People Will Say That We're in Love

Chapter Three

Notes: I've already gotten more reviews than I had expected for the entire story. Wow! Thank you all! My ego's swelled to the size of a small planet. I expect deflation any time now, though. Does it seem like little has happened so far? The next two chapters will be in the same vein, as I am setting up for later events. And practicing descriptive writing. From that point on, though, the pacing will pick up.

"Ah, milady, I trust that the ride was agreeable?"

"'Milady?'" Sam stepped onto the sidewalk, after having fixed two roses into her hairpin, flashing a grin. Alas, her mood was not to last. When she turned to face the school, she met a sight that appalled her down to the bottom of her knee-length boots.

Casper High had been grossly over-decorated. The motif the prom committee had decided on was "Holiday Spirit", as demonstrated by the garish Christmas lights strung haphazardly all over the building, dangling off the roof, swaying in the wind. Large, obtrusive snowflakes adorned every windowsill. They even had the nerve to set out, in front of the school, a lighted Santa Claus figure, with eight reindeer and a great red sleigh to complete the ensemble. And on every window hung yet another sign of the holidays.

"Mistletoe? Mistletoe?" Sam repeated incredulously, as though the vision of horror would go away if she denied it enough. School spirit was one thing, but this? After regaining her composure, and the quick blush as she realized she'd babbled like an idiot, she continued in a more coherent fashion. "Who hatched this wonderfully brilliant idea? Ugh, those lights are making my eyes sore. And shouldn't they have realized that Christmas passed a long time ago?"

"Y-yeah." Danny's facial expression as he stared at her matched that of a thunderstruck armadillo in the headlights. Vacant as a hotel in the middle of a desert. Sam, concerned, elbowed her friend lightly.

"At least it is better than the 'Wal-Mart Clearance' theme, right, Danny? Danny?" Sam could've sworn she heard him sigh, and in the infatuated manner he had done years back, while he'd been under Ember's spell.

"Uh...Uh...Uh..."

Sam sighed softly, echoing the sound of Danny's. She wondered why Danny was acting this way. Could it be because - no, that's ridiculous, she thought, we're just friends, and we're fine where we are. However, some small, nagging voice in her head was piping, yeah, keep telling yourself that; maybe one day, you'll actually believe it. With a shake of the head, the girl headed into the school, forgetting her date in her mental turmoil.

"Ah, milady, I trust that the ride was agreeable?" Danny spouted, still in his exaggerated accent.

"'Milady?'" He perceived Sam's smirk and subtle roll of eyes, before she grinned radiantly at him, and felt his heart sing in joy. He was entertaining his friend, he reasoned, it just happened that said friend was female and-

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Sam had gotten out of the limo, and was examining the school. Her obsidian hair was fluttering about her face, lifted by gentle zephyrs. Her face, crossed with consternation, was that of a goddess's, albeit one somewhat displeased, with her lower lip out ever so slightly. Her eyes reflected the light of the setting sun with the fire of a diamond. His gaze wandered her body, taking in every curve. If she noticed, she'd think I'm some kind of pervert and kick my ass, he thought. And so, with great effort, he resigned to giving a vacant look, not wholly dissimilar to that which he gave her upon her doorstep.

"Christmas...hatched...those...and...a long time ago?" Danny's mind, now singularly focused on the newfound sexiness of his date, only managed to detect that Sam had asked him a question.

"Y-yeah." Danny stuttered, then promptly clamped his mouth shut as he felt drool begin to gather at the corners of his mouth, for the second time in an hour. He wished Sam would turn away, and spare him this torturous ordeal of trying to keep his discovery under wraps. Try as he might, he couldn't override his hormonal charges and tear his eyes away. She's hot! She's hot! She's hot! His mind screamed the phrase repetitively as though it were a mantra, overtaking logical thought. It took all of his mental power to hold back a blush. The way Sam's dress hugged her slim body served as a catalyst for the young teenaged boy's imagination to run wild.

"...than...clearance...right, Danny?" A sigh escaped Danny's lips as he became lost in his rather vivid reverie.

"Danny?" Crap. Danny scrounged his mind for traces of what Sam had been saying. Unfortunately, his mouth opened before his brain caught up.

"Uh...uh...uh..." Aw, hell, he thought, way to sound sane, genius! He heard Sam sigh faintly, before entering the school with a slight shake of the head. No longer presented with the image of perfection before his eyes, Danny snapped out of his state of primal desire and followed her in, all the while persuading himself that nothing abnormal had occurred. After all, sexual attraction to a female friend is common, even if it did reduce him to a puddle of mush on the ground, right? However hard he tried, though, he couldn't explain away the rapture he felt, and had been feeling since the night had started, stirring in his heart, deeper and unsullied by his thoughts.

AN: A bit longer, eh? Practicing POV on this chapter. Danny's a little perverted, but he's a hormone charged teenager; what can you expect? The second half was somewhat repetitive, which was an intentional effect. When one's smitten, one tends to think incoherently and redundantly. Just so you know that it wasn't merely lackluster writing. More than a bit sappy, but hey. It's a teenage, romance fanfic.

And yes, these are actual prom themes. I would know; my school had held both, as well as "Vaudeville" and "Middle-Earth", among others, in the past few years. Bizarre, I know.

Edit: I apologize for having posted this twice; I noticed some inconsistency the first time around between the two POV's only after I'd added it to the story..