By the time Sabrina and Bella ditched their dates, they found Lorelei, Amelia, and Mandy already dancing in the Mosh pit, where the 'music' was some song with a giant back beat that everyone jumped to. Sabrina on the other hand was awkward around most people and didn't know how to dance, so she stood close by and just jumped with the crowd. Bella copied her actions, though she shook her hair a bit wilder than Sabrina.

"Can you hear anything?" Bella yelled, a wild grin on her face.

"I'm pretty sure I went deaf last song!" Sabrina responded, laughing.

"Punch?" Lorelei gestured out of the gym behind her, so the girls took each other's hands and squeezed their way to the wall and used that to finally worm their way to the doors at the end of the gym.

The decorations were actually really cool, the theme of that year was Timeless, so there were so many different ideas they could've gone with. They decided to make little iconic pockets throughout the dance area, like Roaring 20's was decorated with old cars, flapper cut outs, and spotlights. But they'd also gone as far back and medieval times and made a fake castle that was free-standing and you could actually stand in the center of, as well as princess cut outs. It was amazing that a school would actually put so much effort into a dance for high school kids.

The lunchroom still served it's purpose, except five tables had been pushed together to make a line of drinks, cups, snacks, and plates. After one sip of the punch, Sabrina knew it had been severely watered down and figured they must have been short on cash after getting decorations. The snacks consisted of stale marshmallows, a bowl of M&M's without a spoon to scoop them, and a single box of graham crackers, not even taken out of their packaging.

"Wow, this is sad." Sabrina looked at Bella, who was eating a handful of M&M's.

"Yeah, but if I get food poisoning from anything, I can just sue the school." Bella shrugged and continued chewing on the multicolored chocolate.

"It may be sad, but dances are pretty fun. They're not announcing Homecoming court for an hour though." Lorelei huffed. As if on cue, her date hugged her from behind, kissing her neck, then smiling at everyone. "Hi babe."

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Very good. Let's dance so people can see we're the perfect couple." Lorelei waved at her friends before dragging her date away.

"She's so competitive. You really gave her a run for her money this year, Brina." Amelia complimented.

"I honestly hope they pick anyone but me." Sabrina shook her head.

"Why? You really deserve it." Mandy complimented.

"Well, I guess it's just too much attention for me. I mean, all I did was date someone, I don't really think that means I should be even a fake queen of anything." Sabrina shook her head. "Plus it's a homophobic system."

"Thank you." Bella hugged Sabrina around the waist, laying her head on Sabrina's shoulder. "You listen to me."

"We listen to you." Amelia mocked offense.

"Not well." Bella shoots back.

"I demand a hug, Bells, you give the best ones." Amelia held out her hands and Bella finally retreated over to her, tackling her in a hug. Though Mandy was the shortest of the five, Bella was a close second. Amelia and Sabrina were about the same height(literally within a centimetre of each other). Lorelei was probably the tallest, not to mention she always wore freakishly tall heels.

"Happy?" Bella rolled her eyes.

"It's like hugging a small child." Amelia teased.

"Okay, Brina, come with me to find our dates." Bella giggled.

"Aye aye, captain." Sabrina linked arms with her bestie, the two heading back to the gym to search the Mosh Pit for two people out of the probably hundreds there. How fun.

Puck wasn't sure what it was about the old woman, but she seemed really nurturing and she told a lot of interesting stories when Puck expressed his issues to her. Not using Sabrina's name, he merely described how a friend was still dating a cheater and he didn't know how to help because of how he was and how he interacting with people. He didn't want to talk to Ryder or try to talk to Sabrina when he wasn't supposed to know he cheated.

"It sounds like you've bitten off more than you can chew, liebling." Relda sipped her tea.

"Relda, we did not come to see this boy." Mr. Canis mumbled shortly.

"Oh please, we can spare time for a young soul on a journey. Now, Puck, let me ask you this," Relda looked Puck in they eye, not breaking contact. "Would you rather your friend continue to be with a cheater, or would you rather see her happy with you."

"No, I don't, you probably don't understand with your age and all-"

"I understand perfectly, Puck. You wouldn't care so much if you didn't care about this girl greatly. The way you speak about her shows you care more than just a friend, so I give you this advice; don't try to bury your feelings or avoid them. You have to confront the issue, instead of dancing around it." Relda advised.

"I don't think it's that easy. And I don't dance around anything." Puck scowled.

"Perhaps not, maybe it's that my mind is far too old, three generations old at that, but you kids always make such a big deal about things that are quite simple. Tell her how you feel." Relda smiled and took Puck's hand across the table. "Be bold."

"I don't suppose that's how you and your husband met, when you were young?" Puck took his hand back, finishing off his second coffee.

"My husband was someone I met in my twenties, when I was just as young and stupid. But we were different, we didn't wait to figure things out, we just existed together. I loved him dearly and we had many adventures together, sadly he's passed now." Relda sighed, but maintained a fond smile that caused crinkles to form around her eyes.

"He sounds great." Puck complimented.

"You're a nice boy, don't waste your time waiting." Relda advised.

"I don't think it's a waste of time at all." Puck thought about sitting in the boiler room, on top of tables as Sabrina gushed over his photography. He thought about sitting in the car with her as she danced and moved with the music. He thought about calling her at one in the morning and sitting outside her apartment building while she cheered him up even though she looked dead tired. How Sabrina sat on his bed and drew horrible artwork. How she dressed up like a literal corpse and couldn't have been more beautiful. Sitting on the trunk of his car at three in the morning when she was dressed way too nice for an art show.

"You do love her. Perhaps your in love with her as well." Relda chuckled.

"Gross, old lady. Girls have cooties." Puck responded childishly.

"Maybe so! But some day you'll get over it enough realize how in love you are with someone." Relda began to move out of the booth. "I think that's something you need to reflect over on your own time however."

"Thanks for talking to me, old lady." Puck smiled.

"My pleasure. You know if things don't work out with this girl, I have a granddaughter your age who would just love you." Relda winked.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll go there." Puck shook his head, but laughed as Relda and Mr. Canis left the coffee shop, leaving money on the table for their drinks. Puck sighed and smiled to himself, before getting up to get another cup, his last one before he'd decide to go back to the dance.

Sabrina and Bella took one look into the Mosh Pit before deciding they'd meet up by the door in twenty minutes with or without their dates. After all, Marie and Ryder were their partners and they should be thinking of this as a date. Sabrina went to the left and Bella went to the right, weaving in and around people that were jumping, yelling, and laughing with each other. The lights flashed in various greens and blues and pinks, making the crowd seem even more animated.

Sabrina weaved through people here and there, spotting some of the doors open to the fitness room and the locker rooms, but, not being naive, Sabrina knew that she definitely didn't want walk into any of those rooms. She continued to go through the crowd, but couldn't find Marie or Ryder, so she headed back to the door of the gym and found Bella, furiously texting on her phone.

"Bells, is everything okay?" Sabrina asked.

"Yeah, but I remembered that Marie promised to keep her phone on, even if she's with her friends." Bella made a pouting face.

"It's fine, just tell her to meet us in the lunchroom and I'll tell Ryder the same." Sabrina shrugged, tugging her friend to head back there.

"Fine." Bella agreed. "How long until they announce Homecoming court? I want to boo the ceremony."

"In like twenty minutes, but I need air before I try to head back into that tangle of limbs they want to call a dance floor." Sabrina widened her eyes comically. Bella laughed and they headed to the lunchroom, taking a seat at one of the open tables.

"Dances are so boring." Bella sighed, dropping her head onto the table.

"Yeah, maybe next year we just have our own little get-together and watch old movies." Sabrina suggested, shutting her own eyes and putting her head in one hand. "I feel way too over-dressed.

"You're literally wearing a tarp with arm holes, shut it, Brina." Bella gestured to her dress then looked down at her own.

"You only wanted to dress nice for Marie, so don't act exasperated." Sabrina shot back.

"You're exactly right, and I don't want to be the clingy girlfriend, but she's just disappeared and I really wanted to hang out with her tonight." Bella pouted. Sabrina had to agree, the car ride on the way was pretty quiet and Ryder mostly looked like he was pretty annoyed at driving, so there might have been someone wrong, but Sabrina didn't have a clue what.

"I don't think that's so clingy. I mean I want to be with Ryder right now, but he'll be at the court announcement, so I'll probably see him there." Sabrina's lips twitched and a darker side of her wished that she could still be angry at him for cheating, but she'd made up her mind to forgive him a while ago.

"Brina, did you ever watch Perks of Being a Wallflower?" Bella looked up at Sabrina, putting her chin on her hands.

"No, I didn't get to it, I know you wanted me to a while ago." Sabrina laughed sheepishly.

"We accept the love we think we deserve." Bella quoted. "Is that how you feel with Ryder?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sabrina straightened up, suddenly self conscious.

"I don't mean anything bad, but he did cheat on you. Even I wouldn't give him a second chance. So why did you? Do you think you deserve to be cheated on?" Bella raised a brow.

"It's not like that at all. And I don't deserve to be cheated on. I just think everyone deserves a second chance." Sabrina mumbled quietly.

"Okay." Bella shrugged, sitting up, finally.

"Is that how you feel with Marie?" Sabrina asked.

"What?"

"You've never dated anyone because there haven't ever been girls that have been available or gay, so are you sure that you really like her or you just like that someone likes you back?" Sabrina asked bluntly.

" . . . I get that I called you out on Ryder, but don't talk to me about my love life like that again, Brina." Bella walked off and Sabrina sighed. She stood and headed back to the Mosh Pit, the student council court heading towards the stage with the DJ. Sabrina crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, the lights returning to normal as the president, Claire, took the mic.

"Hey student body! Everyone having a good time?" She raised the mic as everyone cheered. "Alright, alright, it's time for me to announce Homecoming court winners for Freshman and Sophomores. For the freshie class we have . . . Donna and Logan!"

The Freshman burst into various cheers as the couple headed up on stage. They received their crowns and took one side of the stage.

"Alright, now for the sophomore class, we had a very close game between two of the couples, but our winners tonight are . . . Sabrina and Ryder!" Claire called. Sabrina slowly moved toward the stage and prayed that Ryder was near enough to hear the announcement and join her up on stage.

Puck was pacing the parking lot, finally having found an empty space in the back, but he was anxious about going in. Going to a party was somewhat high school behavior, but still he didn't actually go in. What if he went in and compromised everything he ever believed about stupid high school idiot children? Not to mention he hated that he looked like some sleazy business man with his sleeves rolled up, jacket over his shoulder, and the stupid slick back hair that his mother forced him to put up was now messy and curling.

"I have nothing better to do." Puck huffed and headed inside, passing by dozens of cars and seeing some people making out with each other and beginning to undress in the backs of cars. He rolled his eyes and felt his disgust for high school culture increase tenfold.

"Robin!"

"Oh for satan's sake." Puck smacked his forehead with his hand.

"What the hell is wrong with you, why would you just drive away and leave me here? I'm your girlfriend aren't I?" Moth put her hands on her hips, glaring.

"You're actually just an annoyance and nothing more. Now, why don't you do anything somewhere else." Puck made a beeline for the gym and paused when he saw the Mosh pit, everyone jumping up and down together.

"Come on, why don't we head back to your place and hang out. Just the two of us." Moth wrapped herself around Puck's arm, pushing herself against Puck.

"Go away." Puck turned to head to the lunchroom when he saw Sabrina heading down a hallway that PE teachers used to take students out to the track or sports fields for classes. He shook Moth away and decided to follow.

"What's wrong with you? I'm trying to make things work if we're going to be married someday." Moth followed after him.

"Listen close cause I'm only going to say this one time." Puck rounded on her, dangerously close to her face. "We are never, ever going to be anything more than unfortunate acquaintances and you can thank my mother for that. If it were up to me, I would never learn your name. Now leave me alone and find some other unsuspecting guy to mess around with."

Puck turned and headed down the hall just as the door closed after Sabrina, who was in a crown and holding a crown, but her expression was anything but happy.

Ryder didn't show up on stage.

Sabrina stood there for ten minutes, a whole crowd full of hundreds of people were in the gym looking at her as she stood on stage alone, with that stupid plastic crown on her head. And Ryder wasn't there, or maybe he just didn't want to go on stage, but there was definitely something wrong. So, Sabrina left the stage with a huff and shoved her way through to get to the lunchroom. There, Bella was half sipping her glass of punch, half staring at the floor.

"I'm sorry, that we fought and that I said some really mean things, but I seriously think somethings wrong. Have you found Marie at all?" Sabrina asked, sitting down beside her best friend. Ryder's crown in hand.

"No, I haven't. She's not texting me back. Brina, I'm sorry too, but we have to figure this out. Wait, Ryder didn't go to accept his crown?" Bella observed the sparkling plastic on her friends head.

"No, he didn't. And I stood there in front of the entire student body and I just wanted to cry. I mean, it's one thing to not see your boyfriend all night, it's another to embarrass myself for-"

"Uh, Sabrina?" A boy from Ryder's basketball team stood awkwardly by the two, his hand scratching the back of his head. Sabrina knew that everyone on the team called him Gibbons, but she knew that wasn't his first name or anything.

"Oh, hey, uh, can this wait or . . .?" Sabrina looked between him and Bella.

"Er, I, I just know where Ryder is." Gibbons admitted, but his face is anything but pleasant.

"Where is he?" Sabrina stood up.

"He's outside the athletic entrance on the quad." Gibbons explained. The quad was a courtyard that was originally meant for teachers if they wanted to go out during breaks, but it was now mostly student use and only for nights of a dance. The connotations of going there didn't sit well with Sabrina.

"Thanks, I owe you one." Sabrina squeezed his shoulder before she bee-lined towards the door, knowing exactly where she had to head.

"Thank you for helping." Bella smiled.

"Actually, I think you should go too." Gibbons admitted.

"What?" Bella opened her mouth in surprise.

"Just- trust me, I think it's best if you both go." Gibbons pleaded.

"I . . see." Bella, already knowing what she was about to walk in on, got up and hurried after Sabrina toward the quad.

Sabrina stormed down the long hallway that ran along the edge of the gym, then she went out the back door and looked around to see if she could see Ryder anywhere. He was probably more excited out of the two of them for the dance and now he was just avoiding her? No way, he was definitely not going to get off for ditching Sabrina like that. It wasn't going to happen.

The foliage was thick around the entrance to the quad, but Sabrina could hear the sound of rustling behind it. It was dark enough that Sabrina pulled out her phone to use as a flashlight, but after turning it on, she really wished that she didn't.

There, on the ground of the quad, were Ryder and Marie, Marie left in only her underwear, and Ryder in only dress pants.

Even Sabrina and Ryder had never gotten that far.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sabrina asked, looking at both of them, anger filling her chest. "Both of you, what the hell are you doing out here when we could've been inside dancing and having fun? Why are you both cheating on Bella and I?!"

"Brina, calm down." Ryder stood walking toward her.

"No! Stay away from me, I don't want to be around you." Sabrina shoved at him, feeling hot tears starting to run down her cheeks. That's when Bella showed up, just in time to see Marie pulling Ryder's coat over herself.

"I knew it, I knew you were sneaking around behind my back." Bella whispered, but when she opened her mouth a second time she couldn't speak.

"We were just lonely and frustrated. I don't see anything wrong with that." Ryder defended.

"Frustrated? What do you have to be frustrated about?!" Sabrina yelled.

"You never want to do anything! And you got so bitchy about one kiss-"

"I'm sorry, but you cheated on me! In front of me! And I forgave you. Now you were going to have sex with my best friend's girlfriend behind my back and you thought I wouldn't be pissed. Why don't you be loyal?!" Sabrina shoved at Ryder.

"Because I love you and I care about you." Ryder put his hands on Sabrina's shoulders. "Let's talk about this."

"Let's end this! You don't get to say that you love me when you decide to cheat on me. You don't care about me if you have the nerve to cheat on me." Sabrina shook her head. "And worst of all, you left me alone all night."

"I swear it won't happen again." Ryder promised.

"It's way too late for that. And not that you care, but we won." Sabrina gave him a sarcastic smile and threw the crown at his face.

"Hey don't touch him, bitch." Marie moved forward, shoving Sabrina's shoulder.

"You wanna go there? Maybe if you weren't such an s-word, you would know to keep your hands to yourself." Sabrina shot back before taking Bella around the shoulders and pulling her back inside. Both of them were in tears by this point. As they were heading inside, someone was standing behind the quad a few feet in front of the door. "Puck, what are you doing here?"

"I saw you guys come out here and wanted to make sure everything was okay." Puck responded. "Can I help?"

"We should clean up." Sabrina responded, embarrassed by her makeup stains.

"I'll help. Plus you'll need a ride, won't you?" Puck offered. Sabrina released a breath, smiling softly.

"Thank you." She squeezed Bella's shoulders and they headed to the bathroom, the three moving into the empty lavatory and locking it. Sabrina worked on getting the makeup off her face and Puck helped Bella, who was lazily holding her hair out of the way. It took all of twenty minutes then the three were heading out a side door to Puck's car.

"Hold on, is it cool if we drive my brother and his girlfriend home?" Puck asked, looking at the two, who sat in the backseat, so close that they barely took up one seat. Bella sobbing into Sabrina's shoulder.

"Yeah, it's fine." Sabrina nodded. "We're both heading to my house."

"Okay." Puck decided. He didn't know what being cheated on must feel like, but he certainly didn't know how to comfort either of them, even Sabrina was someone that he wasn't used to seeing vulnerable. She was supposed to be the happy one but right now she'd looked like she aged ten years and was pretending to be strong so her friend wouldn't fall apart. "They're the worst kind of people."

"What?" Sabrina turned toward Puck.

"Someone that would knowingly hurt another person, that's the worst kind of self-serving person. Even if you don't want to hear that, it's true." Puck expressed.

"He's not as mean as you say." Bella said quietly.

"Oh, I see how it is." Puck gave an exasperated look.

"Wow, am I wrong though?" Sabrina responded, the three of them starting to laugh at each other. Sabrina's curls had faded and her limbs felt sore. Bella looked vastly different, and curled into Sabrina like she was her mother.

"I really want vodka." Bella spoke out of nowhere.

"No, you're not drinking for a while. We're going home, watching Perks of Being a Wallflower and eating ice cream." Sabrina declared.

"Okay." Bella agreed.

"I know that movie. We accept the love we think we deserve." Puck quoted.

"Exactly! Brina, I like him." Bella told her best friend.

"Okay, well I'm sure I'll like the movie then." Sabrina decided.

"You both deserve better, by the way." Puck told them, and they continued to wait for Mustardseed and Chrissy.

Oh god, this is the longest chapter yet, and it was fun to write. I'm so thankful that you've all been reading and commenting, it's been like, two months? I've been amazed at how therapeutic this has been to write, especially because I personally relate to so many characters and their issues, so I hope you guys can as well.

In terms of the 4 little 'arcs' I've planned, this is technically the end of the first one, so judge that as you will. Next one is shorter, but the two after that are pretty long. ALSO, I am taking a week break in order to plan out/polish chapters so I don't fall behind, sorry and please be patient with me~