The only thing that dulls my happiness is the thought of the girl waiting for my call to tell her what happened. The girl I love, and the one who will be miles away from me once the semester starts.
Grandpa is wrong about only one thing, I’ve never had it all, and this time seems to be no exception.
FIFTY-FIVE
The Prom
- RAQUEL -
Bittersweet . . .
That’s how the news feels when Ares tells me what happened with his grandpa. I’m happy for him, even though the selfish part of me is kind of sad.
Now it’s real: we’re going to be separated. Just imagining being away from him makes my chest feel tight, cutting off my breath. Yet I know it’s his dream. I know it’s what he wants, and I would never do anything to stop him.
But boy, does it hurt.
“Raquel? Are you listening to me?”
Dani’s voice sounds far away even though she’s right next to me.
“Ah, sorry, my mind is elsewhere.”
“It’s our prom day, try to be present.” She touches her forehead to emphasize that my mind needs to stop spinning and enjoy this day. Part of me can’t believe that my senior year of high school is coming to an end, and that summer is here again, heralding almost a year since I first spoke to Ares.
“My love!” I hear from behind me, and I don’t have to turn around to know who it is. Dani rolls her eyes.
“Here comes your intense prince,” she teases as strong arms grab me from behind.
“My Juliet, my beautiful, my everything,” Carlos whispers dramatically. I pull his arms off me and face him.
“Carlos, what have I told you about hugging me all the time?”
If Ares knew . . .
Carlos pouts. “But hugging is a normal thing between future spouses.”
“Future spouses. . . . You get crazier every day.” Dani rolls her eyes and grabs him by the ear as usual.
“Ow!” Carlos groans in pain but still manages to make eyes at her. “Crazier with love, you mean.” Dani squeezes his ear again. “Ow! Ow!”
“You’re so cheesy.” Dani lets him go, falsely retching. Carlos rubs his ear.
“How are you spending prom day?” I ask, leaning my back against my locker.
“It feels like any other day,” he replies.
Dani sighs and gives me a sad look. Carlos takes our hands.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be great,” he reassures us, making me smile. Carlos is such a sweet and contagiously cheerful person. I really will miss him.
Nostalgia hits me by surprise. In a few weeks, there’ll be no more of these hallways, no more of my lifelong classmates, no more of Carlos’s craziness, and no more conversations in class before the teacher arrives. It’s really coming to an end. Not only will I be leaving high school, but I’ll be leaving this town to live in the residence halls on a college campus. I’m leaving all of this behind, and a part of me is terrified. Luckily, Dani and Yoshi are going to the same school as me. I won’t be separated from them. I’ll just have to separate from him.
My Greek god . . .
I push those thoughts away. They’re too painful.
Carlos clears his throat.
“I know it’s a silly question, but will you go to prom with me?” he asks. I give him a friendly smile.
“Carlos . . .”
Dani slips an arm around my shoulder, hugging me sideways.
“I’m sorry, Casanova, she’s already coming with me.”
Dani and I decided to be each other’s date when we realized we didn’t have one. Ares has to attend his own high school prom, not ours.
Carlos grunts.
“Ah, don’t tell me you’re going to do that best friend thing, how boring,” he complains. Dani smiles mischievously at him.
“Well, yes, neither of us has a partner to go with, so it’s done.”
Carlos makes eyes at me. I give Dani a kiss on the cheek and look at him.
“I’m sorry. I’m her bitch tonight.”
“I knew you guys had a hidden relationship,” he says.
At that moment, Joshua joins us, adjusting his glasses.
“Joshua!” Carlos grabs him by the shoulders dramatically. “They’re going to prom together. Tell them not to. Tell Raquel to go with me.”
Yoshi sighs, placing his hands over Carlos’s.
“Carlos, I don’t know if you remember that she has a boyfriend. Tall guy? Captain of a soccer team? And I’m pretty sure he’ll kick your ass if you go with her.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” Carlos says, letting go of Yoshi. “Love makes me bold.”
Yoshi pats him on the shoulder.
“You’ll be pretty beaten up if you go with her.”
Dani moves away from the wall where she was leaning.
“Class is finally over. It’s time to go, we have to get ready for tonight.”
“For what?” Carlos pouts. “You don’t have a boy to impress.”
“We don’t need one,” she says with determination. “We don’t have to get ourselves pretty just to impress a guy; we enjoy looking in the mirror and admiring our own beauty.”
“Oh, someone went deep,” Carlos says. Yoshi nods in agreement.
We say good-bye to the boys and walk down the hallway toward the exit. It’s time to get ready for prom.
“Ohhhhhh!” Dani and I sing at the top of our lungs in the middle of the dance floor. That red cocktail definitely has alcohol in it. I don’t know how they managed to sneak it in, but I’m not complaining.
It’s our fucking prom.
Dani sings to me and offers me her red plastic cup for a toast. My best friend looks wonderful in a low-cut black dress that matches her dark hair, and great makeup. I’ve always admired her cheekbones and her facial structure; her face is so compelling. It’s no wonder she’s had a couple of modeling jobs with her mom’s agency. Dani was born for it.
For my part, I’m wearing a red dress that’s tight in the waist and fits my hips nicely, but it’s loose from there on down.
We grab the edges of our dresses to jiggle better. We’re crazy, but we’re having a great time. Dani picks up her phone and records a Snapchat or Instagram story of us dancing, showing off our glasses with a bunch of hashtags, among those #WeDontNeedBoys, #AlcoholAtProm, and #OoopsWeDidItAgain. I laugh as I watch her put her cell phone down to send it; however, her expression changes as she looks at her phone, her eyebrows almost knitting together. Her eyes meet mine, and I give her the what’s-up look.
She clicks on someone’s Instagram story and hands me her phone. The first thing I see is Ares’s face. He looks perfect in the suit he’s wearing, with a dark colored tie that you can’t quite see in the photo because it’s dark where he is. In other circumstances, I would have enjoyed a chance to look at him, but now it has the opposite effect, and I feel my good mood evaporate.
He’s not alone.
Natalie is next to him, and they look too close to each other for my taste, their cheeks almost touching in order to appear in the selfie. Her hashtags only make the situation worse: #WithTheHidalgo, #FutureDoctor, #HotterThanEver, and #WhatHappensHereStaysHere. I feel heat wash over my face, and my stomach clenches with what I recognize as jealousy. Dani reaches over to scream in my ear over the music.
“I’m sure she did it on purpose.”
Oh, I know she did, but I’m still seething. Jealousy is so nasty. It fuels my imagination and different images of the two of them kissing, touching, and dancing together cross my mind. I shake my head because I’m sure that won’t happen, and I trust him. However, I can’t deny the discomfort I feel because I know they have a history together.
We leave the dance floor, and I grab my phone.
Don’t act immature, Raquel, I think as I compose a text to Ares.
Me: How are you doing?
He doesn’t reply immediately and that bothers me even more. He must be having such a good time that he’s not responding to me. God, I have to stop thinking like that.
My phone vibrates with a response:
Ares <3: Cool, I only need you here to make everything perfect.
Me: Who are you with?
Ares <3: With the entire school . . . ?