Page 62 of The Promposal

“Yep. Anybody can go to that French place you loved. But I looked into the history of this hotel and found out that no prom has ever been held here before. We are the first. No matter how many schools come after, we’ll always be the first ones. And that makes it pretty special.”

“You’re what’s making it special.” One of the DJ’s lights hit the chandelier just above us, turning it pink and purple for a brief moment. “I can’t believe how different this place is from the last time we were here.”

“Yeah, last time they’d been focusing on the stuff you don’t see. Electrical, plumbing, installing the state-of-the-art kitchens. Which, by the way, two of Shoshana’s dad’s best chefs are back there in that kitchen cooking for us right now.”

I heard excited voices, and I turned to see all the members of our student government arriving. The freshmen and sophomores would be taking tickets and helping out with the refreshment tables, making sure they were stocked. They worked so that the juniors and seniors could enjoy the dance. There were also some underclassmen from the yearbook and the school newspaper, ready to take pictures of this fabulous event.

Ella arrived about ten minutes later and ran over to me. “Jennifer texted me about Jake finally asking you! How amazing was your promposal?” she asked with a squeal.

“Beyond amazing. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

A song with a serious beat started, and Ella grabbed my hand. “Let’s go dance!”

I kicked off my high heels and followed her. It wasn’t quite time for the rest of the students to arrive, and we were the only ones on the dance floor. But we didn’t dance to impress anyone or to get attention. My sister and I were dancing it out—all our excitement and happiness, the way we’d been able to overcome all the obstacles that the universe had thrown in our way. We were young and awesome and here, together, and in this moment, everything was absolutely perfect.

A few minutes later, we were joined by Jake and Deacon, who danced every bit as goofy as we were. My sides had started to hurt from laughing so hard.

This whole day had been seriously good. I had helped fix someone else’s family and their issues, and my wonderful, hot boyfriend had arranged it so I could meet and spend time with my favorite movie star, and then he had secretly set up our prom in this cool, vintage building that no longer smelled like animal carcasses and/or made me think I was going to get murdered by a sociopath.

I saw the rest of our class start to trickle in. Some claimed tables to sit at and eat. Others quickly joined us and started dancing.

Jake and I danced, we talked to people, we took pictures together, we drank a ton of punch and ate more of the castle cake than we probably should have, and then we danced some more.

And because it felt like only moments had passed, I was surprised when Ms. Rathbone went to the microphone and tapped on it to get everyone’s attention. “If I may have your attention, we have the results for your prom king and queen.”

My phone was in my purse so I couldn’t check the time, but this meant the prom was almost over. Hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

Time really did fly when you were having this much fun.

“Your prom king is ...” She opened an envelope and announced to the surprise of exactly no one, especially me, “Jake Kingston!”

Jake squeezed my hand and kissed my cheek before going up to accept the award for yet another popularity contest. They put a crown on his head and handed him a scepter. They looked good, but both were basically spray-painted plastic.

“You’re next,” I told Ella, and she just gave me a look. Ha. As if the girl who’d won every queen title since she’d started at Malibu Prep wouldn’t take this last one.

“Your prom queen is ... Mattie Lowe!”

“She does know that’s not how you pronounce ‘Ella Christensen,’ right?” I asked my sister. This had to be some kind of mistake. I was not the prom queen type.

“Get up there and accept your crown!” She pushed me with both hands until I started walking, shocked at the hollering and applause and the people calling out my name.

How had this happened? A year ago I had exactly one friend. No one knew me. They didn’t even know my name. And now? Now they had voted for me to be queen?

Ms. Rathbone put the little sparkling tiara on my head and handed me my own scepter.

“Congratulations,” Jake said as he wrapped his arm around me.

“I’m the prom queen. I sort of want to gag.”

“Oh, you love it.” He knew me too well.

“Okay, I kind of do. But you know this only happened because I’m dating you.”

“No, it happened because you’re you, and you’re amazing.”

I glanced up at the ceiling, in large part to stop the sudden tears from falling and ruining my makeup, which would make my sister kick me.

“What are you doing?” Jake asked.

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