. Tobey melted into it happily.

After they parted, Becky spoke.

"Trust me when I tell you it's purely because I wanted to." She said. "Goodnight, Tobey."

Becky opened the door, waved flirtily at him over her shoulder, and closed the door behind her.

Outside, Tobey danced the most spectacular happy dance he'd ever done as he descended down the sidewalk, making his way home.

Inside, Becky leaned against the door and sighed dreamily before her parents and brother flooded her with questions about how her night went.

So everything's all prom-y this weekend, and it's really annoying, because I don't like anything about prom. Seriously, all my friends have spent all week talking about it. Grr. Plus TV specials…so it got annoyingly inspiring. So that's where this came from…in case yalls wanted to know. But anyways, just felt like writing something like this…YES, now I'll go update Scary Thougts (maybe…sometime today, anyways). Review?