Page 133 of I Wish You All the Best

“Okay!” Mariam wraps their arms around my shoulders. “Where are we going for dinner, because I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving!”

Nathan’s already up and walking down the street. I swear, he could be best friends with anyone if you just give him enough time. “If we head down a block, you’ll have the best pizza in town. It’s still terrible, but in Raleigh, it’s the best you’ll find.”

“I’m game.” Mariam glances over their shoulder. “You coming, Ben? We’ve got that thing to talk about,” they say with a wink.

“Yeah.” I follow them both closely, watching these two worlds of mine collide. It still feels like a dream.

But if it is, I really don’t want to wake up.

Prom week might be more of a nightmare than exam week.

Scratch that.

Prom week is definitely more of a nightmare than exam week. Student council probably should’ve spaced things out a little more, maybe started selling tickets at the beginning of April. But nope, they waited until the week of. So now there’s a line at the entrance of the cafeteria, stretching all the way down to the front office.

And since Meleika and Nathan are a part of the student council, they have to spend all their time after school decorating, hanging flyers, and making sure everything is to Stephanie’s standards. Luckily, it seems like most of the pieces from the Spring Fling can be reused.

I actually thought about coming out to Meleika and Sophie when we got back to school on Monday, but I want to tell them at the same time, and with the way Meleika’s stressing, that time definitely isn’t now.

“I got two just in case.” Nathan comes back to the lunch table with the two tickets in hand.

“I told you I’m not going.”

“Just in case.” He winks at me and slides the ticket over.

“Well, thank you.” I slide the ticket back. “But I won’t need it.”

“Fine.” He folds it up and stuffs it into his wallet. “So, what are you going to do Friday night?”

“Probably Netflix and pizza,” I say. Thomas and Hannah officially called it a date night since he hasn’t been dragged in to chaperone this year, so I’d have the whole house to myself. I wish I could just ask Mariam to hang out again, but their flight to Florida left this morning.

I watch Nathan’s face carefully. We haven’t really talked about me being nonbinary much since I came out. He’s asked a few questions, tried to learn some things online. He even said he started watching Mariam’s videos.

“That’s the dream.” Sophie sighs. “Did I show you guys my dress?” She flips her phone around.

“Oh my God, they’re animals.” Meleika runs right for our table and collapses into her seat. “Look, I chipped a nail! And they stepped on my shoes.”

“Did you get them?” Sophie asks.

“Yes, I did, Sophie, thank you for being concerned about my well-being.” She hands Sophie her ticket.

“Thank you.” Sophie takes it, sliding the ten dollars over to Meleika. “You sure you aren’t going, Ben? It’s going to be fun.”

“I think I’ll survive,” I tease.

“Okay!”

That week I stay after school pretty much every day. Thomas has to come up with a way to spend the last two weeks of class, which seems like a waste, but he says he’s got a few cool experiments planned. I pretty much spend the rest of that extra time in the art room. It’s going to be hard to leave this place behind. I’ll have to ask Hannah if it’ll be okay to buy my own supplies. My birthday is in October anyway, and a paint set might not make such a bad gift.

The day of actual prom is a lot more relaxed, especially since half the senior class decides to skip, probably to get ready. None of the teachers really care either. Thomas just throws on Planet Earth, but it somehow manages to enthrall the entire class, except the part where the fungus infects the ant’s brain. Everyone pretty much has to turn away from that scene.

“Hey,” Nathan whispers, and when I look over at him he slides a piece of paper. It’s easy to hide it in the dark, but when I try to read it I have to angle it toward the movie.

My place, tonight, 9 o’clock? is written in big blocky letters. And underneath that he’s got Y/N with my extra prom ticket taped to it.

“I told you I’m not going,” I whisper.

“Just humor me?” He slides over a marker.