Survival Of The Fittest

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Satisfaction was a quality that Vera rarely felt herself, after all as a budding artist to feel satisfied at this stage would mean she wouldn't have anything to motivate herself for. But, that didn't stop her from being happy for Sarah as she rested her head against Reiko, and the strong feeling of fulfilment emanated from the way she spoke. Still, she couldn't help but be slightly jealous of Sarah for finding someone she cared so much about. Jealous in a good way, that is. Not in a spiteful way. In a way which led her to wish she could also be with someone whom she cared about that much.

It was then that she decided to turn her head to see Maxwell exit the bathroom. Well, guess I'll have to make do with looks over intellect.

"Well, it seems as if my date's waiting for me." She said as she turned her attention back to Sarah. "Well, guess I can't keep him busy. I'll speak to you later then, maybe. Hope you two enjoy yourselves without my company." She joked. "Anyway, au revior!"

And, with that, she walked off briskly towards her date, who was waiting patiently for her on the dance floor. Maxwell grinned as Vera approached him, glad to be reminded why he was at this tedious event to begin with. "So, um… How did your conversation with Sarah go?" He asked curiously, although truth be told he couldn't really care less.

"Oh, it went well." She replied, smiling as she offered her hand. "Anyway, uh… care to dance?"

"My dear, it'll be my pleasure" He said, grinning as took her by her hand and began to dance the rest of the night away.

((Maxwell and Vera continued in A Hard Day's Night))

He was on cloud nine. His girlfriend was having the time of her life, and that meant that he was having the time of his as well. His head draped to her shoulder as he heard her reply.

Of course Chadd; this is the perfect evening.

That little reassurance made him forget any little thing other than just her, and him. Hell, at this point, Rizzo could probably jump in Chadd's face and yell 'I fucked Janet'! and he wouldn't even notice. If only she knew that...

Let's eat Chadd, I'm hungry.

Chadd was just about to nod in agreement, hell, his stomach had been speaking up for a few minutes now. But just then, another slow, romantic song began to play. "But before we do..." He took a step back and extended his hand, making a large effort to feign regality, like they do at all those fancy balls in the movies. "...Would you have this one last dance with me?" He had a goofy grin on his face, trying not to laugh at how absurd he was acting. He knew she would find it just as funny as he did, but he kind of hoped she would seriously take his hand for one more slow song before they settled down for a good chunk of the evening. Nothing was better than feeling her body against his; he really never wanted the dancing to end. Unfortunately, biology was saying otherwise.

Chloe smiled brightly at Erik's introduction of his date. They were so cute together! They'd go far, if she had anything to say about it. Though, she still wondered about how he felt about what's-his-face. Y'know, badminton guy.

"Anyway, I'm sure you guys wanna have a romantic girl-free evening, so I'll just stand aside and you two lovebirds can hold each other all night long and you-" she said, pointing at Erik, "- you will be super mad at me by the end of the evening. Trust me." She winked and, not waiting for a response, headed to the fruit buffet at the other end of the room.


---

Vivien looked around the room from his seat for his fellow stagettes. No sign of them anywhere, but there certainly were a lot of people he hadn't flattered yet.

Hitting it off with miss Carmichael was town bicycle Rosa Fiametta. Slut. At the buffet was Planet Chloe Strong, predictably disguised as one of the bells in Notre Dame. Her usual satellite, Erik Laurin was with Brendan Wallace. They were pretty cute together, but they definitely wouldn't last. Local Nascar reject Chadd Crossen went with his main squeeze, Janet Claymont - one of the few girls who could give Vivien a run for his money in the bitch category. There were many more, but it was mostly sign-ins accompanying nobodies. Question was: would he get up and go grace them with his presence?

Hell no. I'm still thirsty.

Erik had wrapped his arm around Brendan's shoulder, making him blush from his feet to his dark red hair. At least he was sure that he didn't care what people thought of him anymore. It was just him, Erik, and the wonderful disney-esque Chloe Strong introducing each other.

"Ms. Strong, this is Mister Brendan Wallace, my esteemed date for this evening. Mr. Wallace, this is Ms. Chloe Strong, who apart from the different birth parents is basically my sister. Actually, she annoys me less than they do.""

"Anyway, I'm sure you guys wanna have a romantic girl-free evening, so I'll just stand aside and you two lovebirds can hold each other all night long and you - you will be super mad at me by the end of the evening. Trust me."

And so Chloe left them alone, just the two of them. He smiled, and wrapped himself around Erik, his hands at the back of his neck, and looking into his eyes.

"Just the two of us, right?"

Brendan's smile faltered a bit, when he realised something.

He had no idea what to do.

"So, uh, Erik. Never actually been to a prom before. Want to guide me through the routine?"

*

((Paige Strand continued from When you think about others more than yourself))

Paige's fake smile left her face like a cat from water. She was walking in front of all these people, with this LOSER with her. God, he probably had friends that she had to meet as well, didn't he? She decided to beat him to the punch, and, walking slightly ahead of him, almost sprinted towards her friends.

Grabbing Reiko Ishida by the wrist, she pulled her away from Sarah, flashing a smile and an excuse to the girl.

"'scuse me, just borrowing your date for a moment-"

Turning back towards Reiko, she led her away from the table, and Sarah, and was speaking a mile a minute.

"OhmygodreikoididsomethingreallyreallystupidJacobgotsickandi
wasjustgoingtogoaloneandthenthisguyaskedmetopromcausehe'saloseranddoesn'thaveadateorsomethingandisaidhe'sandhe's SUCH aloserandithinki'mgoingtodieandiknowyouprobably
goingtohatehimandmebutcanyoujust PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put up with this guy for just a few hours please please please please Ireallyjustfeltlikedoingsomethingniceforthisguysin
cehe'ssopatheticandireallydontknowwhattodosocanyoujustplast
erasmileontoyourfaceorsomethingandactinterestedpleasepleasepleasepleeeaase?"

God, it was such a mistake, taking this guy in as her date. What was she thinking? Paige took in a deep breathe, and smiled again.

"Please?"

Almost as soon as Vera had gone off to be with her date, and right around the time Reiko thought her and Sarah could finally be alone again, the tiny girl was rather unceremoniously snatched away from her seat, being dragged away by someone.

"He-hey!" Reiko said as the person turned to address Sarah. It was Paige, and she looked rather upset as she continued to practically drag Reiko by the wrist, talking non stop the whole time. Combined with the music, Reiko didn't hear a word the other girl was saying.

"Paige.." the girl tried unsuccessfully to get a word in edgewise. "Paige.... PAIGE!" whether it was because she had finally got through, or because Paige had finished talking, the other girl fell silent.

Whatever Paige had just said, Reiko didn't care in the slightest. All she cared about at that point as that she had quite literally been ripped away from her date, and knowing Paige, she was hoping Reiko would bail her out of some stupid situation she had gotten herself into. Well, it wasn't going to happen. Not tonight. It wasn't that she didn't care about Paige, but she was not in the mood to deal with her that night.

"Listen," Reiko finally said, trying to keep her anger in check. "You know any other day I would help you out with whatever problems you have, but tonight, you need to deal with your problems yourself. I just want to be left alone with Sarah. I hope that's not too much to ask. Just this once, I ask you. Leave me alone." Without waiting for a response, Reiko turned around and left, no doubt to some sort of snide comment from Paige.

Returning to where she had been sitting before with Sarah, she sat down hard in her seat, grabbing a brownie off their plate of goodies and stuffing half of it in her mouth in one bite. Her previous happiness had been rudely disturbed, and now she was taking it out on the poor brownie. Looking at Sarah, mouth full of food, she gave a halfhearted smile, waiting for the inevitable questions coming from her date.

Seeing Gloria go, Felicia gave a mischevious smirk to nobody in particular as she turned back to Quincy. Gloria was a good girl, though in the most literal sense. While she had an eye for some of her female classmates just as much as most girls checked out the guys, Felicia tried not to stake them all out for risk of coming across as a bit creepy. Creepy would certainly be fun, though, in certain situations outside of high school; it was something she could keep in mind for later.

Her hands had hardly set themselves back to Quincy's shoulders when there was something... something striking enough dwelling in the corner of Felicia's eyes. It warranted a quick, sharp turn of the head, and at that point, everything going on inside the typical high school girl's head fell apart.

Rosa Fiametta. Normally, the sight of her was enough to gently bring Felicia's train of thought from whatever she was doing or thinking about immediately to the girl. Sometimes the fantasies were just harmless little daydreams, and sometimes, well, Felicia wished she could always excuse herself to the bathroom on a whim for those emergency occasions. Tonight, the sight of the girl was best represented by an allegorical cement truck, inside of which all of Felicia's mind had been dumped and the mixing drum had been turned onto its highest speed. That's why Felicia all but completely blanked for a moment or two before turning to Rosa to finally talk to her.

"H-Hey, Rosa! Man, you look... you look great, tonight! Who ya with?" Felicia asked, a little less articulate than usual. The dress of the girl she was looking at was quite alluring, but not quite as alluring as the girl wearing it. Maybe she was thinking about all of this because of a little teenage crush she was developing, but Felicia had developed crushes before. This had to be a crush like the others, it just HAD to be, but damn, it was a strong one. Strong and wrong, to boot; she was
supposed to be with Quincy right now, wasn't she?

"Miss... Miss Buzz?"

"No, Mr. Drone, it just... it can't go on like this, I'm afraid. The honey we made was sweet, but it's just... I've found another hive that needs me more."

"But... But Miss Buzz, no, this just can't b-"

Felicia gave herself a harsh mental slap, then moved the rest of her body with her head so she was standing next to Quincy rather than leaning into him while she looked at Rosa. "Oh, tipsy? Naaaaaw... I probably wouldn't drink on a night like this one, even if the punch WAS spiked!" She let out a giggle that was surprisingly natural, even to herself, as she thought she'd be more nervous at a time like this. "Our evening's been... it's been pretty good, hasn't it, Quince?" She didn't look to him when she asked this, though, still fixed on Rosa. "How about you?"

Janet smiled sympathetically as Chadd offered his hand in a romantic gesture, chucking lightly on the inside as her worrying mind was distracted by his ever-romantic gestures. It was so great to have someone always wanting to do things with her, even if they had been doing things non-stop for the past hour, and normally she would have gladly followed him up on his request. However, Janet's stomach was saying otherwise.

"Nah, I'm really hungry. Let's just eat." she replied to him, a little thoughtlessly, to his gracious gesture. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend more time with him, but in her defence they had just danced non-stop for the past hour, and she had been so busy getting ready she hadn't eaten since lunch! The red headed cheerleader needed food badly.

Walking back towards the table she had left her purse at when they arrived, her mind still focused on her rumbling belly rather than the presence of Rizzo Vitoria, Janet slid herself onto the soft chair and let her long legs take a break from moving around in those murderous high heels; she would've gladly taken off her feet there and then given the chance.

Resting her head on her hands as she supported her elbows on the table, she grinned up cheekily to her boyfriend. "Why don't you surprise me with dinner? Chadd's choice."

As Vera said goodbye Sarah managed a "Bonne nuit!" and a wave. She really didn't remember any French, actually Bonne nuit was probably wrong, like saying good night or something, it should have been… what was the word…

"Oh, Bonsoiagh!" Sarah slipped for half a second as her Reiko-based support was yanked out from under her. Regaining balance she looked up to see… was it Paige? And she'd just said something about borrowing her date. She returned Paige's smile with a confused squint, but before she could say "I guess, go ahead" the frantic girl already had.

"Ooookay, must have been urgent." She tried to listen in but Paige was talking too fast, even by Sarah's standards. She managed to catch Reiko's "PAIGE!'s" and then lost the rest of her speech to a swell in the music. Reiko didn't look particularly pleased as she turned and began to walk back to her. She couldn't see Paige's face though, she really hoped Reiko hadn't bitten her head off.

The force with which she mangled the brownie didn't do much to alleviate that suspicion. She decided to ignore the fact she found it cute for the moment. Sarah's concern was obvious in how she kept her eyes on Reiko, and she took the smile as a cue to express it.  "Okay, what happened? Are you two okay?"

Rosa smiled warmly as Felicia answered the question, noticeably stumbling a little bit over her words. Although the grin was quite genuine, it really concealed a slight smirk - something that Rosa knew wouldn't be the best idea to be flashing about. So... Rosa wasn't the only one who remembered that very first day of senior year and the two or three isolated ... repeats (although none quite as blatent) of the same sort of behaviour.

Well well... looks as if Felicia might not need as much reeling in as I thought... Easy now Rosa, don't want to piss ol' Jonesy off. Well, not yet at least.

The signs were definitely there. The nervousness, the fact that Felicia was concentrating a lot more on her than on her own date. Hell, Rosa herself was getting some butterflies - this crush (well, if that's how Felicia felt too) cut both ways. The other girl had really grown on Rosa over time. Okay so maybe she wasn't drop dead gorgeous, could stand to lose a little weight, but she was funny in a goofy way, and she most certainly had some attractive curves to her figure. Sure, not a knock out, but there was something about Felicia Carmichael that attracted Rosa greatly...

"Thanks," Rosa said upon her appearance being complimented. "You're looking good too," On her date... Rosa had to hide a smile. "Oh me? I'm not with anybody - not right now at least."

Hint #1 can consider itself dropped.

Rosa gave another smile when Felicia spoke again. "I'm sure there's more to come from tonight for you guys. Never know what'll happen at prom, eh?"

Hint #2...

"It's been decent. I can see it picking up quite soon, though," one last smile. This one, more sly.

Annnd '3. Enough for now, step back and see how she reacts...

Kimberly didn't really pay too much attention to the remainder of the dance. It wasn't that exciting, the music sucked, and the dress, so awesome at the start, really did get a little cumbersome after awhile. Still, it was, on the whole, a fun evening. She even took pity on a couple desperate Junior boys and danced with them, not that they were any good or even all that cute. It was Prom, though, so there were no strings attached, no expectations of romance or sex or anything, just people goofing around at the dance.

She was tempted to stay until the very last moment, but decided against it. What was the point? It would just make getting out a nightmare. Besides, she could make her way to some afterparty or cruise the town or something. Her grandparents wouldn't give a damn as long as she didn't come home pregnant.

When there was only about half an hour left to Prom, Kimberly cut out, making her way into the night air, still fully awake and ready to find something else to do.

((Kimberly Nguyen continued in Let them eat cake...))

"Nah, I'm really hungry. Let's just eat."

And just like that, the entire rest of the world came flooding back in. 'Snapped back into reality.' Like a rush of noise, music, and people, he was no longer isolated in his paradise.

Chadd was a little disappointed, to say the least. He was looking forward to just holding her close, and closing his eyes. Keeping the rest of the world at bay; just the pair of lovebirds. Oh well... She must have been really hungry to turn that down. Her not wanting a chance to be close to him really wasn't like her. Come to think of it, she had been acting a little funny the entire night. Just probably alot on her mind. Hell, there had been his. His entire future, for one.

He was caught off guard as she started walking, doing his best to follow suit AND catch up without looking like a fool. See, this is why I grabbed your arm heading to the dance floor... Locating her in the crowd wasn't exactly difficult. That red head of hair, and that Red Dress... Well, his mind was wandering other places as he watched her walk, but that's something for another time, another place. It took him but a minute to sit down across from her. And the moment that he did, he heard her speak. "Why don't you surprise me with dinner? Chadd's choice."

"Oh, sure. Make me go and get food right when I get comfortable!" His chuckle indicated that it was nothing but a joy for him to surprise her with dinner. He honestly had no idea what they were even serving. Probably something ritzy. Where the hell else did the money from his expensive ticket go? This was a big school after all, they could probably cover the hall and DJ with half of these kids. Wandering over to the Buffet table, he was far from dissapointed. A variety of all types of different dishes adorned the table. "Decisions, decisions..." He muttered to himself. Well, the best bet would be to get two different things, and give her whatever she wanted more. Steak and Fish. Probably the two starkest contrasts, and now that he was listening to his own gut, either one sounded amazing. He put a slab of the smoked Salmon on one plate, adorning it with... whatever kind of pasta was in the Alfredo, and Green Beans. Setting that aside for a moment, he filled a second plate with a few cuts of Marinated Sirloin Tips, as well as the Ziti and the same vegtable. Huh, that looks alright. I kinda hope she wants the steak, that Alfredo looks fucking amazing. He mused on his way back to the table.

Only five or so minutes had passed since his departure, but he still decided to be a goof upon his return. "My apologies for the Wait ma'am! Will it be the Steak, or the Salmon tonight?" He returned the same cheekish grin that she flashed him less than a quarter of an hour ago.

"Have you seen them tonight? We should go say hi."

"You know, I haven't seen either one of them. In spite of all the drama in the asking, maybe they didn't actually make it to the prom portion of Prom." Roman quickly looked around and then shrugged. Honestly, at this point in the night, he really could give a rat's rear end less about Meghan and Jimmy. If you have no intention of going through with something, then why bother putting any plans in motion at all. Giving the hall one more cursory glance, he turned back to Samaya just in time to see her moue of distaste. Some people were wandering past, but that couldn't be what was upsetting Samaya.

Then the crowd parted just a bit and Roman spotted her. The famous, or rather, infamous, Rosa Fiametta. The Man Eater of Bayview. Don't forget, she allegedly eats the girls too, his brain helpfully supplied, complete with a lascivious mental image that made his ears burn. Samaya unwittingly provided him with a reprieve when she took several steps away from the table. Roman quickly followed, as if moving away would remove the scorching picture from his mind.

"Oh, hey, um, Samaya. Why don't we hit the dance floor for a bit? Be a shame to have come to prom and not dance a single dance," he babbled as he reached for her hand.

((Roman Jackson continued in No Tap. But We're Okay With That.))

===========================

Aislyn headed for the refreshment table, still smiling and still looking for any of the other girls she had started out the night with. Where the hell are they all? The only one I can see is Vivien and I'm playing ‘run and fetch' for her after she's gone and ‘visited' with half the damn dance. Dancers from the edge of the dance floor jostled her as she fought to gracefully make her way around the laughing students. This sucks. We've been here all this time, they've all ditched me, and I haven't really even danced. Talk about the ultimate case of 'All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go'.

Some boy accidentally smashed his boat of a foot right down on her toes, causing her to wince. Leaning against a nearby table, she lifted up the injured appendage and quickly massaged her aching toes. You know what? Screw this. Vivien can get her own damn drink. Claire can watch out for her own damn self. And the rest of them can bite my shiny metal ass. I'mma go dance! At least that way, if I get stepped on, I'll have fun while I'm doing it.

Wheeling about at a 90 degree angle, Aislyn plunged into the hoard of dancers. Throwing her arms above her head in reckless abandon, she busted loose with some of her best moves. She WAS going to enjoy her prom, even if she had to enjoy it all by herself.

((Aislyn McCreery continued elsewhere))

Reiko began to recite her little confrontation with Paige, but because of her mouth full of food, all that came out was some muffled sounds, and a small spray of brownie, unfortunately directed in the direction of Sarah. The small girl stopped talking and finished chewing what was in her mouth, lest she bombard poor Sarah with another salvo of saliva and brownie. Swallowing the food, she tried again.

"She wanted me to solve some problem that she had gotten herself into or something." Reiko finally said with just a hint of bitterness. "I swear I'm like a slab of meat to people sometimes unless they have a problem. Then they want to make it my problem. Even on the most special night of my life something just had to come up." Throughout the course of her speech, Reiko's hand instinctively grasped Sarah's, the feel of the other girl's hand comforting her somewhat.

Reiko was thankful she had met Sarah. For the first time she had someone who could just accept her for who she was, not because of her reputation. Sure, Reiko loved the attention, but it just didn't feel right. She didn't have the natural aura of content her sister had, who pretty much all through life had been playing the accompaniment to her younger sister's bold solo, and never once felt any resentment for it. She had people she could depend on, who would help her solve her problems as much as she was willing to help them. What did Reiko have? A couple gossips and hanger ons. People who didn't even have sense to let her be content even on this night, her senior prom.

Then there was Sarah. The first person since her sister to break through her facade (more like went diving in head first) and discover the Reiko beneath the mask. The sad, lonely Reiko in need of a true friend underneath the narcissistic, doesn't give a damn, attention seeking Reiko. They had only known each other for a few months, but those few months had really changed the tiny girl's outlook on things. That detail alone was enough to bring a smile back to her face, despite what had just happened.

"Hey uh... I dunno about you, but this music is driving me crazy." Reiko said after a few minutes of silence. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

((Tristan Matthews continued from When You Think About Others More Than Yourself))

When Paige came in, the one person who came in with her was none other than Tristan Matthews, quite possibly the strangest match anyone could come up with. Tristan was looking good tonight, but the fact was still evident that, somehow, his date was Paige. As soon as the pair had come in, Paige was practically sprinting ahead of him, and grabbed Reiko by the wrist, leading her away.

Somehow, this did not surprise Tristan in the least. Paige had been acting apprehensive towards him. He reached behind himself to scratch his back as he watched Paige beg Reiko to swap dates. Awwwwwkkkkwwwaaaarrrrrddd.

And kinda depressing, too.

And it seemed that Paige's attempt was completely unsuccessful, as Reiko appeared to decline whatever she had been offered, and walked back to Sarah. Tristan took a deep breath, and sighed, walking over towards Paige... Actually, no. He decided to walk over towards Reiko and Sarah first. He was barely in hearing distance to hear Reiko and Sarah. "Heya. Uh... Sorry about Paige. We kinda became dates at the last minute, and I have a feeling she's regretting it. My fault, really. I asked first. Look, don't worry about it."

Tristan grinned sheepishly, and decided to head over to Paige, taking a deep breath. He stopped in front of her, smiling cheerfully, "Look, let's just kick back and have fun. Feel up to a dance?"

Acacia giggled in her own faux drunk way at Max's antics, leaning over to one side and half falling over in her pretence. She looked to where he had been looking and opened her eyes wide, pointing to a bread roll that had fallen off the nearby buffet table, and cocked her head to one side. "I see it too!" she said excitedly, taking another swing of her concentrated blackcurrant "alcoholic" punch. She swayed for a couple of seconds, trying best to recreate the self that she experienced after downing one too many sminoff and lemonades.

Looking at herself in pretence, she figured that the no alcohol rule was probably a good idea anyway. It wasn't as if the majority of them wouldn't be going to an afterparty of some description later anyway. This was a good, sober, way of getting to see each other looking good for the last time before they departed for their various corners of the country. She felt herself getting nostalgic again, and worked to distract herself.

"You know, we should probably stop," she said straightening up, removing the slur from her voice. "Our acting skills are so good we might convince a teacher who might then go on throw us out... That would be a good story though..." she added with a grin, even though she had a feeling Max wouldn't want to get thrown out of the prom. He had a social standing to maintain (her social standing was pretty much dependant on being a cheerleader which had a certain element of getting drunk required anyhow).