• Leah smiled, the dress was perfect for the prom and she was sure Nate was going to love it, she was so excited, and Nate had finally asked her to the prom with only two days left. She glanced at Abigail and then back at the mirror while holding up the light blue dress up to her self
    “What do you think?” Leah asked
    “I think it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, I’m jealous.” Abigail said, “We just need to get some new jewelry to go with it.” She said and grabbed a Jade necklace with matching earrings from a shelf nearby.
    “This will do the trick,” She said holding up to Leah.
    “That is perfect,” Leah said and folded up the dress with the necklace and earrings and put it in a bag, they both walked off towards the check-out counter talking about what they might see at the prom. Leah bought the dress and jewelry feeling glad about her choice and got in the car and headed towards the prom.
    “Leah, I’m not sure about going to the prom.” Abigail said looking out the window.
    “Why would you say that? Of coarse we’re going, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
    “I don’t know, I just feel like something bad is going to happen and we are all going to get in trouble, don’t worry about it though, I bet it’s nothing.”
    “Maybe it is, maybe it’s not but I know you will never know what the feeling is unless you go to the prom, and if something bad does happen, I’ll be by your side the whole time.” Leah said as they were pulling into the parking lot and entered the building. Abigail and Leah went to the bathrooms to change into their dresses.
    As they were walking down the halls towards the auditorium where the prom was going to be held Leah got a chill down her back, but ignored it and went on. They entered the massive auditorium and Leah looked over at the clock, they were 15 minutes early but the auditorium still had several people in it, Abigail spotted Jake right away and ran to him with Leah in tow and Abigail was instantly wrapped up in Jake’s muscled arm, his long black hair covering his eyes.
    “Hi Jake, do you know where Nate is?” Leah asked highly disappointed that Nate wasn’t already here.
    “No I don’t,” Jake said, “But he should be here in just a few minutes.” Leah looked over at the clock.
    “Okay, but I thought you two were going to car pool?”
    “We were but he said that he had something special for you after the prom.” Leah heard the doors to the auditorium shut and they all looked over to see Nate coming towards them in a nice whit tuxedo with a bright red flower that really accented his dark complexion with his dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.
    “Hey man!” Jake said and they shared a high five. Nate wrapped an arm around Leah and she did the same to him.
    “So what are we going to do?” Nate said asking one of the most stupid questions that he could probably ask.
    “Well.” Abigail said, “We are at the prom so I think we should do what we were meant to do at proms, dance and get our pictures taken for the yearbook.”
    “That sounds like a plan.” Jake said, right then a bell rang and they looked over at the clock that read 8:00 which meant that the prom was supposed to start, Leah wasn’t even aware that more and more people were entering the auditorium. There was a loud, high pitched ringing as someone prepared a microphone.
    “Testing, testing, alright. Ladies and gentlemen may I please have your attention to the stage.” A loud voice said from the speakers, there was a shuffling sound as everyone looked over to the stage. “Now that I have your attention I would like to say some announcements about what will be happening tonight.” There were some groans from people who just wanted to have some fun. “First of all, welcome South Atlantic high school.” There were some cheering and clapping at the name the school, “Now as tonight goes we will let you dance and have fun while a band plays for you up on stage, and we will come back 15 minutes before the hour.” The whole crowd seemed to hold it’s breath at the sound of a live band performance. “Now, we couldn’t get anyone fancy like Lindsey Loan. But what we did manage to get is a real treat. Now without further a do, have fun, take your pictures and here’s ACDC!”
    The crowd exploded into cheers and claps as the band took that stage and started playing a song and everyone started to dance.
    “I thought proms were supposed to be slow dances and stuff,” Abigail complained
    “I’m sure that they will play some slow songs so we can slow dance.” Jake said also annoyed at that little fact.
    For Leah the prom wasn’t really that exciting, but she thought it was going to be a romantic evening and she would probably get her first kiss. They got their pictures taken and the band did do some slow songs but those came and went and most of the people wanted the rock songs, so those were rare. About halfway through Leah and Nate were sitting on a bench off to the side while the band played another rock song.
    “What did you think tonight was going to be like?” Leah asked Nate.
    “Honestly, I thought it would be more romantic and not some kind of rock concert.” Nate said putting his head in his hands.
    Just then something that no one expected happened and for Leah it all seemed to go in slow motion. First there was a gunshot and everyone screamed and ducked down to the ground. She thought it was kind of funny but she did it to.
    Then there was loud voice that rang out from the door, there were three men wearing black ski masks and holding several tan bags.
    “Everyone!” The biggest one said, “No one will get hurt unless you all give us what we want, nod your head if you agree,” Everyone nodded their heads. “Good, now if the girls will all come up and place their jewelry and phones and any other things that are valuable inside the bag, we promise that there will be no incidents.”
    As all the girls were going up Leah coincidentally was the first one up and she place her jewelry and wrist watch into the bag, she was about to go back to Nate when she was grabbed by one of the robbers, some of the other girls screamed and the boys gasped in unison.
    “Now, if there is any trouble this fine looking lady will be shot, are we clear!” Said the guy you had grabbed her, he was a scrawny little fellow with a annoying high pitched voice. Everyone nodded quickly to his demand.
    Once all the girls dumped their precious jewelry and things of value the guy with the big booming voice yelled out for all of the boys to come up and dump their wristwatches and phones and (if they had any) earrings into the bag.
    When Nate was up he looked at Leah and mouthed, “I love you.” Even though she couldn’t hear it, it rang out to her like he was yelling at the top of his lungs. Leah mouthed “I love you to.” He nodded his acknowledgment and went off and sat next to Abigail and Jake.
    Now that everything had been put in the bag, it seemed as if the criminals were going to leave, but someone found some time to call the cops and a voice that obviously came from a megaphone said.
    “We have the building surrounded let all the kids go and come quietly or we will be forced to use deadly force.”
    To Leah this seemed like a miracle but to her disappointment the criminals weren’t going to agree to the cops. They let Leah go and discussed a plan to get rid of the cops and get away with the loot. They came up with a plan and wrote on a piece of paper. They called up a girl from the crowd and said to her that if she doesn’t give this to the cops than her boyfriend would be killed.
    She quickly grabbed the paper and walked out. A few minutes later the megaphone person said.
    “We cannot comply with your demands and we will have to try and agree on some terms that we will all be happy with.” Leah looked over at the criminals and it was obvious that they did not agree with what the cops said and the scrawny one came to Leah and grabbed her from Nate and gave her a piece of a paper.
    “You are our hostage now and unless you do what we say you will die.” The big one with the booming voice repeated the message and the big one grabbed Leah and carried her outside.
    The floodlights the police set up were blinding and she couldn’t see while the robber negotiated with the cop. But she was back inside in no time and was thrust back into the crowd.
    Leah was tired and bruised from being rudely grabbed on the arms and all she wanted to do was to go home. She looked up and over the shoulder of the scrawny robber to see a group of boys behind the criminals and slowly creeping towards them.
    Leah wasn’t thinking that taking these guys on wasn’t the best idea because she was the one with the gun pointed at her head. But they did out number them and that made her a bit more confident that she was probably going to be saved by these men, she looked into their faces seeing if she knew any of them and to her surprise in the midst was Jake and Nate.
    Nate was looking at her with a sad look in his eyes as if to say ‘I’m so sorry if this turns out wrong’, she nodded her head and things went in slow motion again. She heard some surprised gasps and screams from the crowd and she thought she heard the criminals gasp themselves and then there was a gun shot and a searing pain went through her arm and everything went blurry.
    “Leah, Leah!” That was the last thing she heard before she lost consciousness.


    “She’s gaining consciousness,” She heard a voice say and then some footsteps.
    “Nate,” Leah said in a faint voice, “Is that you?” she asked still not sure of herself as she tried to open her eyes but the lights were to bright and she couldn’t do it.
    “Yes, it’s me and also your parents.
    “Where am I?”
    “You’re in the hospital baby.” Her mom said
    “Mom, how did I get here?”
    “You were taken by an ambulance” Nate explained, She opened her eyes a bit and she saw 3 silhouettes standing over her.
    “That was some prom, wasn’t it Leah” Nate said
    “That was real?” she said her eyes getting used to the light now.
    “Yes it was dear, but it’s over now and you don’t have to worry about a thing.” Her mom said. There was a itching feeling in her shoulder and she reached over to itch it, but when she touched the spot where the bullet hit she gasped as the pain hit her. Nate pulled her hand away from her wound and pulled her upright, all of a sudden the room and the friendly faces came into view. She looked at her surroundings and hugged Nate tightly.
    “Why me.” She said remembering the night before, “and how long have I been in the hospital.
    “You’ve been in the hospital for a day now and you have just gained back consciousness.” Nate explained, Leah looked over at her arm and saw a large band aid over the wound and also a band aid on the other side of her arm. She hugged her mother and father and was thankful that she was still alive. She got up off the bed.
    “When can I leave the hospital?” Leah asked examining the bullet hole wincing as her fingers brushed it.
    “You can leave as soon as you are ready.” Her Dad said.
    “Nate, Mom, Dad,” she said and hugged them all; she looked over at a nearby chair to see Abigail and Jake sleeping soundly.
    “Now, you better not walk on those weak feet of yours.” Nate said and lifted her up off the ground.
    “Let’s go home.” Leah’s Mom said.
    “Go warm up the car, I’ll wake up Jake and Abigail and we can leave.” Nate said to Leah’s parents, as they were leaving Leah’s Mom blew a kiss to her.
    “How long did you….” Leah said
    “The whole time,” Nate answered. Leah hugged him again.
    “Jake said you had a surprise for me after the prom, was this it?” Nate laughed at this statement.
    “Of coarse it wasn’t, and I think you will have to wait for it until you are fully recovered. Now let’s wake up the others and go home.”
    Leah and Nate woke up Abigail and Jake and they all went home feeling forever changed, Leah healed in a few months and life went on as if the horrible messed up prom didn’t happen.