A Prom to Remember(19)

“Huh?”

Henry pulled out his phone and scrolled through his screenshots, before turning it to show Paisley the evidence.

“Oh yeah, right. I never told you about it. But thanks for keeping a screenshot of it.” Paisley twirled a piece of her hair around her finger and grinned innocently. “So anyway, no big deal, I mentioned your name for prom king. But! The good news is that we’re going to do a king and a queen and a separate prom court! So, like, more people will be up there on stage than ever.”

“I’m going to assume that you unmentioned it,” Henry said, ignoring her rambling excuse.

“I never had the opportunity to unmention it. It wasn’t even an official nomination. But.”

“But?”

“Well, it’s just that I need you to stay calm and not hate me or kill me. Because I don’t think you would fare well in prison.”

“Paisley,” Henry said.

“So you’re nominated for prom king,” Paisley said, patting his shoulder. “Okay, I love you, see you around.” She started walking off and he grabbed her elbow.

“Wait, what?”

“Cora Wilson read the list of nominees during prom committee, and they’re going to be announced during homeroom, and you are definitely on that list.”

Henry scrubbed at his face with both hands, trying to reconcile this information.

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Paisley asked. “I mean, maybe you won’t win?”

Henry blinked at her. Getting up in front of his whole class to accept an award like this was basically a nightmare for Henry, so of course he would win. He would win and be haunted by it for the rest of his life.

“I just, you know I hate all that attention. Even if I don’t win,” he said finally.

“Is it really so bad?” Paisley asked. “Like if you have to get up in front of everyone it would be because they all voted for you. And it turned out that after all these years of flying under the radar, you were really making friends. It would only mean good, happy things if you won.”

Henry wasn’t so sure of that, but he didn’t know how to argue this point with Paisley. She would never see it his way.

“I know,” he said. “But it’s not my thing.”

“And I know that. Maybe you could just suck it up and go?”

“Maybe instead you could get me out of it,” Henry said with a grin.

“Oh, come on, Henry,” she said. “It won’t be that bad. It’ll be a hot second of torture and then it’ll be over. There’s also the option of ignoring it completely and just not going.”

“I like that,” Henry said. “Denial works for me.”

“See? You have options!”

“Who are the nominees for prom queen?”

“Pretty much everyone you would expect. Amelia and a couple of her cronies, that chick Josie who’s friends with Cora.”

“I thought you hate when people use the word chick,” Henry said, putting air quotes around the word.

“I’ve decided I want to take chick back,” Paisley said.

“What exactly does that entail?”

“Honestly I don’t know. I’m just trying to cover the fact that I didn’t even notice I was using it.”

Henry laughed and turned back to his locker as the first bell rang. “So there’s really no way out of this?”

“There really isn’t. They’re going to announce the nominees during homeroom.”

“Who are the nominees for king?”

“Oh right, um.” Paisley squinted and looked into the distance for dramatic effect. “Jamie Fitzpatrick, Tag whatever his last name is, and a couple of football dudes.”

“Why is dude okay, but chick isn’t?”

“Chick is a shortening of chickenhead, and that is a pejorative term used for women who enjoy giving fellatio.”

“Fellatio sounds like a type of pasta.”

“I believe you are thinking of farfalle, which are the little bow tie ones.”

“Maybe. Also isn’t dude a word for horse penis?”

Paisley shut her eyes like Henry was being unreasonable and then ignored his question completely. “For the record, Henry, I think you should be king. I think you’re the perfect guy for the job this year. If we have to continue this inane tradition, at least let it be someone like you rather than one of the jerk faces and misogynists.”

“Jerk faces and misogynists would make a great band name.”

Paisley rolled her eyes and shook her head as they took their seats in homeroom. “That’s a terrible band name and you know it.”

“I don’t—” but Henry’s words got lodged in his throat when Amelia sat down next to him and leaned over.

Paisley

She could see the exact moment that Henry’s eyes glazed over in panic as Amelia Vaughn started talking to him.

Henry was the best friend a girl could ask for, but he was just as susceptible to feminine wiles as any other eighteen-year-old boy.

“I can’t remember,” Amelia said. “Did I tell you I was going to the prom with Drew? You know Drew? He graduated last year.”

“Yes, I know Drew,” Henry said abruptly. “But you and I haven’t talked about prom, so you didn’t tell me.”