Darren balanced a grocery bag in his arm and his keys in his hand "Dad? Damien?" he called out setting the bag on the kitchen table. "Hello?" he asked, he checked the rest of the house before finding the physical therapist lying lifeless on the floor of the living room. His name was scrawled across a note that sat upright on a coffee table, he picked it up and read it "No... oh god" he said "Dad what did you do?" he asked himself.
Kyle strolled down the school hallway enraptured by his cell phone "I can't wait to see you" he typed, he moved to slide his phone into his back pocket when it vibrated. A notice popped up alerting him of a new message, he clicked the bubble and a message popped up that read "Long live the king". He looked at the message confusedly, he shrugged and continued down the hallway.
"Welcome to the Cambridge Grand Hotel, can I help you?" a receptionist asked.
"Checking in" a man said standing at the registration desk.
"What's the name?" she asked.
"Smith, Stan Smith...and this is my son, Steve" Derek said as he and Damien stood at the desk in the lobby.
"Okay Mr. Smith, welcome to Los Angeles, here's your room key, we hope you enjoy your stay" the receptionist said sliding a plastic card over to him.
"We will, thank you very much" Derek said as he and Damien stepped on to the elevator, its doors closing as they exchanged a wicked grin.
Bradley and Neilson walked into the tuxedo shop and leaned against the counter.
"Littrell" Bradley said to the shop worker.
"Carter" Neilson said to the guy.
“So…ready for tonight...your highness?” Neilson asked amused.
Bradley shot him a glare "I thought I couldn’t win against Kyle?" Bradley asked him.
“I’m sorry Bradley, of course you can win against Kyle…you’re so much hotter than he is” Neilson said rolling his eyes.
“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it” Bradley said.
“You don’t want to win” Neilson said.
“Course I don’t” Bradley said “But it’s nice to know that I could” he said. Bradley’s phone began to chime, he pulled it from his pocket and answered it "Yo" he said answering, he was met with silence "Hello?" he asked "Hello?" he asked in a sing song voice. "Hello?" he asked once again looking at his phone "Well this was a lovely conversation, bye" he said hanging up.
"Who was it?" Neilson asked him.
"I don't know...no one" Bradley said to him.
"No one?" Neilson asked.
"No one said anything, whatever" he said putting his phone back in his pocket.
"Here we are" the guy said handing them hangers attached to garment bags.
"Hey thanks a lot" Bradley said as they left the shop.
"There a number?" Neilson asked as left the shop, slinging the garment bags over their shoulders.
"No, it's blocked" Bradley said, they reached Bradley's car, throwing the bags in the back and hopping in.
"What kind of security team are you?" Darren asked angrily "I thought we had a deal in place, no matter what threats my father made no matter how much money he threw at you, you were in no way supposed to let him leave, EVER!" Darren growled on the phone. "Who knows where they went they could be anywhere on the planet by now!" Darren said "No, we can't call the cops...because I said so!" Darren said hanging up. "Yeah, I need a flight to Los Angeles as soon as possible" he said frantically.
Natalie stood in the hotel's grand ballroom as she and the other committee members decorated. Students setting up velvet ropes outside the hotel’s entrance, they unrolled a long red carpet.
“Hollywood Nights huh?” Bradley asked.
“It’s the theme everyone voted for” Natalie said to him.
“We had to vote?” Bradley asked her confused.
“Yes…we handed out flyers at the beginning of the year” Natalie said.
“They did?” he asked her.
“Do you pay attention to anything?” she asked him.
He saw Tara and her crew approaching her “Head bitch twelve o clock” he muttered to Natalie.
“Huh?” she asked.
"Hello Natalie" Tara said approaching her, Sophie trailing closely behind.
Bradley left her side "Hi Tara" Natalie said smiling before walking away from her and rolling her eyes.
"I just wanted to wish you good luck tonight" Tara said sweetly "After all I got nominated legitimately while your boyfriend had to stuff the ballot box to get you nominated" Natalie could feel anger begin to creep into her. "By the way? how are things with you and Neilson? I know you guys broke up there for awhile and you slept with his best friend...I'm just glad you could make it work after all that."
Natalie glared at her before smiling "Well thank you Tara for that sentiment" she said "Neilson and I are great actually, thanks for asking, but you know I could care less about all this prom queen stuff, you see, my life isn't as empty as yours that you need something like prom queen to make you feel important...so good luck" Natalie said, walking away with a smile on her face as Tara and Sophie glared at her.
"What was that about?" Bradley asked as he set up his DJ equipment.
"Just some cheap intimidation tactic" she said to him.
"If you want we can rig the votes and drop a bucket of pigs’ blood on her" he said to her.
"As much as I would love that...we can't it's way too petty and vindictive" she said.
"What's your point?" he asked.
She felt her pocket vibrate, she pulled her phone out. A notice had popped up alerting her of a new message, she clicked on the bubble and squealed in excitement and jumped up and down “The Hilridge public access channel has agreed to do the red carpet tonight!” she said happily.
“Oh boy!” Bradley said sarcastically “…Why?” he asked.
“We wanted it to feel like a real Hollywood event" she said.
"So you got the local public access channel that no one watches to do a live broadcast at a high school prom?" he asked.
"They were the only ones in our budget who agreed" she said rolling her eyes.
"And the random paparazzi setting up outside? are they also on the cable access payroll?" he asked her.
"Oh no I called them" she said "They were interested in the tip I gave them" she said to him.
"What tip?" he asked her.
“Well…I may have mentioned that…you guys were coming tonight…” she said to him.
Bradley looked at her “You name dropped us?” Bradley asked irritated.
"You guys have been in the news for a year, they know you go to this school...all I did was give them a nudge" she said when her phone buzzed in her hand, another message popping up "So darling', Save the last dance for me" she looked at it confusedly."The hell?" she asked herself.
"What's wrong?" Bradley asked.
"Look at this text" she said handing him her phone.
"What's that about?" he asked handing it back to her.
"No idea" she said.
"Who's it from?" he asked.
"I don't know it says the number is blocked" Natalie said to him.
"I got a call from a blocked number not too long ago" Bradley said to her.
"Think it's a prank by our mutual boyfriend?" she asked.
"Very funny" he said to her "It'd be pretty hard for Neilson to prank call me when he's standing right next to me" he said to her "Even he's not that smart" he said.
Darren fidgeted as he sat on the plane, checking his watch every few seconds “Please don't do what I think you're going to do" he said to himself nervously.
Natalie sat next to Wendy in Melissa's salon, curlers were wrapped tightly in her hair, she still stared at the text she had received earlier in confusion.
"You okay?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah...I just got this text earlier and... never mind it's nothing" Natalie said.
"Here we are" Zoey said handing them both a glass of water.
“Thanks" Natalie said to her.
"To tonight" Zoey said holding up her glass.
"To the class of 2010" Wendy said.
“Here here” Natalie said as they all clinked their glasses together, they took a drink.
"Okay ladies lets get you guys under the dryers” Melissa said to them “Follow me” she said leading them to the hair dryers, they each sat down as the hairdressers each put them under a giant dome, a blast of hot air blowing down on their heads.
After coming out from under the dryers, Melissa’s stylists worked quickly on their hair when the make-up artists took over, carefully lining and applying mascara to their eyes, dusting on eyeshadow, dabbing their cheeks with blush and painting gloss on their lips.
A steady fog of steam each rose up from the boys’ individual bathrooms as they also began to prepare for the night. Bradley plugged his phone into the docking station and pressed the play button.
And I don't know where I am goin' to.
Silk suit, black tie,
I don't need a reason why.
They come runnin' just as fast as they can
'Cause every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.
Nick squeezed some gel in his hands before running it through Neilson’s hair, slicking it back. Neilson buttoned his shirt sleeves, a light blue tie hanging loosely around his neck. Harry stood still as Howie tied his tie for him, he picked the tuxedo jacket up from Harry's bed and slid it on him, brushing it off. Kyle looked in the mirror, straightening his tie and fixing his jacket, he then took a box containing a corsage and left the room, turning the light off.
Zoey held her hair over her shoulder as Melissa zipped up her dress. Natalie stepped into her silver heels, her toes freshly manicured as her mom zipped up her dress for her.
Bradley came out of the bathroom "Well?" he asked wearing a black vest, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and wearing his converse with his tuxedo pants.
"My boy's a man" Brian said, wrapping a red tie around Bradley's neck and tying it for him.
"Have fun tonight okay? But not too much fun” Brian said.
“Is this where you give me the safe sex lecture? Because we’ve had that talk more times than should be allowed”
Bradley said to him as he finished tying the tie, Bradley tucked it into his vest.
“I just can’t believe this day is here” Brian said.
“Had to happen sometime” Bradley said to him picking up a trilby hat and putting it on his head.
“I just hope your prom goes better than mine did” Brian said to him.
“I guess we’ll find out” Bradley said as they left his bedroom.
