Prom is one of the most important parts of your senior year. You can't deny it. It's in all the books, the movies, and it's practically inescapable. Even if you don't go, you're forced to hear people talk about it for weeks, before and afterwards.

That was why I was glad I had a date, even if it was just a friend of mine. I knew it was much better than tagging along with a bunch of my other friends who have dates.

Cassie wasn't upset in the slightest that I was taking Sean to the prom. She had no right to be angry anyway, since she was taking my ex-boyfriend. But I still had to assure her that Sean and I were only going as friends, and he knew that. She was a little skeptical, but let it slide.

The old Cassie would have ranted and raved, even though she was taking my ex-boyfriend. In the old Cassie's head, even though it was completely fair, she was going to bitch about it. That was why I was glad I now had the new Cassie with me.

My dress was coral blue, strapless, and short, but not too short. I opted out of a long dress like Cassie and Leslie wore, because I just didn't like how any of them looked. Jane's was short as well, so I didn't feel too out of place in our group.

Morgan wasn't the happiest when she learned that I was going to the prom with Sean, even though she knew that we were only going as friends. She and Kyle came for the day so she could help me get ready, and I was really nervous the entire time because I didn't know how she would be acting with all her mood swings.

"The mood swings are pretty much gone," was one of the first things Kyle said to me once they got to my house. "They only come every once in a while."

Morgan bit down on her lip, her eyes watering. Oh, no. "How could you say that?" she wailed, covering her hands with her face. Kyle and I looked at each other in horror until my sister suddenly began to laugh. "Hah! Just kidding!"

Kyle and I definitely did not appreciate the joke.

Morgan spent two hours curling my hair and making my makeup look absolutely perfect. I could remember when she was the one that was going to prom, years beforehand. She looked absolutely amazing once she was finished, and I knew Kyle had agreed when he picked her up that night.

It made me a little sad, honestly. I wasn't going to have a date to look at me like Kyle looked at Morgan. Because I made it clear to Sean that I wanted to be nothing more than friends with him, and if he did look at me like that, I wasn't going to feel very comfortable with going with him any longer.

When Sean finally arrived at my house, I noticed just how good he looked in a tux. I hadn't seen him the year before at his prom, though I knew he had won prom king. Not that that was much of a surprise.

Though he looked amazing, the one thing I couldn't stop staring at was his tie. For a moment, I thought that I may had been color blind. But then I realized that that wasn't the problem.

"You're wearing a green tie," I informed him, in case he somehow didn't know.

He smiled nervously at me, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know. I'm sorry," he apologized, and I knew he meant it. "This was the closest color they had to your dress. The last coral blue tie had been bought an hour beforehand."

I let out a sigh, knowing that this was not Sean's fault and the fact that his tie didn't match my dress didn't really matter at all in the end. "It's fine," I assured, wrapping my arm around his and turning him toward the door.

But we couldn't leave yet. No, because my mother wanted pictures. This was her dream come true; I was going to the prom with Sean. It didn't even matter to her that I had told her that we were only going as friends. All she cared about was that I was going with Sean and it had been my idea in the first place.

After what seemed like a thousand pictures later, my parents finally let us go. Our friends were actually waiting for us outside, and they had arrived early because they knew my parents were going to want pictures. So they weren't even angry when it took forever.

I wasn't surprised when my friends had rented a limo, but it definitely made me feel a little embarrassed. I knew people were going to show up in limos, but actually being one of those people was just... weird.

I thought the car ride with Sean and Cassie would be awkward, but it wasn't in the slightest. They talked to each other as if they were old friends, which wasn't something I was expecting. But I was glad that they were able to stay friends like Christian and I did.

We arrived at the hotel that was hosting our prom ten minutes later, and we piled out of the limo excitedly. To be completely honest, even I was a little excited. Sure, it wasn't exactly how I imagined it to be, but at least it wasn't going to be a complete train wreck.

When we got inside, I nearly rammed right into someone. I nearly snapped at them, but then bit down on my tongue when I saw that it was only Jaz.

"Hi, Leah!" she greeted with a smile, and then turned toward my date. "Hi, Sean!"

She was wearing a short green dress, her hair curled magnificently. I wondered if she did that on her own or if she had help with that.

"Hi, Jaz," I greeted back. I then looked around. "Where's your date?"

Not upset in the slightest, she shrugged. "I don't have one," she answered simply.

I only blinked at her, and for the first time ever, I wished that I was like Jaz Williams. She never cared about what people thought of her or about the fact that she was going to prom by herself while all her friends had dates. She even looked beautiful. I really wished I was like her.

I turned when something caught my eye. It was Mona and Blake as they made their way inside. Mona looked very excited while Blake looked less than thrilled, his hands in his pants pockets.

Mona's dress was short and red, while Blake was in a black tux like most of the boys were. But I wasn't really focused on the colors of her dress or his tux. I was focused on Blake's tie, which wasn't red.

It was coral blue.

I tore my eyes away from him and back toward my date, but I had no idea how I was going to be able to think about anything else but Blake. He was wearing a tie that matched my dress, a color that was completely opposite from Mona's.

I didn't see Blake or Mona for the next hour, which I was grateful for. I just danced with Sean and tried to have as much fun as I possibly could. I only got one prom, so I was going to make the best of it.

I knew that I had to stop dancing after a little while, so I used this as an excuse to take a break and have a little time to myself. "I'm going to go get something to drink," I informed Sean, taking a step away.

Sean stopped me by grabbing onto my arm. "Let me get it for you."

I shook my head, gently pulling my arm from his grasp. "No, I'm fine," I assured, taking one more step back. "I can get it myself. Thanks anyway."

And I took off before he could even stop me, and when I got to the refreshment table, I let out a long sigh. I wasn't even thirsty.

"Hey," a new voice now greeted, and I looked over to see that it was Blake. His hands were still in his pockets. I froze. "You having fun?"

I didn't know the answer to that question, so I merely said, "Yeah."

It could have been the truth or a lie. Neither of us knew which one it was.

I couldn't stop staring at his tie. It matched my dress so much that it was almost scary. I wouldn't have been surprised if they had even been used out of the same fabric. He could have cut it off my dress, it was that close!

"Your tie," I pointed out, biting the inside of my cheek. "It matches my dress."

Blake shrugged, pretending that he didn't notice. "It does? Huh. What a coincidence."

"You didn't even see my dress." I didn't understand how it was possible for him to know what color my dress was going to be when he never saw it or heard me talk about it. I didn't even think I even talked about the color of my dress. "How did you know that this was the color I was going to wear?"

"Coral blue." He only smiled slightly. "It's your favorite color."

I didn't know how to respond to this. He remembered my favorite color, which I found very romantic, for some reason. It took all my willpower not to stretch up onto my toes—even in my heels—and kiss him.

"Blake!" a new voice now shouted over the music, and we turned to see Mona bounding her way over to us. When she saw that he was talking to me, she forced a smile on her face. "Hello, Leah."

I didn't have to force a smile. Mine was real. "Hi, Mona."

She was about to wrap her arms around Blake's, but was cut off by an announcement from the front of the stage. It was the principal, so everyone immediately grew quiet and waited for him to speak.

"Hello, everyone," he began into the microphone. "I hope you're all enjoying your prom. But right now, I need the ten boys and girls that have been nominated for prom king and queen to please make their way onstage."

Blake walked right by Mona without even looking at her, and this even surprised me. But still, I couldn't help but stick my tongue out at her before making my way up on stage as well. She deserved it.

They had the boys line up in front of the girls, since they were going to announce the king first. I immediately grew nervous the second I got up on stage. Why was I freaking out about this?

I used to not care about popularity and royalty and all that crap. And even then, I knew that it wasn't really important. It wasn't going to matter in twenty years if I was popular in high school or not. But as I stood there on stage, I couldn't help but admit that being popular had its perks. For the time being, of course.

I was up against Cassie and three other girls who hadn't been the school freak all year. Three out of these four girls were cheerleaders, Cassie included, while the other was the class president. I didn't think I stood a chance.

Blake, however, did. He was much more popular than three of the other nominees, but then there was Derrick. Derrick had been popular for a long time, unlike Blake. It honestly could have gone to either of them.

"And the prom king is..." our principal began, and I felt nervous even though this wasn't even my category. I knew that it had to have been Derrick or Blake that was going to win. They were both so popular. Derrick had been popular all throughout high school, even middle school, but Blake had been even more popular this year. And the fact that they were best friends didn't help very much.

If I was freaking out about this, then how was I going to react when it was time to announce prom queen? This was not going to go well for me!

Mr. Wilkinson finally pulled the piece of paper with the answer out of its envelope and announced, "Blake Solo!"

I clapped, along with the four other girls beside me and the rest of the people in the large room with us. Blake took a step forward and the crown was placed on his head. Derrick patted him on the back and smiled at him before he and the rest of the boys who hadn't won walked off the stage.

I could hear Jane and Thomas rooting from the crowd. They were pretty much the equivalent to embarrassing parents.

When Blake stepped to the side and Mr. Wilkinson gestured for the five girls to step forward, I felt my stomach drop. This was it. I was going to see if months of social awkwardness and harassment meant anything to these people. If I won, it obviously didn't. If I lost, it obviously did.

"And the prom queen is..." He took his time opening the envelope just like he had when it came to the prom king. I held my breath. Two of the girls beside me were holding hands. The other was crossing her fingers. Cassie looked over at me and smiled.

I let out a deep breath. This was it. But even if I didn't win, I wasn't going to let it ruin the rest of my night. It was still prom and it was still an amazing opportunity that I had even been considered for prom queen.

Finally, Mr. Wilkinson got the paper out of the envelope. "Leah Burkley!"

At first, I thought I heard him incorrectly. I just stood there, my jaw practically on the floor, as everyone cheered. Was this really happening?

I thought Cassie would be angry, but when I turned toward her, I was surprised to see a wide smile on her face. She was happy. "Congratulations, Leah!" she squealed, hugging me before pushing me toward the front of the stage toward the microphone.

I could have cried, but I wasn't going to let myself. I couldn't understand how I had gone from popular, to the school freak, to popular again, but that didn't matter to me anymore. All that mattered was that I had won. I had actually won.

Mr. Wilkinson placed the tiara on my head and I hugged him. I wanted to cry, but I refused. I was not going to ruin all the makeup Morgan had spent so much time putting on me.

"And now it's time for the king and queen's dance," Mr. Wilkinson finally announced into the microphone. "Everyone enjoy the rest of your prom!"

This was not something I was expecting. I knew that the king and queen were supposed to dance, but it had completely slipped my mind. Sean had to dance with Marissa the year before, much to his dislike. So I had to dance with Blake, though it wasn't like I was complaining about that.

Blake and I made our way off the stage and toward the middle of the room. It would have been awkward to be the only ones dancing, so I was glad that people around us had already started. Blake placed his hands on my waist while I wrapped my arms around his neck.

The song that now started to play was Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You. I almost laughed at the irony.

At that moment, I didn't care about what people thought as they watched us dance. They could have known that we still had feelings for each other. They could have known that we were going to get back together. I didn't even care anymore.

"Perfect song, huh?" I couldn't help but mumble in his ear.

His grip on my waist tightened. "Uh-huh."

I closed my eye and let out a breath. This was perfect. This was all so perfect. I was almost expecting that something was going to go wrong because everything was going so well for me. But I couldn't think like that.

"I want to talk to you in private," Blake finally whispered in my ear as we continued to sway. "Can we go outside and talk after the song is over?"

I bit down on the inside of my lip, but even this couldn't stop me from smiling. "Of course," I answered.

Now I couldn't wait for the song to end. I wanted to get out of there and be alone with Blake. I wanted to talk to him. We really had a lot to talk about.

As we made our way toward the exit once the song ended, no one seemed to notice that we were leaving. And while I was slipping out the door, I could see that Sean was now with Jaz, both in green. They matched.

The sudden silence was strange. All we could hear were a few crickets that were in the bushes a few feet away from us. It was dark, the only light from the lights in the parking lot and the stars in the sky.

I remembered the last time we had spoken in a parking lot together. I really hoped that this talk would have a different outcome than the last time.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked, genuinely curious. There was really a lot to choose from.

He reached up, running his fingers through my hair before holding my face. "Everything," he breathed.

I laughed. "I don't think we have time for everything."

He now leaned forward, resting his forehead on mine. It felt good to be so close to him again. I really missed this. "Then you get to pick where to start."

That wasn't an easy decision. There were so many things that we could have talked about... Mona, Christian, our friends, our parents, Carrie, Sean... or even getting back together. I had absolutely no idea where we were supposed to start.

So I decided to go with the simplest of all these topics. I reached up, placing both of my hands on either side of his face, and then I kissed him. "I love you," I finally admitted after months of keeping it locked inside.

Blake couldn't stop smiling, and he didn't pull away from me. He only pulled me forward, his arms now wrapping around my waist as he pressed his lips to mine. I could feel him smiling into the kiss, and I couldn't help but smile as well.

"I love you, too," he said once we pulled away again. "I love you so much."

How could anyone think that we were unhealthy? How could I have thought that we were unhealthy? We just loved each other, and that was it.

"Let's get back together," I suggested, and Blake's eyes only lit up even more. "And this time, we're not going to let anyone get between us. Not our parents, not our friends, not your social worker. Because they don't know what's good for us. They don't know how we're made for each other. They don't understand, and that's just too bad for them. So let's do it. Let's get back together."

Blake kissed me again before saying anything. "Let's do it."

There wasn't anything else I could have possibly said, so I only let out a little squeal and practically pounced on him, my arms wrapped around his neck as I crushed my lips to his. Blake and I were back together. Blake and I were back together.

"Come on; I don't want to be here any longer," I smiled once I decided that a parking lot was not the best place to kiss him. I pulled away from him and moving farther into the parking lot in search of his car.

"You're not going to try to sleep with me on the first date, are you?" he called out after me with a laugh.

I turned around and winked at him. "Maybe!"

Blake pretended to act offended. "What kind of boy do you think I am?"

I couldn't help but laugh at him. I felt so careless, so free. I couldn't believe that we were actually together again, and this time we weren't going to let what other people think stop us. They had no control over us anymore.

When I turned back toward all the cars, I could see his all the way across the parking lot. I didn't even wait for him and practically bolted right to it, wanting nothing more than to be alone with Blake.

"Leah, stop!" Blake suddenly cried out, and I turned to see what he was yelling about. But by the time I saw it, it was too late. The car was already hitting me.

As I rolled right over the top, I could feel my tiara fall from my head. I was definitely no queen now.

I slammed into the ground, my arm breaking my fall. I didn't hit my head, but I guess the shock and trauma of the whole situation was what knocked me out. So there I was, on the concrete, out cold. Blake was immediately by my side, while the car that had hit me sped away into the night.

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I heard the song on the side (the song they danced to after they won) and I thought that it was ridiculously perfect for Blake and Leah. So yay. :3

But then... not yay... for Leah being hit by a car...

And oh, wow... I just realized that chapter 31 of Our Song was the chapter Blake jumped off the bridge. So they both got hurt in the thirty-first chapter... Maybe 31 is their unlucky number or something...

Only four chapters left!