"Noah, what in god's name are you wearing?!" Alex exclaimed as Noah hastily emerged from the hallway, crossing over to the meeting spot they had agreed upon.
"Formal wear?" Noah said cautiously.
Hazel had to stifle a laugh, both at Alex's horror struck expression and Noah's choice of clothes. Hazel looked like she had just been told that she was going to prison, and Noah was wearing an interesting combination of jeans and a loud Hawaiian shirt.
"Oh, Noah," Hazel chuckled. "Oh my god. You should've called us for help."
"Whatever," Noah said, pouting. "I like it. It was a gift from my mother last Christmas. She insisted that I wear it at least once at a formal occasion, and it would have been a hundred times worse if I had to wear this to prom!"
"Alright," Alex concurred. "I don't want to be seen next to that hideous thing at prom, so I'll allow it this time."
Noah looked up quickly, his eyes conveying hesitation and some hastily concealed joy. "Wait, we're going together?"
"Duh," Alex said. She acted nonchalant, but Hazel could tell there was a thin fabric of uncertainty in her voice. "Don't be stupid."
Hazel giggled at the obvious display of affection that the two had for each other but wouldn't admit. It would be apart of her list of goals to get the two together before school ended, because it was almost pitiful watching them pine for each other without even realizing the other was madly in love with them.
"I thought you guys hated dances," she pointed out. The trio started to walk towards the common room, ignoring the giggles that Noah's shirt attracted.
"Oh, we do," Alex shrugged. "But prom's a tradition. And we get to wear cool clothes, and they have this sushi bar that's to die for. So we suffer through it."
"As long as you stay on the sides near the food, you should have an okay time at the party," Noah advised. "Don't go to the middle, though. That's where Reid and his cronies are, and it's an absolute nightmare trying to get through them."
"Why?"
Alex piped up. "'Cause of all the girls and guys who want to befriend them or whatever. An in with Reid means privileges, Hazel. You're friends with him, then you're friends with the dean. Once you're with him, then it means a more fun school experience overall, I guess. You can get away with the small things. And, well, you saw the guy. He's cute."
"A cute douchebag," Hazel corrected. "He has, like, a superiority complex. Didn't you see the way he talked to us in the locker room? He thinks he's all that, probably because the students here make him feel like he's a god."
Noah snorted. "You're getting way too hung up about this. Noah's a popular kid. There are hundreds of popular kids, hundreds of people like Noah, out there. You just need to know how to avoid them."
"Yeah, I guess," Hazel sighed. She perked up when she noticed the common room, blaring music with flashing lights. "Hey, is that the sushi bar?"
"No such luck, I'm afraid," Alex grinned ruefully. "Sushi bar's only for prom. Tonight's a pasta bar."
As they neared the door, Hazel started to regret their decision to come to the dance, even if they were only coming so she could experience it.
The common room was packed like sardines in a tin. The flashing lights made the entire situation a little disorienting. She could hardly see in front of her, and as soon as they entered she slammed right into a person. With a quick apology, she followed Noah and Alex to the side of the room, where a few students were milling around the pasta bar.
In the very middle of the room, two spotlights were roving around, illuminating dancing students. Hazel had to hold back a laugh when she saw some of the students dancing like someone had dropped a snake down their back. She might've been a bad dancer, but these people were worse.
The spotlight hovered for a second, right on the face of Sebastian Reid, who was calmly swaying to the music, holding a cup of some beverage in his hand. He had an expression of total calm on his face, offset by the flashing lights and blaring music. His eyes were closed and Hazel felt almost jealous of how relaxed he could be in the middle of this loud dance.
On the edge of the circle in the middle of the room, other boys and girls milled around, dancing a little and trying to work their way into the tightly knit circle. Hazel watched as a mousy girl managed to slip in and make her way towards Reid. Reid's eyes opened for a few seconds as the girl shouted something over the music. He shook his head softly, smiling a little, and she fell back into the crowd, obviously disappointed by his answer.
Overall, the dance wasn't… bad, it was just horrifically stereotypical and the lights and rap music being played way too loud made her feel a little nauseous.
"New plan," she yelled over the music to Noah and Alex, who were helping themselves to the pasta bar. ��We take a lot of that pasta, buy a drink for downtown, grab a blanket and watch Netflix on the field."
"Half of the things you just said aren't allowed!" Alex hollered, then flashed her a grin. "Noah and I are already on it." She held up her plate of food that was heaped with all sorts of pasta. "Get the food and meet you outside in three minutes!"
Once the trio had each gotten as much pasta as they desired—in Hazels case, a lot—they stumbled out of the dance.
"Alex, take these and get your laptop and blanket from the dorm," Noah said. "Hazel and I will go downtown for the drinks. You've already gotten way too many warnings to get caught again."
"So, we're not allowed to go downtown usually?" Hazel asked, once Alex had left, trotting up the path to the dorms with the three pasta plates balanced dangerously.
"Did you even read the introduction sheet?" Noah rolled his eyes. "There's a curfew. Have to be in the dorms before 11. Today's different, ��cause there's a dance, but usually we can't. The shop owners are nice, though. As long as we're quiet and we buy something, they won't rat us out to the school."
Hazel laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. What did you mean about Alex's warnings? Has she done this before?"
"What hasn't she done before?" Noah laughed, his tone light. "She's a force to reckon with, that one. She's talked back to teachers, walked out of classes, snuck out in the middle of the night to ask Mr. Reid what they did with the sushi bar after prom was over—she's done a lot. She's kind of stupid about things sometimes, so that's why I told her she shouldn't come on this one. It's a miracle she hasn't been expelled yet."
"You really care for her, don't you?" Hazel probed, trying to press a little further to see what Noah would respond.
"Yeah! Yes. She's a good friend. We're friends. Been friends for a while." Hazel couldn't definitively tell from the angle she was at and because of the darkness, but she was almost certain that Noah was blushing.
"Is it easy to sneak out?" Hazel decided to save Noah some of the embarrassment. "Or do you guys caught a lot?"
"Alex does, because she has no regard for her safety or anyone else's," Noah rolls his eyes. "But I've only gotten caught once before. The trick is to come back through the left gate. Security usually doesn't come around too much there, and there's this little spot we can wait in until they're gone if they're around."
They had been walking through campus, and almost right after they passed the gate, they could make out the shadows of dimly lit stores. After a minute more of silent walking, they reached the first shop, a somewhat messy but cozy general store called MelMart. Noah opened the door for her.
"Mel–that's the guy who owns the shop, in case you haven't noticed–he's super chill. He's friends with most of the students from school, especially the seniors who��ve been coming to the shop for years. He's our favorite. He sells us alcohol without IDs, just 'cause he's the best. Hey Mel!"
Mel looked up. He was an older gentleman of about 60, his hair grey and his mouth turned up into a smile. "Out after curfew again?"
"We're having a picnic," Noah replied as a way of explaining. "We need a drink."
Mel rolled his eyes. "Alright. You know where to go."
Noah thanked him and bounded off towards the back of the store, where there was a selection of wine.
"Wine?" Hazel laughed. "So we're getting fancy?"
"Picnics," Noah repeated, like that explained everything. "Fancy picnic."
"Can't go wrong with strawberry wine," Hazel pointed out, hoisting out one of the bottles by its neck.
Noah looked gleeful. "Oh, those ones taste like absolute trash! I hate it! Let's buy it!"
After a quick banter with Mel, wherein Noah introduced Hazel after forgetting to do so the first time, they started walking back to the school. As they neared the left gate, Noah gestured at her to be silent.
"They're always on the lookout for people sneaking back in," he said in a low voice. "It's super annoying, and they're annoyingly good at their jobs. We just have to stay silent and walk nonchalantly across the lawn." He suddenly remembered his bottle of wine, quite obvious even in the brown bag. He handed it to Hazel. "Here, stuff this down your shirt."
"What?"
"Down your shirt? It might look weird, but if a guard catches us, at least he won't try to pat you down. Unless it's a female guard. But you look relatively more innocent than me anyways. If we're caught with alcohol, we'll get detention for months."
"Don't be stupid," Hazel said. "I can't stuff anything down this tight dress. And don't you think it'll be all the more obvious if it's sticking out from my front?"
Noah frowned. "Fine, but keep it behind your back."
They cautiously advanced into the little grove of trees and plants. At Noah's signal, the two started walking quickly across the lawn. Right when Hazel thought they were in the clear, a voice sounded across the lawn.
"Hey! Stop right there!"