Performance #3
Location: Curling Blue High School Prom
Date: April 19, 2005

We kick off our Prom 2005 performance with The Anthem, by Good Charlotte, which is a song that every student on that dance floor knows.

It's a new day, but it all feels old
It's a good life, that's what I'm told
But everything, it all just feels the same
And my high school: it felt more to me
Like a jail cell, a penitentiary
My time spent there
It only made me see

August is a magic blur, dancing onstage in his light blue tux. I have no clue how he found the darn thing, but it looks amazing, and it's offset by a dark blue vest and tie. My dress is dark blue to match his outfit, beaded all the way down with a plunging neckline. Amber's dress is red, simple, and short, because she doesn't care and she still has to drum in it. She technically came as J.P.'s date, so he wore a red tie to match her. Jaewon is in a more traditional black and white, and it's a miracle that his parents actually allowed him to come to the prom in the first place.

"They said it was a ritual of high school, and that I'm allowed to go to see what the fuss is all about," he had said a week before prom. "But I'm not allowed to dance, and they're picking me up an hour early so I can go home and get back to my studies."

"Sounds lame, but at least they're letting you go," I said.

"They still don't know about the band."

"They won't find out, dude. I don't think they are going to want to even step inside the school during prom night. They'll probably just pull up out front and expect you to be waiting. Then you can sing Jesus Loves Me in the car and go back to their definition of normal." He had laughed at that.

That I don't ever want to be like you
I don't want to do the things you do
I'm never gonna hear the words you say
Cause I don't ever wanna.
I don't ever want to be yoooooooooou!
Don't want to be just like you!
What I'm sayin' is this is the anthem
Throw all your hands up
Yooooooou! Don't want to be you!

August runs up to the front of the stage, getting on his knees and waving at a bunch of girls. They all scream like they're at an actual Good Charlotte concert. August is the only person in our band with enough charisma to pull this move off. Meanwhile, I stay locked into the beat, riding on the rhythm that Amber and Jaewon are giving me. This is a much better mix than the last gig we played just feet away in the cafeteria.

We breeze through Bring Me To Life, which tends to get a lot of good reactions, and then finish with Envision and Freedom Fighters. The entire crowd is going crazy by the time we're done. Thankfully J.P. can't get elected prom king; while homecoming roles are open to anybody because the school is so small, prom king and queen are only senior roles. I kind of wish we had a song to play for them, but August hasn't talked about ballads yet. I think he'd rather bring the house down with absolute bangers than serenade his crowds of women with slow songs.

We disperse after that, meeting up with friends while a DJ takes over for the remainder of the night. The curtains are drawn on the auditorium stage; Dad will take most of our equipment down while we have fun on our own. I end up on the dance floor with Amber for a couple of songs, and then I go to find wherever August went. He's still not my boyfriend, but I still want to dance with him. It's prom, after all.

"Emmaline!" I hear a voice call out to me. I turn and see it's Chloe Kohl, with her bleached blonde hair done all up in an updo on her head. She was in the running to be prom queen, but it went to her best friend Brittany instead. "Look, August -- uh -- you should know -- "

"GIrl, you are going too fast." We're not the best of friends, because she doesn't really get my world and I don't get hers, but I can tell she's got my back on some things. We've worked on class projects together and stuff.

"August. Uh, come over in the corner here, there's something you should know." We duck around the hallway, and she pulls me in close. "He's kissing Brittany in the senior hallway."

What? I feel my stomach drop out. I mean, I knew August flirted with other girls, that wasn't the problem, it fed his image on stage and in the classroom. But to be kissing another girl?

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," Chloe says, and she looks close to tears. I knew she wouldn't be joking like this or out to ruin my prom. She has to be telling the truth. It's just one of those girl code things.

"It's okay. I'm so glad you told me." I give her a hug, not too tight or else she might fall out of her dress. "Listen, it's gonna be okay, all right?"

"But he's your boyfriend."

"It's complicated, but I will talk to him. Not tonight. We got the rest of the night to have fun and stuff, right? So I'm gonna go back on that dance floor and I'm gonna dance and have a good time, and I'll stick by my girlfriends. Amber came with J.P., but we all know he's not really her date. We'll stick together like independent women, and it'll be okay. And if August comes back around, I'll dance with him. and then after tonight, I'll talk to him about it. When it's done. I'm not crying tonight." This seems like the right thing to do, but I'm still trying to choke back tears. I can't ruin my makeup. Amber worked for at least an hour on it!

No matter how I tell myself this cheating rumor can't be true, knowing August it probably is. I'd heard about him before, breaking up with one girl and then going out with another the next week. I figured maybe I could be different, because we had the band. Somehow, that made us different. It turns out I wasn't all that different after all.

This prom now sucks. This can't get any worse.

"Jaewon Holt!"

...never mind, it just got worse.

"Shit," I whisper as I pass Chloe and whip my head around the corner just in time to see Jaewon, still in his tux, sprinting toward me.

He notices me. "Emmaline!"

"The roof!" Thank God I wore flats to this part of the prom; I had to in order to play the keys. I let go of Chloe and grab Jaewon's hand as we run away from Chloe and the main part of the school, away from his parents who have probably arrived earlier than he anticipated, who have probably just found out about the band.

We run towards the men's locker room and into it, ducking right instead of left when we first get in. There's a door here that's normally locked that leads to the roof; it's the only one in the entire school. Jaewon pulls out his key, and we're through the door and he has it locked behind himself again before I can catch my breath. Then, we both ascend the stairs together, like we have many times before, to the roof, where there is another door. Jaewon unlocks this one with the same key, then closes it behind him and locks it. The sky is a clear dark blue, dotted with stars. I can hear the bass from the gym up here, but not anything else. It's the quietest it's been all night, and it's a perfect place to hide.

"Don't get too close to the sides," Jaewon says, trying to catch his own breath. "They can't find me yet."

"They find out about the band?"

"They found out about the band. Carson just went up to them and started talking about our performance, asking if they were proud and why did they miss it? God damn it, Carson!" Carson Retland is the captain of the football team.

"Dude, he was probably just pissed off that he didn't get prom king."

"I know, but why throw me under the bus?" Jaewon sits on the roof and leans back, getting his tux all dusty, staring at the sky. He's quiet for a moment. "This prom sucks." And then, "I don't want to have to quit the band."

I hear his voice crack, and I lay back as well, my done-up hair smushing against the concrete. I put my arms under my head to help. "If it helps, August just cheated on me."

"Wait, what? Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Ugh. This night sucks."

We pause, and then we both laugh. "Look at us, just hiding from the rest of the world on the roof," Jaewon says.

"We gotta go back down sometime," I say. "But we can stay up here for a bit. Sound good?"

"Yeah." Jaewon grins, and I'm glad he's my friend. On a shitty night like this, sometimes a friend is all you need.

When we look above our heads, the stars are out, and it's a clear night. It almost feels like we're our namesake, walking on the starlight above our heads. Reality is gonna suck when we get back at it, but it can wait for just a little while longer.