Diplomat High

Chapter 22.4 - Homecoming with Hillary

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 Hillary 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.

Then, you remember that Hillary is usually tutoring in the library. Except that realization made you more anxious rather than less. 

You make your way into the library---making sure you're not stomping too loud---and find Hillary talking to another student. You don't want to interrupt her, but her eyes flash on you for just a second, and a blush spreads across her face. After that, she seems pretty unfocused on her conversation.

She clears her throat. "Excuse me, sorry, just a second." She knots her fingers together as she walks towards you. "Did you tutoring for come in? Wait, no, I mean, did you come in for tutoring?"

You rub the back of your neck. "Uh, not really. But I did come here for you."

"Oh, um, you know, I hadn't seen you in a while, and I thought maybe you found another tutor, because what I did was extremely unprofessional and--"

"I'll go to Homecoming with you."

She freezes, her eyes widening, and you think that maybe you accidentally took a screenshot of her. You don't really know the logistics of how that's possible, but science isn't real, anyway. But a smile reaches her lips. "Y-you want to go with me? You're being serious?"

"As serious as Einstein when he discovered the lightbulb."

"Oh, well, that's not actually..." She shakes her head, her smile widening, "Well, that's great. I'll see you there. Or should I pick you up? Wait, no, isn't this when people rent limos?"

You laugh. "No, I'll meet you there."

"Great, it's a date. Or, I mean, a date-- no, no, a day in which--"

You laugh. "Now you're being adorable."

She rubs her arm. "Yeah, I guess I kind of am. But what I'm trying to say is: see you there?"

"Of course." You're a little glad that she appears more nervous than you are, because you almost wanted to spill your guts onto the library floor. Maybe it'd become as iconic as the cheese touch in Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That book was about a sociopath anyway.

But, gee, you really managed to get through that. You high five yourself inside of your head and are put off balance for a little, because you did that a little too hard.

You leave the library and carry on through the rest of the day. 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 Hillary.

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 Emmanuel.

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.

Later on, 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. It's a little embarrassing that you have to be seen with all of these people outside of your school. When Jeff Bezos said he didn't believe in 'work-life' balance and saw working at Amazon as a circle, you thought that was just a joke. But you were essentially at school, just with partying. That also happens to be what you think prison is like.