Moonlite Proposal

It's five days till prom and Claire Meyer is watching all her friends get asked to prom while she waits for her chance.

Prom is in five days. Everyone is going crazy, including me. Sure, I haven’t been asked yet, but I know I’m going to be asked. My long time crush/one of my best friends has been hinting for a while now about prom at both our schools.

“So, has he asked you yet?” my best friend, Dana Fortune asks me, popping out of nowhere. We’re both at my locker.

I sigh. “Not yet. He and I haven’t seen each other in such a long time. Only we’ve called, texted, email, and skype each other. Not all the time, though, because we’ve both been busy,” I admit.

She shakes her head. “Jeez, Claire, you and Walter are practically a couple. You guys go on dates all the time,” she tells me. I grab my books and we head off to first period gym class to meet up with our friend Alissa Lewis. “Don’t even try to deny it, because you know it’s true. Every time he’s in town, or when you spend the weekend at your grandparents’ house, you guys always go out or hang together.”

We arrive to the door to the locker room. It sounds loud before we even enter. I don’t even want to enter. As we enter the locker room, the lower classmen are jabbing away about school and a couple of them are talking about what dresses they will buy for prom. They are so dumb.

We leave the locker room and spot Alissa. She’s standing right by the bleachers. We wave at her.

“Hey guys, are you excited about prom coming up?” she asks us.

Alissa has a boyfriend of six years. He hasn’t officially asked her out to prom yet, but we all know they’re going together.

Dana sighs. “Well, I got a ‘T’ today in my locker.” So for the past week, Dana’s been getting these letters in her locker twice a day. On the back of each one, it gives a little thing that this guy likes about her. “Last Monday I got ‘M’ and ‘E’. Last Tuesday, ‘P’ and another ‘E’. Last Wednesday, ‘O’ and ‘A’. Last Thursday, ‘D’ and another ‘M’. Last Friday, ‘R’ and ‘B’. And today I got ‘T’. I have no idea what it means and who it’s from!”

We shrug our shoulders. “I don’t know what to tell you, Dee. Maybe you will find out today,” I suggest.

“Okay, everyone, come over here, we are playing dodgeball!” one of our gym teachers, Mr. Hopkins calls out. We walk slowly to the rest of the class. “Hurry up, girls, we don’t have all day!”

“What’s up his a*s?”  our other best friend Kaitlyn Redford whispers. She has just walked into the gym late as usual. We all shrug.

I go up to Mr. Hopkins. “Ally, Dana, Kate, and I are all going to be on one team for dodgeball and everyone else will be separated from their friends. Seniors should stay on the same team, anyways.” I tell him.

He shakes his head. “Fine, just because it’s your last couple of months left in PE, and you guys are a great team, so yes, you are all on the same team,” he says.

I smile. I walk back over to my friends. “I got us on the-” Ding! My phone cuts me off.

“Ohh, did Walter just text you?” Dana says. I’m blushing. I don’t want to text him because I’m in class, but it’s Walter. “Let me read what he texted!”

“No!” I say.

She reaches for my phone. “Come on!”

“Hell no, he’s texting me!”

Ally and Kate hold me down while Dana takes my phone from my pocket. “Walter texted you. He texted; ‘Hey, Mey, I get home around seven tonight and I’ll be home until Monday, so I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight or something. I would love to see you tonight. BTW I would say wear something pretty, but you always look beautiful to me <3.’”

My friends release me. “Give me my phone!” I growl. Dana gives it back. I read the text. She wasn’t lying. He really texted me the romantic text. I’m excited that he’ll be home for prom. My heart starts to melt and a smile spreads on my face.

“You like him!” Ally and Dana sing.

“No!” I say in denial.

“Don’t worry, when you see him, you can tap that,” Kate says.

The three of us look at her. “Ew, gross!”

The balls are set out for dodgeball. We get to our side. As the game begins, balls start flying. We dodge them with ease. Then one comes straight at Ally. She catches the ball.

“Wait!” Dana calls out. She grabs the ball from Ally’s hand. “There’s a note on it!”

We crowd around Dana. It says, “I hope you’ll be a good sport and go to prom with me, it’s will be a ball’.” We gasp.

“Will you?” we hear behind us. We turn around and see Ryan Marshall, Ally’s boyfriend standing there with a bouquet of flowers. “Will you go to prom with me,  Alissa Lewis? I love you and I want to make the happiest girl in the world and you deserve prom. So, will you?”

Ally bites her lip. Tears form in her eyes. “Yes,” she whispers. A smile forms on her lips. “Yes, Ryan, I would love to go to prom with you.”

Ryan pulls Ally into a passionate kiss. Everyone in the class starts clapping while Kate makes innapropriate comments.

After gym, I see my friend Raven in the hallway. “Hey, Claire, can we talk?” she asks me.

“Sure, what’s up?” I ask.

She takes a breath. “Well, you know how prom is this Friday,” I nod. “Well, I really want to ask one of my drama guy friends who I really like out to prom. I just need your help.”

I smile. Raven Temperance is one of my best friends and I love helping people with their promposals. “Of course I will help. When do you need me?” I ask her.

“I will get you out of sixth period. Meet me in the auditorium after government class. Also, Tresi will be joining us,” she tells me. I nod. She and I will be getting out of french class.

“Okay, see you then.”

As I’m walking away I hear her call out, “So, has your private school boyfriend asked you to prom yet?”

“No!”

I sit in the booth with the lead tech guy, Drew Tresta. Drew set the lights perfectly to a dim pink red colour. The stage, which some of Raven’s drama club friends helped set up for her. There are four fake trees set up. A log for her and Willy to sit on. There is a picnic cloth set out with an amazing lunch set out. Best of all, there are a bunch flower petals spread around.  

“You ready to put on the music?” Drew asks me.

I nod. “Yes, I was born ready,” I hook my ipod up to the sound system. “So, why are you helping Raven out anyways? I didn’t know you two were close?”

Drew shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe because she asked me and we’re really good friends from drama club. Also, she helped me ask Monica Roth to prom, so I feel that I owe her one.”

Oh Monica, that pretty girl. “Oh, Monica, I didn’t know you and Monica had a thing going on,” I say nonchalantly. Monica is a pretty brunette with an athletic body.

Drew presses a few buttons on the sound board. I give him a weird look. “So, we can hear what they are talking about but they can’t hear us,” he answers my question. I nod, clicking on a classical piece to play. “Yeah, Mon and me have been flirting for a while. Raven helped me set up the spot for the perfect date and carved out out of broken tree branches and fallen trees ‘Be My Prom Date’.”

“Awe, that’s so romantic, did she say yes?” I ask dumbly.

Drew laughs. “Of course she did!” he cries out. “So, have you been asked to prom yet?”

I shake my head no. “No, not yet,” my voice softens. I try not to cry. The more and more I’m asked about being asked out, the less I believe Walter is going to ask me to prom. “Um, I am hopefully soon...”

Drew opens his mouth to respond when from onstage we hear, “Hello! Is anyone here?”

We look to see William Khoney on stage. He’s wearing a short sleeved black polo shirt, a pair of dark jeans, and a pair of black sneakers. His curly short dirty blonde hair looks extra taken care of today.

“Why am I here?” he calls out.

Raven comes on stage wearing a maroon coloured skaters dress and black flats. Her reddish brown has been flat ironed. She looks actually normal. “Hello, Willy, I invited you here, because I remember you mentioning to me that you missed lunch, so I thought maybe we could have lunch together.” Raven looks very nervous.

Will smiles. “Thank you for being concerned. I am rather hungry, so I would love to have lunch with you,” he says, sitting on the log. “And thank you for getting me out of English, god, I hate that class.”

Raven sits next to him with a picnic basket. “Here,” she hands him a sandwich. She pulls out a sandwich for herself. “It’s no big deal. Plus I know that everyone hates Ms. Carlton’s class, I know I did two years ago,” she’s blushing.

For a while, they are quiet. Drew and I sit there awkwardly. Neither of us having the guts to talk, just like Ray and Will.

“Um, sorry if I made you feel bad about not being asked yet...” Drew says awkwardly.

I smile weakly. “It’s okay, I know you weren’t trying to be rude, you just wanted to know. I asked you if you were going, so it was only fair,” I make an excuse.

Drew steps closer to me. I feel his breath on my skin. It gets all prickly. “I know someone special is going to ask you to prom. You’re beautiful, funny, smart, and such a caring person.” I lean in closer to him, our lips almost touching. “And I bet you’re an amazing kisser.” He closes the gap between our lips.

My mind starts to race. Drew Tresta is kissing me. This feels so good but so wrong at the same time.

“I really like this song,” Will says. Drew and I pull away quickly. “Um, do you know the name of this song?”

Raven smiles. “Um, yes it’s

Raven smiles big. She’s such a classical and instrumental nerd. It’s actually funny how much she likes classical music. It’s her number one secret. “Of course, it's by thePianoGuys.” She pauses for a moment. “‘A Thousands of Years’. It’s a beautiful cover of Christina Perri's song. I love this song.”

Will smiles. “Um, do you maybe, um want to uh...” Will is fumbling over his words. He bites his lip. “Maybe...”

“He’s asking her to dance,” Drew whispers in my ear.

“Are you asking me if I want to dance?” Raven interprets. Will blushes and nods. Raven blushes too. “I would love to dance with you.”

They stand up. Will puts his hands on her waist and Raven puts her hands on his shoulders. They are super close together. They start to sway back and forth. Drew dims the lights a little and turns on the fireplace.

“Hey, I need to ask you something,” Raven says at the same time Will says, “Um, I need to tell you something.”

They burst into laughter. “Okay, okay you may go first, because as a gentleman, I believe you should go first,” Will says.

Raven gives me a signal. She want me to release the deer. I move away from Drew and grab the remote. Vincent the deer moves to in front of the couple. A sign pops out of the deer’s tail hole. It says, You would be a deer if you go to prom with me?

Will covers his mouth. Tears form in his eyes. “Yes, Rav, I would love to go to prom with you,” Raven smiles with tears in her eyes. Will pulls Rav close to him. “Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I have had a crush on you for a while now. Will you be my girlfriend?”

I cover my mouth. I had no idea that he was going to ask her to be in a relationship with him. The look on Drew’s face means that he didn’t know either. “I had no idea that he liked her like that. Not once did he ever tell me and I’m one of his best friends. He has his first crush,” Drew says.

“Yes, Willy, I will be your girlfriend!” Will pulls Rav into a long kiss.

I laugh. “First crush?” I ask Drew sarcastically. “I would say they are a lot more than crushes right now.”

Ding, my phone goes off again. Ugh, my calculus class is so boring today. I just want today to be over so I can go home and see you. I hate my class so much. So many stupid people. Walter has texted me.

I grin at my phone. I know what you mean, but I got out of French today to help Rav ask Will to prom, I respond.

“Why are you grinning? Are you texting your boyfriend?” Drew teases me.

I shake my head, blushing. “No, no, no,” I stutter. I bite my lip. I know Walter isn’t my boyfriend, but sometimes I wish he was. “No, Wally is my really good, best guy friend, that is away a lot. So, yeah.”

Ring, ring, ring, ring, the school bell rings. It’s time to head off to class. “You go, I have lunch this period,” Drew says.

I smile and walk about of the booth. Will and Raven are walking out of the auditorium holding hands and kissing each other quickly. Raven looks over at me and mouths, ‘Thank you.’ I nod back and head to class.

The whole way to lunch, Dana is on her phone texting away with someone. It’s starting to annoy me.

“Who the hell are you texting,” I ask Dana a little annoyed.

She just smiles at me. “No one special. Just a friend of mine, just helping them with some big plans.”

I shake my head. “God, you’re such a b***h!” I tell her. I’m afraid she might be getting a date before her secret admirer gets to.

“Who’s a b***h?” Kate asks as we walk up to the table.

I point at Dana. “Her!” Dana smirks. “She is texting someone and won’t tell me who it is!”

They all shrug their shoulders. “It's most likely private. We can't judge her.” I forget who says it.

I walk away. I get my food and sit back down at my lunch table. I ignore everyone at the table.

“Oh!” Dana says, breaking the silence. “ I forgot to tell you guys that I got another letter and a note.”

I look at her. “What did it say?” our really good friend, Shannon Donaldson asks. She’s sitting in between Dana.

Dana passes the letter and note to Shannon. I can see it’s the letter ‘Y’. “The note says, ‘Hey, Dana, I know these little notes twice a day the past week. I’m sorry but not sorry. Now you and your friends get to solve the puzzle and try to find out what I’m saying. You will love it, my blonde princess, your secret admirer.’. Wow, we have a job to do. I guess.”

Dana blushes and puts out the other letters to the center of the table. We spend twenty minutes trying to put the letters into words. After several tries, the gang almost has it down.

I pull out my phone. She has almost figured it out. U should come soon 2 ask her in person. I send the text.

“Wait!” Dana pushes everyone’s hands away. The letters are spread out to spell out those four little words. “It says, ‘BE MY PROM DATE’? Huh?”

I’m smiling as I see her crush tap her on the shoulder. She turns around. “I know that is was a little annoying, but as the most beautiful girl in the world, I thought you deserved a special note in your locker,” Wolfgang Morozov says. He’s a German native who moved here in the beginning of sophomore year.

“Oh my God,” Dana has tears in her eyes.

Wolfgang pulls out a box of chocolate. “Daniella Fortune, will you be my prom date?” he asks.

Dana nods her head. “Yes, I would love to be your prom date,” she chokes out. She pulls him into a hug. “Werden Sie mein Freund sein?”

“Ja, mein Liebling,” he laughs. He holds Dana close. “Your German has improved, babe.” Dana smiles. “Our lessons have been beneficial to you.”

“Yeah,” she smiles again. We all just watch. “Wait? How could you possibly come up with this idea to ask me?” she asks.

Wolfgang shrugs. “You know,” he points at me. “I might have asked your best friend a couple of months ago for some help.”

“Yes, I might have helped your new boyfriend some help on to ask him. But it wasn’t fully my idea, I just read about it in a fanfiction,” I say. Dana glares at me. “In my defense, I wanted to be a great friend and I’ve known you’ve liked him for so long.”

Shannon shakes her head. “And you called her the b***h?”

“You’ve allowed her to live through hell all this week?” Ally questions.

I shrug. “Well I forgive her because she was trying to do what’s best for me and wants me happy,” Dana says, looking at Wolfgang. “Which I am.”

“Now only Claire needs to find a date to prom,” Alicia mentions.

“Yup, I’m going with my cousin so you b*****s can have a great time,” Lena says, Kate’s cousin says.

“That's just great!” I murmur.

Hey, I just found out that I'm the only one in my group that doesn't has a date yet for prom. Isn't that wonderful? I text Walter.

Finally, the school day is over and I can go home. When the bus reached my stop, I run off the bus and into my house. I get to my room and decide to take a nap.

A couple hours later I wake up to a surprise. There is a little boy sitting on my floor watching some old movie on my tv.

“Um, whatcha doing here Zay?” I ask the boy. His short blonde hair shines. He turns around. His bright blue eyes shine.

“I was hungry,” he says.

I look at the clock. It's almost five thirty. I really need to get ready for my date but I can't just leave my little neighbor alone.

“Sure,” I say. “Let's get you something to eat.”

I get him a sandwich from the fridge. We sit in my room as I try to call his house.

“Please leave a message after the beep and I call you back when I can!”

“Damn it!” I shake my head. “Will, I know you're not home right this minute and Raven won't answer my texts. I wanted to let you know that Xanto is with me. He just showed up in my house.” I pause. Zay is looking through my dresses. “Please come soon because I have a date I need to get ready for. Thanks, bye.”

Zay hands me a short, shirt going out, dark pink dress. I would have picked that dress out too for my date.

“Wear that with....” He goes under my bed and pulls out a pair of  silver sandals. “These.”

I quickly change into the outfit. “Wow,” I say, looking in the mirror. I look good, I think. “What do you think I should do with my hair?”

“Down with curls,” he states. I pull out my curlers. As quick as possible I put them in. “Who's Walter Hogan blue heart pink heart?”

Zay has my phone. “Give me that!” I snatch the phone out of his hand. He starts to tear up. “I'm sorry, but I want to see what he messaged me.” He nods, understanding. I give him a hug.

Hey, Mey, I'm almost home and I was thinking that we should have our date at seven thirty at our favourite spot. Phone’s about to die so see you then, my angel. He texted me.

Awe, I'm smiling, of course, sorry for the late reply but I'm just watching the neighbor kid. Can't wait.

The clock says it’s a little before seven. Our spot is a good walk away.

“What about makeup? Zay, what should I do?” I ask.

He laughs. “You don't need makeup, you're too pretty for that mud,” he says. “But wear lipgloss so when you kissy your boyfriend, your lips taste fruity.”

I laugh. “Come on, let me get you into something cute too.”

I change Zay into a white button down, blue dress shirts and a bow tie. He looks adorable in my opinion.

“Okay, now let's go find your brother!” I say picking up my purse. I have my essentials in it.

We walk out of my house and go to his house. I knock once and enter the house. The Khoneys have a fancy house. They aren't rich or anything, just know how to spend their money and save.

“Hello?!” I call out. There are footsteps running down the stairs.

In comes Will, a sweaty mess. “Oh my God, thank you so much,” he says when he sees Zay. He looks he’s been crying. “I don’t know how I allowed him to get away. We decided to play hide and seek. I was counting to a hundred, like he said. When I was done, he was gone. I searched everywhere. I was worried!”

I glare at Zay. “Um, excuse me young man, but you didn’t tell me that you left your house!” I yell at Zay. “Xanto Khoney! Apologise to your brother and me!”

He whimpers. “I’m sorry for not telling you the whole story and running away. I was a really bad boy,” he apologises.

I sigh and accept. Will just shakes his head. “I’m so sorry that he was a pain in the neck. I know you have a date to get to,” Will says.

I look at the clock. It’s seven-seventeen. Damn, I think. “Shoot, I have thirteen minutes to get to my date and I don’t have my car, it’s in the shop and my parents aren’t home yet!” I cry.

Will puts a hand on my shoulder. “If it helps, my mom’s car is here, because her co-worker picked her up today.” Will suggests.

I gasp. “You’ll let me drive your car?” I ask.

“No,” he says. My head drops. “My mom would be pissed if I let someone take the car, but I can drive you.” Zay looks at him. “But I can’t leave Xanto home alone, so he has to come with us.”

My phone buzzes. I check and see that Drew texted me. ‘Don’t tell anyone about what happened between us!’ I shake my head, regretting that kiss and following Will to the car, with Zay following behind.

In no time, we are on the road, listening to oldies music. Zay started screaming until we turned it on. I don’t actually mind oldies music, anyways. It calms my nerves as we dive to my date. This date feels different than all of the others.

We finally pull up to the spot in the woods where most high schoolers get high after school and have sex. To Walter and me, it’s a place where we can easily can get to and check up without question. It’s right by the elementary school, so we can say we are hanging out on the playground or walk into town.

There is a candle lit picnic laying on the ground. A violinist, a cellist, a flutist, and a pianist all sit together playing a song. I bite my lip. This looks so fancy. Lights are strung up above me.

“Hey,” I hear behind me.

I turn around and make eye contact with Walter. My heart starts pounding and my breath shortens. There he is standing in front of me. He’s wearing a forest green coloured button up that’s tucked into his black slacks, dress shoes, and a black bow tie. His dark hair is gelled back. God, he looks handsome.

“Woah,” I say.

He smiles at me. “I think that was about to be my line, too,” he says. He takes my hand. “Seriously, Mey, you look absolutely gorgeous.”  

“Thank you,” I say blushing.

“Come, I made us some dinner,” he leads me to the picnic blanket on the ground. “For dinner, I was thinking we could have some lamb chops and a side of chinese chicken fried rice. And for dessert, chocolate covered strawberries.”

I lick my lips. “That sounds amazing,” I gush. We sit down side by side. I take a bite of the lamb, it’s delicious.

“So, how was school today? Anything special today?” Walter breaks the silence between us.

“Um,” I stumble on my words. “Well, Ally and Dana both got asked out to prom and I helped out my friend Raven ask my neighbor to prom. And after my nap, I found my little neighbor, Zay, in my room watching tv.”

He laughs, bringing his glass of sparkling lemonade to his lips. “No, way. That’s a lie. How could a little kid break into your house?”

“Yes way,” I say laughing with him. “Seriously, I wake up from a long, stressful day of school and find a five year old kid watching some old black and white movie. He wanted food, so I made him some and he helped me pick out my outfit.”

He takes my hand again, entwining our fingers together. “Remind me to thank Zay for helping you look amazing, even though you always look amazing.”

I blush again. I move closer to him. “Well, I had a feeling tonight was going to be special, so I tried extra hard to look good for you,” I say. I rest my head on his shoulder.

“Hey, why don’t I get the strawberries and we could have them. I know how much you like chocolate,” he says. He leans over and grabs a basket of chocolate covered strawberries. “Here,” he puts a strawberry in my mouth. I take a bite.

“Oh my god, this is amazing,” I groan. Walter laughs at me. “Don't laugh, I'm serious. Are these dark chocolate covered strawberries?”

He smiles. “Of course, I’ve listen to you on our chocolate conversations,” he says. “Milk chocolate is pretty good, dark chocolate is the best, and white chocolate isn’t chocolate, it’s cream.” I laugh, loving how he remember that conversation. “You’ve said it’s utter crap, white chocolate.”

“I have said that, yes,” I’m blushing like crazy. “And you’ve remember that, wow.” I bite my lip, unsure what to say.

“Well, yes, I try to remember a lot of our conversations,” he leans in closer. “Because you’re that special,” he whispers in my ear.

I smile at him, unable to come with something.

Walter stands up, brushing the dirt off his pants. “Would you like to dance with me,” he says, hand outstretched. I take his hand and he pulls me up. I hit into his chest. “Oyff!”

“Oh, my, Wally, I’m so sorry if I just hurt you,” I say with concern.

He smiles, pulling me closer to him. I rest my head on his chest. One hand slips into mine, the other one caresses my face. My other hand go to his back. “I’m fine, just a little, um, it took my breathe away....” he trails. We start swaying back and forth. “.....but you always take my breathe away.”

I bite my lip, trying not to smile, but failing. “Holy crap, that’s one of the sweetest things you’ve ever said to me, Wally,” I say. I look up at Wally and his eyes show love in them. I have easily fallen in love with those eyes.

“Yeah.” The tune starts to play is familiar.

“My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody that this is your song

It maybe quite simple but now that it's done

Hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you're in the world”

I can’t believe that the guy I’m crazily in love is serenading me. And it’s my favourite song, too.

“Sat on the roof and I kicked off the moss

Well, some of the verses, well, they got me quite cross

But the sun's been kind while I wrote this song

It's for people like you that keep it turned on”

I love the sound of his singing. He keeps swaying us around, the music filling the air around us.

So excuse me for forgetting but these things I do

You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue

Anyway the thing is, well, I really mean

Wally twirls me. I smile, I’ve never been twirled before, I’ve twirled kids, but never me. I like this feeling. Suddenly, I think about my kiss with Drew earlier today. Guilt fills my veins. Somehow I feel like I’ve betrayed Wally by kissing Drew.

Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

“I have to be honest with you,” I say to Wally, the guilt of kissing a guy who isn’t Wally is killing me. “Drew Testa kissed me today in school.”

There is hurt in his eyes. “Oh,” is all he says.

He doesn’t pull away from me. We stand still, no longer dancing. “I’m sorry, but it happened so fast. We were in the booth, talking, he asked about prom, made me feel bad, apologised, then he kissed me. I’m so sorry!” I explain.

He takes a deep breath. Tears fill my eyes. I don’t want to loose the greatest guy ever, who may be interested in me. “Wow, I can’t believe that a*s kissed you,” he says angrily. He looks at me. “Hey, don’t cry. I believe it was his fault. But I need to know one thing.”

“What!” I scream in his face.

“Did the kiss mean anything that you had to tell me,” he says, his voice edgy. He looks away, like he’s ashamed of me.

“It meant nothing to me, I promise,” I say, telling the truth. “Drew texted me earlier, warning me not to tell anyone. He has a girlfriend and I have you, and what we are is better than anything.” I rub my thumb against his hand, trying to be comforting.

“Are you serious?” he asks. I nod my head, biting my lip so I don’t cry. “Hey, don't cry, I hate it when you cry. I believe that it meant nothing. You didn’t want to come out later on in the future, right?”

I nod, using one hand to wipe away the tears. “Yes, I really like you and whatever happens between the two of us in the future, I don’t want it to be ruined by a stupid kiss from a techie.” The upset look on Walter’s face goes away. “You’re the only guy I want to be with...” I stop for a second. His expression lights up. “I would love to hear you finish the song. I love your singing voice.”

He laughs. “Anything for my girl,” he says, pulling me close again. I rest my head against his beating heart. God, I’m in love with this guy, I think.

And you can tell everybody this is your song

It may be quite simple but now that it's done

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you're in the world

I stay quiet as I dance with Wally. No matter what happens between us, I know I feel safe in his arms. I promise myself if he doesn’t ask me to prom by the end of the night, I’m going to ask him.

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you're in the world

When the is song over, the musicians start playing another song that sounds like a song Raven showed me.

I look at Wally with love. “My God, you are a beautiful singer, why don’t you sing often?”  I ask him. We are still dancing.

He blushes. “I don’t know, I’ve never thought I had a nice singing voice. Plus I only sing for lovely girls, like you,” he stumbles on his words. “But there’s a special intention for tonight’s date.”

“Oh, we are calling this a date?” I say sexily.

He laughs. “Of course this is a date. We have been going on dates for a few years now,” he says, leaning in. I feel electricity between the two of us. “I wanted to ask you something very important.”

I move my hands to behind his neck. “What might that be?” I ask. Excitement is coursing through my veins.

“I was wondering,” he’s very close to me. “If you wanted to go to,” our lips are really close, “prom with me?” I lean in closer, our lips barely touching. “As my girlfriend?”

I grab the collar of his shirt. “Yes!” I pull him into a kiss. I close my eyes. I’ve dreamed of this moment for a long time. My hands tangle in his hair. His hands rub up and down the small exposed part of my back. This kiss is so heated, I never want it to end. It says so many things, that we’ve been afraid to say for years now.

“Wow...now we're making things official,” Walter comments, pulling away.

“It's always been official,” I remind him.

“True but if now you have a name....it makes it more official.”

“Maybe I've always had that name, you've just never realised it before until now.”

“Oh,” he pauses. “Aha,” he’s smiling, trying to catch his breath. “I can’t believe I can say that Claire Meyer is my girlfriend.”

I smile too. “Yeah,” I say, snuggling up against my new boyfriend. “I’m Walter Hogan’s girlfriend.” I reach up and kiss him quickly. “I can’t believe we’re dating.”

“I love you,” he says.

I stare at him. Do I love Wally? I think. I waited too long to say something by the look on Walter’s face. “I love you, too.” And I mean it.

“Congratulations!” I hear behind us.

I turn around to see Dana, Raven, and a couple other friends come out of nowhere. They seem happy to see this.

“Were you guys involved in this?” I ask my friends, making Wally and I walk closer to them. We’re holding hands.

Dana smirks. “Of course,” she says. “He’s been planning this for weeks. He’s the one I was texting earlier. I wanted to help him out. Because I know how much you like him and want you happy.”

Raven raises her hand. “I helped too!” she says, proudly. “I got some of my band friends to come and play. And I got them to learn ‘Your Song’ by Elton John and ‘Moonlite’ from the Piano Guys.”

“Who got you here?” Will says, with Zay next to him.

Wally nods at all of them. “And thank you everyone for helping me. This has gone wonderfully for both of us because of you all,” he says to them. “I’m lucky enough to have this beautiful lady.” He leans down and kisses me again.

“Do you need to go tux shopping tomorrow after school with me?” I ask Wally, breaking the kiss.

He shakes his head. “Nope, I went tux shopping a while ago, with some friends. You sent me a picture of your dress when you first got it about two months ago. I’ve been waiting since that day you sent me the picture of you looking beautiful in your midnight blue dress for me to ask you to prom.”

Tears fill my eyes. “That’s so sweet.” I kiss his cheek. “I love you so much,” I say, knowing we are way past I-like-you. I pull out my phone to see what time it is. “Damn, it’s almost eleven and I still have homework to do!”

Wally smiles. “No worries,” he says. He whistles and a horse comes into view. “Need a ride, princess?” He hops on and I follow him.

As we head off into the sunset, I think about how excited I am for prom and how lucky I am to have my prince charming finally sweep me off my feet.