– Three months later –

Friday, May 26th, 2017

I have never been more nervous as I am tonight.

It’s not the fact I’m about to publicly date Calo in front of the whole school, attending prom with him. It’s not even the fact I’m actually going to prom while I never expected to go in the first place.

It’s not the fact I dislike wearing a suit and it puts me slightly on edge because I feel itchy in it.

It’s not the fact Calo is late, because by now I’m used to dating a guy who has absolutely no eye for punctuality whatsoever.

It’s the fact Calo told me he has a couple of surprises for tonight and despite my endless begging for him to tell what those surprises are, he didn’t give out even the slightest hint to any of them.

Since Calo just texted me he is about to head over to pick me up, I know I have about ten minutes left to feel nervous up until a point that I think I’m going to be sick.

Pyper’s been giddy all day today, as she helped me pick out the suit, along with a bow-tie and everything that goes with getting ready for prom.

She even made me put in effort to do my hair.

Right now, she’s smirking at me as mom is nervously fiddling with my polaroid camera – I insisted on my parents taking at least two pictures with it – while dad is reading a book during the wait for my late as ever boyfriend to arrive.

He’s going to take pictures with the digital camera that is mostly collecting dust because I simply prefer the old school polaroid pictures.

They’re way more awesome.

“Stop scratching your arm.” Pyper whisper screams at me, slapping my hand away from my arm. “It’s just Calo. You guys have been dating since January. You’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be going to prom, with Calo,” I deadpan. “Me, Neo Favre, is going to prom.”

“Yeah! I’m so happy,” mom calls out happily. “My boy is growing up.” She wipes away an invisible tear. “But all jokes aside, honey, you are taking big steps ever since you met Calo and I’m really happy to see how good you are doing lately.”

“So am I,” I agree with a smile, nodding along. I’ve been able to tone down the compulsions up until a point I no longer have to skip steps on the stairs or tap the freaking light switch to the beat of ‘we will rock you’. I only tap it trice, shutting it off at the third hit. I only turn it off when I leave my room for more then a couple of minutes. I no longer hop into rooms, I only avoid cracks in the floor, but no lines.

Lines are so much different from cracks in a floor.

They’re so much different, enabling me from actually joining in on P.E. for the first time ever without panicking.

I no longer organize my stuff – well, by colour; baby steps – and I’m no longer anxious about germs, just a bit on edge and I tend to scratch the part of skin that feels dirty.

But Dr. Delgado – or Martin, as I call him by now – helped me to tackle them one by one, at a pace I was comfortable with.

And ever since I persuaded him into guiding Calo at home, they both are doing way better.

Calo hasn’t had an episode in a month and the last only lasted a day and a half, instead of half a week or longer.

Things are going great, and I couldn’t be happier about anything, then the fact I met Calo the day he came to our school.

He has been my saviour, and I’d like to think I was his too.

As if we were meant to end up together.

And then there’s the honk of a car, shortly followed by the doorbell and an impatient knock on our door.

It’s typically Calo; showing up late, only to be impatient when I’m not opening the door within three seconds.

I chuckle and jump up from my seat to let him in, instantly entranced by how handsome he looks in his suit.

“Hey there, cutie.” He smirks, pulling me closer as soon as he slid an arm around my middle, kissing me on my lips sweetly.

“Hey there, handsome.” I hum back with a small smile lingering in the corners of my lips. “You look very good in that suit.”

“As do you, my dear.” He wipes an invisibly dust particle off my shoulder, still keeping me close to him, pecking a couple kissed all over my face. “And I’ve got plenty of surprises for my lovely date.”

I smirk, though I’m really, really curious about those surprises.

“Picture time!” Mom breaks whatever moment of privacy we had, entering the hallway, dad following close behind her. We pose with the two of us, with mom, with both my parents while Pyper takes a picture, and we pose with his parents in the same small groups. Then he takes me outside, to show me he arranged a limo for us to ride to school with. Inside, I find Angela and Tommie already waiting for us, along with Libby and Carson.

I greet them cheerfully as I scoot onto the seat, followed by Calo.

“Ready for prom?” Calo whispers after he pulled me in his arms.

“More then I’ll ever was.” I nod, pecking a kiss on his jaw. “As long as it’s with you.”

“Good, same, Favre.” He smiles, answering my kiss with one of his own, this time on my lips. “As long as I’m with you.”

Wednesday, June 14th, 2017

I’m nervously biting my nail, while watching towards the phone expectantly, nervously, frustrated. My eyes flicker back and forward between the phone and the clock, which currently states it is half past six in the evening.

Mom is cooking dinner, and dad is in the garage with Calo, checking out the new car dad just got.

Only half an hour left of this terrible suspension, awaiting my faith and finding out if I graduated or not.

No phone call equals good news, a phone call would mean I’d either have to retake some exams, or I failed overall.

The last part isn’t possible because I had good enough grades to not flunk overall, but I still needed to pass the exams anyway.

For the entire day, Prayaav, Carson, Calo, mom and dad have been trying to distract me. Once Pyper got home from school we went to the park and I watched her, Prayaav, and Calo and most of his siblings play soccer – I still don’t like to run around and get sweaty, even though I did attend P.E. in the past weeks. If it’s not obligated, I’m not getting sweaty.

I have been contemplating on getting a job, but since I still have tons of irky habits that I now feel comfortable with while executing, that’ll still be a big challenge, and Martin told me not to focus on that just yet. He told me the next big thing to focus on, is moving out of my parents’ home.

Break free from my mother, and my need to always have her close. She went on a fieldtrip with my class to a museum to make sure I was okay, and I managed to survive without completely freaking out.

Though I had been exhausted once I got home.

And then there’s the development in which I stayed over at the Delgado household on several occasions, Mrs. Delgado taking over all my mom’s habits to make me feel home.

The first time I slightly freaked out, but Martin managed to calm me down. The second time, Calo managed to do so, and the third time I was on edge, but getting used to it.

By now, I can stay over without any problems, and that in itself is the biggest progress I made in my entire life. I didn’t need my mom to calm down, and then I didn’t need mom at all.

Calo helped his mother to accommodate to my needs during dinner and breakfast, telling me he wanted to know how to handle things.

And then he told me he wanted to know, because once we would move in together, he wanted to know how to handle it every day, for as long as I wanted.

“Stop biting your nails.” Calo warns me, leaning over from behind the couch to peck a kiss on my cheek, in one movement pulling away my hand from my face. “You graduated. It’s impossible you failed an exam.”

“You always think so highly of me, but I feel the need to remind you I am still human, and I still get to fail exams.”

Calo chuckles, sliding onto the couch in a swift movement, pulling me in his arms to peck more kisses all over my face. “To me, you are flawless.”

“Dear Calo, I’m far from flawless.”

“I said, to me.”

“Even to you I’m not flawless.” I laugh out, nudging him playfully. “I have my flaws, but that’s okay. They make me the person I am today, and I like that person.”

“So, you’re flawsome?”

“I’m what now?” I laugh out louder, while I snuggle into his hold, still staring towards the phone expectantly, wondering when they’ll call me to tell I need to retake one or two exams.

“Flawsome.”

“And what’s that now? Another word you came up with yourself, or at least, gave a new meaning to like with Favre?”

“I’m telling you, Favre means all those good things.”

“It still means indecisive too.” I counter, shrugging a bit. “But it fits me, I can be indecisive.”

“Yeah, but now you’re flawsome, and there’s no negative meaning to that word.”

“Then what does it mean?”

“Someone who is flawsome, embraces their flaws, still knowing they’re awesome regardless of them.”

“See, now that’sa word to describe me.” I chuckle. “I can live with being flawsome.”

“Good, because I love every part about you, including your flaws. I love your irky habits and it almost saddens me you no longer jump into rooms.”

I snort, nudging him a bit harder in his ribs. He gasps for air in shock, countering my attack by starting to tickle me, causing me to end up in a fit of laughter.

“Mercy, Calo!” I call out in between loud laughter, and he eventually lets go of me so I get to recover from the attack.

“I love you, Neo.”

“I love you too but do know that I’m happy nobody is thinking of me as a prima ballerina any longer.” I wave a lecturing finger towards him. “Or Faulty Favre.”

“Contradiction.” Calo pulls a face, and we both laugh a little. “A Favre can never be faulty.”

“We’re never going to agree on that.” I tell him with a smile on my face. “And we’re so going to take your name once we get married. Delgado is harder to match with negative words.”

“Dull Delgado, dumb Delgado…” Calo names, but falters after two.

“Faulty Favre, Freaky Favre, Failing Favre…”

“Now, that’s not fair, faulty and failing are the same thing.”

“Faggy Favre…” I continue, until he covers my mouth, tackling me onto the couch.

“Enough. How about “Freaking hot Favre, Flirty Favre, Fantastic Favre, Funny Favre…”

“Yeah, yeah!” I call out, words muffled by his hands. “I got it! Positive thoughts!”

“Exactly.” Calo leans in and locks his lips with mine shortly, but I notice his eyes focussing on something else. “It’s six.”

My eyes widen, and we stare at each other in silence for a couple of seconds, before we both grin widely, and then we cheer out, knowing we both graduated.

I can finally move past my awful high school years, move on, go to college, and be as happy as I am now for years to come.

No more reminders of bullying, or disrespectful teachers.

Or at least, I hope. But knowing that Angela, Calo, Seino and Prayaav are all going to be in college with me, tells me I will be fine, because I will have my best friends close to me to keep me company.

At least I won’t be alone anymore.