ONLY A couple of days until the dance and Kalani still had no date and no dress. She might as well not go... well, in her mind at least.

But instead of dwelling on the no date aspect she chose to celebrate her friend who did have dates.

She sat on Devi's bed with Devi and Eleanor as they waited Fabiola to come out with the dress she'd chosen for the night to come.

She soon came out and her friend smiled, complimenting her as she stood in front of the others.

"I don't know. I mean, Thanks, El, for bringing all these dresses over, but it's not very utilitarian. Like where do I put my TI-84?" She asked.

"You don't bring it whatsoever." Kalani chuckled.

"You have to look snatched for when you get Cricket Queen, which you definitely will, B-T-dubs." Eleanor said, "Everyone's voting for you."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Right, Devi?"

Devi sighed, "Guys, I need to tell you something. I think I might be sort of... dating Paxton?"

The trio raised the brows and in unison, "What?"

"What do you mean "sort of dating"?" Fabiola questioned.

"Paxton came through my window two night in a row to make out."

"How are we just hearing this?" Eleanor asked, "You should've texted us right after! Or during!"

"I know, but I think maybe something's not great about it. Last night, he came over and gave me this whole speech how he's not into labels or PDA."

"I wish some people were like that." Kalani muttered.

She clearly meant Ben and Anessa who were constantly making out near her locker and it would make the girl literally slam her head against her locker.

But this wasn't about her right now.

"Are you worried that he's ashamed of you?" Fabiola asked, "But he's dated you publicly before?"

"Oh my God. I don't think he called me his girlfriend then either. I just didn't notice."

"There's a very easy way to solve this." Eleanor said, "The dance is on Saturday. Every couple's going. So if he sees you as his real girlfriend, he'll ask you."

Devi scoffed.

"Which he definitely will, so... you need a dress, squirlfriend."

And by God, even though Kalani already wasn't planning on going to the dance because she was dateless but everyone at school was asking the next person and days were winding down and neither Kalani or Devi had a date thus far.

And yet Thursday came around and another person had been asked to the dance in front of the student body.

Kalani was now, down in the slumps. She was a super hot teenage girl... according to Jodie, why hasn't anyone asked her to the dance.

And it was becoming very obvious that it was getting to Kalani.

She had her head down on her desk and bother to even speak. It was dramatic, but as seen, Kalani was a very dramatic girl.

"Hey, babe!" Anessa smiled, "Someone left a little message for you on my phone."

And surprise surprise it was a video message from Billy Crystal and he was asking Ben to the dance on the behalf of Anessa.

Kalani let out a loud groan and the groan caused her classmates to face her with furrowed brows and confused looks.

And after class, she was no better. In fact, she sucked that shit right up after Paxton had said no to Devi about said dance and Kalani followed the girl into the bathroom.

"Listen," Kalani said, sitting on the nasty ass bathroom floor as her friend cried, "Paxton is a joke, okay? You don't need him or his stupid friends to show your worth. And for them to call you "Crazy Devi" is ridiculous. You are smart, wise, hot as shit, and you have your moments. We all do. But this is just a dance and you don't need Paxton to go."

"Take your own advice." Devi cried, laughing at her words, "Don't you want to go with Ben?"

"Do I make it obvious?"

"No." Devi chuckled, "Not at all."

Kalani grabbed Devi's hand, standing up and pulling the girl up with her.

"We're both dramatic bitches, okay. I broke up with Ben because I'm stupid and over dramatic."

Soon, the door opened and Ben held his hands over his eyes, entering the girls bathroom.

Kalani and Devi furrowed their brows and left the stall.

Devi, feeling better, had left and left the exes alone.

Kalani pressed her body against the bathroom sink with her arms crossed.

"What brought you to the girls room, you creep."

Ben smiled, "You were crying by your locker ten minutes before you followed David into the bathroom."

"You know me, dramatic with nothing else to lose."

Kalani turned facing the mirror, "God, I look gross. People are going to think I've lost my mind."

"Who cares what anyone thinks?" Ben asked, "When are you gonna realize that you are perfect the way you are?"

Kalani faced Ben slowly. His mouth was slightly agape and silence rose between them.

"Also, most of the people here don't have as high of a IQ as I do, so they really know nothing."

Kalani held a small smile, "Thanks, Ben. Anessa's lucky."

Ben nodded slowly and left the bathroom.

God... help them both.

Kalani couldn't even think about the interaction long because she soon found herself with her friends at Devi's house.

"So after he publicly swerved you, he showed up for a sneaky link?" Fabiola questioned, "That dog!"

"Yeah, he said he'll only be with me in secret."

"How dare he not treat you like the Tamil goddess you are? You told him to take his toned ass straight to hell, right?" Eleanor asked.

"Totally." Devi answered, "I mean, 'cause if I didn't, that'd be pathetic of me, right?"

"I wouldn't say pathetic." Kalani said.

"You wouldn't?"

"No." Kalani smiled, "I'd say you really don't care what men think of you. Which is by far worse than being pathetic."

"Hi, girls. Take your homework upstair. We're gonna need the room." Nalini, Devi's mother said.

"Why? What's happening?" Devi asked.

"We have to cook a regal feast for Kamala's proposal dinner tomorrow."

After a couple of hours the girls had gone their separate ways and Kalani found herself laying on her bedroom floor dragging her math homework on.

"You know, that Jacob kid was cute." Jodie said, "You should take after Anessa and ask him to the dance."

Kalani glanced up with a grimace look. Her fictitious friend only wanted what was best for her and Anessa breaking gender norms by asking Ben to the dance was pretty badass, but the last thing she wanted to think about was her ex boyfriend and possible first love was going to the dance with his super hot girlfriend. It was something the girl didn't want to think about at the moment or now.

Soon Meredith, Kalani's never forgotten sister, soon knocked on her door and peaked her head inside.

"Hey, dinner's ready."

Kalani threw her pencil to the ground and followed Meredith downstairs.

Her older sister soon threw her hands over Kalani's eyes, the two of them giggling at the process.

And once they were downstairs Meredith removed her hands and Kalani was stood there as Jacob held what seemed to be a store bought bouquet and a sign the simply read, "Dance with me".

Meredith gave Kalani's shoulders a small squeeze and left the two alone.

"Would you, Kalani Wang, allow me, Jacob Buchanan, to take you the dance?"

Kalani held her small smile. All she wanted was to go to the dance with someone and here was her opportunity.

And don't get it twisted, at this point she would go with anyone... at least, that's what her inner monologue chose to believe.

She smiled and nodded, accepting Jacob's invitation.

She had a date... no more worries.

SOON, THE dance Jacob and Kalani arrived with arms linked and Eleanor and Devi were shocked to say the least. The girl who was wallowing in sorrow about a date had arrived with a date.

But with glee came that sorrow when Fabiola hadn't shown up which left the trio looking for their best friend.

She'd been in the science lab crying.

"Why are you crying?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm fine."

"Honey, your velvet's soaked with tears." Eleanor spoke quietly, "You're not fine."

"I just thought it would be easier after coming out, but even with the queer girls, I feel like I'm constantly trying to fit in. And now the robotics team hates me, and Gears is a creep." Fabiola explained, "I guess I'm as bad at being a lesbian as I was a closeted straight person."

"You're bad at being Sasha and Eve not being Fabiola." Kalani said, "You like girls, don't you?"

"Very much so. I had a dream the other night that Dua Lipa was feeding me grapes."

"I've had that dream too." Jonah said.

"Jonah? Where'd you come from?" Fabiola questioned.

"I'm ubiquitous. Also, my hearing aids have been specifically tuned to eavesdrop." He smiled, "Listen, it's hard after pretending for so long to finally live your authentic life. I mean, I don't love how straight girls feel like they can casually call me a bitch now. But the whole point of coming out is to get to be who you are."

"And we love who you are." Devi said.

After cheering up Fabiola, the four found themselves back in the gym just in time for the announcement of Cricket royalty.

"Your Cricket Queen and Cricket Queen are... Eve Hjelm and Fabiola Torres!"

Fabiola walked on the stage with her regular clothes on and Eve soon joined her on stage.

They shared some sentimental words and soon everyone was aloud to dance one more without being referred to as a bigot.

Kalani had a few dances with Jacob and separated to get a drink from the table when she had meant Ben halfway on the dance floor.

"Hey." He smiled.

"Hey." She smiled, "Thanks for the pep talk the other day."

"Yeah. No problem."

"So, be honest, were you in the girls' bathroom to help me, or were you finally in your gross super freak era and I just so happened to be there?" She joked.

"Obviously, perv reasons." He smiled, "I don't care about you."

"See, now that we're broken up I would think that you're being serious unlike when we were hiding things so I was wondering, "Hold on, wait. Ben is sweet? Ben cares?" Then I was look no way."

"Yeah, no, I'm a total creep."

The two of the shared a soft laugh and Ben unacknowledgedly took a step forward.

"So, uh, like, would you maybe want to-"

"Hey, guys!" Anessa jumped, "Ben, you can't be a wallflower all night. You have to dance with me! Think of the steps it'll add to your pedometer."

"Yeah, sure. Let's do it."

Ben gave Kalani one last glance and Anessa pulled him away to dance.

Soon, a bunch of sappy slow dances start and Kalani had been standing outside of the school with her cardigan placed over her shoulders.

"Kalani?"

She quickly stood up and turn to face Jacob.

"Everything okay?"

"I'm so sorry." She sighed, "You deserve the best night and I don't know if I can you that night."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know... that I still like Ben. And you're a great person. But whatever this may lead to I'm no emotionally ready for it. Which sounds, so fucking stupid because I'm just a teenage girl in high school and this is nothing like what they teach you in the movies."

Jacob smiled, chuckling, "Kalani, no matter how hard or little you tried, I know you still liked Ben. I asked you to the dance because I wanted you to have a good time. To get your mind off of things."

"That's very sweet of you, Jacob, but-"

"It's Ben's loss at this point okay? You're a great girl and whether or not he sees that shouldn't matter. Especially not tonight." He said, "Tonight we're gonna let loose and have fun. We could ditch the dance if you prefer and get ice cream instead."

Kalani smiled, bringing the boy in for a hug.

That small interaction was caught by Ben.

Maybe this was a sign. They had their chance and it was over.

Ben had Anessa and Kalani now had Jacob.

Both of them had physically moved on, but mentally? Hell no.

- lucy has something to say !!

last chapter of season two let's go :)

anyways i'm team ben through and through bbg

bye :))))