Okayy. Chapter ten. It took me a bit, sorry.

10-Prom?

"I need to get back to the school!" Caleb panted as he appeared out of the fold that Will created to take them back to the Silver Dragon.

"For what!?" Will asked.

"I need to talk to Marianne about this!" He was already halfway up the stairs.

"No! Caleb don't! Wait for her to come here," Cornelia suggested, "It's better that we don't confront her in public."

Caleb turned when he considered Cornelia's words, then he sighed and made his way back down the stairs, "Alright."

"Wait…" Taranee started, "No. We shouldn't confront her yet."

"Why not?" Irma complained, "We have all the proof!"

Taranee shook her head, "It's better we confront her in a situation she can't talk herself out of. We know how good she is at doing that."

"But-"

"No," Will began, "Taranee's right."

Cornelia sighed, "Even I have to agree."

"Agree with what?" A voice said. Every head in the room turned to face where the voice had originated from. At the bottom of the stairs stood a very curious looking Marianne, with her head cocked slightly to one side.

"Um…" Caleb began, "We found Petrakar. We agreed we shouldn't go back unless we find another fold. It just seems to dangerous right now."

Marianne giggled, "You don't make any sense. I know you're lying." She shook her head disappointedly at the whole group, "So who is going to expl-"

"AHH!" Cornelia shrieked. She was gaping at her phone with a huge smile on her face.

"What!? What is it?" Hay Lin asked.

Cornelia was practically jumping in her spot, "Alchemy just texted me...and I'm one of the nominees for prom queen!" She was still laughing out of her joy. Another quiet tone began from her phone. She stopped her laughing, but held her smile tightly as she checked the new message. She didn't even look at the text before she began to read it out loud, "Alchemy said: Trisha in our grade also got nominated. And all the other nominees are seniors. Andrea McLeod, Daniel Surge, and…" Her smile faded.

"Who else!" Irma asked excitedly.

Cornelia bit her tongue before saying the name. She hated herself for reading this message out loud, "Marianne." She rolled her eyes and flipped her phone shut.

"What does that mean?" Marianne asked, as if it wasn't a subject she had already read about while studying earth activity.

Irma smirked, "Only the biggest event of the year! It's a big dance and everyone dresses great. Then they announce prom king and queen!" She glanced at Cornelia, "Everyone votes in the ballot boxes during the dance. The boy and girl with the most votes win."

Another chorus erupted from Cornelia's phone. She flipped it open and began to mutter the new message aloud again. The news couldn't be as worse as the last message, "And the nominees for king are Matt," She smiled at Will's boyfriend, "Joshua Neil, Craig Newton," Once again she regretted reading the message out loud, "And Caleb."

Marianne jumped up and down and wrapped her arms around Caleb, "Oh Caleb!" She giggled, "We're both nominated!"

Caleb didn't show much reaction.

"Speaking of prom," Will glanced at Matt, "I still haven't been asked yet."

Matt avoided her gaze and looked away as if he hadn't heard her.

Cornelia's eyes lit up, "We don't even have dresses yet!" She reached over to the chair she had been sitting previously and grabbed the purse she left sitting. "I have to get home. My mom needs to take me shopping!" She bolted up the stairs.

"I can't say I know what you mean Will," Irma remarked at Will's last comment, "Martin has been asking me constantly. I wish someone else would ask me already so Martin would back off."

Hay Lin giggled, "I can't believe he's still after you. It's been almost three years!"

Will forced a smile at the girls, "I wish someone would ask me already." She glared at Matt, then turned towards the stairs, "I have to go. I promised my mom I would clean my room."

The moment Will turned into the hall at the top of the staircase, Irma, Taranee, and Hay Lin spun their heads towards Matt, giving him the dirtiest looks they could.

Matt looked back and forth from girl to girl. He shrugged his shoulders and asked, "What?"

Irma rolled her eyes, "Hello? She's waiting for you to ask her!"

Matt frowned, "…But…we are dating. Doesn't that mean we already are going together?" He watched the girls all smack their foreheads with their hands.

Taranee shook her head, "Prom is different. You still need to ask her."

Hay Lin nodded , "Yeah! And do it like on movies! Really unexpected!"

Matt kept moving his eyes from girl to girl, trying to understand. He turned to glance at Caleb, who also shrugged. Obviously if Matt didn't understand neither would Caleb. Especially not Caleb. Matt sighed and hung his head down, "Girls are confusing."

---

Cornelia left her history class as fast as she could once the bell rang. She couldn't handle being in that boring classroom for another second. She didn't expect that Irma would already be waiting for her at her locker. When Irma noticed Cornelia, she waved, holding a very sneer look on her face.

"What's with your face?" Cornelia laughed. She spun in the combination for her lock.

Irma grinned, "So…I hear that Caleb hasn't asked anyone to Prom yet."

Cornelia paused and stopped spinning her lock. She looked at Irma, "Anyone?" She confirmed.

"No one."

"But Prom is on Friday? What about Marianne?" Cornelia mocked the name when she spoke it but squeaking her voice and dragging the 'Anne' part at the end.

Irma shook her head, "Not even her." She noticed the corners of Cornelia's lips turn up. She continued, "And we explained it to him and Matt that even if you're dating you need to ask the girl."

"Really?" Cornelia closed her locker and leaned her back on its door.

"You guys!" Hay Lin ran panting to Cornelia's locker. Her face was glowing a bright red and she was smiling the biggest smile anyone had ever seen on her face, "Eric asked me to Prom!" She squealed.

Irma and Cornelia both gasped, "Oh Hay Lin! That's great!" Cornelia exclaimed. They began to walk to Irma's locker.

"Yeah, I'm so happy for you," Irma smiled, "Now if only Andrew would ask me." She opened the door to her locker. Surprise. Half of her locker was filled with confetti that spilled out all over Irma. The other half that wasn't already filled with books exploded with balloons and streamers. When she finally made sense of what had happened, she noticed on the back wall of her locker in foam letters was the word, 'Prom' with a question mark.

"Do you like it?" Martin's voice asked from behind her.

She sulked and listened to Cornelia and Hay Lin snicker behind her. She spun around angrily, holding up her index finger at Martin's face, "NO!" She screamed. Silence. The halls went completely quiet. Everyone was facing their direction. Irma quickly recovered, "Umm…nothing to see here!"

The motion returned to the halls and everyone began to mesh back into their gossip. Martin looked at his feet sadly and dragged himself away.

"Little harsh Irma," Cornelia said quietly.

"Hey Will!" Hay Lin waved in the direction that the red head was coming from. Will waved back, but not as cheerfully as she normally did. When she neared closer to the girls, Hay Lin asked, "What's wrong?"

Will shut her eyes sadly and pushed some hair behind her ear, "Matt still hasn't asked me."

Cornelia's face became a very soft expression as she comforted Will, "Awe. Don't worry about it. He will."

"Yeah, we told him that he had to ask you if he wanted you to go with him. Maybe he's still just confused as to why he has to ask you if you're already dating," Irma suggested, "You know boys."

"Yeah," Will shrugged, forcing a smile. "You're right."

The other girls grinned. Irma threw an arm over Will's shoulder, "C'mon. Taranee's meeting us in the cafeteria, and I hear they are serving mystery meat today. Yum." She joked.

Will sighed, "Great." She smiled sarcastically.

The cafeteria was as crowded as it usually was, but it didn't take long to spot Taranee since she was already at their regular table. Next to her was Matt, also seated in his usual spot at the table. The girls noticed how intently his eyes seemed to be following Will.

"Creepy much," Cornelia mumbled about Matt as she and the other three filed into the lunch line. "Does anyone else notice how obsessively Matt's eyes keep watching Will?"

Will ignored the comment. She took a step that brought her to the front of the line. She grabbed a tray and waited for the lunch lady to pour the gunk she called food onto her plate.

Weird things had been happening all day for Will, so she wasn't surprised when the lunch lady squinted at her and grinned, "You're Will, aren't you?"

Will nodded, "Yes…" She answered unsurely.

The lunch lady turned back around with a tray that already had a meal on it. She handed it to Will, "There's a special lunch for you."

"Huh?" Will asked herself as she fixed her gaze on the tray. She had to blink a few times to realize what was on her tray. Over twenty of her favourite candies, gummy frogs, were arranged to spell 'Prom?'

She had to blink back the few tears that were beginning to form in her eyes before spinning around to face Matt, who was already returning her bright smile. Rushing back to the table with the tray in hand, she threw herself into Matt's arms and breathed out, "Yes!"

Matt sighed in relief, "Really? Great! I was scared you would say no."

Will giggled, "Not after you got me gummy frogs to eat instead of the mystery meat. I think you saved my stomach."

Matt chuckled.

Their moment was interrupted by the rest of the girls joining them at the table.

Cornelia placed her tray down, "I knew there was a reason you had such a creepy look." She told Matt.

Taranee, who surprisingly didn't have her nose stuffed in a book, joined the conversation. "Guess who's going with Nigel?"

Will squealed, "You are!?"

Taranee blushed, but nodded proudly, "It was written on the chalkboard when I walked into history first block."

"Awe!" Will playfully shoved Taranee as she stuck her legs under the table and sat her butt down, "That just leaves Irma and Cornelia."

Irma grinned, "Speaking of dates," She nudged Cornelia with her elbow and pointed directly in front of the table. About 20 feet away was Caleb. "He still doesn't have one."

Cornelia shrugged and used her fork to play with her food, "So?"

Irma laughed, "So it's not illegal for you to make a move. He's technically free for the prom."

Cornelia considered the idea. Eventually, she stood up and circled the table, "I'm just going to rub in his face that now that we know he has a dog for a girlfriend, that he still can't have me." She spun on her heel and bolted off towards Caleb.

"Caleb!" She called.

Caleb didn't notice where the voice originated from at first, but he did once he spotted Cornelia. A sweet grin spread onto his face, "Hey."

"Hi," She immediately melted when he caught her eye, and she stumbled over a chair leg.

"Whoa!" Caleb luckily was in her range. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back onto her feet as her arms fell onto his shoulders. Cornelia collected herself and forced herself to stand properly and remove her arms from his neck.

"What are you talking to me for?" Caleb asked, making it clear he meant it as a joke.

"Actually," Cornelia began. Oh gosh, I can't make fun of him and Marianne. I want to go to prom. She thought. She sighed and decided to straight out say what she really wanted to, "So…I hear you haven't asked anyone to Prom yet."

Caleb didn't really know what to say. No, he hadn't asked anyone to prom, and yes, it was pretty clear he had no interest in taking Marianne, but he couldn't understand what Cornelia was trying to say. He could only hope that it was what he thought it was. "No I haven't."

Cornelia looked at her feet. She held her hands clapped behind her back, "Not even…"

"Not even Marianne, "He finished for her. "I… I was actually thinking about asking someone else." He grinned, "I'm pretty sure you know I'm going to…break up with her."

Cornelia did know that. She wasn't surprised to hear it, but it made her so happy to hear those words from Caleb himself, "Yeah. I figured that."

"Actually, I was planning on asking someone."

Cornelia held her breath, "And who's that?"

"Cornelia," He began, "I think you kn-"

"Caleb!" The voice. That voice. Once again it was interrupting a moment that both Caleb and Cornelia wanted.

Marianne laced her arm through Caleb's and passed a dirty smirk to Cornelia.

"Where have you been? You were gone this morning when I woke up. Yan Lin didn't even see you leave." Caleb asked. As always, he didn't seem too enthusiastic about seeing her. Every time she was around, it was always the same expression on his face.

"Oh, just some stuff back home."

"Feeding the dogs?" Cornelia blurted with her arms tightly crossed. She was giving Marianne a dirty look that clearly said, 'Get lost.'

Marianne frowned, but didn't respond. "So I have something to say."

Caleb's eyes flickered to Cornelia, "Actually, me and Cornelia were in the middle of something. Can it wait?"

Cornelia smiled, satisfied.

"Of course she can wait," Marianne smirked.

Caleb opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't say a thing when Marianne was suddenly climbing onto some random table.

She stood like a model in the center of the cafeteria. She had on hand placed lightly on her hip as she spoke, "So. I know the whole prom tradition is for a guy to ask a girl, right?" Marianne put on her fake, baby voice that everyone for some reason loved. "Well, I'm going to put a twist on things." She looked down at Caleb, "Caleb. Will you do the honor of taking me to Prom?"

Screams and awes and hollers filled the cafeteria. People were yelling, 'Do it man!' and 'Awe! That's so sweet!' Everyone was encouraging Caleb to say yes.

Caleb had heard the guardians talk about something called peer pressure. He never understand how people telling you to do something could really influence your decision. Until now. He sighed and forced a grin, "We'll see."

Marianne's bright smile turned into a pout. Everyone began shouting, 'Come on!' 'Say yes!'

Caleb looked around at the faces that were convincing him. He caught each of the guardians eyes who were seated, not cheering, They were all giving him a threatening glare. After over a minute of shouting and yelling, Caleb turned back to face Marianne. "Yeah. I'll take you."

Cornelia suddenly felt herself spinning. She felt herself grabbing onto tables and even the odd person to drag herself out of the cafeteria. The wall supported her when she was finally in the hall and away from the small celebration everyone was throwing. She couldn't help it now. Her legs weakened and she collapsed onto the ground. All of the times she had seen Caleb with Marianne, all of the times she had wanted to slap Marianne, every time she wanted to bawl her eyes out came out now. Her anger and sadness and jealousy was expressed in violent sobs. The last person you would ever expect to see, the girl with unlimited confidence until Marianne had appeared, was crying her heart out in the middle of a school hallway.

"Cornelia!" Will tore her way out of the doors and crowd of people. Behind her was Taranee, Irma, Hay Lin, and Matt. The guardians dropped to their knees next to Cornelia and pulled her into their most needed group hug ever. Matt stood next to them, not sure of what to do, but he too did his best to comfort her.

Cornelia coughed and sobbed. Between her cries and heavy breathing she tried to explain what happened, "H-he w-w-was going to a-ask me. B-b-but she-" She coughed and buried her face into her hands.

"Listen to me," Hay Lin grabbed hold of Cornelia's shoulders, "He's gonna realize it was a huge mistake. It's his loss, not yours."

Taranee smiled, "It was all the pressure. He gave in."

Irma nodded, and hugged Cornelia from the side, "Yeah. He's gonna learn what they mean when they say you don't know what you've got till its gone."

Cornelia breathed in as steadily as she could. She wiped her tears away and shook her head, "No he won't."

"C'mon." Matt held out his arm to help her stand. "Don't say that." She took his hand unwillingly and leaned onto the wall. The rest of the guardians stood as well.

"But he said yes to her. If he really cared he wouldn't have said yes."

They all wanted to disagree, but no one said anything. The truth was, none of them could think of any way to prove that wrong.

Omg, yeah. Poor Corny. Don't worry, you all know there's abviously a happy ending. Like most stories.