Some girls come in

Shaking him from his thoughts, the bathroom door opened which sent a panic through Noah. He expected to hear a scream or at least a complaint about him being in the girls' bathroom but nothing happened. The girl, who he recognized as Rebecca Green, just came in and checked her hair in the mirror, not noticing anything strange about him being in there. He began to wonder if he was just being paranoid about being discovered, after all, even his best friend didn't realize who he was.

She glanced over at him, “Your hair is super cute.”

“Thanks...but I wish I could trade for your hair, though. It's so pretty,” he told her while lifting his voice.

He wasn't exactly sure why he said it but a part of him was curious if he could really pull off the **** disguise he found himself in. It looked like it was holding up because she beamed at his compliment, signaling that he said the right thing in her eyes.

“Aww, thank you! I'm Becky,” she smiled at him.

He kept the deceit going, “Noelle. I'm Noelle.”

The two of them talked, he gave her the false home-school backstory he had been already using and her telling him a bit about herself. Normally, Becky wouldn't have given him the time of day but as Noelle, the two of them looked like they were hitting it off. After she excused herself to head back into prom, the odd idea of using Noelle to get close to Becky so he could learn more about her crossed his mind. He thought about it for just a moment before swatting it away as crazy, besides, he still didn't want to pretend to be a girl.

Enacting his original plan he began to wait out the clock, eventually having a seat in one of the stalls to get off his heeled feet. He felt stupid sitting there with his skirts fluffed out all around him, arms plopped down on them. Though he finally was given the space and time to calm his nerves, feeling fine enough despite the clothes, eventually all of that fear and stress had become replaced with boredom. Noah really wished he had his phone to entertain himself until he could get out of his predicament, since the only other thing he had access to that he could use to distract himself was the graffiti scrawled on the walls. Noah didn't know how long he was there attempting to pass the time by humming to himself before he heard a group of girls enter the restroom, recognizing their voices as friends of Sarah as they talked to each other. He listened to their conversation out of a **** need for something other than himself or silence but found himself quickly disinterested in their chatter. He had turned to actively tuning them out when they suddenly said something that grabbed his attention. He leaned closer so he could peek through the crack between the stall and the door, and saw them preening themselves in the mirror.

“I know, right? Oh! Did you see the tramp that Jacob brought with him? The girl in the red dress?” Noah was oddly affronted hearing Sarah's brunette friend, Chloe, call him a tramp.

“Yeah, I saw them come in together,” Diane, a blond with pink highlights, reapplied her lipstick.

He found himself getting angry as Chloe continued, “Never seen her before. I'm guessing

that he must have paid her because there's no way she would have agreed for free.”

“Mustn't have been enough because I'm pretty sure she bailed on him,” Chloe laughed.

Diane joined in the laughter, “I don't blame her, there isn't enough money in the world that would make me go to prom with that loser.”

The third girl, Jada, spoke up, “Yeah, he is looking all sullen out there by himself. He is so pathetic.”

He didn't know why those harpies were always so unabashedly mean but there never seemed to be an end to the bile they spewed. He bristled quietly, as they made fun of both Jacob as well as his MIA date. He was still boiling after they left, mad at them, and feeling weirdly guilty. It didn't matter what they thought, they were idiots after all, but the thought of Jacob's night having been soured because Noelle flaked out on him wouldn't get out of his head. He exited the stall, looking at the beautiful reflection of the girl he appeared to be. He touched the flower in his hair, remembering how he complimented it on the ride over.

“...It would just be for a few hours...” Noah said to his reflection.

Noah was surprised at himself for even considering going back out to the dance floor. He shook his head and got ready to walk back into the stall but he didn't enter it, instead, he closed his eyes.

“No. I'm not going to do it...that would be crazy,” he began to breathe heavily.

His heart was beating faster again, fear and guilt battling inside it. No matter what had happened to him that night, all Jacob wanted was to help him. Jacob wanted him to enjoy the prom and came up with what he thought would be a solution while Noah had just moped around. When Noah opened his eyes he saw that at some point he had walked over to the bathroom exit, not even realizing that he had done so. Noah didn't really know why he did it, but he watched his hand press up on to the wooden door and push it open. It had already been an exhausting night and as Noah's high heeled feet minced him onto the dance floor, it looked like the night was only just beginning.