Diplomat High

Chapter 22.2 - Homecoming with Bernie

Your mind is racing, and you're wondering if you should just back out now. But no, you were going to do this. You could do this. You needed to remember that Bernie willingly wanted to go with you. All you had to do was agree.

You don't even know where you're going. You don't even know where to find him. Not to mention, you look pretty dumb wandering the halls. But you do feel pretty dumb after all. 

The only place you knew you'd find him for a fact was at track, but besides that he was pretty much everywhere. Even rooftops for goodness sake. If you walked around the entire school, you were bound to run into him somehow.

But to your luck---or maybe slight misfortune considering the state you were in---you catch him walking down the hall. "Bernie, hey!" you greet, maybe a little too enthusiastically. Or should you have been more enthusiastic? Why was this so hard?

The corners of his mouth lift when he sees you. "Hey, y/n, it's been a while. How's it going?"

"Pretty average, if I'm being honest." Actually, subpar. "I've actually been, uh, meaning to talk to you."

"Ah, I was just headed outside to for a jog."

Your eyebrows shoot up. "A jog? In the middle of the day? You're truly something else."

He laughs. "I hope that's a compliment."

"Eh, maybe." Silence settles between the two of you, and you guess it's time to go in for the kill. Metaphorically, of course!

"So have--" you start.

"I was wondering--" he says.

You pause and meet each other's eyes. Bernie clears his throat, a blush creeping across his face. "You first, please."

You honestly wished he would go first, because then you could stall. But here you go. You take a deep breath. "I, um, I just wanted to let you know that I want to... go to Homecoming with you. If the offer's still on the table of course."

His face breaks into a wide, gaping smile. "Still on the table? Not even. Of course, I'll go with you." His enthusiasm makes you feel a smidge better. "But, god, I was anxious that you would say no. I started to consider the knight in shining armor schtick isn't always successful."

You laugh. "No, no, you've confirmed that hypothesis is valid." Wow, so many big words at once. The only reason you did was so that you could mask the shaking in your voice.

"That's great. I'll meet you there or...?"

"Yeah, that works. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me, too." You and him share a smile. Hopefully you could survive a freak accident or two and manage to make it there intact.

But you carry on through the rest of the day, and as you do, you realize that today is your last day to submit a vote. With a smile on your face, you submit your vote for Bernie.

Afterschool, you head shopping for what you're wearing to Homecoming. In all that time, you're in semi disbelief that you're actually going to Homecoming. You'd never gone before. Mostly because you'd never had anyone to go with. And now you had someone. You actually had a choice of who you wanted to go with, and you chose Bernie.

But here you are, very unsure of how far you come. And then you remind yourself that you're supposed to be enjoying it. And you would.

All dressed up you head down to the Harbor and see that for the most part, the aura is warm. There are colorful string lights, music, people dancing and talking, and much more. To say you never imagined yourself being in such an environment is an understatement. Parties were so much not your thing that you'd trained yourself to develop your own lone wolf sigma personality. It worked only 0.00569% of the time, but you weren't great at math, so you were pretty sure the number was significantly higher.