A few days had passed since Lloyd and I had decided we were going to the dance together. And we couldn't be anymore excited. We haven't really done much as a couple and it was exciting to say the least. Though, we still plan on keeping our relationship a total secret from the public, I do have a few things planned to make the day of the dance just a little bit better for Lloyd. I know he's a sucker for any kind of romance, so I guess you could say I have a few tricks up my sleeve...

But the dance isn't for a few more days. And we've waited a few days already. No harm in a little bit longer of a wait.

As the school day began, I followed Lloyd to his locker just to keep him some company before we head to our first class. He opens his locker and it's absolutely filled with paper and notes. None of which were written by him. They were all dropped off by other students. Typically just hate letters. Telling him how much everyone hates him and how everyone would be better off if he were to just leave... or die... as some notes would go so far as to say.

I sigh as I watch the pile of notes in his locker topple over and pile onto the floor in front of us. There were far too many notes to count. And I bet none of them were positive.

"Do you never clean these out?" I ask as I kick the pile in front of us.

"There's no point. They just pile back up again," he sighs.

I can tell when the bullying gets to him a little more than usual. He's not himself. And our classmates have been particularly hard on him for the past few days.

"Listen Lloyd... I know everyone is hard on you... but maybe you'd feel better if I helped you clean these out after class. What do you think?" I nudge him and smile.

"How would that make me feel any better? My messy locker has nothing to do with how I feel..." he huffs.

"Because each of these notes means something to you. They hurt. And I know that. Even though you haven't read most of these, we all know you know what they probably say. If we clean these out then maybe it'll clear your mind a little... it was just an idea," I explain. I just want to make Lloyd happier and sometimes it's hard when there's so many things in this world that do the exact opposite. It hurts to see him upset.

"It won't help..." he says as he closes his locker as bits of paper get jammed inside.

"Just let me help you clean it out before lunch. This isn't an offer. I'm doing it whether you want it or not."

"You're so stubborn," he rolls his eyes and I laugh. "Fine."

"Good choice," I smile.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After our morning classes were over with, Lloyd and I meet up at his locker. Lloyd enters the combination and opens it up. And as the door creaks open, more notes fall out. It's like the amount of notes have tripled since he last opened the locker. Either that or my eyes are playing tricks on me.

Lloyd cringes as a few fall to the floor. I know I've helped him clean these out forever ago. Before we started dating, even. But I don't think he's cleaned them since.

"Hey, guys... uh... what's all this?" Jay asks as he approaches us from behind. I turn to look at him and see that he was followed by the rest of our friends.

"I'm helping Lloyd clean out his locker. You guys can go ahead to lunch without us. Unless this seems fun to you..." I chuckle at my own joke.

"Geez, Lloyd, do you ever organize?" Kai teases.

"These aren't his papers," I correct him.

"What do you mean? They're in his locker," Kai asks in confusion. Lloyd and I just look to each other and try to figure out how to explain all of these notes.

Kai grows impatient by our silence and picks up a paper to read for himself. He unfolds it and starts reading. He goes from a normal expression as the his face slowly goes to an expression of pity.

"Are... are all of those like this?" Kai asks hesitantly. I can only imagine the note said something awful as most do. I slowly nod.

"What is it? What does it say?" Jay pesters Kai as he grabs his shoulder and shakes him.

Kai says nothing. Jay only peers over his shoulder to get a closer look and he too begins to share the same look as Kai as his enthusiasm fades.

Lloyd just pulls up his hood and stuffs his hands in his pockets as he kicks at the ground. It's almost like his defense mechanism when he feels uncomfortable.

"It doesn't matter what they say," I finally start to speak, "they just need cleaned out. Lloyd, I'm sure you'll feel much better afterwards."

"You keep saying that but I really don't think it'll help. It's just stupid pieces of paper," he groans.

"Please listen to me... I'm only trying to help..." I sigh as I cross my arms.

"I'm not stopping you. Just... sceptical about the outcome is all..." he shrugs.

I don't say anything. I just bend down to the bottom of Lloyd's lockers and start scooping out the notes that have piled up for so long. And I guess the others stayed to help because Jay and Kai started picking them up and bringing them to the trash can just a few feet down the hall. They made trips back and forth until there was no more paper left to take.

"See? It only took a few minutes. We're not even late for lunch," I smile as I put my hands on my hips.

"Yeah... but I still don't feel any different," Lloyd closes his eyes and sighs.

"Maybe you'll feel better by the end of the day when you come back to your locker," I say as a small idea pops into my head.

"Why's that..?" Lloyd questions.

"Sometimes you gotta have a second look is all."

As we start to walk to lunch, I pull out my phone and text each of our friends. All but Lloyd, anyway.

"I think I know what could make Lloyd feel a little better,"

I type in the small group chat I've made with the others.

"What's that?"

Zane asks.

"What do u all think abt putting our own notes in Lloyd's locker? Positive notes?"

I reply with another question.

Nya asks.

"Well I hope so. Hes been in a bad mood and I wanna make him feel better."

I reply.

"I'm in."

Kai says.

"Me too"

Jay adds in.

I look up from my phone to everyone in the group chat and they all smile and nod.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After lunch, we all return to our next period. I spent a few minutes of class writing little messages on a few sticky notes.

"I love you <3"

"Keep going"

"You matter :)"

Lloyd always makes me feel really happy and I just want to do the same for him.

After the period ended, I made sure to pass Lloyd's locker so I could slip the notes in. And by the end of the day I made sure to meet Lloyd at his locker. And I texted our friends to make sure they would too.

I walk up to Lloyd at his locker. He was getting everything he needed to go home. Lloyd sighs as I walk up to him.

"We just cleaned it out and there's already more notes," he huffs.

I see the rest of our friends approach us out of the corner of my eye.

"I think you should look at them. See what they say," I encourage.

"Why would I do that?" He asks.

"Just do it."

Lloyd sighs and picks up one of the notes we had left. He reads it and looks a bit confused. He looks up at me and I smile at him. Then he looks back at the pile of notes in his locker and picks up another. Then another... and another. He looks at me again.

"Did you do this?"

"Well, we all did," I smile and nod at our friends who were standing behind Lloyd.

"It was (Y/N)'s idea," Jay adds.

Lloyd looks back to me and he just hugs me. I chuckle a little bit and he lets go before looking back to our friends and hugs them too. They all smile and Kai pulls me into the hug.

This whole scene really looks like something out of some unrealistic high school movie. But I'm just glad Lloyd is happy.

He means everything to me. More than he could possibly know.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Two more days had passed and the day of the dance was here. We had waited all day and we were both anxious. But the time was finally here. We were going to our first dance as a couple. We were going to leave to go to the dance in just a few minutes but Lloyd was still getting ready in the bathroom. There's always this whole stereotype that girls take forever to get ready, but maybe it's just that all guys think their partners take forever. Either that or Lloyd is more of a girlfriend than a boyfriend. I smile to myself and laugh at how ridiculously long he's taking. I walk up to the bathroom door and knock.

"You done yet? I'm ready to go!" I shout through the door.

I'm already dressed. I'm in the outfit that Koko let me pick out. Just a nice, black, button up dress shirt with a deep purple tie. It's a semi formal dance so I just wore a regular pair of black jeans to go with it and my regular old black shoes I already wear everyday. But I also gelled my hair. So I guess I'm not looking as homeless as I usually do.

"I'm almost ready! Stop rushing me!" Lloyd shouts back.

I laugh, "can't rush perfection, right?" I tease.

I wait a few more seconds and Lloyd opens up the door and steps out.

He has a dress shirt similar to mine but instead it's white and he has a nice black jacket over top and a green tie. And if I didn't know any better, I'd say he'd even put some makeup on. But I know Lloyd isn't any good at that kind of thing. He can't even paint his own nails... I did that for him.

Yeah, I painted our nails to match our ties. I don't see the problem with that.

"Wow... you look amazing..." I smile as I step closer.

"You, too."

We both sit and stare at each other for what feels like hours, but I know it couldn't have been any longer than a few seconds.

"Oh my gosh! Look at you two! So adorable!" Koko comes around the corner and admires the way the both of us look. "I need pictures!"

"Ughh," Lloyd groans, "why do you need pictures? What would you even do with them?" He huffs as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

"I wanna get them printed out so I can put them in my wallet... and in the living room... and I'll get them put in cute frames!" Koko bounces with excitement.

I let out a small giggle but Lloyd doesn't seem so amused. Koko pulls out her phone and steps back a bit and she motions her hand to tell Lloyd to step in a little closer to me. We stand side by side and smile as she takes the picture.

"Can we go now?" Lloyd asks.

"No, wait! I need a few more!"

Lloyd rolls his eyes and steps back to where he was. I wrap my arm over his shoulder for the picture and we both smile again. Koko snaps another one. And another one... she keeps taking pictures and I think she expects us to do some different poses for the pictures so I look to Lloyd and give him a little kiss on the cheek for a cute picture.

"You two are the cutest! You finally have a real date to a dance, Lloyd!" She cheers.

"Mom!"

"Okay, okay, we can go now," Koko finally gives in.

We head out of the apartment and down the stairs and to the parking lot. Koko was going to drive us to the dance.

The ride from here to the school seemed a lot shorter now than it does on the bus. The whole ride there, Lloyd and I were just looking at each other and smiling and holding each other's hand.

"I know everyone is just going to think we're going as friends... but I'm still really excited to go anyway," Lloyd smiles, "I am a little bummed that we won't get to slow dance together, though," he admits.

"We'll see when we get there," I smirk.

I guess you could say I made a few preparations to the dance myself without the student council knowing. I know they're in charge of the dances but I may or may not have snuck some decorations around when I saw them preparing for the dance in the gym.

When we get there, Koko parks outside of the main entrance to the building.

"Okay, have fun, you two! And stay safe and don't get in trouble," she adds and Lloyd and I laugh.

"Okay, bye mom," Lloyd says as we both get out of the car.

"I love you!" She smiles.

"Love you, too."

Lloyd and I take a deep breath as we head for the building.

"You nervous?" I ask.

"A little bit," he nods.

When we walk in, we see a table set up where a couple of the student council members are selling and taking tickets. Lloyd pulls a few dollars out of his pocket and we both walk up to the table.

"How much are the tickets?" He asks.

"Are you going in alone or do you have a date?" The one girl asks. She seems a little irritated that she even has to interact with us, but I guess we're used to it by now.

"A-a date? Does it matter if I have a date?" Lloyd stammers.

"If you came with a date then the two of you will only need one ticket," she rolls her eyes.

"Oh, uh... yeah... we're going together," Lloyd nods as he points to me, "but just as friends! We're friends... not... we're not a couple..." he nervously confirms. And I just cringe at him.

"...uh-huh...," the girl taps her fingers on the table, "five dollars."

"Yeah... right... okay," Lloyd hands her the money and she gives him the ticket and we start to walk over to the other table near the entrance of the gym so we can give them our ticket.

"What was that?" I snicker.

"What?" Lloyd gets defensive.

"God, you're a mess," I joke.

We hand the people at the table our ticket and we walk into the gym. All of the overhead lights were off and instead there were just bright colored lights hanging from a pole on the ceiling. They would flash and blink along with the music, which was just whatever songs were popular on the pop charts currently. The gymnasiums was big, but when everyone in the entire high school was present, it seemed a lot smaller and a lot more crowded. It kinda smelled like B.O. in here.

There was a mat in the middle of the floor. I'm assuming this was supposed to be some kind of designated dance floor. There were also a few tables off to the left side of the gym that were set up with snacks and drinks. And a few teachers were there to make sure no one was messing around.

"Well, we're here... now what?" I ask.

Lloyd shrugs, "I dunno, I never made it this far," he laughs and I laugh along with him.

"Hey! Lloyd! (Y/N)! Over here!" I hear the sound of Cole's voice shouting our names. We look around and I see him waving his arm over by one of the snack tables as his other arm is holding a bunch of bags of chips and cans of soda.

We walk over and see him along with the rest of our friends.

"So this was the first thing you guys did? Go straight for the snacks?" I chuckle.

"It was Cole's idea," Kai smirks.

Cole would have said something but by the time we came over to the group, he already had his mouth stuffed with snacks.

"Good to see you guys came. I like the outfits," Nya says as she leans against the bleachers.

"Thanks," I smile.

"Look! (Y/N) painted our nails!" Lloyd holds out his hand, excited to show everyone what I'd done. I laugh and roll my eyes.

"I didn't know you guys were into that stuff. Seems a little too girly for the two of you," Kai says.

"Nail polish isn't just for girls!" Jay jumps in.

I just laugh and shake my head.

I look over and see Lloyd tapping his foot to the beat of the song that's playing.

"You guys should go dance. You did come together as a date after all," Zane suggests.

"As friends," I nudge him in a joking manner as Lloyd and I walk off the the main area of the dance.

"So you like this song?" I ask.

"A little. I typically don't care for pop music but a lot of the songs that have been out recently aren't too bad," he says.

"Then go suggest a song that you do like," I encourage.

"I dunno... I listen to... songs that arent very energetic. I like slow paced music."

"Who cares? If someone else doesn't like it, that's their problem," I reassure him.

"Alright... I think I will," he gives in.

"I'll be here."

Lloyd walks off to the other end of the gym where the "DJ" was. And by DJ, I just mean one of the faculty members who was in charge of putting on the music.

"Let me guess, you're here with your boyfriend?"

I sigh as I hear Chen's voice coming from behind me and I turn to look at him.

"Maybe. Why, are you here with yours? You looking to go on a double date?" I mess with him a bit.

"Very funny. You been practicing that one?" He scoffs as he puts his hands on his hips.

"You bet. What do you want?" I cross my arms.

"Aw, c'mon... you're telling me you're not here with Lloyd? I know you two are fucking gay," he crosses his arms and coppies my mannerisms.

"Why do you care so much? You got a crush on me or something?"

"You wish."

"Why would I wish something so disgusting upon myself like that?" I smirk, "but seriously, what do you want?"

"Is it so wrong of me to check up on how you're doing?" He asks sarcastically.

"Sounds a little gay."

"Whatever. Just know that I've got a little something planned for tonight. I don't want to spoil the surprise... but let's just say I've got eyes everywhere. I've got friends who have been seeing you messing with the decorations for the past week," he steps a little closer.

"Aw, you finally made real friends?" I pretend to ignore most of the things he'd just said.

"We're gonna figure out what you were up to. It would be a shame if you got suspended for a second time for tampering with an arrangement that only the student council was supposed to have access to."

"Nah. A second vacation sounds like fun."

"(Y/N)? Is everything okay?" Lloyd asks as he comes up behind me.

"Just fine," I keep my eye contact with Chen.

"I'd go as far as to say everything is going perfectly," Chen adds on.

"Amazingly, I'd say."

"Uhuh.... well... I'm going over to the snacks... you want anything?" Lloyd asks as he looks at me nervously.

"I'll come, too..." I start to walk along with Lloyd as Chen smirks and waves.

"What was that about?" Lloyd asks as we walk.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," I try to assure him.

"You sure?"

"One hundred percent. We're good," I confirm.

Lloyd just stays silent as we approach the snack table.

"So... did you suggest your song?" I ask to change the subject.

He smiles and nods.

"That's good," I say as I grab a can of soda and crack it open.

A few seconds pass and I notice Lloyd looking out over everyone at the dance floor. There was a pretty energetic song playing so everyone was getting into it and having a good time. I even saw Kai, Nya, and Cole out there dancing and having fun. Didn't see Jay or Zane anywhere, though.

"...I kinda wanna go dance," Lloyd says with wide eyes.

"Then let's go," I nudge him forward as I sit my soda down.

Lloyd grins as the two of us head to the dance floor. We approached our friends and Lloyd immediately began to sway his body and nod his head to the music and got more into it as the song progressed. It was cute to watch him dance the way he does.