Prom Night

Chapter One: The Dress (Zara)

The dress was supposed to be emerald green. The dress that arrived was the colour of radioactive lime, and Zara had exactly four hours before Jaylen picked her up in his mother's Honda Civic. She stood in front of her bedroom mirror and tried to convince herself that it looked fine. It did not look fine. It looked like she had been attacked by a highlighter.

"You look amazing," said her little sister from the doorway, in the unconvincing tone of someone who had been bribed with twenty dollars to say that. Zara threw a pillow at her. Her phone buzzed: a group chat notification from the Prom Survival Squad, which was what they called their friend group because none of them actually wanted to go to prom but all of them had somehow ended up with tickets.

Maya: my date just cancelled. showing up alone. bring snacks. Darius: the limo fell through. we have a minivan. Sofia: my heel broke. wearing converse. Jaylen: everything is fine. everything is totally fine. Zara looked at the radioactive dress. She looked at the group chat. She started laughing, and once she started she could not stop.