Written for the formal writing event on Specord!
"Alright, we'll stop here and continue this discussion next week," Olivia announces. "Bell rings in five minutes. Put your desks back in rows, please!"
Her announcement is immediately followed by the scraping sound of desks being dragged across the floor, back to where they were at the beginning of class.
"Olivia," a student calls out, "can we leave once we put our desks back?"
"Oh, is it Friday already?" Olivia muses. "Sure, sure. Have a good weekend, then!"
With that, about half the class – who had been keeping an eye on the clock and have already packed up their belongings – makes a beeline for the door, all vying to get out to their cars and leave before the line to leave the parking lot gets too long. The rest of us, who either didn't drive ourselves to school or aren't planning on leaving right away, take a bit more time to arrange the desks in evenly spaced, straight rows and pack up our things. I don't even bother with that last part – once the desks are back in order, I pick up my backpack and gather my notes and dump them next to my favorite blue beanbag in the back corner of the classroom.
It's a senior privilege to leave our last class a few minutes early on Fridays, but I rarely take advantage of it – history with Olivia is my last class every day, and her classroom is the best for working on homework after school. She's one of the most chill teachers at Alola Academy, and she encourages students to call her by her first name instead of the more formal "Ms. Lychee". The back corner of her classroom is a dedicated study space, complete with beanbags, lap desks, and adorable stuffed teddy bears to hug when things get rough. I usually spend an hour working in the study space every day, though the amount of work I actually get done varies day to day – the more friends that join me in the study space, the more likely it is to turn into a "hang out and chat" space.
Today, I'm joined by my friends Sun, Gladion, Mallow, and Hau. Aside from Gladion, they're a pretty talkative bunch, so I predict that today's going to be a low productivity day, as most Fridays are. Sure enough, the last straggler has only just left the room when Mallow starts talking.
"You'd think that with the end of the year coming up, the workload would be easier," Mallow complains. "But no! I had two tests today, I have two more next week, and I have to finish that English essay for Monday!"
"That doesn't sound too bad," Gladion says as he pulls out his math textbook. "I have three tests next week and two essays, and that's on top of working on Olivia's project."
"Oh, there's no need to sweat about Olivia's project," Hau replies cheerfully, stretching his arms up over his head. "It's a group project, and we have forever to work on it!"
"If by 'forever' you mean 'one week left', then that's true," Gladion says, narrowing his eyes at Hau.
Hau blinks. "One week?"
"It's due next Friday," Mallow chimes in. "I remember 'cause it's due the same day as prom."
Sun and Hau exchange an identical, horrified look.
"Oh, shit."
"You guys are partnered for it, aren't you?" I guess.
"Yes," Sun admits meekly.
"I did say that you should pick partners at your own risk," Olivia laughs. Sun and I glance over our shoulders to see that Olivia is standing behind us with her hands on her hips, grinning.
"H-how long have you been standing there?" Sun stammers.
"Not very long," Olivia assures him. "I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm fixing to leave for a meeting. It shouldn't take very long, so you can stay in here, but I'm locking the door behind me – so make sure it stays locked, okay?"
We all nod our agreement and Olivia leaves. As soon as she's gone, Sun turns around and says, "Hey, speaking of prom, are any of you guys going?"
"I don't do dances," Gladion says firmly. He turns his attention back to his homework.
"Kiawe asked me two weeks ago," Mallow says dreamily. "He made me a cookie cake to ask me and everything. We're going to meet up for dinner at Mariano's, and then go to the dance together. I have the most gorgeous dress picked out. It's going to be wonderful."
"Wow, Mallow, I wouldn't have pegged you to get so sappy about this stuff," I comment, making her blush a little.
"Well, I'm going too," Hau chimes in. "I'm taking Lillie."
"I'm well aware," Gladion growls at his paper. "It's all she's been talking about for the last four days." He suddenly whips his head up from his work and gives Hau a fierce glare. If Gladion was a Pokémon, Hau would definitely be paralyzed by that look. "You'd better give her a good time at that dance…"
Hau gulps. "Or…what?"
"Or else," Gladion says coldly and returns to his work.
"Geez, I knew Gladion was protective of his sister, but that's…wow," Sun whispers to me. "I don't envy being in Hau's position right now."
In typical Hau fashion, though, he bounces back quickly and turns to me with a cheerful smile. "What about you, Moon? Are you going to prom?"
I take a moment to mull the question over. The truth is, I haven't been asked yet, but I wouldn't say no if someone did ask me. But in that moment of hesitation before I give him an answer, Sun jumps in to answer for me. "Moon doesn't really do dances, either," he says. "She thinks they're too loud and crowded to have fun."
I jerk my head to look at him – surprised, but pleasantly so. I barely remembered telling him about my opinion of dances, but he's completely right; that is the reason why I've never considered going to a dance in high school. However, I recently came to a different conclusion about prom.
"Right, that's what I've always said," I admit. "But…it is our senior year, and prom is kind of a big deal. I'd like to go, just this once…just to experience it, you know?" I shrug. "No one has asked me yet, though."
"Do you wanna go with me?" Sun blurts out immediately. I startle a little at the suddenness of his question and turn to face him.
I smile a little. "Sure, Sun. I'd love to go with you."
Sun lets out a slightly nervous laugh. "Great! Great. That's…great."
I glance to my right and see the rest of the group staring expectantly at us. I panic a little inside – is there something that we're supposed to do now to confirm that we're going to prom together? I don't know all the proper steps to doing something like this. I always thought it was dumb and overrated. At least Sun didn't go all over the top making some…cheesy poster or something just to ask me to the dance. Are they – are they waiting for him to pull out some cheesy poster to ask me with? Oh, no. Anything but that.
Fortunately, Sun and I are saved from our awkward silence by a conspicuous buzzing. Sun pulls out his phone and leaps to his feet. "Oh, look! It's…it's my dad," he says. "Gotta go. Uh, Moon, I'll text you later to figure out the logistics, okay?"
I offer him what I hope is a reassuring smile. "Yeah, that's fine. Talk to you later."
He quickly gathers his things and darts to the door. Olivia opens it just as he reaches it. He gives her a look that I can't see from my beanbag chair, but it seems to surprise Olivia as Sun slips past her.
"What was that all about?" Olivia asks us.
"Moon just got her first prom date!" Hau exclaims.
Olivia squeals. "Oh my gosh! That's so exciting! I'm so happy for you, girl!" She wraps an arm around me affectionately and rubs my head. "Wait, who with?"
"Sun," I say. Olivia releases me and I slump down into my beanbag. "Oh, man. Maybe this was a bad idea. I don't know where to even start planning for prom, and I only have a week!"
"Well, you'll need to start with getting a dress," Mallow informs me. "You better get on that ASAP so you can text your dress color to Sun."
My brow furrows. "Why?"
"The guy needs to know his date's dress color so he can coordinate his outfit with her and buy her a corsage," Hau explains.
"What the hell is a corsage?"
Mallow, Hau, Olivia, and even Gladion all exchange a look that is remarkably similar to the one Hau and Sun shared when they realized they only had a week left to do their project. I can feel my cheeks reddening, and I try my best not to let tears well up in my eyes. I can't help it, though – it's an instinctive reaction that I have whenever I feel inadequate, especially when there's something I don't know that people expect me to know. Attempting to wipe away the tears in my eyes unfortunately doesn't help me to hide them, and now the looks range from apologetic to pitying. If I wasn't already mortified, I definitely am now.
"This is stupid. I hate this," I mutter to myself.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, honey," Olivia says, squeezing my shoulder. "We'll help you figure this out. Here, why don't I text Lana right now and ask her to go shop for a dress with you? You know Lana, right?"
"Lana might not be the best choice," Mallow warns. "She's probably gonna be too busy getting ready for prom herself. She and Sophocles may just be going as friends, but Lana still wants to take it as seriously as she would if she was getting an actual date."
"Maybe we should ask a girl who's not going to prom," Hau suggests. "Anybody know of one?"
"Acerola," Gladion says, causing all of us to turn and look at him. "She asked someone to prom a couple weeks ago and he said he'd get back to her. The last I heard, he hasn't gotten back to her, so she's probably not going. I bet she'd be willing to help."
"Right," I say, pulling out my phone and shooting a text to Acerola. After exchanging a few quick messages, I look up at everyone. "She's going to meet me at the mall in 30 minutes. We're gonna go dress shopping."
"Perfect!" Olivia beams. "See, you don't need to worry about a thing. You'll be ready for prom in no time, and you're gonna have a great time. I promise."
But no matter how much Olivia assures me, I can't help worrying as I leave the classroom. She can promise that I'll have a great time, but that's not really up to her, is it?
That's all up to Sun and me.
Moon: Are you free today? I'm having a prom emergency
Acerola: u bet bby what is it? dress? makeup? boutonniere?
M: What's a boutonniere?
A: :O this is more serious than i realized
M: Mallow says I need a dress first.
A: i'm on it bby! meet me at the mall in 30 :3