Mean Wolves - Chapter 18

Alec had always been exceptionally neat when it came to the organization of the books inside his locker in alphabetical order. He tended to be the last one in the hallway, taking more time putting his books away than any other student. In fact, right now he was pretty much the only student left in the hallway as he finally shut his locker close. He winced briefly as he found Henry standing right there, casually leaning against the row of lockers, almost as if he’d been standing there the entire time.

“Care to be my prom date?” Henry asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He wouldn’t stop grinning as Alec simply ignored him, bumping against his shoulder as he passed him by.

“Where the hell have you been? You’ve been missing classes for weeks” This semester as well as their last senior year were slowly coming to an end and apparently Henry took this as an opportunity to leave more often than ever and expand his travels to even longer periods of time. As long as he would pass all of his finals it should’ve been none of Alec’s concern. But even if he didn’t, Alec shouldn’t care as much as he did.

Henry took a few long and fast steps in order to keep up with his best friend’s pace. “Oh Ally…I know for a fact that you’ve been doing all my homework while I’ve been gone…”
Alec wouldn’t let it show that Henry was assuming correctly. “Why on Earth would I be doing that?” He always did. But nobody was mentioning that now.

“Because I brought you this snow globe”
Alec carelessly pushed the small souvenir, Henry had just drawn from his pocket, out of his face, but he couldn’t ignore its clearly visibly inscription as Henry nearly dropped it to the floor.
“You’ve been to Canada?”
Henry shrugged. “Maybe”

Alec shook his irritation about that information off with a frown. “I suppose, next time you can do your geography homework yourself”
Henry snorted. “Haha. Very funny. Have you ever considered becoming a comedian? No, really, I’d buy tickets to your show”
“To throw tomatoes at me?”

Henry laughed. “I wasn’t going to…but now that you’ve mentioned it…you know me too well, my friend” He loosely put an arm around Alec’s shoulders, ignoring the way his best friend tensed up underneath his touch. “Now, again, about that prom thing…are we gonna go or not?”

“Together?” Alec made a disgusted face, only to be laughed at by Henry.
“Not really, but if you insist…how could I resist those dreamy green eyes?” He batted his eyelashes at Alec, but couldn’t go through with it for any longer than three seconds.
“Sometimes, I hate you” Alec grumbled, shoving Henry’s arm off his shoulders. “Of course I’m going to go. I wasn’t elected for school president, because the election was obviously sabotaged. Now this is my last chance to become at least prom king” Alec made it sound like it was a simple fact that Henry should’ve been aware of.
“Ooooh…, so you already have a prom date, I suppose?”
Alec shrugged. “I was thinking about Lexi…”

“Hold on, what?!” Henry was utterly shocked by that idea and he didn’t hesitate to show it. He stopped mid walk, pressing a hand against his chest.
“She is the head cheerleader after all…people are easily lured by these things. It increases my chances of being elected…”
To Henry, all of that sounded like major nonsense, but why would he care?

“What about you?”
Henry shrugged. “Since you appear to be already taken…” He let out a long, dramatic sigh. “…I guess I have to find someone else”
“So sorry to break your heart” Alec replied drily.
“Come on…you’re not even trying to be compassionate”

The bell rang just as Alec and Henry were entering the classroom. The only places left were right next to Lexi and Madeleine and Alec took it as an opportunity to ask Lexi out to prom. It was also convenient enough for Henry to spontaneously ask Madeleine out.
Both girls were delighted and Lexi spent the next 45 minutes thinking about the colour of her dress.



“Guess what!” Hollie approached Chandley in the hallway, a cheerful bounce in her every step, her face enlightened with a wide smile. Yet, Chandley couldn’t guess the cause of her happiness. She was happy about a lot of things on a daily basis. So there was probably no point in even trying. And he didn’t have to.

“I’m gonna go to prom!” There was this excited glow in her eyes that just got to Chandley and had him smiling as well.
“Who asked you?”
She carelessly brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Lou, actually”

Chandley was a little surprised. He remembered the double date a few months ago. He didn’t remember Hollie going on other dates with him. He didn’t even recall her mentioning his name after this first date. But here she was, happy about her prom date, without a doubt. Prom was exclusively for seniors and juniors. However, freshmen and sophomores could be taken to prom by older grads as dates. Of course, this didn’t increase Chandley’s chances of attending this year’s prom. It wasn’t common for girls to ask out boys younger than them. And Chandley had yet to find a boy playing for his team on this school. But he was happy for Hollie nonetheless. After all, he didn’t stand a chance against her charming smile and enthusiastic chattering about her dress and the way she was going to do her hair for the big night. He’d always have his own senior prom in a few years, right?

They met Matt in the dining hall. He was already waiting at their table. Of course, Hollie was eager to find out about his plans for prom. “Did you ask someone out yet?”
Matt shoved a fork full of the world’s worst spaghetti bolognaise into his mouth. It allowed him to take some time with his reply. Eventually, he just shook his head. “And I’m not going to”

Chandley immediately remembered Mitena’s words. Has Matt ever had a girlfriend? He’d been thinking about this a lot, to be honest. Of course, he’d never think of actually asking Matt…and even turning to Hollie seemed too risky. The question would’ve given him away for sure. It would’ve raised other questions. Being out of the closet didn’t equal being open about his feelings for Matt. Those were still a secret, kept well hidden. Maybe not as well as he had hoped, according to Mitena, but at least they hadn’t reached Matt and Hollie yet. Or they were just being good friends by politely ignoring them.

Because it was true. Some things were better left unsaid. In order to protect your own or sometimes someone else’s feelings. The risk wasn’t always worth it. Sometimes things were at stake that were so much more important than confessing your love for someone and the possibility of that someone actually returning that love. Friendship, for example. Friendship was a very good reason to suffer your way through unrequited love, in hopes that one day you’d wake up and all your feelings would finally be just gone. After this school year, Matt would go off to college or work. Chandley wouldn’t have to see him on a daily basis anymore. Avoiding him would be a great deal easier. On the other hand, this was a chance. Did he really have to maintain a friendship with Matt if he wasn’t going to see him as much anymore? If he confessed his love sooner or later and Matt rejected it him – and he surely would – this big weight holding him down, this awkward wall separating them sometimes would just vanish…and Chandley could try and get over it. He could do that. He could get over Matt if he didn’t have to see him every day. Maybe then he didn’t have to ever see him again. And it would hurt for a while. But it would pass. And Chandley would meet someone else who could actually love him back. It seemed like a good plan.

Hollie must’ve told Matt every detail about her dress and everything else she was planning to do for her very first prom night, because she was still talking as Chandley had finished his last trail of thoughts. He must’ve zoned out for quite some time, because he immediately caught Hollie’s attention once he returned back to reality. “I feel so bad, you won’t be able to come” She made a pouty face, touching Chandley’s forearm softly. “Maybe we can try and sneak you in anyway…”

Chandley waved it off. “I’ve heard they won’t even sell you tickets if you don’t have a senior or a junior right by your side…and they naturally won’t let you in if you don’t have a ticket…right?” His eyes were still hopeful until they met Matt’s who nodded slowly. “Besides…it’s just one night. I’ll find something else to do…and it’s an annual event. So there’s always next year” He really wasn’t trying to convince Hollie that it was okay…he was rather convincing himself. And it was showing.

“But Matt is going to be gone after this year…it’s the only year the three of us can go together”
“But we can’t”
“Yes, we can” Hollie frowned. It made her look like an angry kitten.
“How so?”
“Matt doesn’t have a date yet, does he?”