4. The Prom Night

 

One Week After the Alaska Incident (flashback to Fori’s high school prom night)

 

The prom venue was packed with Fori’s classmates, making her feel incredibly uncomfortable. She didn’t have a single friend there, and it seemed like everyone was busy chatting with their own friends. This sense of isolation only intensified her feelings of being an outsider.

She had strongly considered skipping the event altogether. However, Sister Elsa had reminded her all morning that this was her final chance to partake in the high school experience. Reluctantly, Fori conceded and decided to attend the prom night.

Unfortunately, Sister Elsa hadn’t offered any guidance on appropriate attire for such an occasion. Consequently, Fori arrived in a dated, garish party dress, instantly becoming the subject of ridicule the moment she stepped into the school hall.

“Beth, I finally made it to my class’s prom,” Fori typed over Messenger to her best friend, Beth. However, the notification mark beside her messages sent since morning to Beth indicated that none had been delivered or read.

Fori let out a frustrated sigh. Not only did she feel lonely at the event, but her only friend couldn’t even be there to chat with her and alleviate her discomfort.

She wandered over to the buffet table, deciding to grab some small cookies. As she munched on them, scanning the hall, a hand suddenly swooped in, taking her plate of cookies and returning it to the table. Fori gaped in surprise.

“Hi, Fori!” greeted Hannah and her clique, the popular girls of the class, instantly making Fori feel nauseous. “I heard you’re also applying to Immaculata University?”

Fori remained silent, her gaze fixed on Hannah and her companions, a sense of foreboding creeping over her. That evening, Hannah was adorned in a yellow mini dress paired with matching stilettos, radiating beauty in what was clearly an expensive outfit.

Fori almost chuckled to herself as she noticed Hannah’s two friends in green dresses and another in red. They resembled a set of traffic lights in Fori’s eyes.

“What do you want this time, Hannah?” She asked with a drawn-out sigh.

Fori knew Hannah was likely amused by her own attire, but to her surprise, Hannah said nothing. Normally, Hannah never addressed Fori by name, only referring to her as ‘charitable grantee’ or ‘grantee’. Yet, this time, the situation seemed different.

“You want to torture me again even at our prom?” guessed Fori tensely.

“Don’t think negatively just yet,” Hannah replied kindly. “I want to close the chapter of bad memories from our time in school, as we transition to a more mature college level. I want to make amends with you.”

Fori stared at her in disbelief. Bad memories? What is she talking about? She even locked me up all day in the school restroom!

 

“The others and I sincerely apologize if we’ve ever bullied you. For the last time, we want to leave a positive impression. Come mingle with us.”

Fori had a bad feeling, but she allowed Hannah to grab her arm and lead her to walk with her clique.

“Where are you taking me?” asked Fori anxiously. But Hannah smiled warmly at her.

“At least for once, we’d like to try to build some rapport with you. We’re playing a fun game over there and are short one more player. The others are busy with their friends or dates. You’re alone, right? Come join us!”

“What game?” asked Fori, feeling like she was being dragged along to the back corner of the stage.

“Relax, it’s nothing dangerous, just truth or dare. Are you familiar with that game?”

“Wait a minute Hannah, I—” 

“Ah, there they are!” Hannah cut in after they entered the committee room at the back of the stage.

She pointed at the six boys there who were quite popular in their school. One of them was Andi, the boy Fori had crushed on since they were in middle school. Fori’s body went rigid as soon as she saw Andi, but Hannah obviously didn’t notice.

Fori observed they were all engrossed in conversation, seated on the blue carpet of the small room. In front of them, a short table displayed several bottles and ten empty glasses, one for each participant.

Her instincts worsened, but she found some solace in Andi’s presence. Despite their limited interactions in the past, Andi had always been kind to her. So, perhaps they wouldn’t all be mean to her at once.

“In this game, you can choose truth or dare,” Hannah instructed Fori. “We brought a mini lie detector that will be placed on the finger of whoever chooses truth. If you’re lying, the light will turn red; if you’re telling the truth, it will turn green. If you lie, you must do whatever the person you’re interacting with tells you. Understand?”

Fori didn’t answer because she truly wasn’t interested in joining their game. However, Hannah had blocked her exit by sitting in the corner of the circle, forcing her to finally take a seat.

They all exclaimed excitedly and started the game. Fori watched them play one by one and heard that all the questions asked were very sensitive, while those who chose dare were instructed to drink what was in the bottle, which turned out to be tequila. She knew they were not allowed to drink alcohol at their age, but it seemed the others there were indifferent to it.

“Are you a virgin?”

Fori heard someone there asking Hannah. After a brief silence, Hannah responded that she was a virgin. However, the lie detector light revealed that she was lying, prompting laughter from everyone present. Consequently, the girl was compelled to drink the glass of tequila handed to her.

“Now, I want to ask Fori,” Hannah said when it was her turn to lead the game. She looked at Fori, who was stunned and unprepared. All the participants sitting on the carpeted floor stared at her in silence. “Choose truth or dare?”

Fori remained silent, her eyes darting around in search of help. But everyone there seemed to be waiting for Fori’s choice.

“Truth or dare?” Hannah repeated urgently.

“Truth,” Fori replied in a swallowed voice. At least, based on the truth questions from earlier, no one would embarrass her. Meanwhile, if she chose dare, then she would definitely have to drink the alcohol.

“Okay, then you have to answer my question,” Hannah said as she attached the clamp wires to Fori’s fingers. “Do you have a crush on Andi?”

Fori was instantly speechless at Hannah’s question. The others there were also frozen, except for Hannah’s clique, who all appeared to be trying to hold back a smile.

“Fori, do you have a crush on Andi?” asked Hannah again, this time with pressure.

The realization dawned on the girl that she had unwittingly walked into a trap orchestrated by Hannah and the other queen bees, all with the intent to humiliate her.

“N-no,” Fori replied after a long silence that created a tense atmosphere.

She silently prayed that the lie detector would suddenly malfunction, but within seconds, the red light on the device lit up. Her face turned bright red, almost the same color as the light on the device. She didn’t dare lift her face to look at Andi; she knew he was also completely silent in his seat.

“You have to drink this,” everyone said excitedly, and Hannah immediately handed Fori a glass of tequila. The mean girl forced her to drink it in one gulp, until she coughed and her face resembling a boiled crab.

“Fori, now it’s your turn to choose who answers,” Hannah said, rousing Fori, who was quietly looking down, embarrassed and holding back tears. “Please select the person you want to answer your question.”

“I-I’ll pass,” Fori replied, still too shocked by the humiliating ordeal she had just endured.

“Okay, then shall I ask on your behalf? Is that okay?”

Fori didn’t immediately respond to Hannah, but eventually nodded weakly after the others had waited for her for a long time.

“I’ll ask Andi, truth or dare?” Hannah addressed the guy. 

Fori’s body suddenly tensed again upon hearing Hannah’s choice of person. She now knew that Hannah had no intention of stopping her embarrassment.

“I’ll choose dare,” Andi replied after a moment of consideration. It seemed he was also aware of where Hannah’s questions were leading, so he deliberately chose dare to avoid it. But it turned out that Hannah made a bad request of him.

“Alright, now you just have to choose… kiss Fori or kiss one of your male friends.”

“W-what?” Andi exclaimed in shock. Fori herself froze in place, staring at Hannah with an incredulous look.

“You just have to choose one,” Hannah repeated casually.

The others cheered at Andi, encouraging him to kiss Fori. But suddenly, Andi grabbed a glass of tequila and kissed the male friend next to him.

The room erupted in laughter while the male friend Andi kissed immediately wiped his lips and became angry.

“So, you’d rather kiss a guy than kiss Fori?” Hannah asked deliberately, making the others laugh again. “Wow, poor Fori. You were outright rejected by Andi!”

Fori gripped the bottom of her skirt tightly. Her eyes welled up with tears, but she tried her hardest not to let them spill.

The guy she had liked since junior high just chose to kiss his male friend instead of kissing her, and Hannah embarrassed her because of it. She felt completely shattered and wanted to burst into tears, but she desperately hid her embarrassment and sadness.

Throughout the rest of the night, feeling disoriented, Fori kept choosing the dare option out of fear, which forced her to continuously drink tequila until her head spun. 

Feeling nauseous, she then asked for permission to use the restroom, following Hannah and her friends who had already gone there. However, her  steps halted in front of the restroom door upon hearing Hannah’s loud laughter from inside.

“You’re crazy, did you intentionally report to the headmaster that there was alcohol in the prom committee room?” Hannah’s friend named Mira asked her. Fori could hear the echoes of their voices from inside and stood frozen in front of the restroom door.

“I’ve already sent the report SMS from my other phone. They won’t know it was me.”

“What if we get caught?!”

“It doesn’t matter because they can’t do anything to us. It’s a different story for Fori. If she’s caught breaking the law by drinking alcohol, the foundation will revoke her scholarship and she won’t have to be on the same campus as us later.”

“Wow, your plan is so cunning and brilliant! You’re truly terrifying, Hannah!”

The Hannah clique laughed from inside, but Fori outside fell silent. Tears streamed down her face as she cried there. She never understood why Hannah and her friends could go so far, simply because they didn’t like her, who didn’t share their status. She never understood why they were so determined to ruin her future.

But that night, Fori knew what she had to do; she had to leave. She didn’t need to be there – in a place where no one liked her. Fori swiftly walked out of the school hallway door and ran out of the gate, crying.