Scream, to Be Heard

Chapter 10
“Prom’s tomorrow,” Jack whispered in their Music and Composition class, trying to be as discreet as possible. That teacher was a bitch.
“I know, man, I know.” Alex was trying to hide his joy. Sure, he wasn’t excited about the pink tie, but the fact that he was going with Bailey made up for it ten times over. And he couldn’t wait to see how she looked in that dress.
“So…you gonna get a motel room for after?” The older boy’s stomach flipped. As much as he wanted to…like, really wanted to, he knew he shouldn’t. The two of them hadn’t even kissed yet, and Alex knew that rushing into things was never a good idea.
“Nah. Didn’t plan on it.” Jack was surprised.
“You for real right now? I swear you’ve nailed every other chick in the school, what’s up, man?” Their music teacher glared at them, and they continued talking at a lower volume.
“Maybe I just wanna take it slow, alright? Goddamn.” Jack doodled g clefs on his notes.
“I don’t have a date.” He admitted. Alex looked over.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Lots of girls were willing to go with Jack, so Alex was surprised to hear the news.
“Well, who did you want to ask?”
“….you know that Chloe chick? I mean, I know I wanted nothing to do with her a few weeks ago…it’s just that after you made that speech at the show…I dunno man.”
“I get it.” The brown haired boy tapped his pencil on his desk, “so why don’t you just ask her?” They were silent.
“…..do you think it’s too late?” Alex grinned.
“Hell no, man! After class. Go. Ask her.” The teacher glared at them once more, and they were silent the rest of the class.
“He did WHAT? “ Bailey shrieked as they were curling their hair.
“He asked me to prom! Jack Barakat asked me to junior prom!” Chloe was jumping up and down excitedly, almost burning herself with the iron several times. Emily walked in with the dresses.
“Ladies…the moment has arrived!” She hung them all up on the door. The girls stared at their dresses, smiling. They were each going with a member of the band- Bailey with Alex, Chloe with Jack, and Zack with Emily. Nobody really knew how she ended up with him, considering he went to a different school, but they weren’t about to question.
Without a second to lose, each girl whipped their dress off its hanger and put it on. They helped each other zip up and then, they were all ready.
“Damn, Bails.” Chloe said under her breath, looking at her best friend in the blush pink dress, “Alex is going to be ALL over you tonight.” The blonde chuckled.
“I wouldn’t be totally against that.” They all did their makeup, making sure that each wing of eyeliner was perfectly symmetrical (as symmetrical as it could get, anyways.) and then the doorbell rang. The three girls squealed with excitement as they ran down the stairs. Well, they didn’t run. They were all wearing at least 4 inch heels (the boys were all ridiculously tall), so they…trotted. Neigh.
Her mother had already opened the door. Alex, Jack and Zack all stood in the foyer, looking up at their dates on the staircase. The three of them stood there, dumbfounded.
“Uh..uh..er…uh…hiiiii.” Alex eventually managed to blurt out, voice cracking. All three girls started laughing hysterically. So did Jack. And her mom. Everyone except Zack, because he had no idea what the hell was going on. As usual.
“That was cute.” Bailey said teasingly as she walked down the stairs. It wasn’t until she hit the bottom when Alex noticed the hemline of her dress exposed her legs. That made him a very happy boy, let me tell you that. Ellen grabbed her camera.
“Okay, everybody! Pictures!” She directed everybody to the front yard, where the boys stood with their hands on their dates’ waists.
“You guys are so precious, okay, one, two, three, CHEESE!” She took a few more, some of just the girls, some of just the guys, some with each couple, until eventually it was time to leave. Ellen pulled Alex over to the side.
“Yes, Mrs. Coo- I, mean Ellen?” She laughed slightly on the little slip up.
“I just want to say thank you so much. I’ve never seen my daughter so happy in her life.”
“Oh, yeah no problem, she makes me even happier to be honest.” He winced a little bit at the extremely corny response, but it’d have to do.
“How sweet! Alright, have fun, and take good care of her, okay?” She patted him gently on the back. He smiled.
“I promise.” And with that, they all got into their cars, and they were off.
“Did I tell you that you look absolutely beautiful yet?” Alex asked while driving to the venue. Bailey smiled and rolled her eyes.
“Only about a million times,” she laughed, “but appreciated. Thank you.”
“I try.”
“And I mean what about you? You look very sharp in that suit, mister.”
“Why, thank you.” They flirted and talked until they got to the country club where the prom was being held. Alex parked the car and walked around to open Bailey’s door.
“How polite,” She grinned as he took her hand and kissed it. He raised an eyebrow suggestively and she laughed. The others met up with them.
“Aghh you two are so cute I can’t even handle it!!!” Emily would not calm down. Even Zack was getting concerned, but he just laughed it off. Sometimes dopey guys like him needed excitable girls like her to balance each other out. They worked together. Just like Chloe and Jack. Jack was bouncy and outgoing, while she was more reserved and…awkward?
“I know!” Alex squealed in reply, obviously as a joke. Or was it? Either way, the girls laughed.
“Alright, love birds. Let’s get inside.” Jack rolled his eyes, taking his date by the hand and pulling her inside. The rest of them followed suit.
Once they got inside, they were greeted by other classmates. Alex especially.
“Alex, save a dance for me, okay?” They would say.
“Sorry girls, not tonight.” Bailey would smile adorably every time he’d say that, knowing that she was the one who had changed Alex’s usual man-whorey ways, at least for the evening. The entire group was in the middle of the dance floor, rocking out to some random Gwen Stefani song. Jack was cranking out dance moves previously never seen by the human eye. Chloe just stood there awkwardly, laughing.
“C’mon Chlo! Dance with me!” He yelled, grabbing her hand and whisked her away to the other side of the dance floor. Zack and Emily had gone to go get punch, so it was just Alex and Bailey. Sugar, We’re Going Down came on, and the two of them jumped around like fan girls.
“FALL OUT BOYYYYY,” she squeed as their newest single blasted through the speakers.
“May I have this dance?” Alex asked. Bailey laughed.
“Yes, yes you may.”
He smiled and pulled her in close, foreheads touching. His hands traced down her arms until they landed on her waist, thumbs gently brushing the rhinestoned band that crossed the middle of her dress. Bailey bit her lip as he buried his nose in her blonde ringlets, then breaking into a grin when she heard him humming along. She was running her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck, giving him goose bumps. They swayed back and forth, listening to the music and enjoying the moment together.
Couple. Bailey liked classifying her and Alex like that. But were they really? He wasn’t really one to commit. Everybody had seen how he and Lisa went. It wasn’t a very pretty sight. She’d never seen anybody throw a chair so far in her life. But that aside, it really seemed like Alex cared about her. He did write her that song, after all. Perhaps she was just over thinking things. The blonde had a tendency to do that, ironically.
Her train of thought was interrupted by him pulling back to press his forehead to hers once more. Their eyes connected, causing Alex to do that half-smile that drove all the girls crazy. He was still hum-singing.
“hmmm…hmmmm in an earlier round…hmmhmmhmm swinging..” Bailey giggled.
“Hmm. Cute.” She grinned, causing him to pull her in even closer.
“Just like that voice crack, huh?” Yeah, he got over that.
“Basically.” His eyes went to her lips and back, hot breath dancing on her face. She had butterflies beyond belief. Was she about to be-
Alex crashed his lips against hers, sending electric shocks throughout both their bodies. The two were pressed up against each other, with not a centimeter of free space between them. He and her melted into one another (as gross and gelatinous at that seems), and it felt like time itself had stopped. Their hearts were racing, stomachs fluttering. Something about it. It was just…right.
“…..wow.” Alex whispered onto her lips. Bailey smiled. She opened her mouth to speak.
“….OHMYGOD YOU GUYS. THAT WAS SO CUTE.” Emily ran over, jumping around like she had too many cups of coffee. Zack trailed behind, laughing. But that was Zack for you. Alex was a little irritated, but he knew getting mad was worthless so he didn’t bother saying anything. He just smiled and rolled his eyes.
“Hah. Emily, go dance with your date.” Bailey pushed them off into another direction. The boy laughed and pulled her back in close.
“You sure you haven’t done that before? You’re pretty damn good at it.” He cocked an eyebrow suggestively.
“One hundred percent positive,” she laughed, “but thanks for the feedback.” The song changed, and he kissed her again. He loved the taste of her strawberry lip gloss, even though it was getting all over him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maria and Lisa glaring at him. ‘Fuck them.’ He thought to himself. They were all bitches. And they only wanted him for sex.
Chloe and Jack were dancing off in another corner of the gym, both smiling and blushing. It was adorable. Zack, on the other hand, was chasing after his date as she made the rounds, talking to all her friends. Typical Emily. The Social Butterfly.
“Hey. You should meet my friends.” A few weeks ago, Alex would have denied the offer. But he was totally open to it now. He agreed and Bailey grabbed his hand, leading him to a different corner of the room.
“YOU GUYS!” She yelled. A group of eccentric and colorful kids turned their attention towards the…couple? Yeah let’s go with that.
“BAILEY!!” Alex recognized a few of these kids. One by one, his date introduced them to him.
“This is Caytlin, Chris, Lauren, Sammy…” He smiled and said hi to everyone.
“Hey, and Alex?” One of the girls he had just met had gotten his attention.
“Yep?”
“Thanks so much for standing up for us.” The boy smiled. That was actually really heartwarming.
“No problem.” They stood and talked for a while before Alex’s crazy fan girl mode was activated again.
“BLINKKKKKKKK” He dragged Bailey out onto the dance floor to meet up with the rest of the guys. All The Small Things was blasting from the speakers. Everyone was singing along.
“SAY IT AIN’T SO, I WILL NOT GO, TURN THE LIGHTS OFF, CARRY ME HOME.” And then…
“NANANANANANANANANAAAAA NANANANANANANANANANAAAA….” Alex and Jack were spazzing out. The girls were basically dying of laughter. Bailey had convinced Chloe to dance along. She…tried. Jack sped by and whisked her away. It was just her and Alex, singing along obnoxiously while Emily and Zack were making out. Lovely.
“Why are you so perfect?” Alex laughed, watching Bailey enthusiastically dance along to the chorus. He took her hand and spun her around. She just laughed. He planted a kiss on her cheek.
“KEEP YOUR HEAD STILL, I’LL BE YOUR THRILL, THE NIGHT WILL GO ON, MY LITTLE WINDMILL.” They were laughing uncontrollably, whether that be from all the Blink-182 energy or maybe the fact that tonight was the best night of their young lives so far. Bailey wrapped her arms around Alex’s neck, still humming along and smiling. He pressed his lips against hers once more, the song fading into some pop song.
“Hey Bails?”
“Mmhm?”
“Thanks for not…you know, giving up on me.” She raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, like, when I was being a bitch. Thanks for forgiving me. Because if you hadn’t I don’t know what I’d do.” Her face flushed to a light shade of pink.
“I wouldn’t know what to do either.” She grinned. Alex kissed her slowly, and the two held each other tight as they danced under the sparkly lights of the venue.