Prom Monarchs

20250629

Prompt from PrideOnThePage

“Heeeey River! Oh. Em. Gee! You look ~fabulous~!”
“Thanks, Ashley.” River grinned despite vir nerves and hugged vir best friend tight. “You look amazing. Straight out of a princess movie.”
“Heehee, you think so?” Ashley twirled, her heels tapping a cheery drumbeat against the sidewalk. “Did the curls come out ok at the back?? You wouldn’t believe how long I spent in the bathroom today, gawd.”
“I so would, because Jane has been bitching in group chat all afternoon. But it was totally worth it - those curls are FIRE.”
“Phew.” Ashley hooked an arm through River’s and tugged vem towards the restaurant. “I hope you screen-capped all her whining so we can spam her when she’s fussing for her leaving do.”
“I mean, I did, but I also commiserated with her about you always taking forever to get ready, so…”
“Tsk!” Ashley tossed her head, the glittery eyeshadow emphasising how her eyes were twinkling. “I’m surrounded by snakes! No, wait, what are princesses surrounded by? Traitors? Scoundrels?”
“Scoundrel traitors!”
They laughed through the door into the decorated space.
“Of course you’re the last one here.” Brent folded his arms and fixed Ashley with a forbearing look.
Ashley stuck out her tongue. “Listen, mister, if you want to dance by yourself just say so.”
“Hey now, what’s a Prom Queen without her king?”
River giggled and slipped free. Eager to take vir seat out of the spotlight.
What ve wouldn’t give for half of Ashley’s confidence! But, well, it was probably easier to be confident when wearing a normal party getup. Pick a nice dress or suit and… done.
Ok, still not easy, but it was simple.
Whereas ve’d spent weeks pouring through magazines, haunting thrift stores, and learning to sew. Earlier it’d all felt worth it but now, with eyeballs surrounding vem? Not so sure.
“You’re slouching.”
“H-huh?” River started.
Jack was suddenly in front of vem. His gaze scrutinising. “Slouching doesn’t work in a leather bodice or a suit jacket with shoulder pads, so trying it while wearing both? Bold.”
“Pshhhh.” River rolled vir eyes at him.
“Come on, back straight, shoulders back. Chin up for extra points. Own the space you take up.”
Aggravating though he was, he was also right. River took a deep breath and rolled vir shoulders. Consciously unclenching. Unfurling.
“There we go.” Jack nodded approval. “Oh, and, um, here.”
River accepted the A4 padded envelope and peered inside. Ve gawped. “A tiara?”
“A circlet.” Jack grinned, shifting from foot to foot. “We all figured, well, the top guy gets a crown, and the top girl gets a crown, so…”
“You swept the vote.” Holly called, and everyone laughed.
River hugged the envelope tight, blinking back tears so ve could beam at them all.
“Try it on, try it on!” Ashley urged eagerly.
River did so, noting the fake jewels were purple to Ashley’s pink and Brent’s blue.
Ashley flung an arm around vir shoulder and whooped “I present to you… the Prom Regent!”

Prompt was “Crown”.
[I’m aware that a regent isn’t synonymous with king/queen but “prom monarch” would apply to all three of them and I felt like this group of random teenagers probably wouldn’t care particularly about the intricacies of royal rankings. For a Brit, king/queen/regent are the three we’re familiar with.]