Like I said, flashback. This is actually the earlier flashback. We are talking high school here.

Most of the senior class knew Dominick's plan before Tara did. She heard it through the grapevine and instantly felt betrayed. She cornered him in the lunchroom.

"Are you out of your bloody mind?! Making plans that I did not agree to and telling the whole school?" She yelled, not caring that she was going to cause a scene.

Dominick looked up at her then got to his feet. "Babe, I wanted to give you a memorable prom night."

The look in his eye made her sick to her stomach. Suddenly she wondered what she ever saw in him. Why had she been with him for almost nine months?

And Tara Jones did the first thing that came to her mind when dealing with horrible people. Her fist made contact with his jaw. "Find someone else to make a memorable prom night with. I am done with you."

She wasn't exactly sure how she got there, but she was sitting outside the principal's office, waiting for her father. Dominick sat across the room, ice pack pressed to his jaw. Whenever someone would walk past him, he would let out a fake whimper of pain. But that was alternated with looks of pure hatred towards her. Oh, if looks could kill…

Tara refused to show any sort of emotion, good or bad. She was not out of line with her actions. She made the best call, her father would side with her, right?

Michael Jones came bursting into the office, looking for Tara. He spotted her and exploded. "Tara Sinaed Jones!

Ouch, full name. Maybe she was in trouble.

"I thought I taught you better than this! I got called out of an important board meeting to deal with your fighting. Violence is not the answer. What possessed you to punch Dominick?"

Now how was Tara supposed to answer that question? 'My scum of the earth boyfriend wanted to bed me prom night and decided to tell the entire student body first.' Yes, that would go over so well.

So Tara did the only logical thing. She carefully and delicately worded it, in Gaelic. Only her father would understand her.

The disappointment on his face that was directed at her morphed into rage and he rounded on Dominick.

Tara leaped to her feet and grabbed his arm to stop him from murder. "He's not worth the energy."

"Yes Jones, we need to be more mature than the children." A guff voice came from the office door. Tara turned to see Dominick's father, Edward Tech, standing there. He had always made her feel uncomfortable. At least this time, she had her father with her.

"Mr. Jones, Mr. Tech, good you both are here." The principal saw the four of them and led them into his office.

They sat down and he tried to be as polite as possible. "Tara, I am very disappointed in you. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"That was a warning shot. Had I found out prom night, I would have cut something off." Tara replied.

"Tara…" Michael said, trying to save face for the both of them.

"Was punching Dominick the right move? Why did you do it?"

Was she really going to have to explain herself again? "There was a misunderstanding about what was going to happen prom night." There, she did it. The words tasted horrible in her mouth.

At least her words didn't go over anyone's head. Edward turned to his son and slapped him in the back of the head. "I taught you better than that! We are going to have a serious discussion when we get home, young man." While he sounded all scary, Tara had a feeling it was all lip service to get out of the office.

The principal bought every word and looked at Edward. "Are you going to press charges?" He really didn't want to do all that paperwork. And didn't want to ruin Tara's permeant record.

"No, we are not pressing charges. No one needs to suffer because of one child's immaturity."

"Tara, you only get off with a warning but I am going to ask you to leave the school. Prom is still open to you if you so choose."

Good, she couldn't stand to be in the same room as Dominick, much less the same building. She felt emotion slipping into her being and needed to be alone.

Michael led her out and to his car in the parking lot. They sat inside for a good five minutes before he spoke. "Now that we are out of the office, I can say good job."

"Well, you didn't raise a delicate little flower." Tara replied monotone.

"That I know well. You are strong and fearless but slightly reckless at times. Did you hurt your hand?"

"A little bit." She hadn't really looked at her knuckles.

"We'll put ice on it when we get in. If he ever touched you, I would make him wish he was never born…"

"Dad, there wouldn't be much left after I was through with him."

"That's my girl." He looked at his little girl. Well, Tara wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a senior in high school, ready to go off to college. "Its times like this I wish your mother was still here."

That made her quickly turn to face her father. "You know you're enough, right?" Michael had to be mother and father to his three kids and she thought he was doing an amazing job. He was the strongest person she knew. He was her knight in shining armor.

"There's so much of your mother in you. Thank you sweetheart." He leaned over to kiss her forehead. "And in the future, no more fighting."

"Can't promise anything." Tara shook her head. No point in making a promise she would probably break.

"That's the Irish tempter in you."

They started to drive down the street and Tara just had to get some of her thoughts out. "I can't believe he wanted to do… that prom night. I'm not ready."

"Glad to hear that, lass." Michael said, making a right turn.

"I'm not saying I'm waiting for marriage…" She continued.

"You're not?" Michael almost brought the car to a complete stop. There was horror in his voice. And a string of salty language to the people in the other cars.

Tara turned to her father. He was so old fashion sometimes. "I don't really know yet Dad. But I want more than nine months with a guy. And life experiences first. I want other kind of connections before going all the way. Some sort of promise, I want him to be the one, whether he's currently my husband or not. I can promise I won't be a teenager, alright?"

Michael only grumbled in the driver's seat. His little girl was certainly growing up whether he wanted her to or not.

They got home and Tara went right to her room. She wanted to tear down every picture of her and Dom. And throw out everything he ever gave her.

Or at least that's what she wanted to do. Her body did not cooperate and she just fell into bed.

There were no tears forming in her eyes. She was numb, that was a good sign.

Tara had no idea what time it was until there was a knock at the door and Killian bounded into the room.

"The school is buzzing. Did you really punch Dominick? What happened?" He sounded excited.

Tara sat up and looked at him. "I didn't do anything. He punched himself in the face." She was going to maintain that fact until she died.

Killian looked at her confused but decided to play along. "Alright, why did he punch himself in the face then?"

"We had very different ideas about how we were going to spend prom night." That was honestly the best way she could word it to her little brother.

At first Killian didn't know what Tara meant. Then it dawned on him. "That son of a… I'll kill him…" He attempted to stand up.

But Tara grabbed his arm. "Stop it, I took care of him. Besides, you aren't capable of killing anyone. I'm barely holding you back and you can't move."

Killian gave up his fight, he knew his sister had the upper hand, as always. She was ten times better at fighting than him. Maybe this was the time to be on the same level as her. "So you broke up with him?" He asked carefully.

"Of course."

Silence fell over them. Then Tara made a noise that sounded like a stifled sob. Killian put an arm around his sister to comfort her.

"Killian, I'm fine." She told him. He knew she was lying and raised an eyebrow at her. So she amended her answer. "I will be fine. Besides, he's not worth crying over."

"Do you want to be alone?"

"Yes please." She told him. Killian got off the bed and went to the door. "Killian, thank you." She said and when the door closed, she flopped back down and tried to stop the tears.

Justine had been Tara's best friend since grammar school. They had been through everything together. She came over the next day and Tara told her the whole story, the real version. Though she maintained the fact that Dom punched himself.

"But you can still go to prom. Are you?" Justine asked. Tara was the one who set up for the group to spend the weekend at her family's beach house. If Tara wasn't going, was that still on?

"The beach house is still on, don't worry. I honestly hadn't really thought about still going. But if I were to go, I would be going alone. I don't want to do that."

"What about your brothers?"

"Funny enough, they both offered. Liam called me last night. But I can't take him away from his finals, no matter how badly his little sister needs him. And Killian… seriously some girl would snatch him and I wouldn't see him all night. Besides his dancing skills are embarrassing to say the least."

Justine kept her mouth shut and she knew she had to take matters into her own hands.

Little did she know, she was not the only one with the same idea.

Prom day rolled around and Tara found herself in her room staring at the dress she had bought for the special occasion. It was emerald green, sleeveless, long and stunning. Her silver shoes were on the floor, she had worked so hard to break them in.

Prom was a rite of passage for every teenager. She had everything expect someone special to share it with.

Suddenly there was a knock at the front door.

"Tara, can you get that?" Her father called.

She pulled herself out of her pity party and went to answer the door. What she saw on the other side made her jaw drop.

Graham, in a tux, holding a small clear box that held a white flower.

"Heard you were looking for someone to go to prom with." He said, a shy smile on his face.

Tara was speechless. Was this his idea or had someone asked him to do it? Was this a pity date?

"The car is waiting outside, sweetheart, you should go get ready." Her father was next to her.

"Are you for real? This isn't a pity date or something?" She had to know.

"No, Trinity this is not a pity date. Come on, you can't miss one of the best nights of your life."

There was joy in her smile now. Her best guy friend, her brother, was her prom date. Someone she was more than comfortable with. They were going to have fun tonight.

Aww, Daddy daughter time. It was super important for Killian's dad to be a good guy. Single father, raising three kids and running a company. They need a good role model.

And Graham!

Reviews?