As Miles navigates through the crowd, he takes a breath before finally saying "Hey, Naya..", and raising his hand slightly. Naya looks at him with an unreadable expression, her fists curling at her sides before she closes her eyes, and tells herself "Come on, Naya.. Be better..", before waving back at him. A wave of relief washes over Miles as he gets closer and closer to her, finally getting to her, as the music around them fades to silence. Miles stutters, but looks her straight in the eye, never wavering his gaze, "Hi.".
On the dance floor, Shane's gaze stays on Anny as he sees multiple upperclassmen walking up to her, his fist clenching around the plastic cup in his hand. Anny shoots him a mean glare, before taking an older boy's hand. "You don't get to do that..", he mutters to himself, before taking a random girl's hand. The music turns to a beautiful, slow tune as Shane and the random girl enter the dance floor.
As Shane and the random girl dance, purposefully inching closer to Anny and the older boy. "Too chicken to face this alone?", Anny discreetly asks Shane, still dancing. Shane asks "What do you mean?", as he passes by with his dance partner. Anny continues "First, you roped Miles into coming here, now, you're roping this poor girl into this..", but Shane interrupts her, saying "Who the hell do you think you..?", almost losing his footing, but stumbles to keep rhythm. Anny finishes "Bacause you're scared.", as she and her dance partner step away, and Shane stops, ignoring the song as he looks on, his eyes wide and his hands trembling.
Miles sits next to Naya, an awkward silence stretching between them. Miles opens his mouth, this time, finding the right words "I'm not here to force you to forget what happened between us.. I just want to fix it, even a little.", as he turns to look at her. Naya sits there, fidgeting with her dress, as she struggles to find the words. Finally, she says "Miles. I want to forget. What I felt for you, what I hoped you felt for me, but..", and turns away from him, saying "I can't. And.. I hate you for that. I hate how.. weak I get when..". Miles looks away, but not moving away, saying "When we were together?", but Naya says, a slight shiver in her voice "Not just when we were dating. Everytime I hear your name, my chest tightens, I can't focus. Sometimes I'll hear something, or I'll smell something that reminds me of you and..". Miles makes a pained expression as he opens his mouth to apologize, but stops himself as Naya says "And it'll break me down. Every. Damn. Time.". Miles reaches out to her, but she holds out her hand, keeping him away, saying "And I hate you for that.". That guts Miles, as she looks back at him, with an apologetic look on her face, before leaving, glancing back at him before leaving.
Elsewhere, a group of upperclassmen gather outside the prom, holding weapons, as their leader says "Let's show that pretentious pretty boy what happens when he toys with my sister's feelings.". The leader thinks to himself "Shane.. She trusted you.. She loved you. I'm gonna make you pay!"
As Chelsea gets to the prom, she passes by the parking lot, asking multiple students "Have you seen Miles?", all of them pointing her towards the venue. She runs into the venue, but stops when she sees how many people are there, telling herself "It's okay, Chels. Do it for Miles.", and entering. She navigates the crowd, and passes through several groups of students, until she sees Miles, sitting alone where Naya used to be. Her expression turns to worry as she slowly walks up to him, but he stand up first. He walks towards her, not quickly, not excitedly, like he's being drawn to her. He Looks back at where Naya was, before going to Chelsea.
"Miles..?", Chelsea ask, her hands already raising to embrace him, and Miles says "Chels..", and leans towards her, and she lets him. Letting herself hold him warmly. She sees his shoulders shake slightly as he refuses to meet her eye to eye. "You were right.. I kept sticking my neck out, and.. I got cut.", Miles says his voice shaking, and Chelsea, struggling to find the words to make things better, to heal him, eventually says "We'll heal. Together.".
Elsewhere, in the prom, Shane waits by the photo booth, glaring at Anny and her partner. Finally, she leaves him briefly, and meets Shane at the booth, and they both enter. As they sit down, not even turning on the photo booth, Shane says "What you said back there..", but Anny interupts, louder this time "Oh, would you look at that?! The Prince can't live with himself until he gets the final word..! Have you ever considered that you deserve what you've gotten? That all those years of pretentiousness have finally caught up to you?!". Shane grits his teeth, and shouts emotionally "Oh my God! Are you seriously gonna lecture me about being pretentious?! You have no fucking clue who I am! You never did! You were never better than me..!", but stops himself, and sits back down.
Anny, losing her composure, shouts "When are you gonna lose this stupid persona and finally face me like a man!?", and Shane says "When you realize what you did was fucked up, even for you.". Anny settles down, saying "My brother.. He did it.", and Shane says "Yeah, I know your overprotective knucklehead of a brother planned that attack on me. Now who's the coward?", but stops when Anny wipes her eyes, facing away from Shane as she whimpers softly. Shane's eyes widen as he asks "Tears ain't gonna make you any less guilty, Anny. You pretended that you loved me, that you saw me for who I was beyond 'The Prince', and..", but stops as he lets out a sob, looking away from her.
Anny says "I saw you as this cold bastard, someone i wouldn't even feel bad for hurting, but.. who knew the stone cold Prince was this soft..?", mascara running down her face as she finally gathers the nerve to leave the booth, saying "For what it's worth.. I'm surprised you weren't the one to end our 'relationship'. Gotta give you some credit for letting me do it", before leaving.
Outside the venue, Miles and Chelsea walk out to the parking lot, not saying a word, just feeling each other's presence. Chelsea holds Miles' hand tightly, as if he would disappear if she let go, not wanting to pry.
But, just then, the group of upperclassmen runs by them, heading to the prom. "What the..? Who are those guys?", Chelsea asks, but Miles' face turns to dread as he recognizes them as the ones that attacked Shane. "Oh God.. Shane!", Miles shouts as he runs towards the event, with Chelsea right behind him. The music cuts abruptly. Students stop dancing, confused murmurs filling the room. "Hey! Turn it back on!" someone shouts. But then the group pushes through the crowd. The leader—Sam—steps forward, jaw tight, eyes locked onto one person. "Shane." Everything goes still. The name echoes. Shane steps out from near the photo booth, slow, controlled. Like he expected this.
"…You really brought this here?" Shane says, voice low.
Sam laughs, but there's no humor in it. "You think you get to walk around like nothing happened?" His voice cracks—anger breaking through. "You think you get to mess with her and just—what? Move on?" The crowd starts backing away. Phones come out. People whisper. Fear spreads—but no one runs yet. Not yet.
Anny pushes through the crowd. "Sam—stop. I told you not to—", but Sam snaps "Stay out of this!", which makes her flinch.
As the crowd rushes out of the venue, Miles gets pushed further and further from the venue entrance, shouting "No! Shane! Run! He's gonna..!", but Chelsea carries him on her back, asking "You said your friend is still on there!?", to which Miles, with tears forming in his eyes, says "Yeah! He needs me! That's why he asked me to come with him! He needed my help, and..!". Chelsea nods and dashes through the crowd, to get Miles to Shane.
Sam steps closer to Shane. "You hurt her," he says. "And now you're gonna stand there like you didn't do anything?" Shane doesn't move. "…I didn't touch her," he says. "Not like that." Sam shouts "Don't lie to me!", and Shane says "I'm not." Sam hesitates, just for a second.
One of Sam's friends shoves Shane. Hard. Shane stumbles—but doesn't fall. The tension snaps, Another shove. Someone else joins in and the crowd gasps.
Anny Steps In "Stop it!" Anny shouts, rushing forward. She grabs Sam's arm, saying "Stop! This isn't what I wanted!" Sam yanks his arm free, shouting "You don't get to decide that anymore!". He shoves her back—Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to push her out of the way. Another shove hits Shane from the side., causing him to lose his footing—And someone takes out a knife. Shane sees and his breath hitches. Anny notices, but it's too late.. Sam's friend swings the knife. Anny steps in, trying to stop it—And takes the impact instead. Everything freezes.
She laid on top of Shane, grunting in pain, as Shane looks at her, breathing heavily as panic sets in, realizing what happened. Blood pooling beneath them. "A.. An.. Anny..? What the.. why..?", Shane stutters as he holds her close, taking off his jacket to cover them. Sam, realizing what happened, panics, shouting "Anny! Oh shit! No, no! NO! What did I just..!?", and runs away, his friends following suit. Miles and Chelsea rush in to be met by a horrifying sight.
Shane, with blood all over his face, shirt and hands, covering a wound on Anny, who was on the ground, barely breathing. Miles asks "Anny! What happened? We gotta get her to a hospital, now!", but Shane just stays silent, not even looking up at Miles. Naya, rushes in, taking out her phone, saying "I called the police when those guys got here, they won't get..", but gasps when she sees the gorey sight, saying "Anny!! I'll.. uh.. I'll call an ambulance.".
Anny weakly mutters "Sh.. Shane..", and Shane says "Anny! You're still breathing! Don't talk! Just.. keep breathing for me, okay!?", but Anny let's out a weak chuckle, saying "For once.. Let me talk, Prince..", as she grabs onto his sleeve, saying "You were right.. I was being a coward.. I was a leech..". But Shane shouts "Anny, no! You weren't! I.. you were right! I deserved it! I was a pretentious bastard! Just stay awake! Please!! I can't lose you!!", as he holds her tight in his arms, trembling, with tears all over his face.
As the rain starts to fall, the ambulance's lights fill the night as Miles, Chelsea and Naya watch the paramedics place Anny inside. Shane stands far away from the ambulance, hyperventilating alone as he falls to his knees. But, just then, he hears Anny say "Shane.. I wanna be.. with Shane..". The paramedics ask Shane "Young man, she seems to want you with her right now. We'll call both of your parents and inform them on your whereabouts.". Shane's eyes widen as Anny smiles, and he quickly gets into the ambulance and it drives off.
Miles stands there, looking down at a puddle of water, soiled by blood, no thoughts in his head, but Chelsea comforts him, saying "I'm here..".