I love homecoming dances. Can't wait for mine...

Chapter 12:

Homecoming

It was early November. Todd and Fianna were in the cafeteria drinking sodas and sharing some fries for lunch. Fianna had her notes open quizzing Todd for an English test they had on Romeo and Juliet the next day.

"What did Mercutio swear to the Montague's and Capulet's before he died?" Fianna asked.

Todd sighed not caring enough anymore to give the correct answers. "That his ghost would come back and haunt all of them for the rest of their lives."

Fianna rolled her eyes. "Be serious."

"How the hell is anyone supposed to keep up with this stuff anyway?"

"You're an actor, shouldn't you know about Romeo and Juliet?"

Todd snorted. "Oh sure, I've studied the history of film on my free time. I've even gone into a bit of Shakespeare even though I think half his work is completely pointless, especially Romeo and Juliet. Personally I think we should watch Leonardo DiCaprio's version from '96 and get tested on that. It's a hell of a lot more interesting." He took a sip of his soda. "By the way, before he died Mercutio said there would be a plague on both their houses until they decided to stop being a bunch of babies and call a truce."

Fianna raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Nice job. You've really studied the history of film?"

Todd nodded. "And I've seen all the classics."

"Attention students!" the principal said over the microphone. "Tickets for the Homecoming dance are on sale up front. Don't hesitate; there are a limited amount of tickets. Ten dollars for singles, $15 for couples."

Fianna sighed. "I swear these tickets get more expensive every year." She turned to Todd and held his hands then kissed his lips. "We're going to homecoming together, right?"

People had been talking about this Homecoming thing the past few days. But to be honest he had no idea what it was. People expected him to be on top of these things so he didn't dare ask anyone. Now he was starting to feel really out of the loop. "What exactly is homecoming?"

Fianna raised her eyebrow. "You don't know what it is?" He shook his head. "It's just a dance. You know, I'd wear a cute dress and you'd wear a suit and we'd dance the night away."

"Oh, that's it?" He dug into his pocket for his wallet. "Well since the tickets are limited, might as well pay for it now."

"Todd, at least let me pay for half of it."

"Don't worry about it babe. Did you forget your boyfriend is rich?"

He opened his wallet and Fianna's eyes got wide at how much money he had in there. "Oh my god, how much is in that thing?"

Todd flipped through and counted the bills. "Five thousand dollars."

"Why in the world do you need $5,000 at school?"

"So I can pay for our tickets. It's not even a lot, just my allowance over the past few weeks. The rest is at home."

"How much do you get for an allowance?"

"$500 a week."

"What do you to get $500 a week?"

Todd snickered. "Live in my house, what else?" He stood up and went to the front of the cafeteria to buy their tickets. There was a line up there. He hated lines. Half the time he got to get to the front of lines because he was so famous and everyone wanted to serve him. But things were different here. Some would get pissed off if he cut the line; others would let him because they admired him so much. He wondered if the majority of people in this line were the kind to get pissed or the latter. Then he pushed the thought away. He was trying to change after all and if it meant waiting in line like a regular person, he'd do it. He didn't like it, but he'd do it.

While he was leaning against the wall impatiently waiting, Nona came over to him with Tess next to her. "Wassup girls?" he said.

Nona leaned close to him, so close he could smell her Gucci perfume. "So Todd, have I ever told you how sexy I think you are?"

Todd smirked. "You're one of the few hundred chicks who have told me that."

She giggled. "You're so sweet. So, do you want to go to the dance with me?"

Nona was beautiful; Todd wouldn't deny that, maybe even the prettier out of the two sisters'. Her figure was curvy, her make up was perfect, and her long brown hair was wavy and her side bangs swooped over her eye giving her a slightly edgy look. Plus she was a good kisser; she was one of those girls he'd kissed on his first day here. But of course, he already had a girl who was ten times more beautiful and not nearly as snobby. "I'm already going with someone."

"Oh you and Fianna are still together?" Nona said sounding disappointed and jealous.

"Of course we are. I love her."

"Well, if you change your mind, I'm free."

Todd looked at Tess. "You're not gonna ask me?"

Tess smirked. "I would, but unfortunately I'm already going with someone. Maybe you can save a dance for me?"

Tess was just as pretty as Nona, though she didn't have as much of an obvious attitude. Her hair was swept straight back and she wore black jeans, a white and black tank top, and dark eyeliner giving her a darker look. He contemplated a dance with her, but it would depend on what he and Fianna did. He'd been to parties and clubs with girls and a lot more than dancing had happened. He didn't expect this to be any different. "I'll see about that."

After school that day, Todd was sitting at his piano. Astro was sitting at the bench next to him listening to him play and sing "Diamonds and Pearls" by Prince. He liked old music, mainly great legends like Prince, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder. He took inspiration from them when he wrote his own music.

"There will come a time
When love will blow your mind
And everything you'll look for you'll find

That will be the time
That everything will shine
So bright it makes you colorblind

If I gave you diamonds and pearls
Would u be a happy boy or a girl
If I could I would give u the world
All I can do is just offer you my love."

Astro barked.

Todd rubbed his head and chuckled. "You like that buddy?"

Yolanda came into the room. "Hello Todd."

"Hey," he said.

"Are you and Fianna going to the dance?"

He glanced at her. "How did you know there was a dance?"

"It was in the news letter of course."

"Yeah, we're going. And I need a new suit…" He was about to demand that his mother order him one, but she wouldn't want to give him his stuff back if he said that. "That…I'm going to order and…pay for myself." It nearly caused him pain to say that. Good quality suits were expensive and that money would come out of his own pocket. He hated that he was making so many sacrifices.

Yolanda raised her eyebrow in surprise. "Really?" Todd had been acting strange lately. Not only had he been paying for a lot of things himself lately, he'd made dinner on more than one occasion, last week he'd cleaned the whole house, and he'd been thanking Adele for his breakfast in the mornings and other things. What was going on with him?

"Yeah, it's no big deal." With that he got up and went upstairs to reluctantly order his suit.

On the day of the dance, Fianna was in her room curling her hair. Megan, Sharidan, and her had gone out shopping last weekend for dresses. Hers was down to her knees and it was lavender with a dark blue fringe at the bottom and she had new 4 inch heels.

After putting on her make up she paced around her room. She was practically going crazy waiting for Todd to pick her up. Not to mention she couldn't wait to get to the school and see the jealous looks on those girls faces when they saw that she was with Todd. She knew many girls had asked him out since the dance had been announced and it made her feel special knowing he had turned all of them down to be with her. She ran her fingers across the diamond necklace he'd given her. He loved her, why should she expect anything less?

Finally the doorbell rang and she practically sprinted to the door. When she opened it, her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. Todd looked incredible in the suit he was wearing.

A smirk broke out across his face. "You shouldn't hold your face like that. It's gonna get stuck."

Fianna rolled her eyes. "You've got something to say for everything, don't you?"

"If you want to be a good actor, you've got to know how to improv, something you obviously don't know how to do."

"God, you're annoying!"

"Is that your way of saying 'I love you'? In that case, I love you too…I guess."

"You guess? You gave me this necklace; I hope you do love me."

Todd snorted. "I gave you an autographed picture of me, of course I love you."

"Oh sure, that's a true sign of love."

He put his hands on her hips and looked down at her dress. He thought she looked absolutely beautiful. The colors suited her well and it showed off her perfect figure, plus from the angle he was looking he got a good look at her cleavage. "You look beautiful."

She kissed his lips. "Thanks."

They went outside and got in the limo. Once they pulled up to the school, there were cars parked everywhere and couples getting out in their fancy clothes and going through the gym door. But hey were the only ones with a limo. Usually limo's were reserved for prom but Todd didn't know that, and Fianna wasn't about to tell him, she liked being the only couple with a fancy ride.

They got out hand in hand and went to the door with their tickets. Inside the gym was covered in decorations, dancing students, and the DJ.

"So this is what Homecoming is," Todd said.

Fianna giggled. "I still can't believe you had no idea what it was."

"You think I cared about this stuff before I came here? If I wanted to dance with a girl I'd just go to the club or throw a party."

She put her arms around his neck. "Well enjoy it. You should consider yourself lucky since you get to dance with the best girl here."

"Yasmin?" Fianna glared at him. "I'm kidding babe. You're always the best girl in the room to me." He kissed her lips.

"Have I told you how lucky you are that you get to kiss those lips?" Sharidan said to Fianna.

Fianna and Todd broke their kiss. "Didn't you come here with Eithan? Shouldn't you be more focused on his lips than my boyfriend's?"

Sharidan crossed her arms. "There's a difference." She pointed to Todd. "Those lips are famous."

"And they're soft and sexy," Fianna said with a smug smirk.

"Am I supposed to just stand here and listen while you talk about my lips like I'm not here?" Todd said raising his eyebrow at the absurdity of the conversation.

Megan came over to them with Braden. "Hey ladies, hey Todd," he said.

"Yo," Todd said.

"Ooh Fianna you look cute in that dress. I told you to get it," Megan said. She noticed her necklace. "Whoa! That's a lot of ice! You got that for her?"

"I got it a few weeks ago, you didn't notice?"

"It didn't shine so brightly in the light before." Another song came on from the surround sound speakers. "I love this song! Come on Braden!" She pulled Braden into the middle of the dance floor.

Todd took Fianna's hand. "You coming?"

"Of course."

They spent hours dancing the night away. Occasionally they took a break from the hot crowded dance floor. Of course they spent their time doing more than dancing and eating from the food table, they spent a good 15 minutes in a secluded corner kissing. There were a few slow dances. About halfway through the dance they announced the homecoming court.

Every time Fianna passed some girls with Todd, she could just see the jealousy burning inside of them. When she and Todd had first started dating, it had made her a bit uneasy. Now it was like an ego boost. At one point she kind of let it get the better of her. She saw some girls looking at her with glares obviously wishing they were her so she kissed Todd full on the lips just to annoy them.

Soon there was another slow dance. They put their arms around each other and he rested his forehead on hers. She looked into his brown eyes, the eyes that she loved so much. She sighed in happiness when she felt his hands run up and down her back. How could she have possibly thought at one point that Todd was insensitive and rude? Okay, sure he really had been, but now it seemed impossible how it could have been that way. Todd was anything but insensitive. Sure he insulted her sometimes but she knew he was just kidding. Since they'd been together he'd been nothing less than nice to her and he treated her like a queen. Not only this, but she noticed something really had changed in him. Though she loved him she had to admit he was such a rude bastard. But he wasn't anymore. At first it had only been a trick to get his life back, but she could tell he had really committed to it and it showed. It only made him more attractive in her eyes.

"You having fun?" he asked.

She nodded. "You?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't have enjoyed myself this much if I had gone with someone else." He noticed she looked deep in thought. "What are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing," she said shaking her head.

"Come on, you can tell me anything," he said getting curious now.

"I was just thinking about why I love you."

He smirked. "And why is that?"

She ran her hand down his chest. "Because you're sweet, sexy, and you're just an amazing guy."

"Really? I recall you saying I was conceited, and self centered, and a bastard."

"You're anything but that. I used to think so but you've proved me wrong. And anyway, you've changed."

Todd looked down for a moment. Was he making it that obvious that he was trying to be a better person? "What do you mean?"

"I mean you've just gotten to be a bit nicer to people, and I don't think it has anything to do with getting your show back."

Todd sighed; there was no point in covering it up anymore. Of course he wouldn't admit total defeat. He snorted. "You're crazy."

"You know I'm right. I wouldn't fall in love with just anyone."

He couldn't hide the smile creeping onto his face. He pulled Fianna in for a deep kiss. Afterwards she gripped onto him trying to regain her balance and her mind. He smirked. "I have that kind of effect on people."

"Diamonds and Pearls" is by Prince