"Beside Some Tall Hottie"

(HQ)

Bachelor thought he had it all under control, he didn’t care about most of the whole prom thing. He was going of course, it was his senior prom he had to go. But he didn’t have any illusions about winning prom king or anything, he understood that was never gonna happen.

But apparently he just assumed he would be nominated, it hadn’t even crossed his mind that he could just not be nominated at all. Not even considered for the prom king title... No of course he would.

So he was hardly paying attention when the prom court nominees were announced, it was just background noise as he thought about who to ask to prom, probably some pretty cheerleader, and then he heard the word prom king and perked up. He already had the fake surprised face planned, of course he was gonna soak up all the attention he got for being nominated even if he had no chance at winning, but the list went on and the nominees were announced and his name wasn’t even mentioned.

The first thing he felt was confusion, he wasn’t nominated? Not at all? Then he felt the embarrassment, of course he wasn’t nominated? Why had he even thought he would be, all his popularity was just through Preston and Darian, who he hadn’t even heard from since they left for college.

He felt sick honestly, and he knew he had to get out of class so he raised his hand and asked to be excused because he felt sick, it wasn’t completely a lie. The nurse was his moms best friend and she always let him do whatever he wanted.

The teacher let him go, casting him a sympathetic glance that he hoped had nothing to do with the whole prom court thing and instead with him believing that Bachelor actually felt sick.

Just as he round the corner to the nurse office already feeling himself relax a little, reasoning with himself a little about how he never even cared in the first place, he saw DaeRi heading in the same direction.

She stopped suddenly when she saw him and turned around quickly.

“Hey, where are you going?” Bachelor called, “No need to be afraid of me.”

She turned around slowly, looking a mix of annoyed and sheepish, “I... forgot something...”

“Hm, I guess neither of us are good liars,” Bachelor said, smirking.

“Yeah?” DaeRi scoffed, crossing her arms, “Well what are you doing here, shouldn’t you be in class?”

“I felt a little off,” Bachelor shruggef, gesturing the the nurses office.

Daeri looked thoughtful for a second then smiled mischievously, “so you wanted to be prom king?”

Bachelor frowned and shook his head quickly, “No, I don’t care about that.”

“Yeah, right,” DaeRi laughed.

“Well, it’s not like you were nominated either,” Bachelor said.

DaeRi sighed, shaking her head, “Yeah, but it’s no secret that I wanted to be. It’s also no secret that I had no chance, I don’t care about that.”

Her voice told a different story though.

Bachelor shrugged, “sure, whatever. So we both don’t care, then what are we doing here?”

“Not caring,” DaeRi cracked a smile, “I think skipping class is the ultimate not caring.”

“It’s just homeroom,” Bachelor said.

“I could go for the rest of the day,” DaeRi sighed, hanging her head back exasperated.

“Then let’s go,” Bachelor said.

Daeri stared at him, wondering if he was serious probably.

“I’m serious,” Bachelor said, “school sucks, let’s go.”

DaeRi shook her head, amused, “well, I can’t get in trouble. My mom’ll kill me.”

Bachelor stared at the nurses office, he had an idea to get around that.

“Well I happen to know someone who can get us out of here almost legally,” Bachelor said.

DaeRi looked where he was looking, “the nurse?” she said incredulously.

“A friend of my mom’s,” Bachelor said, “she’ll do anything for me.”

DaeRi laughed, “good luck.”

--

Thirty minutes later Daeri and Bachelor sat in the park across from the strip mall. During the summer this place is overrun with teens sunbathing while sipping on iced coffees from the Deli, but now it was virtually empty except two toddlers being pushed on the swing by an old woman, probably there grandmother. DaeRi and Bachelor sat far away from them, not wanting to be asked why they weren‘t in school.

It was hot. The sun glared at them from the perfectly pristine blue sky and DaeRi was thinking of just heading home. Her mom wouldn’t be home until after she was expected home from school, so she would never know. But something in her wanted to stay with Bachelor, who somehow talked the school nurse into writing them permission to leave the school.

He was kind of cool. In a trying hard loser way.

And despite what he said he was upset about not being nominated for prom king, she could just tell by the way he looked when he said he didn’t care. It did not look like someone who didn’t care.

Especially now as he sat hunched over pulling out the grass.

“So, are we gonna sit in a field all day?” DaeRi asked finally after a moment of silence.

“Got any better ideas?” Bachelor asked.

Daeri thought on it, they couldn’t go to the library, because anyone there would know they should be in school and probably tell on of their parents. And the Deli was out of the question, DaeRi was saving every cent towards getting a car before college, but that didn’t look like it was happening anyway.

She stared at Bachelor, he was shopping at the thrift store when she ran into him the other day. Did that mean he was poor too?

“So, you were shopping at the thrift store?” DaeRi asked, deciding wondering was pointless.

Bachelor stared at her warily, “Maybe, why?”

DaeRi shrugged, “I just thought all the cool kids were too rich to be seen anywhere near there.”

“I’m a cool kid?” He asked, grinning sloppily.

Loser.

DaeRi shook her head, amused, “you’re a jock, duh.”

“I guess I am huh?” Bachelor nodded, laying down on his back and staring up at the harshly blue sky for a second before closing his eyes.

“Just not prom king cool, sorry,” DaeRi said.

“Just pointing out the obvious,” Bachelor said.

“Apparently, neither am I,” DaeRi sighed, laying back too, “I mean, I thought my popularity had improved some bit since I made up with Tamarai and now Harriette is even letting me sit with them sometimes. I thought maybe I had a chance.

”I always dreams of being prom queen, it was that one thing I wanted from my high school years. I wanted that crown, I wanted pictures of be in my beautiful dress and crown, grinning ear to ear beside some tall hottie.”

Bachelor laughed.

“Don’t laugh,” DaeRi said, pushing him, “it’s not funny. My senior year is being thrown down the drains and I can’t do anything to fix it. It’s over.”

“A little dramatic, don’t you think?” Bachelor said, looking over at her.

“It’s okay to be dramatic sometimes,” DaeRi said, looking away.

---

Bachelor had to admit he hadn’t expected his Senior year to turn out like this either, his dreams had actually looked a bit like DaeRi’s. After last year he had expected to be on top, take Darian’s place as the top dog in school. By now he had realised that was not gonna happen, but not being nominated for prom king had never even crossed his mind.

He heard DaeRi get up and looked at her.

“I’m going home,” DaeRi said, “It’s hot and at least I have air conditioning.”

Bachelor got up, “I guess this failed, huh?”

DaeRi shrugged, “Not completely. I’m out of school at least.”

“Aren’t you worried that everyone’s gonna think you’re a wimp for ditching?” Bachelor asked.

DaeRi frowned, “frankly I don’t care about anything anymore.”

Bachelor nodded.

“See you later,” DaeRi said, turning around to head home.

“Hey,” Bachelor called after her after a second.

“Yeah?” She turned around.

“You wanna go to prom with me?” he asked.

DaeRi’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh?”

“I mean, it seems kind of appropriate,” Bachelor said.

“So you wanna go to prom with me because it’s ‘appropriate?” she asked.

“That, and I had a good time with you today,” he said.

DaeRi smiled then, “sure then. I’m wearing midnight blue, match accordingly.”

Bachelor laughed, “gotcha.”

DaeRi smiled again before turning back around and heading home.

--

So he wasn’t tall, but he was a little hot. And hey, everyone was taller than DaeRi.