I love Fridays. I don't know if I could survive without them. I sighed and sat down in my usual spot beside Shane. The loud speaker clicked on and everyone quieted to hear the announcement.

The voice said "Prom tickets will be sold Monday through Friday every day after school in the cafeteria. Tickets are nine for singles and 20 for couples. Prom will be held next Saturday in the school gym." When the announcement was over everyone started talking excitedly about who they wanted to ask them or who they wanted to ask. I glanced at Shane and noticed that he was looking at me too. Then he looked away. I didn't see him make any facial expressions that indicated that he would ask me. I was a little disappointed then.

I kept waiting in my other classes for him to even mention prom, but he never did.

We never really talked about the day we kissed after the carnival. But I guess it was just one time. Maybe it didn't mean anything. One kiss doesn't automatically mean that he likes me enough to ask me out or to prom. I really, really wanted to go with him though.

"What are you thinking about?" I jumped. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I forgot that Shane was walking with me. We stopped.

"What?" I asked

"You've just been really quiet today is something wrong?"

"No"

He looked a little worried "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine"

He didn't look convinced "Really."

I smiled "C'mon" I said pulling him into the cafeteria, trying to erase his suspicion.

When we got to our lunch table May was already there. She watched us walk over I could tell by the excited look on her face that she wanted to tell me something. She looked like she was ready to explode.

When we sat down May blurted, "Brooke, I have to tell you something!"

"So tell me" I said

"Okay So I got a date to prom!"

"Really? Who?" I asked excited for her.

"Jake" She said looking like she was going to jump out of her seat.

"That's awesome!" I said, hugging her. "Congrats."

"This is going to be so fun. You and I can go and pick out dresses together- "I stopped smiling "What's wrong?"

I shrugged "Well I don't know if I'm going."

"What do you mean…?" she looked over at Shane

I shook my head to let her know that he hadn't asked me. I must have looked sad then because May looked at me with a little pity.

"Hey don't worry someone will ask you."

"Yeah" I said "They might, but I don't want to go with someone else I want to go with Shane." I sighed

Even when we did our Saturday mall hang out prom never came up. For some reason the next week I secretly hoped he would ask me even though I knew he wasn't going to.

I decided that I would just go alone. So on Wednesday May and I went to pick out dresses.

May's dress was perfect for her. It was strapless and a lavender color. It was up to her knees in the front but got longer in the back. There was no design on it, it was just plain.

Mine was the same type of dress as May's, strapless, short in the front long in the back. The difference between our dresses though was mine was a sky blue color. Around the waist was a black sash that tied in the back, with blue flowers and black feathers around it.

Back at my dorm room I went to hang the dress bag in the closet but not before Becca said "Is that your prom dress? Oh let me see!"

I smiled. I lay the bag on my bed and unzipped it to show her.

"Brooke it's amazing! And it's perfect for you! Shane will love it." I didn't say anything. "He did ask you right?" I shook my head. I put the dress away and she was still looking at me. "But I thought you guys… Did you ever talk to him about the kiss?" I shook my head

"It's ok I'll just go alone." She gave the same look May had but just let it go.

"Anyway I'm going to go get my ticket now do you want to come?" I asked Becca

"Nah. I think I'm going to try and get some homework done." She said

I was walking when someone came up next to me.

"Hey" the person said I looked over and didn't answer. I was to confused as to why this person was talking to me.

"Hey, Josh" I said hesitantly

"Going to get you and Shane's prom ticket?" he asked. Where was this conversation heading?

"Actually, just mine." I said still suspicious. Why did he care? He looked genuinely surprised.

"Aren't you two dating?" I was starting to get depressed all over again about that then I thought Is that the impression he had gotten? Pushing the thought out of my head I asked "Why do you care?"

"Oh well um…" He actually looked nervous. I wonder why? "I was kind of wondering if you wanted to go with me? To prom I mean." He looked incredibly nervous. I was completely shocked. This is the guy I had slapped and humiliated in the cafeteria. And now he was asking me to prom? Guys are weird… "I mean if you don't want to that's fine…"

Finally I figured I would put him out of his misery. "Um… sure I guess I'll go with you to prom." He looked relieved and smiled

"Okay then I guess I'll go get our ticket. See you later!" Then he jogged away. What had I just gotten myself into?

I walked back to my dorm thinking of all the worst case scenarios. Now I just hoped I would make it through prom night alive.

I walked in to the room and Becca started talking "I got two of my assignments do- hey what's wrong?" she asked seeing the look on my face.

"Josh just asked me to prom." She looked as shocked as I felt.

"Josh that you yelled at and slapped across the face?" she asked. I nodded "What the heck? Guys are weird…"

I nodded again "That's exactly what I thought."

So on Wednesday I was walking with Shane to our classes like usual when all of the sudden he says.

"So Brooke I was wondering if you were going to prom..." he said. Oh gosh please don't let him ask me now! I still wanted to go with him but I couldn't just ditch Josh. "And if you were... Well I was wondering if you would maybe want to go with me…"

I put my face in my hands. I couldn't believe I was going to have to say this.

"Shane, I would have loved to go with you and I waited for you to ask me but I thought you weren't going to... so I accepted someone else's offer…" It got really awkward after that. I hated to see that disappointed look on his face. "I'm really sorry. I really wanted to go with you but..."

"No, I mean I understand. You snooze you lose." He said looking sad "I'll see you later" and he walked away.

"Bye..."

Prom day, all day my emotions were a mix of being nervous and excited. For some reason I had a feeling, I couldn't shake. A feeling that something bad was going to happen.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I seemed so plain, brown hair that did nothing it just hung there straight shoulder length. Blue eyes, the only thing I liked because when I'm in the sun they look brighter and stick out.

I asked Becca to make me beautiful, nothing like myself. I asked for a complete change. When she was done, I realized she definitely achieved that goal. The girl looking back at me in the mirror looked like an angel; she looked nothing like me but seemed to follow all my actions so she must be me.

"Thank you so much Becca!" I told her, still staring at my reflection.

"No problem Hun. You look amazing." She said smiling

Shane POV

I really messed it up with Brooke. If I'd have just asked her instead of being stupid and nervous, she would be with me right now. I decided to go to prom anyway. Maybe I would get to dance with her once.

I was walking to the gym where they had everything set up when someone bumped into me.

"Hey, watch it!" Lea said. "Look who it is. Guess even Brooke ditched you now huh?" Lea had on a short scarlet red dress. I ignored her comment because seeing her in that color triggered a memory. A memory from when I was twelve, the night my brother died… A flash of red outside the window of my brothers room. Pieces slowly clicked together until I saw the full picture.

"It was you…" I said

"Excuse me?" she said in her bitchy way

"You killed my brother." I said more clearly this time. I continued, not giving her a chance to respond. Thoughts were going through my head so quick I had to speak them all so I didn't forget. "When we were little our parents knew each other, but they hated each other. Like a never ending feud, they were always finding a way to hurt the other. They took it too far the last time. That's when they had you do it wasn't it?

"I never realized how screwed up they were until now. They wanted to hurt them so bad that they killed my parents favorite son." I was talking so fast I had to stop and breathe.

Lea just looked at me like she didn't car that I knew "Congratulations, you figured it out. So what are you going to do now? Tell the police? Nobody will believe you, especially after all these years. There is no proof other than your word. And you want to know what happened? Okay, they taught me how to do it without getting caught. And why me and not one of them you might ask. Well who is going to suspect a 12 year old girl of murder? Well now you know everything but like I said you can't do anything with the information. And as for telling Brooke, Even if she tells someone, they could just think that you lied to her. So I guess you're screwed." She smiled at me in a way that made her look evil and walked away. Sadly I knew she was right. I was known as the murderer, why would they think I wouldn't lie too?

Right behind where Lea had been standing was Brooke. She looked shocked.

"She was right I would not have guessed that…" she said "But luckily the people at the police station won't have to." I looked at her questioningly. She held up her phone "I got here at the beginning of her major confession and recorded it."

I hugged her tightly "Brooke, you are a genius! Thank you! So where is your date?" I asked looking around

"He got in a fight and wasn't allowed to attend." She shrugged. "So if it's not too late for me… would you like to go to prom with me?" she laughed. I looked at her and saw how beautiful she looked and couldn't believe that someone that amazing liked me.

"Of course. And by the way you look amazing." I held my arm out for her. She took it.

"For the record you don't look too bad yourself." She said and we walked to the dance together. It seemed that some things in my life were finally going right.

Brooke POV

When we walked into prom everyone stared, but we ignored it. People usually did when Shane and I were around like they were afraid that we were going to randomly go on a killing spree.

I pulled Shane straight to the dance floor but when I did a slow song came on. Shane and I both looked at each other shyly. I decided then that I was going to get over my shyness. I started with dancing.

"Would you like to dance?" I said smiling

He smiled "I'd love to" For the rest of the night after that nothing was awkward. We could completely be ourselves and not have to hide our feelings.

So Lea ended up going to prison. When the cops came and picked her up, everybody was looking like it was some kind of show, Lea trying to resist and shouting threats at people was kind of interesting.

I looked at Shane and he looked slightly sad "You okay?"

He nodded "You know, I know this sounds weird but in a way I forgive her. I mean when you're a kid you will do anything your parents tell you just to make them happy." I understood. I leaned against his shoulder as we watched the cop car drive away.