Hell. No.
Jenna and Karen are standing in the doorway. I start to close the door on them, but Jenna stops me.
“Wait! We just wanted to say sorry. Can we talk to Bo?” she asks.
“No,” I say, and start pushing the door closed, but Karen pushes it open.
“We just want to talk to her, then we’re going to prom.”
“Go to prom then! Say sorry at school if you want to so bad,” I say. Karen tries to push past me. I push back. Who cares if they’re trying to apologize? They don’t get to insert themselves into our night to clear their guilty consciences. They don’t get to make tonight about them.
When I push back against Karen, she grabs my arm, pulling me out with her.
“Just let us talk to her!” Karen shouts, and the crisp sound of tearing satin shouts back. I’m being pulled one way by Karen, and the other by my dress, which is stuck behind the now-closed door. Karen lets go of my arm as soon as she sees what she’s done, and I fall to my hands and knees. I don’t know if it was the loss of contact, or if my knees went weak from the rip.
“Yami, I’m so sorry,” Jenna pleads, wide-eyed.
“GO AWAY!” I scream. And they do. They run back to their car and drive off.
One night. They couldn’t let us have one night.
Bo comes rushing outside a few seconds later. She must have heard me yelling at them.
“Oh my gosh, Yami. What happened?” She’s staring at my dress, then at Jenna’s car driving off. “Is that Jenna?”
I start blinking really fast to keep tears from coming out. My dress is ruined, I can’t ruin my makeup, too.
“I didn’t let them in,” I say. Bo squats down next to me and takes my hand.
“Thank you,” she says. “Let’s get you changed.”
I maneuver myself so I can see the rip. I’m showing my whole ass.
“Oh my God!” I jump up so fast I’m dizzy, and pull the fabric behind me as best I can in case anyone drives up. I’m in a thong, so Bo just saw my entire bare ass. I should be mortified, but a laugh escapes from somewhere deep in my lungs. Bo cracks up with me, and we hurry upstairs to her room before anyone else gets the privilege of seeing the goods.
Bo doesn’t have any dresses, so my options are pretty limited. I end up grabbing a sad pair of leggings and a floral T-shirt. It’s hard not to cry, staring at myself in the bathroom mirror. My hair and face are all done up, but from the neck down, I look like I’m going to bed. At least Bo got to see me in my princesa dress before it got ruined. I step back into her room to find her also wearing leggings and a T-shirt.
“You look beautiful.” She smiles and kisses me on my cheek.
“So do you.” I giggle.
The bell rings again.
After the first few guests, people start rolling in pretty consistently. We eventually put a sign on the door so people stop ringing the bell and just come in. Seeing who decided to come to gay prom versus regular prom is kind of surprising. Hunter and Emily show up with an entourage of about twenty kids, mostly jocks.
Emily comes in for a hug right away. “Love your makeup!”
“Thanks!” I hug her back, relieved that I at least have something to show off.
Even with all these people, Cesar and Jamal are the only ones on the dance floor. Usually no one wants to be the first, especially not a queer couple at a dance full of Catholic school students, but they don’t seem to care. They may not be back together, but they seem to be on the right track. Cesar definitely seems happier, at least. I take a video on my phone to show them later. They’re going rounds, showing off for each other.