Author's Note: Spoby goes to prom! But not without some struggles on the way...

Day One-Hundred Seventy-One: Break Me by Allison Gray

There was something really intoxicating about Spencer.

Whenever she looked me in the eyes, I just froze. It was like I couldn't move and I couldn't think. I sort of started tripping over my own tongue. I never acted like that before, but that was how I felt around her all the time. It was like I was paralyzed.

I'd never really been at such a loss for words before. I was always so good with them. I always liked writing. But I had the vocabulary of a second-grader around her.

"Do you want coffee?"

I nodded. I couldn't even talk.

Hanna broke me out of my trance with her dramatic sigh.

"This is so stupid. Who even made up that stupid rule about seniors having to wear floor-length prom dresses? It's so dumb!" she complained with a pout. "And Mona took the only decent-looking one. How the hell am I supposed to compete with her?"

Spencer turned to pour four cups of coffee: one for me, Hanna, Caleb, and herself. Hanna pulled the red coffee cup across the island and put in creamer and sugar. Spencer made a face.

"That's gross, Hanna."

"No, you're gross. Who drinks coffee black?" the blonde responded while wrinkling her nose.

"I do," Spencer answered. As I took a sip of my (black) coffee, she added, "And Toby does, too."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "That's really gross."

Caleb took a teaspoon of sugar in his coffee.

"Caleb is the only other normal one."

Spencer rolled her eyes in response.

"Who are you going with to prom?" It was an open question to the both of us, I guess.

"I don't think I'm going," I answered meekly.

"Toby, you can't just not go. It's prom," Hanna insisted. I just shrugged. She turned to Spencer.

"Maybe I'll go with Aria. She doesn't have a date."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "That's so lame. Come on, Spence. We all know why Aria's not going with anyone. But you're too pretty to go alone or go stag."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. I could already tell feminist-Spencer was having a hard time not flipping her lid. "I don't need to go with anyone, Spencer."

"You two might as well go together. You don't have dates, anyway," Caleb added in. He gave me a small teasing look. I wanted to kick him. He was the only person I had told about my crush on Spencer.

"That's perfect!" Hanna exclaimed. "You're so smart!"

"I-I don't think that's a good idea," I stuttered.

Spencer nodded slowly in agreement. Before Hanna got a chance to argue with us, my phone beeped. I groaned when I saw who it was from.

"That's Jenna. I have to pick her up from her flute lesson," I said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

I began to bring the cup to the sink, but Spencer stopped me. "I'll get it, Toby," she said before taking the cup. It was probably one-sided, but I got chills up my spine when she touched me.

"Bye, guys," I said tersely before going out the back door.

Caleb left a little while later. It was just me and Hanna.

"We gave you guys such a perfect opportunity to go together," Hanna said.

I just shook my head as I took all three cups to the sink and began to wash them. "You heard him. He doesn't want to go with me, anyway. Why would he want to?"

I could practically hear Hanna rolling her eyes as she scoffed. "Why wouldn't he want to, Spence? I mean, I know you can't show off those Hastings legs, but damn, you're really pretty, Spencer. And have you not noticed the way he looks at you when you're not looking?"

I gave her this very unamused look over my shoulder. "Um, Hanna, I'm not looking, so I wouldn't notice," I replied before going back to the dishes.

"Whatever. Spencer! He likes you. You like him. What is the problem here? I mean, I had no problem telling Caleb that I liked him before we started dating. You can do it, too!" she insisted.

"It's not that easy!"

"Yeah, it is! The two of you are making it so complicated."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't even know if I want to go to stupid prom, anyway. It's just a dance where you have to buy an expensive dress and get especially dressed up. It's not even important."

"Spencer!" she exclaimed in annoyance. "It's a rite of passage."

That just earned another eye roll from me. "Whatever, Hanna. I don't care about it."

"Spencer likes you, too. What's the problem? Jason even knows she likes you. And Jason doesn't even go here," Caleb replied.

I rolled my eyes. "You're being ridiculous. I just don't want to go to prom. It's a dumb dance. When have you ever seen me go to a dumb dance?"

"You took Alison to junior prom last year."

I paused entering my locker combination. "Yeah, and after that disaster, why would I want to go again?" Alison and I had been dating for like three or four months and I watched her leave with some other guy.

"Because Spencer isn't Alison. She's not going to ditch you for some other guy. Spencer wouldn't even get drunk, I bet." Caleb leaned up against the locker next to mine. "Besides, Spencer's a decent person. Alison is a snake."

Though he had a point, I didn't want to ruin any friendship I had with Spencer. That was just inevitable.

"Look. There's Spencer, by her locker, all alone. Just go up and ask her."

I looked over, and sure enough, Spencer was there, standing at her locker and getting her books for AP French—which we had together next period.

The bell rang and before I could argue, Caleb peeled himself off of the locker beside me and walked off to class.

I looked down at my feet. Maybe Caleb is right. What's the worst that could happen? Spencer wasn't that dumb; if it was a stupid idea, she'd say something. That was just the kind of girl Spencer was. Just go up and ask her.

I looked into my locker and took my French book. I took a deep breath before turning around to go ask Spencer.

But when I looked over at Spencer, she was talking to Andrew Campbell. I hated that jerk. But she was smiling. She even looked like she was blushing. He was probably asking her to prom. And how was I supposed to compete with Andrew Campbell? She probably already said yes, anyway.

"Thanks for the invitation, but I don't think I'm really going with anyone to prom, Andrew. I think I'm just going with Aria," I answered.

"Oh." He looked a little deflated and I felt sort of bad about it, but I knew that he'd have a sucky time if I went with him anyway; I wasn't really into him. To have him take me to prom when I had someone else in mind would be rude.

"I'm really sorry," I said. There was an awkward silence.

Over his shoulder, I noticed Toby walking quickly to French class. As soon as Andrew left, I sort of jogged to try and catch up with him. "Toby! Wait!"

Either he didn't hear me or he just ignored me. When we got to the French classroom, he sat down next to Mona Vanderwaal. I was a little insulted; there were two open desks in the back, where we always sat.

"Miss Hastings?"

I gulped before taking my spot in the back. I didn't want to have to deal with the French teacher coming after me, so I might as well just shut up and sit down.

Nobody asked me anything, so I assume that nobody saw my look of hurt when I sat down. I guess I'm just a good actress like that.

I didn't even realize I was crying until I saw a little droplet of water fall in my French textbook.

"What did you do to Spencer?" Emily demanded as she sat down with me and Caleb at the Brew.

"I didn't do anything, Emily!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, even I saw the look Spencer had all day after third period. She looked like a puppy that just got kicked," Caleb insisted.

I sighed. "I didn't do anything."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Obviously, you did something," Emily retorted. "Did you hurt her feelings? Did she ask you to prom? Did she turn you down? Did you turn her down?"

"What are you even talking about? She doesn't want to go to prom with me."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid, Toby."

"I'm being serious."

Emily looked at her watch. "Well, you have twenty-eight hours to make it up to her or she's probably not going to prom. Whatever you did, fix it!"

I saw Kevin, the manager of the Brew, give Emily the death glare.

"I've got to go. You'd better make it up to her!" Emily demanded.

Caleb laughed at me as soon as Emily walked away. "Come on. What happened?"

I sighed. "Well, I was going to take your advice and just ask her, but then I saw her talking to Andrew Campbell."

"He's a nice guy."

"It looked like he was asking her to prom."

"He's a jerk."

"Anyway, she had this giggly look and she looked all starry-eyed, so I just figured I'd give her some space. And then we went to French class and I gave her some space and she just got all touchy about it," I replied with a shrug. "I really didn't do anything."

"Please try and make it up to her, even if you didn't do anything wrong. If she doesn't go to prom, I'm going to have to hear it from Hanna all through college. And after college. And probably for the rest of my life."

I rolled my eyes. Girls.

I watched as Hanna and Aria got ready for prom together. Even though I wasn't going, I went over to Hanna's to help them get ready.

"Spencer, you're seriously the worst," Hanna answered with a pout.

I rolled my eyes. "For godsake, Hanna, I even cast the absentee ballot," I reminded her.

"No, I don't even care about prom queen. I'd give up the crown to get you to come to prom tonight. Spencer!" she whined.

"I just don't want to go," I insisted as I examined the chip in my nail polish.

"Is this because Toby didn't ask you?" Aria inquired as she put in her earrings—which, by the way, were so long that they went from her ear lobe all the way down to her collarbone.

I was quiet, but I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to hit him where it hurts," Hanna muttered to herself.

"It's not a big deal, guys," I assured them. "Just have fun. I wouldn't have been any fun anyway."

Hanna continued to pout and whine, while Aria was a little more sympathetic to what I was going through.

"I'm going downstairs, Aria. Caleb is here. Spencer can show herself the way out." So apparently, if it weren't so glaringly obvious, Hanna was pissed at me for not going.

Aria nodded slightly and we heard Hanna go down the stairs. Then, Aria turned to me as soon as she was sure Hanna was out of earshot. "Hey, Spencer, if you change your mind and decide that you want to go, here," she said before giving me a ticket for prom.

"Aria, why do you have two extra tickets?"

Aria sighed. "Well, it's a long story, but basically…this girl in my fifth period art class just broke up with her boyfriend and apparently she was too depressed to go to prom and look at the tickets. She figured since I listened to her whole sob story, I should have her tickets, so…here," she explained.

I took them reluctantly. I wasn't going to have much use for them, either, so there was no real point in taking them. "Thanks."

My phone began to buzz on the bed. Aria looked over. "You should get that. You never know; it could be your date," she said with a little knowing smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes slightly. "Have fun tonight, Aria."

"I'd be having more fun if we had a little Sparia!" she sing-songed before walking out the door. I sat on Hanna's bed with my phone. It was from Toby.

Can we talk?

I was reluctant. I was a little upset with him. He wouldn't even look at me. Part of me just wished he'd look at me like he hated me, so I at least knew what was going on with him. I got this indescribable feeling of sadness when he couldn't even look at me at lunch today. I couldn't lose him as a friend.

My house in fifteen minutes.

I took a deep breath before walking into Spencer's house. I was surprised when she said to meet her at her house. I thought the prom started at eight and it was eight ten. Maybe she was pulling a Hanna and being fashionably late.

I knocked on the door and she opened a second later.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked as she walked towards the kitchen. She didn't even look at me. That hurt, especially coming from her.

"I just wanted to know why you were so upset. I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything I—"

"It was."

She sounded really vulnerable. That hurt, too. I never wanted to hurt her. But I really didn't think I did anything to hurt her.

"I'm sorry. I just…I don't know. I got a little…jealous. When I saw you with Andrew, I mean. Because I figured you were going to prom with him and…shouldn't you be getting ready for prom?"

"I'm not going," she insisted.

"What? You can't just not go, Spencer!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I can!" she replied defiantly. "You're not going. Hypocritical, much?"

"Yeah, but…I never cared for any of that stuff. And I know you're not like Hanna, or anything, but you at least care. This is important. You have a ton of friends who would probably want to see you there. I don't…"

She shrugged. "I just didn't feel like going…"

"Did the boy you want to go with not ask you to go with him?" I asked.

She was silent before she shrugged sheepishly again. "Yeah, I guess…" she mumbled.

"Why was it so important to you? You have your friends."

She hesitated before answering. "I don't know. I've just been burned by a couple of boys and I guess I was just hoping if I went with that one someone special, I could kind of forget all the stupid boys I dated and brought to Homecoming and other things like that."

"I hardly believe that, Spence." The truth was that I really barely believed that; she was so strong and so independent. Why would she need a guy to help her get over the jerks she dated before? "But I'll play along. Who did you want to take you? Do I know him? No, do I like him? Does he have a girlfriend?"

She bit her lip slightly. It was cute when she did that. No, I had to stop thinking that. "You know him and unless something occurred in the last thirty-something hours since I last actually spoke to him, he's single."

I thought for a moment. I didn't really want to know who it was. But I did. "Can you just tell me who it is?"

She paused for a moment. "I'm talking to him right now."

I looked around the room, kind of like I was looking for someone else. No, this couldn't be possible. Since when does your crush ever like you back? That's practically unheard of.

"No, that's not possible."

She looked a bit jilted when I said that.

"I-I mean…when do you ever have a crush that likes you back? I feel like this is some really good dream," I stuttered. And there came that paralyzed, numb, at-a-loss-for-words sensation.

She smiled weakly when I said that. "I've just liked you for a long time. I just always felt like you got me in a way none of my other friends did," she admitted. "I really wanted you to ask me."

"I was going to, and then I saw you talking to Andrew and I thought that I could never compete with that," I admitted quickly.

"I turned him down because I couldn't think about going to prom with someone who I didn't really want to be there with. I just thought it'd be…selfish," she explained.

I reached out to wrap my fingers around hers. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk the last few days. Maybe it was pent up romantic frustration," I said with a small laugh. She laughed. She looked me in the eyes for what felt like the first time in a long time before she kissed me. This is a dream. A really good dream.

"Hey, there's one more thing," she said as she pulled away. "Aria had two extra tickets for the prom, so if you still want to go…" she trailed off.

I sighed. I didn't really want to go, but I could tell that she did, and if it made her happy and smiley (and I loved seeing Happy and Smiley Spencer), I couldn't think of anything better. "I think I have a suit somewhere at home."

She smiled widely before giving me a hug. "I know this is last minute, so do you know what color ties you have? I want to match you and I have a lot of options to choose from," she said.

"Okay, what about…red?" I asked.

She nodded. "I definitely have red. Will you be ready in an hour?"

"Will you be?" I asked teasingly.

She rolled her eyes with a slight smile. "Go!"

"Spencer! I thought you said you'd be ready in an hour. Do all girls do this?"

"Only when they want to look pretty for their dates!" I shouted as I slipped on my black lace heels. I just thought red and black were such a pretty, classic combination. I took a deep breath before I walked over to the stairs.

"Finally," I heard him murmur as he heard me walk down the stairs.

I smiled when I saw his reaction. He seemed taken aback by what I looked like.

To be honest, I was really scared that he wouldn't come back. In retrospect, I shouldn't have thought that since that wasn't the sort of person Toby was, but I knew that if he said something mean to me—even if it was unintentional—I could (and would, most likely) break. Maybe he'd find that surprising, but it was true.

"You look amazing," I commented.

"You look…wow," was all he could say. I blushed in response.

I felt so lucky. I had Spencer Hastings on my arm. I didn't consider myself superficial or vain, either, but she looked
amazing and was easily the prettiest girl in the room.

I noticed all of the girls smile when they saw Spencer. Caleb walked over to me a little while later; Hanna was busy talking about everything with Spencer (which meant she was interrogating her; poor Spencer).

"So you finally asked out your crush?"

"She said she had extra tickets because Aria gave them to her. And technically, she asked me, since I didn't know about them," I explained.

"Chicken," he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. You can call me whatever you want as long as she's happy."

"I still want to know how you managed to get away with that dress! What about that stupid rule about floor-length dresses?!" Hanna asked indignantly.

I shrugged. "I was prepared to tell them that they could sue me for wearing an 'inappropriate' dress."

"Lucky Toby, though. I don't know if I've ever noticed quite how long your legs are," Aria noted as she played with the flowy red chiffon that fell to a few inches above the knee. It was a lot shorter than the rest of the girls' dresses, but it wasn't inappropriate by any stretch. At least, not in her opinion. She was pretty sure her date liked it—and judging by the lustful looks he threw her way every now and then as he was speaking to Caleb (rather, Caleb was speaking to him and Toby was just nodding along with it), he did love that dress.

"I think Toby likes the dress," Emily commented.

"I know he does. Why do you think I picked this one?" I asked with a small little smirk.

The rest of the night went off without a hitch. Hanna managed to beat Mona for the title of Prom Queen. Caleb wasn't Prom King, but then again, nobody really expected him to be. We all stayed until about eleven thirty. Since my mom was in London with Melissa and my dad was Out of Town (wherever that was), I was alone. Since I didn't like being home alone, I invited Toby to stay with me. Before curiosity kills the cat, we didn't do anything or fool around or stuff like that, but we cuddled a lot.

It was the best night ever.

Sarah: Kayson is a secretly sexual person. Js. Oh. my. god. thanks.

MilaMizz:There's this tote bag I saw a picture of that I'd like. It says, "I like big books and I cannot lie." You know, like a parody of that song. Well, I uploaded the new one-shot, this one-shot, and the 3 multi-chaps (not that I think you'd be interested in Fabrastings). I turn of spellcheck, so I guess (in this conversation), yes.

I actually liked this one! Shocking, right? It's really long. I hope you liked it.

The next one-shot will be Angel by Scarlett Cherry. It's very mediocre. Also, I've updated all of my WIPs AND I also uploaded a one-shot based off of Mona, called The Pretty Lies, The Ugly Truth. It would mean a lot if you could check it out! -Kayson