Chapter ten – Stunning

Sydney's POV

The boys had decided to get the attention away from my town that had so suddenly been put on the map. They drove to Chicago to do some promo work and promised to be back by Saturday, prom day. I had managed to find the perfect dress. I found it in a small vintage boutique and managed to alter it myself. It was completely made of lace. The sleeves went down just past my elbows. Underneath the cream lace was a pale pink dress. The sweetheart neckline complimented me well and the dress flowed to my mid-thigh. I also managed to find the perfect shoes, nude Mary Jane style pumps. They raised me about four inches, but I still managed to look like a baby.

I put the final bobby-pin in Theresa's hair and sprayed it one last time. It had been a tradition since homecoming freshman year for me to do both Theresa and my hair and makeup. She always claimed that having cosmetic talent was, "Icing on top of the cake for your perfection." Of course I disagreed with her; the talent simply was a way of covering everything wrong with me.

Theresa stood up and we looked at each other. We both started to tear up. She was beautiful. It seemed like this would be our last adventure together, when in reality it was only the beginning. We hugged one last time before grabbing our bags and putting on one last squirt of perfume.

We yelled down the stairs that we were ready for our grand entrance and heard a lot of rustling. My mother gave the 'okay' and we descended down the stairwell. There was a crowd of people standing in my family room: my mother, my father, my brother, Theresa's mother, Theresa's father, half of her ten siblings, Harry, Zayn, Louis, Liam, Niall, and Ryan. Ryan was Theresa's boyfriend of three years. He was a grade lower then us and thus was having a difficult time accepting the whole situation. He did once say that hanging out with them reminded him of home. Ryan was born in England and lived there until he was seven, then moved to Italy, and eventually America. However the English accent had stuck and everyone thought he had just come over on the boat.

There were sporadic voices saying things like, "You two look so beautiful." "I can't believe my baby is going to prom." There was the flash of cameras and the beeps of camcorders as we finally made our way to the bottom of the stairs. My eyes were caught on Niall in his suit. The boys were all dressed similarly in plain black and grey suits, as not to clash with my dress. I couldn't help but notice Harry's distinctive lace-detailed bowtie.

I barely heard a mutter come out of Louis mouth. He hadn't seemed the same the last couple of days. I figured I should ask him what was wrong, or I could just Google it and pretend to be oblivious.

My wrist was caught by Niall as he carefully slipped a corsage onto it. It was beautiful. I looked up into his eyes as his fingers wrapped around the end of my wrist. We both smiled at each other and blushed as he dropped my hand.

Niall's POV

I watched as Sydney and Theresa descended down the stairwell. I watched her feet, simply moving one in front of another. I looked up to her legs, tan and thin as they bended. The hem of her dress was the perfect length and the shape of her dress made her waist look almost nonexistent. She was always a little too thin for my taste, but she looked healthy. I knew that she did strenuous exercise everyday, so she had a lot of muscle. However, I had never seen the girl eat. Occasionally I would see her pop a piece of gum in her mouth, or chew on a mint, but I never saw her genuinely eat.

I quickly remembered the corsage in my hand. I grabbed her wrist as she stood in front of us and slipped it on. There was a moment where our eyes met. Her grey eyes beckoned me, but I knew it was no use. A girl like her would never even consider a guy like me.

We started to head out to the cars to meet with the group to take pictures and go to dinner. I worried a bit about the paparazzi finding us, but I figured we wouldn't be outside for too long, and there would be a crowd of people to distract them. Sydney got into the drivers seat of her car and we hadn't realized her car only contained four more open seats. Zayn climbed in the front, refusing to share with the rest of us.

"Here, why doesn't Louis drive and then Sydney can sit on one of our laps?" Harry suggested.

"Does Louis know how to get where we need to go?" She refuted, adjusting her mirrors.

He shook his head no and just climbed into the backseat. His break up with Eleanor had been difficult for him. We knew that it had to be done, but we wished it hadn't happened this way. I felt as though he felt worse about having to keep up appearances and that all he wanted to do was go home and be with his mother and sisters. I too had to admit that I missed my parents and Greg, but I was having so much fun here.

It was eventually decided that Harry would just lie on top of the three of us and we pulled out of the driveway. Sydney scoffed at out shenanigans and tried to keep her eyes on the road. I looked at her appearance in the mirror and had finally seen her face and hair. Her golden locks were wavy and flowed all the way down her back. Her face looked flawless. She was one of the most stunning girls I had ever seen.

Sydney's POV

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the park when it should have only taken five. Harry lying on top of the other boys had caused me to pull over and threaten to knock their heads together multiple times. I was still watching Louis as he played no part in the behavior. Tonight I really had to talk to him and find out what was going on.

We scrambled out of the car and met up with the large group of people awaiting our arrival. I was taken off guard when Phillip came and cuddled me into a hug. I laughed as he lifted my feet of the ground and spun me in a circle.

"You look beautiful," he said, pulling away to look at me. "I'm really sorry I never got the chance to ask you, but, you know."

"Yeah, I do know." I sympathized. I looked over his shoulder to see his date, Tati, staring at us. Tati had figured out that Phillip had planned on asking me and decided to take matters into her own hands. She therefore asked Phillip herself and he was too nice to say no.

"Hey Syd! You look stunning as always," she came up to me, trying to embrace me.

"Hey, Tati. You look, erm… have you met my dates?" I couldn't be nice to this girl. She and I had never gotten along, but things took a turn for the worse freshman year. She decided it would be a fun idea to spread a rumor that I had sex with her boyfriend of the time. This really amused me since I knew that was absolutely ridiculous. However, other people actually believed me and called me 'Slutney' for about two years.

The boys saved me by appearing to my sides. "This is Harry, Liam, Louis, Niall, and Zayn." I pointed to them individually as they waved.

"Well hello," she said, strutting up to them. "I'm Tati. I'm a huge fan." She winked at Harry.

"Awesome," he responded unenthusiastically. He squeezed my shoulder in understanding.

She took this hint and walked away. I could tell she was trying to appear attractive, but it just wasn't working. Her dress pretty much didn't exist. It was full of cut-outs and sheer material. I laughed in disgust as I saw her silicone padding jiggle outside of her bra.