Hope

Noun – 1. a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen. 2. a person or thing that gives cause for hope

For once, the dictionary doesn't sound too far wrong...

With Prom only on the Friday, the teachers relaxed a little on us, and even gave us half days off. How generous you might be thinking. Wrong. Of course the teachers weren't being kind. They expected this to be when the pupils dashed out to get what they needed for Prom. They didn't believe we'd be organised enough to get it done before now...

Ok, so truth be told, I wasn't ready and had to rush out looking for shoes. I ended up just grabbing the first pair I saw in the first shop, that I thought would look ok.

And so Xandrell and I had been spending our free afternoons sitting at home giving Molly vocabulary lessons, whose development was, I admit, really beginning to scare me. She was just entering the stage, with her ever so slightly sped up human body development, when babies start to get really cute, when their hair was getting longer and they looked at you with understanding for what should be the first time, and when they giggle, their little faces crease up and their eyes sparkle. In short, Molly looked like the sweetest little thing ever, with her shortish dark hair and glittering emerald eyes that sparkled like the stars when she laughed, but her mind was getting more advanced, so much so that I had to talk to her like an adult. I wanted to talk to her like a baby. I wanted to play silly games like peek-a-boo with her. I wanted, when I held her, for her to look at me, and her eyes to go wide and curious. I wanted, when I held out a finger, for her to grip it with her whole fist. When I read to her, I wanted her to point at the pictures and make funny little burbling noises. When I'd tried to treat her like a baby, and pretended her food was an aeroplane, or more fittingly, a rocket ship, she'd give me an un-amused look before saying "Mummy, I'm not Nathaniel. Can you treat me so I can keep my dignity please?"

Before I realised where the time had gone I had rolled over in bed on the Friday morning. I lay staring at the ceiling for about a minute before I closed my eyes again wearily and plodded along to the bathroom. It was going to be a long day... I could already tell. At about one o'clock, the doorbell rang. I dashed downstairs and opened it. Tasha quickly darted inside and grinned at me. "Hey." she greeted me cheerily. "You ready to get ready?"

"Just about." I muttered. The moment I had been dreading all week... in fact the day I had been dreading all year, had finally arrived.

Within a few hours, Tasha had styled my hair for me, as well as doing her own hair and we had both done our makeup. Just as we'd put on our dresses, we heard the doorbell go and distantly, we heard Gibby and Xandrell talking.

"Show time!" said Tasha looking down at herself, fanning out the skirt.

"Yeah..." I gave a slight groan as I slipped on my shoes and stood up.

I glanced at myself in the mirror. I barely recognised myself, with my hair elaborately styled, my dress stroking the floor, despite my being in heels. Even my makeup, though to be fair, I never wore makeup, so any would have been too much.

"You look nice." Tasha observed, appearing in the mirror behind me.

I turned around and grinned at my best friend. "I don't, not compared to you."

Tasha smiled shyly. It was true, my best friend was naturally much prettier than me, which gave her a natural advantage when doing something like this. Still, tonight, she looked pretty amazing. Her fair hair was in ringlets, curling round to gently caress her shoulders. Her dress hung a few centimetres off the floor and every so often, I managed to catch a glimpse of the gold material of her shoes, flashing under the folds of fuchsia satin. "Let's just say we both look good." she said grinning.

I grinned back. "You still look nicer though." I said in a rush.

She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could say two words, Gibby's voice called up the stairs. "Chrissakes! Are you two done yet?"

I giggled as Tasha rolled her eyes. "Why Max?" I asked. It annoyed Tasha when anyone called him Gibby.

"Because he's my friend, and he wasn't going with anyone else." said Tasha, opening the door and we walked out. "I felt sorry for him. Anyway, why Xandrell?"

"Uh... because..." I tried but couldn't find a word to follow this with.

"Because what?" Tasha pressed me.

"Because, because."

"What?"

"Because!" I snapped, slightly irritably. It was too complicated to explain.

Welcome to Amy Wren's guide to 'Why I'm going with the unbelievably cute guy to Prom'.

1. He's stolen me from my best friend and had seriously annoyed him in the process.

2. He's an alien who can't exactly take anyone else.

3. We'd had a child together, something my other best friend was already suspicious of.

If any or all of the above apply to you, you cannot explain why you are going with him to Prom or any other social occasion, and you should therefore not be going and it is advisable to absent yourself with a sick note.

... stupid antisocial thing...

We reached the bottom of the stairs where Gibby and Xandrell stood waiting for us. Gibby handed Tasha a flower and gave her a smile. Xandrell handed me Molly and gave me a kiss. I could sense Gibby and Tasha's eyes on us and after a moment heard Gibby mutter "do we have to do that as well?" I pulled away from Xandrell in time to see Tasha give Gibby a seriously annoyed look.

I grinned before looking down at my little girl. "Now, Moll." I said clearly in a voice she knew meant 'cute baby act.' "Be good for Auntie Jenny and Nanny while Daddy and I are out, ok?"

Molly looked at me with eyes full of understanding, before grinning a cherub like smile and clapping her hands happily. 'Mummy's little actor' I thought smiling, before handing her carefully to Jenny, who still hadn't totally gotten to grips with dealing with babies, and held her slightly awkwardly

"Have fun." mumbled Jenny as we dashed out of the house.

"Can I just ask..." said Tasha as we made our way over to the limousine Gibby had organised. "Why do you two get Molly to call you Mummy and Daddy?"

I glanced at Xandrell who raised his eyebrows at me. The universal sign for 'make something up on the spot Amy!'

I swallowed. Ultimate test as to whether or not Tasha would know if I was lying. "Because she's really our baby."

All three of them stared at me for a moment. Then, unbelievably, Tasha laughed. "You sarcastic moo!" she giggled. "Imitating me and everything. You're ridiculous!"

I stared at her for a moment, then nervously laughed too. "Yeah..." I said, my heart thudding in my ribs. "Had you all fooled for a second there didn't I?"

"Yeah..." croaked Xandrell looking down at me. "Yeah you did..." His face had blanched. He had obviously believed I was giving him up as an alien to Tasha and Gibby.

"Don't worry." I whispered squeezing his hand. "Your secret's safe with me."

He smiled weakly at me. "I know it is." he whispered back.

"So come on, tell us!" said Tasha recovering quickly from her laughter. "Tell us the real reason."

I grinned. "Well, you know how we found her and looked after her in secret?" Tasha nodded while Gibby's eyebrows shot up under his fringe. "Well the police checked her for DNA matches, and we put out adverts saying we'd found a child. When no-one responded, we started to get attached to her, and by the time the police got back to us to say no matches were found, we both loved her. So we resolved to be her parents. I mean, think about it. When we have to go to college, Mum'll be at home taking care of 'point-four'."

"Don't call Nat that!" said Tasha wrinkling her nose.

I grinned again. "Sorry, force of habit." I said shrugging. "But anyway, by the time we're ready to buy a house and stuff, Molly'll be about five, which works out well because we can get her settled in to school and stuff."

"You keep referring to we." said Tasha frowning. "Have you actually considered hardships? I mean, what if you two broke up?"

Xandrell laughed delightedly. "Amy and I break up? Tasha, talk sense for goodness sake. Once we're married, we won't have to worry about being apart, and with Molly, we'll be happy and healthy and... and we'll be ok."

"Ever heard of divorce?" muttered Gibby, earning him a glare from Tasha.

I glanced at Xandrell who was tapping his Vederic impatiently. Slowly his face morphed into one of anger. "Ignore him." I whispered.

"Have you planned your whole lives?" asked Tasha, obviously slightly agitated. "Can you see into the future? Do you know that that's what's going to happen?"

Xandrell narrowed his eyes at her. "Why do you have to be so negative all the time?"

Tasha glared at him before sighing heavily. "It's not like that's not what I want." she said after a moment. "Of course I want you both to be happy, but I'm just trying to point out that these things never go the way they're planned."

Xandrell's face slowly sagged, morphing from anger down into an almost disappointed face. The face of someone fighting a battle and losing. This was the moment it occurred to me that Xandrell and I were a team now, not just for us, but for Molly too. I sat forward and slipped my hand into his. "We'll make it work." I said firmly as he turned his head to face me. "We have to make it work for Molly."

Xandrell smiled, but it wasn't his usual annoying grin. This was gentle and charming, the sort of smile that really made my knees go weak and my stomach squirm like agitated butterflies were anxious to escape, although I knew that if there were really bugs in my stomach, they would be burned by the acid long before they had a chance to get to this stage. "For Molly." he agreed.

Gibby was frowning between the two of us. "What is it with you two and that little girl?" he muttered. "If it had been me, I would've sent her to a Children's Home."

Xandrell glowered at him, his dark eyes suddenly cold. "Because I don't want a little girl I love to end up on the streets, parentless like me."

Gibby fell silent, but thankfully at that moment, we arrived. When we got out of the limo, we immediately were treated like rock stars. Professional photographers began flashing cameras while in the background, teachers were shouting incoherently. For the first hour, there was non stop photo taking. Xandrell loved the group photos, hugging me at every opportunity.

Soon the rest of the gang arrived. James had, as Sophie had predicted, gone for a traditional black suit for the occasion. He looked incredibly smart, but then again, he generally did anyway. Lucy looked lovely in her black dress, and however much I hated to admit it, they looked good together. Lucy's fair hair complemented James' dark spikes very nicely. Behind them were Charlie and Ceci. They looked good together too. Charlie's light brown hair was scruffy (surprise surprise) and he was wearing a full black ensemble with a black tie. Ceci's long dark hair was coiled up on the back of her head with a few strands hanging down to stroke the tops of her slim arms. Her dress hung to below her knees and was a wonderful turquoise-ish sea blue-ish colour. I'd tried a dress on that was that colour. I had reason to believe it was called 'cerulean blue'. It looked lovely in contrast to her slightly tanned legs. Behind them was Sophie, who since she had an older boyfriend outside of school, had consented to come to Prom with Alfie, ex-head boy and her childhood best friend. He was wearing a typical black suit with a red bow tie, while Sophie had her short blonde hair spiked up and decorated with tiny diamond flowers, and with her black dress with its white ruffle, she looked beautiful.

Xandrell soon noticed my attention was elsewhere and sent away a cooing photographer with a regal wave of his hand, before gesturing for me to go and see my friends. I didn't need to be told twice. I called over to Tasha and the two of us hurried towards the rest of our group as quickly as was possible in heels.

Ceci squealed when she saw me and Tasha as she was the only one of the girls who had not seen the dresses yet. "You two look so pretty!" she said happily, before adding "wish I did." and looking down at her dress mournfully.

"Oh, Ceci, you look gorgeous!" I said happily.

Ceci smiled at me weakly. "Thank you." she said quietly.

"As for you two..." I added, turning to James and Charlie. "This may be the first and last time I see you in suits, and for the record, you both look great... Charlie, you're lucky I don't have a brush."

Charlie gave his usual yelp of laughter before flattening his messy hair. It was amazing to think he was my age. I couldn't look at him as a teenager, when I had to act like his mother. James sniggered as eventually, I moved forward and sorted Charlie's hair for him. I glanced up at James. "I wouldn't laugh if I were you, you're next."

"Oh, come on!" cried James indignantly, batting away my hands as I teased him. "It's styled like this!"

I giggled as I finished sorting Charlie's hair. "That's better. Anyway, James, I wouldn't touch your hair when you've got so much of that gel stuff in it. I might cut my finger on one of the spikes."

"Oh, ha bloody ha." muttered James, making a totally un-amused face, before it broke into a grin. "You look nice by the way Amy. The colour suits you."

I fought the blush rising in my cheeks that came whenever someone complimented me. "I don't, but thanks." I said lowering my face. "This is so embarrassing though, being in a dress."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad!" said James encouragingly.

I raised my head slightly to glare at him. "Do you want to swap outfits?"

"Uh, I'm ok thanks." said James, pulling an unconvincing impression of temptation. "I think I can suffer for one night."

I giggled and he chuckled with me, and I could tell we both had an amusing image of him in our minds, tottering around in a dress and high heels.

"Ooh, look at Sadie!" Sophie suddenly cried. We all looked. Sadie had just walked into the flashes of the cameras, arms linked with Frankie. He was wearing a similar ensemble to James and Charlie. Sadie was wearing a tiny dress which showed off her slender legs. It was a very dark purple colour which looked lovely against her olive skin. Her hair was curled almost so they looked like little sausages, which really suited her face shape. Overall, the effect Sadie gave me was that a china doll designer might base their doll on the way she looked tonight. I could almost imagine a doll collector suddenly rushing forward and grabbing Sadie before fleeing the Prom.

Helen arrived behind Sadie. She looked amazing, almost like a model. She wore a floor length gold and black dress and extremely high heels which added at least a good six inches to her height. Her fair hair was curled in much the same way as Tasha's, so it kept the length. However, when I saw who she had come with, my jaw dropped.

"Lu." I called. Lucy's head immediately appeared over the top of the others, frowning at me curiously. "Have you seen who Helen's with?"

Lucy carefully made her way over to me, muttering excuse me every so often, until she could see Helen. Her jaw dropped too. "Lewis?!" she cried. "Helen came with LEWIS?! This is brilliant! I'm the one who he's apparently in love with, and he goes to prom with her!"

Helen soon made her way over to Lucy looking slightly annoyed. "I thought you said you were coming with James!" snarled Helen.

Lucy frowned. "I did though..." she said, gesturing James behind her.

"Not Roberts!" hissed Helen. "Baker!" She gestured over her shoulder where the popular boys were lighting up cigarettes... at least I thought they were cigarettes...

Lucy made a face of utmost disgust. "Ew... so no! What's wrong with James Roberts? And why does it matter who I come with?"

"Well..." Helen looked thoughtful. "There's nothing wrong, but when you said James, I immediately thought... well I thought we could switch date partners."

"Switch da... oh no..." muttered Lucy, her eyes narrowing at Helen. "This is all some ploy to get me to go to prom with Lewis."

"What? Of course not." said Helen, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes you are!" cried Lucy. "Well I'm not going to put up with it! I'll make it a point of honour not to end up with Lewis tonight!"

"Oh, what a lovely happy looking group of young adults!" cooed a photographer, boucing on the balls of her feel excitedly.' "Come one now, everyone in, let's get everyone in close, everyone squish in!" ...What a freak...

For a moment, no-one moved, and then our group began to arrange itself into a line for the photograph. Helen quickly moved aside to let Lewis stand between her and Lucy. Lucy's lip curled as Lewis smiled at her. I moved to stand with Lucy when James gently pushed me aside. I raised an eyebrow at him at which he shrugged.

"You have to stand with the people you came with." he said quietly.

I shrugged one shoulder as Xandrell appeared beside me, slipping his hands onto my hips and lowering his head to my shoulder. James glanced at him before looking back up at my face, with a questioning look on his.

I smiled. "He's ok." I said with a slight laugh as Xandrell's breath tickled the tops of my arms. James smiled at we both turned our attention back to the fussing photographer, smiling empty smiles until she'd gone.

"Thank God." muttered Charlie, wandering over, fiddling awkwardly with his tie. "These photographers are really starting to peeve me off."

"I know." I said, sympathetically. Then I batted his hands away from his neck. "Stop that. You'll muss it up. Save that for the dancing, you look fine."

"I hate being in a suit." he muttered. "I can't move properly.

I sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon enough."

"Sure." muttered Charlie, shrugging before glancing at Xandrell's hands on my waist and his head on my shoulder. "Amy, you have something just there..." he muttered before waving at Xandrell's face. He jumped away, startled and Charlie grinned. "Yeah it's gone."

Before long, we were called in to sit down for a rather un-brilliant dinner of chicken and boiled potatoes with a few underdone peas, and for the vegetarians, a raw carrot. Obviously, the teachers had really splashed out with paying for the prom. After we had eaten our fill... well, whatever was on our plates... Xandrell took me aside.

"Listen, Amy... you do know I love you, don't you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I kind of had an inkling." I muttered sarcastically.

Xandrell grinned his usual annoying grin before it softened into his new gentle and charming smile. "Well, listen. I've never really given you anything when you've given me so much..."

"Uh, hello?" I muttered. "You gave me your love? You gave me Molly? You gave me the life I have now? Xandrell, you've given me everything you could!"

"Well.... not everything..." said Xandrell slowly, reaching for his wrist. Carefully, he undid his Vederic and reached for my hand. I immediately drew it away.

"No!" I said quickly. "Not to seem ungrateful, but that's yours! You need it!"

"No I don't." said Xandrell, smiling as he fastened his watch around my wrist. "I've been here long enough to keep this form Amy. This place is my home now. I want you to have it. Please?"

Hesitantly, I pulled my hand closer to my eyes to look at the Vederic on my right wrist. "I don't know how to work it." I said, somewhat lamely.

"You'll get it." said Xandrell, a slightly mysterious look on his face like he wasn't really seeing me when he looked. "You'll understand someday."

I sighed and shook my head exasperatedly. "You're impossible."

"Thank you." grinned Xandrell, just as the DJ started up the music and the waiters pushed the tables away to form the dance floor. He pulled on my hand encouragingly. "Come on... let's dance... do you want to?"

"Not really." I muttered, pulling my hand away, standing my ground. "I don't dance."

Xandrell rolled his eyes, before bouncing on the balls of his feet like an idiot. "You don't live, Amy!" he cried with a hint of a laugh. "Come on!"

He grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor. He was surprisingly good at dancing for someone who had no idea about most human things. Many people were looking at us like we were mad. I blushed and stood still, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, while Xandrell leapt around me laughing.

"You're nuts." I chuckled as he whooshed past me, his longish hair sticking up all over the place. He paused in front of me, a massive grin plastered over his face, the way a dog might look at its owner after bringing them a stick to throw for them.

"If I'm nuts, you are too!" he laughed, picking me up and whirling me around. I squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck. Many people around the room were laughing at us... no, with us... I hadn't realised it until now, but I was actually enjoying myself. I was laughing as I had not laughed in a long time. Before long, he put me down and smiled down at me, gently touching my nose with his, teasing me, tempting me with his lips. I fought the urge to kiss him by encouraging him to dance again. He was deliberately reluctant, still coming closer to me, still tempting me, but eventually, he relented and began to dance crazily again. It wasn't long before more people began to join us, and the dance floor began to feel very busy.

"Xandrell..." I yelled over the noise of the speakers. It made my throat feel like it was being torn open. I gestured towards our table as I spoke. "It's a little crowded. I'm going back to the table."

He gave me a thumbs up sign and after I'd moved away a little, I heard him shout at Tasha. When I looked back, he and Tasha were dancing madly in the way only Xandrell and Tasha could. I smiled slightly as I watched them. In my opinion, Tasha was much more deserving of him than I'd ever been or ever could be. She was much funnier, prettier and more interesting than me, and I could tell she loved Xandrell almost as much as I did. Times like that, I almost wished Xandrell were human, so I could let her have him and she could be happy too.

I turned away and moved back to the table where I found Lucy sitting alone, looking quite miserable. I sat down beside her before tapping her on the shoulder. She jumped and looked around at me, as though she weren't expecting anyone to be there. When she saw it was me, she relaxed considerably. "Hey Amy." she greeted me.

"Hi." I said smiling. "Why are you here all by yourself? Where's James?"

"Off with Dora and Daisy Jones, why?" asked Lucy, frowning at me.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "He's your prom date, I would've thought he'd have danced with you by now."

"You'd think." sighed Lucy. "I just wish that... for once, someone would get me to dance with them, and not me have to ask. Just... someone where I come top of the list... like you with Xandrell, you know what I mean?"

I nodded sympathetically. "I know." Then I glanced around, and the idea just hit me. I got to my feet. "Wait here." I instructed her, before dashing forward and grabbing the first boy I saw and dragged him back to where Lucy was staring at me, dumbstruck and horrified. I nudged the boy forwards. "Go on. Ask Lucy to dance with you."

"Alright." said the voice, and I immediately realised my mistake. My stomach plummeted and my head snapped around to stare at Lewis as he sheepishly turned to smile shyly at Lucy. He rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly. "Do you... you know... want to... you know... dance... with... me... Lucy?"

Lucy stared at him for a moment, before sighing and getting up. "Yeah, go on then." she sighed before glancing at me. "I hate you at times you know." she whispered, with a tiny smile on her face to show she didn't mean it.

I grinned as she and Lewis moved away and began swaying awkwardly in time to the music. I sat down carefully and watched them for a long moment. I knew that Lucy didn't, and probably never would like Lewis in the way he liked her, but the way he was looking at her right there and then... like he completely adored her... I wondered vaguely if that was what Lucy had meant when she said about the way Xandrell looked at me... I often spent time thinking about him, and the way he was always acting... I had what some girls would only ever find in their dreams. A very sweet, very kind, astonishingly good looking guy, who completely adored me. I often wondered if I was an ungrateful and spiteful little wretch to not be happy with Xandrell, when I knew so many other people would be more than ecstatic.

"Men are annoying." I concluded aloud, putting my chin on my palm.

"Oh, wow, that's like a compliment from you Amy, thanks." muttered a voice.

I looked up as James sat beside me. I grinned at him. "You know as well as I do that that doesn't apply to you."

"Oh I'm a girl now. Wonderful!" he cried melodramatically, before returning my grin. He looked out at the dance floor, and I saw his eyes rest on Lucy and Lewis who were moving a little easier to the music now. "So... my date's off in the arms of another guy then?" he said in a somewhat dark voice.

"He's not so bad." I said with a grin. James looked back at me to give me a brief smile before he glanced around.

"Well... I guess his date's over there with James Baker, it's only fair he should steal someone too." he shrugged giving off a somewhat defeated air.

I rolled my eyes. "You're too nice James." I sighed exasperatedly.

"That's true." he said with a slight shrug, so I laughed.

"How comes you left the Jones twins alone?" I asked after a moment.

He shrugged again. "They went off with Gibby." he sighed.

"And Gibby's date stole my date... or maybe it was the other way around." I said, gesturing at Xandrell and Tasha.

"Then Sophie's dancing with everyone while Alfie's gone off with Sherry Green..." muttered James glancing around

"In fact..." I said slowly. "The only two people who are still with the people they came with are Charlie and Ceci."

We watched as the song finished. Charlie and Ceci grinned at one another before Charlie dashed off in the opposite direction and Ceci hurried over to Sadie.

"Figures." I muttered, as James sniggered. "Nobody's together for long here."

"In fairness, if Xandrell hadn't brought you, we'd have still been with the person we came with." shrugged James.

"I guess we would." I said, also shrugging.

"Hey, can you imagine, if you'd never met Xandrell?" chuckled James. "How different would our lives be?"

I frowned. "Very." I said quietly. "I'd be dead."

James's smile dropped immediately. "Good point." he muttered. "Yeah our lives would be so different. I'd have no best friend."

I smiled at him. "And then who would you bully?"

He raised his eyebrows, pretending to be shocked before he grinned. "I don't bully you!" he said with a little laugh, very gently punching me on the arm.

I let my jaw drop and I gasped in mock disbelief. "You so do." I retorted, giving him a tiny punch on the arm.

Suddenly the whole room shuddered, people on the dance floor were thrown down, tables and chairs were overturned, throwing the people on them off. Bits of the ceiling were falling down. It narrowly missed several people and the seams of Darcy's dress while it scored Alfie on the arm. James and I were flung forward, just as a table collapsed between us. I was far too afraid to raise my head to make sure he was ok. Suddenly, the ceiling directly above us crumbled. Several pieces fell down on either side of the table. All of them narrowly missed me.

"James? James!" I called. But there was no response. My cries got more desperate as I crawled forwards, to get around the table to him. His face appeared on the other side of the table. I had never been so relieved to see him in all my life.

Then, as suddenly as the tremors had started, they stopped. Around the hall, many people were calling out to one another, asking what had happened. Then someone cried "oh, look at the lawn!"

Everyone looked out of the windows and immediately began cooing and 'aah'-ing. I turned and looked out the window too. The gardens were glowing green, then fading to blue, then from purple to pale pink. Everywhere was illuminated in the most beautiful light I'd ever seen. I frowned. Why did that light make me feel so uneasy?

I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder. I turned to find myself face to face with Xandrell. His face was pale, his expression very scared.

"Xandrell, what's..."

"Amy, get everyone out. Any way you can." said Xandrell urgently. "I'll get your friends out, you try to get everyone else..."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

There was such terror and urgency in his voice that I didn't argue any further. I scrambled to my feet and ran to the DJ booth. I grabbed the microphone and practically shouted into it.

"Excuse me, everyone!" I called. People turned to look at me, curious and almost excited. Was this more of the entertainment? Was Amy Wren in on all of this? "I'm sorry, but we need to get everyone out. Prom has to end!" There was uproar at my words as people demanded to know why and angrily shouted abuse at me. "Please, you have to listen to me!" I cried desperately. "If you have to, throw a makeup prom at my house, but right now..."

"This is just Amy Wren, trying to get attention!" shouted James Baker from the middle of the crowd. Everyone began to shout in agreement.

"No it's not!" I yelled, almost in tears. "Please, listen to me!"

But the abuse continued to be shouted as my classmates jeered me into silence. There was no persuading them otherwise. I felt my heart rip in two as I spoke, feeling a sense of dread in my stomach. "Ok, I'm sorry to have disturbed your evening," and I handed the microphone back to the DJ. There was cheering amongst people who once upon a time had been my friends. Slowly, I made my way out into the gardens where Xandrell was waiting with my very confused looking friends.

"Amy, what's going on?" called Charlie.

But I didn't respond. I walked straight up to Xandrell. I didn't know whether the feeling welling up inside me was closer to anger, or to desperation "Tell me what's going on." I demanded. "Now!"

Xandrell still looked very pale. "In my old classes, 'Invasion Education'..." he croaked. "We were always told to use those lights to enrapture the enemy..." He paused and looked frantically around at the dark clouds. "...before launching the attack."

My jaw dropped. "Are you seriously telling me that Earth is in danger of being invaded?" Xandrell's eyes suddenly widened, his lips parted slightly. He looked like he might be sick. Slowly, he nodded. "But everyone's still in there!" I cried, turning to run back. The anger I had felt was gone. Now there was only desperation. "We can't just leave them!"

"Amy, NO!" yelled Xandrell. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back, pressing my face into his chest and holding me there, but before I could ask what he was doing, there was a massive sound... the sound like when you put a lit match to lighter fluid. Ceci screamed and then the rest of my friends made horrified exclamations, but these were quickly drowned out by the screams of the people in the hall and a horrible crackling sound. I turned my face carefully away from Xandrell's chest. My eyes stung from the unbearable heat hitting me. I gasped. Before my eyes, the building, and everyone in it were blazing in huge orange flames.