Bridgette - Chapter Eight: Close Your Eyes - Part One

The next day we were all standing in front of the lockers a more reunited group. It was nice to finally have Waverly not in our group. The only way I could describe it was that while Waverly had been with us it was like we were all in darkness; now things were starting to become brighter. Our relationships were still a little strained but we were all starting to heal.

I was standing there looking around at everyone when it dawned on me; we were standing exactly in the same spots we had on the first day of school. “What’cha thinking about Bridge?” Carson asked me.

 

“I was just thinking how we are all standing in the same spots we were on the first day of school. Almost like it’s a brand new start.” I looked over at Carson and he was smiling at me. I was definitely thankful for a new start.

 

“Oh Carson! There you are baby!” And right on cue there was Waverly. But this time, instead of Carson being excited to see her he stepped past all of us and let her have it.
 

“Don’t even think about it Waverly! You’ve pulled the wool over most of our eyes long enough!  If you know what’s good for you you’ll keep on walking.” We all turned and stood behind Carson, glaring at her.

 

“It’s because of what she’s told you isn’t it?! She’s lying you know! She just wants you to not like me so she can have you all for herself!”

 

“Wow, Waverly. You really are that demented that you believe that, aren’t you? It’s over Waverly, you lost. Go try to deceive someone else.” Carson dismissed her. He turned around and looked at all of us and we all gathered around him as if showing Waverly that we were protecting him from her. She huffed and walked off.

The rest of the day we all tried to keep tabs on each other. I saw Waverly at one point try to approach Carson and I steered him away from her. I have no idea what happened in the classes they had with each other but Carson said he had been fine. One thing was for sure, the school was all abuzz about Waverly and how she had treated all of us for most of the school year. It seemed like no one wanted to socialize with her; not even the guy she was trying to two time with while she was dating Carson.

At the end of school, we all walked out to our cars together and stood around talking for a while. Eventually the conversation turned towards prom. Charlie, Kate, Trent and Julie were renting a limo to go to the prom and were trying to finalize their plans.

All of a sudden Kate looked over at Carson and I. “Hey guys, we’re leaving Carson and Bridge out of the conversation. Maybe we should talk about something else.”

 

“That’s okay. I don’t mind hearing about what you all are planning to do.” I reassured them.

“What are you plans for prom?” Charlie asked me.

“I don’t have any. I hadn’t really planned on going so it isn’t that big of a deal to me.”

“Are you serious Bridge?! You have to go to prom! You can just come with us.” Julie offered.

 

“Really, that’s okay. I’m perfectly happy not going. Plus I wouldn’t want you all to worry about whether or not I was having a good time.”

“What if we went together?” I heard Carson ask.

 

I looked over at him and was speechless. I hadn’t really thought about going with Carson before since I figured he would be going with Waverly. “Unless that would be too weird. . .” I was about to answer him when Kate suggested that the rest of them give us some space to talk it over.

Once they moved away I looked at Carson. “I don’t guess it would be weird. Up until yesterday I thought you’d be going with Waverly. Would it be too weird for you?”

 

“Nah. We might as well go together that way we can people watch together and make fun of some of the dancing.”

 

“You’re terrible! Okay, let’s go together.  Let’s not stress too much over it though. Okay?”

 

“Sounds good to me. Maybe the rest of the gang will let us ride in the limo with them.” He had a gigantic grin on his face.

 

I started laughing. I had missed laughing with Carson and the thought of all those months not being able to laugh with him made me sad.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” He asked me.

“I’m just thinking about how much I’ve missed laughing with you.” He put his hand on my back and agreed.

“I’ve missed it too.” The gang had come up to us and Kate was eager to ask us. “So, are you guys going together?”

 

“Yeah, we agreed to go together, but only if we can hitch a ride in your limo.” I told them.

Charlie laughed “I think we can arrange that.”

 

The next several weeks passed by quickly with planning for prom, graduation, and college. Kate, Julie and I all went shopping for our dresses together. I somehow let Kate and Julie talk me into getting a dress that I normally wouldn’t get. They kept going on about how pretty I looked in it and I did think I looked decent in it so I got it.

The night of the prom arrived and we had all agreed that the guys would meet us girls at the house. Even Charlie was going to be surprised by what Kate was wearing since he had gone to pick up Carson and Trent.  Mom was of course going crazy with the camera. She took a million pictures of us girls in the house and outside while we waited for the guys.

 

Finally the guys pulled up and we all giggled with excitement. Charlie was the first to come into the family room, followed by Trent, then Carson. My breath was literally taken away when I saw Carson. I had always thought he was good looking but even I had to admit that he was handsome in his tux. He came walking up to me and had a smile on his face.

“You look gorgeous Bridge.” He whispered to me.

 

“You look pretty handsome yourself.” I admitted to him.

 

“Okay all of you, picture time!” Mom commanded all of us.

We girls moaned but thankfully we got a break while she took pictures of the guys while we sat at the dining room table waiting for them to be done with their pictures. 

 

When Mom was done taking their pictures she announced that it was time to take pictures with each couple. First Mom took pictures of Charlie and Kate.

Then she took pictures of Julie and Trent.

 

Carson and I were last to get our pictures made together.

 

We all thought that would be it for pictures but we were informed by Mom that we then had to take some pictures as a group. We agreed to do them if she hurried up since we were anxious to get to the prom.

 

After Mom took her billionth picture she reminded Charlie and me about the rules for the night. We were allowed to not come home but we had to be at someone’s house by the town curfew and we had to call Mom and Dad to tell them where we were, unless we ended up at our house, then we just told them.  Everyone in our group had the same arrangement with their parents.

Once Mom beat the rules into us, we all headed outside to get into the limo that we had rented. I don’t know if it was really worth renting a limo to take us from our house to the school since it wasn’t all that far; but it was definitely fun!

 

We arrived at the school and walked into the gym that had been decorated for the prom. By the time we arrived the music was already playing and people were already dancing. We all decided to put our purses down and save seats at tables and then we made our way onto the dance floor. We had just stepped onto the dance floor when the DJ started playing a new song.  We all started dancing and singing along.

 

We spent most of the time dancing and having a great time. When slow songs came on, Carson and I would sit down and watch other people dance. We may have made fun of some of the people dancing.

We were all out on the dance floor dancing again when we noticed that someone was walking up to the stage. After the song was over I noticed that the person was Trent. I couldn’t believe I had missed him leaving the group to go up there.

“Everyone, I have the pleasure of announcing the prom king and queen. You all know who they are and I have the pleasure of knowing both of them pretty well.”

 

We all started looking around at each other. I figured it was going to be Kate and Charlie. That made the most sense to Carson, Julie and I.

 

“For prom king you have chosen. . .Charlie Hobble!!!!” We all cheered for Charlie as he went on the stage to accept his crown.  He grabbed the microphone from Trent and made some silly speech which made everyone laugh. Trent grabbed the microphone back and kidded with Charlie about stealing his limelight.

 

“And for prom queen you all have chosen. . .Bridgette Hobble!!!!”

I stood there stunned! How was it possible that my brother and I could be voted prom king and queen? I felt Carson push me towards the stage and I climbed the stairs in a blur.

Trent placed the crown on my head and handed me the microphone. I stood there for a minute in shock and looked over at Charlie. I said the first thing that came to my mind.

 

“Thank you, but I hope you all aren’t expecting me to dance with him!” I joked. “That would be a little strange to slow dance with my brother.” Everyone laughed and Trent grabbed the microphone from me.

“We’ve already thought of that. For the prom king and queen dance, we’ll have you all dance with your dates.” I thought that was fine until I remembered who my “date” was. I was going to have to slow dance with Carson.