And before I knew it...it was prom night.
That pinnicle night of high school filled with magic and romance and drama.
Our "theme" was A Secret Garden.
It took place at the Convention Centre which was a big non-descript ball room downtown.
The day started off ordinary enough...though I did hear through my drummer friend that Gavin was going to prom. Wait...what...he didn't even have a ticket! Turns out the very strict rules weren't that strict because it seemed that they did want everyone to be able to go to their own prom. That unnerved me a little... and I peppered our mutual friend with questions like "does he have a date?" (he didn't think so)..."how was he getting there... driving?" (not sure he didn't have a car perhaps he was crashing and being a +1 in a limo (humph didn't he know rented city buses were the way to go...I digress)..."does Gavin know I'm going with Nathan" (yea the drummer thought that is why he was actually going....and THAT threw me for a loop). This day was already taking a strange turn. I had know idea how bizarre it would get.
So I was mildly freaking out...what on earth was going to happen. Would Gavin talk to me? Would he ask me to dance? Where would he sit? How on earth did he get a tuxedo last minute? The rest of the day started to fly by at school and before I knew it I was leaving. Hopped into my car and first picked up Nathan's boutinniere before heading to my mom's salon to get the prom day package (mani/pedi, makeup and prom updo). My mom was going to head home with me to help me get ready etc. So she followed me across town. I was concentrating on not sweating and ruining my hair (I had to drive with the windows rolled up and it was getting hot in that jeep!) I was hurrying home because it was a tight schedule and I probably had 20 minutes to change into my dress before Nathan came to pick me up. So everything went well Nathan brough me a wrist coursage (which I thought were way better than pin-on coursages) and we posed for the prerequisite photos. Then we headed to Ashleys house and I was nervous. On the way Nathan was like "don't worry about Gavin I can totally take him" and in my head I was thinking ...really it could actually come to that?! He told me not to be nervous and then we pulled up to Ashley's house with the party all in full swing.
I knew these people but they certainly were not my friends so I was kind of like on high alert. I mean I had drinks (because I didn't want to look like a total loser)...but I secretly kept dumping half out into the bushes of her backyard (thank god for garden parties!) Then we all piled into the cool city bus and all the guys were carrying on about how great and epic this night was going to be and jokes about bringing enough condoms (I almost spit my drink out at that one!) We got to the place without incident and everyone did their best at hiding flasks to avoid detection inside. I think only one out of 11 got confiscated too. So we go to the table where we are supposed to sit and to my dismay Jaimlyn is sitting at our table. I just took a deep breath and sat down. I didn't really have to talk much anyway because our table was pretty intoxicated. Jaimlyn started off being ...nice...it was so weird. Here's sort of how it went.
Jaimlyn: Hi Teagan
Me: Hi Jaimlyn you look nice.
Jaimlyn: Thanks so I heard you were at Ashley's place before.
Me: Yea it was really fun.
Jaimlyn: I was surprised you were invited (dig #1)
Me: Well Nathan is good friends with Ashley and everyone ...(as I kind of shrugged)
Jaimlyn: So ...how did you pick out your dress...its kind of ummm... plain (dig#2)
Me: (stammering) muttering something about a mall
Jaimlyn: You KNOW it looks familiar...hmmm funny...I think someone is wearing the EXACT same one here (she said gleefully...so this is why she even bothered to talk to me in the first place).
The colour drained from my face...was she serious? ...yup out of the whole prom (probably like 250 kids) only two of US had the exact same dress in the exact same colour. This is so not supposed to happen...thank goodness Nathan chose that exact moment to rescue me... he totally stepped in "Jaimlyn do you have to be such a b*tch...besides she looks better in the dress" and then grabbed my hand so we could go get drinks...and practically ran smack dab right into Gavin...standing to the side in a tux. (He did look good I had never seen him dressed up before)...and he had kind of a James Dean thing going on where seriously Nathan looked like a big huge football player stuffed into a rented monkey suit. I did what any 12th grader would do... I walked right by him like he wasn't even there.
So the night went on and awards were handed out...I didn't get any big shocker there. There was the usual categories of King and Queen and best smile etc. There was also some interesting awards and the big scandle of the categories was when Ashley had her award pulled because she was the shoe in to win "most likely to appear on Jerry Springer". Seriously that was an award. But really who makes a porn with her boyfriend that is taped by his best friend and this tape had just recently started making circulation. Seriously...before the time of celebrity sex tapes this was happening in my high school! Good thing no one in the popular crowd knew I was still a V-card holder (ie. still a virgin). The night was good if slighly uncomfortable which is how I imagine most proms actually are. The last song of the night played some very slow song probably Kacee and Jojo. And the weird thing was Gavin stood at the side of the dance floor and just burned a whole into the back of my head and EVERYone noticed. Nathan certainly did... and wanted to make an example of him but there were way too many chaperones around. So we finished our last dance of my big prom night and headed back to the city bus (still the cooler version of a limo, or at least everyone was saying that).
We then made the hour journey outside of the city to Rob's farm. When we pulled up there was a sea of cars and limos. The field was lit up with criss crossing lines of multicoloured paper latterns strung up and the end of the field was scattered with tents. There was a huge bonfire and the party had way more people then there was at the actual prom. The party was already in full swing with my friend the drummer dj-ing. Rob's mom let the girls into the farm house to give us space to change out of our prom gowns into jeans and tank tops and flip flops. We grabbed the solo cups and filled them with the girly home brew of tropical punch and probably the cheapest vodka they could find mixed in giant camping thermoses. Someone who part timed at McDonalds had mixed vodka into that orange drink that is so familiar to childhood that they used to bring to like outdoor familiy picnics that was kind of odd. Also, Cammy wasn't there...she was sick that night and Dave didn't seem to down about it.
Everyone kind of feel into the usual party going prom mode. Cliques separated off but in general it was pretty inclusive everyone sharing the big bonfire and the drinks and mingling. The biggest scandle so far was a group of stoners hot boxing a limo. Then someone using said limo to get it on but someone opened the door and snapped a picture (totally proving that having sex in a limo was DEFINITELY not private enough).
So I was minding my own business having fun with everyone...dancing and generally having a good time. Then I noticed something odd. At the bottom of an big oak tree was a slumped over figure...weird. A few minutes I glanced back over and the figure was still there and no one really was paying attention to this person. Now granted I was a little tipsy but still had the where with all to fast forward in my head through all those after school specials of movies of kids who die from alcohol poisoning and prom specials. So I kind of broke away from the group and headed to the oak tree.
I peered at the person and I was like "oh my gosh Conner?!" and got some kind of mumbled incohereant response. So I knelt down and I'm like "Conner....Conner are you okay?" and no response. I lifted up his left arm and when I let go it slumped down into the ground. This could not be good and at only like 1am this seemed to be way too early to just be passing out drunk. Now is probably a good time to let you know that Conner was the bassist (is that how you say it?) in the band with Gavin and the drummer. So we had spent a few months as "friends" like not real friends but the type of friend you are when you are dating one of his best friends. I went to grab him some water and went back and he still was just as incoherent...now I was getting worried. So I said "Conner....Conner can I call someone for you". Now I should also mention that the oak tree was between the main party area and the port-a-potties so there was enough traffic but I just happened to be the person who stopped and wandered slightly off the main path. So there I am knelt in front of Conner trying to put some water on my hand and put it on the back of his neck etc because he was all hot and sweaty and unresponsive.
Then from behind me I feel a tiny shoove and someone say "get the fuck away from him" ...it was Gavin. Let me rephrase that a very DRUNK Gavin.
I whip around "Conner is NOT okay".
Gavin: "well thats not your problem"
Me: "Gavin he was here by himself and he is sick or has alcohol poisoning or something"
Gavin: "he isn't your friend so don't worry about him...its not like you care about anyone except your f*cking self"
Me: "woah Gavin where did that come from"
Gavin: "Teagan you are acting like a slutty b*tch"
I didn't realize that this exchange was being witnessed by Dave and a few of Nathan's friends.
Then Gavin took a fast step toward me and I flinched and that is when the madness began. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Dave shoved Gavin, Gavin shoved Dave. One of Nathan's other friends grabbed me and escorted me away and the other ran for Nathan.
So a small fist fight had broken out between Gavin and Dave and they were fairly evenly matched.
When Nathan heard what happened one of the guys told him "yea I saw him he shoved Teagan and then he stepped at her like he was going to hit her so we stepped in"...cue the testosterone driven 19 year old football player who had just made it clear tonight that we (Nathan and I) were officially "together" and Gavin had now "disrepected" him.
And then an almost comical chase began Nathan was chasing Gavin across the field...and I was chasing Nathan. Gavin was shouting at Nathan "you big dumb goon what the f*ck are you going to do?" (Gavin was a little quicker)....Nathan was shouting at Gavin "you small f*cking loser why don't you step up and fight" (Nathan was a LOT bigger and more than a foot taller). I was shouting at both of them "Gavin quick being an idiot...Nathan you are going to kill him please stop!" This went on for a while until they both stopped and took a couple of swings at each other and the entire party stopped to watch. Nothing too bad happened...they each got a couple of good jabs in and some blood was spilt before Gavin finally took off in a friends car. Nathan was all puffed up with pride and was like "okay babe let's go grab a drink" and order restored to the party.
Until Gavin came back ...with backup ....his dad. Seriously. Him and his dad walked up to Nathan (who had about 12 football guys to back him up). It didn't stop Gavin and his dad they were pretty hyped up and looking for a fight. There were lots of obsenties thrown back and forth but Rob's parents had heard all the commotion and said they would call the police if this wasn't resolved immediately. Technically almost everyone there was drinking underage and in no way able to get home so it quickly became an uprising of everyone wanting Gavin to leave. Gavin and his dad were thrown off the property. I felt bad for them though. I don't know... it was such a weird situation. For those of you who were wondering...Gavin's dad went from trying to fight Nathan and the guys to saying he was only there to get Conner home safely. So at least Conner was taken care of. Nathan and all his friends felt validated and cool they had gotten Gavin to leave (even AFTER Gavin had gone home to get his dad for backup).
The night was starting to dwindle as the sun started to come up. I discovered Nathan wasn't so good at planning a place for us...he had neglected to get an actual tent for us or couldn't find it due to his drunken state. I was tipsy but by no means drunk and really it wasn't bad to share a tent with some other people (another couple) because I figured it was less of a chance of him to try anything. We made out a bit in the tent but then the guy part of the couple we were sharing the tent with sat bolt upright and then puked all over his girlfriend. Yup all over her and himself. I covered my mouth and started to get out of the tent as soon as possible with Nathan straight behind me. (And for the record that couple slept in their puke ALL night)...thank god I never drank to that extent ever. In the cool of the morning we huddled beside the dwindling bon fire. He kissed me on the forehead and said "I'm glad I brought you to prom Teagan and being with me was much better than if you had gone with that loser" (weird he was giving himself the credit before I even had a chance to/wanted to). So we sorta slept against each other before some people started to awaken and started to leave the prom. There was no food here and everyone was starting to get hungry/embarrased by their actions/just wanted a shower and real bathroom.
Again Nathan hadn't EXACTLY planned how we were going to get home. We were going to try and head with Ashley and her porn co-star home. But they were ummm busy in the back seat of the Mustang (good thing no one had a videocamera around). So he got some poor kid to volunteer to drive us all the way back into town and then to get his car at Ashley's. The kid was all nervous/honoured to drive us home (that felt bizarre). So we get into the car which was parked right in front of where Ashley and her boyfriend were getting it on. I was ready to get home to sleep and shower. So we get into the back...the poor guy driving was a combination of very hungover and very tired and instead of us driving away (putting the car in drive)...we drove right back ONto the Mustang (in Reverse). And we were in a giant suburban. We drove up and onto the trunk area of the Mustang with the rear end of our car, shattering the rear window. Everyone started screaming and running at our two cars. Everyone was okay but just a little frightened. Pretty sure we scared the crap out of Ashley and her boyfriend. And that is how I ended my prom night. The poor guy that was driving us was now a nervous wreck...he had the opportunity to hang out with Nathan and now he drove into basically the coolest couple in school while they were having sex. I guess he pretty much sealed his popularity fate...but where was mine headed I wondered at the time?. I had prom under my belt, still had my V-card, had a new cool popular boyfriend and the summer to look forward to. All-in-all things were looking pretty good. I just had to talk my way out of how I was involved in a car accident that my parents knew about before I even walked in the front door that morning (how is it that parents seem to find out everything?!)
To be continued....
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