I wrote this chapter three different times. And in one, I wrote Kai instead of Tala. Crazy stuff! Hopefully this end result is amazing. This is loosely based on my own Prom experience, although what happened at mine was much more dramatic, haha. Ah, the good old days...

Chapter 24: Prom Night

Tala sat on the couch one day when Keera was gone, looking through a course catalog for NYU. He had sent in an intent to enroll form to both the community college and NYU, but as far as Keera knew, he was going to the community college. He loved Keera, and he didn't want to move away from her for four years while he was away at school, but New York was his home.

Tala looked up from the catalog when he heard the doorknob rattle, quickly hiding the catalog under a pillow before Keera came inside.

"What was that?"

"What?"

Keera went over and pulled the catalog out from behind the pillow. Her eyes saddened as she took in what it was.

"I thought... I thought you were going to stay here."

"I still haven't decided."

"Oh."

"Look, I don't want to leave you. I want to go to school with you and still see you every day. But I feel like I'm going to go crazy if I stay here! And NYU is a great school, and I don't... We'd still see each other all of the time, and I'd be getting a really good education."

"I... I wish you would stay here with me, but I guess... I mean, if you really want to go to... NYU, I'd understand. It'll be really hard, though."

"But we'd still be together, and maybe some distance would be good for us. We fight all of the time, maybe if we see each less for awhile, we'll fight less."

"Maybe."

"I don't know. I haven't made a choice yet."

Tala's mom went with Tala and Keera over to Johnny's house, where they took tons of pre-Prom pictures. Tala and Keera, Johnny and Gabi, Bryan and Cassie, Evan and Sherrie, and Ian were all going in the same limo to their un Rendezvous a Paris themed Prom.

They got to the location and walked down the red carpet, showing their school ID with their bid before being searched.

"Wow... It's so big," Keera exclaimed. They were outside and there were tons of white round tables and white folding chairs with a food bar at both ends of the area. Over in the back were cameras and picturesque backgrounds for the pictures. The group went over there first because the girls wanted to do pictures before all the dancing messed up their hair and make-up.

After that they went inside. It was dark, but lights shone on the white walls with decorations of the Eiffel Tower and other French things. The tables inside covered half of the room, draped in black tablecloths with Eiffel Tower statues and flowers. There was another food bar off to the side, and on the other end of the room, where there were no tables, was the DJ booth.

For a while, Keera socialized with her friends, commenting on sparkly dresses and fancy hairstyles, dragging Tala behind her. After that, Tala and Keera danced together most of the night, unless they needed food or water. It was really nothing special, but it meant the world to Keera, and seeing Keera smile was all Tala cared about. He was glad to be with her, to be at Prom with her, to be the reason she was happy.

They went back to Johnny's house after Prom. His parents had left and a party had started. The lights were dim and music pumped through the house. Johnny and Gabi were nowhere to be found and almost every person there was tipsy, if not more. Keera and Tala were still dancing, until someone passed out into them.

"Wanna get out of here," Tala whispered in Keera's ear. His warm breath on her neck sent shivers down her spine as she nodded. They got back to the apartment around four in the morning. Keera barely got her dress off before falling onto Tala's bed. Tala climbed on top of her, pressing his lips against hers.

"I love you so much, Tala."

"I love you too."

Keera woke up the next morning and stretched lazily, searching for the clock. It was just past one in the afternoon and Tala was still asleep beside her. She slid out of bed and covered herself with a robe before retreating to the kitchen.

Tala woke up a little later, immediately noticing that Keera was gone, but not worried. He lay in bed for a while, before finding his phone to call Johnny.

"You get lucky last night, Johnny?"

"Shut up, Tala. I'm totally fucked."

"Your house totally trashed?"

"No man, the cleaning fairies came in and the place is spotless."

"I'll come over in a bit and help out, all right?"

"Thanks man."

"See you."

Keera came back into the room with a tray full of food. She put the tray down in front of Tala and rejoined him on the bed, leaning over for a kiss.

"I made breakfast for you."

"Did you have fun at Prom?"

"Nothing could have made it better."