Start a Revolution

The next month and a half was absolute hell for Drew and John alike.

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks flew by like someone flipping through the pages of a book quickly without scanning the words and taking in the meaning. That's what it felt like for the two teenagers; day after day passing without anything meaning, anything mattering.

Drew found herself turning numb, going through the same motions every time she woke up. She had no feeling, no emotion. She found herself barely talking to her parents, her friends, the only people she really kept in contact with being Mitch, Joey, and on the occasion, Lisa. Her best friend worried for her, called and texted constantly, but Drew never answered.

John was having an even worst time than Drew, if possible.

He was alone. He still had the band, of course, but he never saw them at school because they still sat with Drew at lunch and he couldn't bare to be around her. He knew that the minute he was in a close vicinity with her he would lose all the control he'd kept reeled in. He wanted to do nothing more than push her up against a wall and take over her again, be with her, hold her, kiss her. Just the idea of it made him close his eyes and shiver in delight.

He would walk through the halls without someone to walk with, looking behind him constantly to see if Drew was there. She never was.

There was the times he would see her in the wall, but she would be consumed by Joey Richter. Joey had made it his goal to always make sure John was around when he was with Drew. And he would remind John, painfully, that Drew was no longer his.

An arm around her shoulder, his fingers twined with her, making her laugh, kissing her on the forehead; all of this in front of John. And every time he saw it a new wound would blister itself on his heart. His raw chest felt like it was about to give out at any time now. He ached, craved, needed Drew back in his life, back as his.

Drew knew that Joey had somehow managed to weasel his way back into her life.

She was fine with it, as long as he didn't try anything. She noticed the way he would put his arm around her, hold her, put his mouth where it didn't belong; but she ignored it. She didn't care if it made everyone at the fucking school think that they were back together; they weren't. She knew that and Joey knew that. They weren't dating and Drew had made it tortuously clear to him.

Spring break came and went and it was the last quarter of their senior year.

"Come on, Roo," Lisa says as Drew slams her locker door shut. "It'll be fun. And the rest of the school finally gets to find out the Prom theme!" Her friend's hand was touching Drew's arm, the touch delicate and soft. Lisa had been extremely careful around her ever since they're little argument at lunch all those weeks ago. Drew didn't blame her since after school had ended that specific day Drew went home and cried for a good three hours before Lisa came over to apologize.

Even though Lisa, and a part of Drew, knew Lisa had been right.

Drew just chose to ignore that fact.

"I don't want to go to the pep assembly," Drew finally reacts, pulling her bag farther up on her shoulder. "I already know the Prom theme. What is the point in me going?"

Joey then comes up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist. Lisa visibly makes a disgusted face which the other two teens don't seem to notice. "Because it'll be a hoot," Joey southern drawl swims through her ear. Drew remains numb. "Come on, kitten. It's the last one of your senior year."

Drew huffs out a breath. "But—"

"Kitten," Joey murmurs in her ear, hugging her to his chest tighter, "just go."

The girl huffs before nodding, pulling away from Joey to start walking toward the gym. "Fine." The other two fall in behind her. The only reason Drew agreed to this fucking thing was to get Joey off of her. He didn't seem to realize that hanging all over her overwhelmed her and, honestly, made her feel pretty uncomfortable.

As they made there way down the hall, they picked up Kennedy and Garrett along the way. Drew then wondered if John had been with them but then scrambled ahead because of her.

A deep pain hits her like a sliver of ice but she shoves it away.

Once in the gym, Lisa finds them a place in the senior section quickly. Drew found herself stuck sitting next to Joey, but at least Lisa was on the other side of her. They didn't have to wait terribly long before the assembly started, the marching band playing the fight song to kick it off.

"Hello, Corona!" Our student body president yells into her microphone. Students and teachers alike cheer. Drew rolls her eyes, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. She felt Joey's smoothing down her back and she felt the need to flick it off, but couldn't find the energy nor effort to force him to move it. So she just lets him stroke his fingertips down her spine. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend it was John instead...

The assembly went on, going through annoying banter between the president and vice president, performances by various hired groups, sports teams talking about their season, and clubs alike coming down and saying a few words. Finally, at the peak of the assembly, when Drew was seconds away from just storming out, the president gets to what everyone had been waiting for.

"Who's reading to know what the Prom theme is?" she grins as the student body alights with cheers and whoops and hollers. Drew felt the need to gag. "Drum-roll, please..."

A snare on drumline does so.

Two people stood before a black curtain draped over a large board. Drew rolls her eyes as Lisa squeals beside her. Joey was grinning out of the corner of her eye, making her want to gag all over again.

The two people drop the curtain. "Forbidden Love!"

Student around stand and cheer and laugh and shout and scream over the theme. Drew watches them all, huffing out a breath. That's when she looks across the gym and catches the eye of John O'Callaghan. Her breathing ceases. Her heart pounds in her chest and her ears, blood pumping in time with the pulse beating at the top of her neck.

John quirks a smile at her, amusement dancing in his eyes as he cocks his head at the board that read FORBIDDEN LOVE in giant red letters with a broken heart underneath it.

Drew couldn't help but laugh as well, shrugging her shoulders.

He winks at her, looking as if he was chuckling. Her face burns red. Just as she was about to gesture at him as well, she feels a warm hand on her back again. She snaps out of her trance and looks over at Joey. He was grinning.

"Isn't the theme awesome?" he says in her ear, stroking at her spine again.

Drew goes to answer but stops and looks back over at where John had been previously. The spot was empty. A strange feeling creeps at her brain before she looks back at Joey. "Sure."

He smiles. "On that note..."

Oh no, Drew thinks, horrified, don't do it.

Joey takes Drew's hand in his. "Would you like to go to Prom with me?"