Chapter 27 - Dec 20, 2017 - Tempest Two. More. Days. Until the dance. And I still haven’t told Royce that I’ll go with him. Nice job, me. I went to find him after first period to tell him I would accept, which he was very happy about. Next stop— at study hall, grab both Vincent and Royce and head to the library; the courtyard is closed because of last night’s snowfall. “So I ended up in a bit of a loophole,” Genesis was saying. “My crush kind of asked someone else to the dance, and I’m not sure who to go with… but I guess we were ‘just friends’ the whole time, and he didn’t want to hurt me by saying so.” She handled that better than I ever could, just brushed it off and said ‘no big deal’. It was lunchtime, only a matter of minutes before I’d have to pull the others into the library. Once we got to the library, Vincent asked me what was up. “I’m really lost.” I told him. “You know this place like the back of your—“ “No time to mess around and pretend you don’t understand me. Look, Vincent, I don’t want to fall in love with you again.” He frowned. “Figures.” I sighed. “But I can’t bring myself to hate you.” The librarian got me off track. “Please keep your voices down,” she said in that ‘one more time and you know what it is’ voice. “Yeah, sorry about that,” I muttered. “Anyway,” I added, trying to whisper, “I kind of asked Royce to the dance…” Vincent nodded while Royce smiled weirdly next to me. “Stop it!” I laughed. Royce began talking. “Vincent, I knew. Tempest said you used them on her, but all that rude air in you during the beginning of the year— I can practically sense the stress.” I stayed out of it. So Royce knew better than I did. “Is it true?” I asked Vincent, demanding an answer. Vincent nodded. “You really forgive me?” he asked. I stared at his face, the face of the boy I once loved. It was so surreal to look at him like that, ‘the boy I once loved’ rather than ‘The One’ that he used to be. “Yes,” I said, “but we’re just going to have to be friends…” I trailed off. “Do you forgive me?” I asked. He nodded. So this may work after all. The next morning, I immediately went to Genesis at the bus stop. “You don’t have a date for the dance, right?” I asked. Genesis shook her head. “Why do you ask?” “I think I have someone that would gladly come with you. No guarantees, but it could work.” Then I remembered. “Genesis, ask Vincent to the dance, because I need someone to go dress shopping with.”
