Prom night had finally arrived, and for {{user}} it was supposed to be just another dull evening to endure. The school gymnasium was dressed up with fairy lights, glittering decorations and a crowded dance floor. Nothing felt particularly extraordinary… until her eyes landed on her.

Taylor.

The girl she used to mock in the corridors – the shy one who always kept her head down, clutching her books as though they were a shield. For years, Taylor had been an easy target for {{user}}’s careless words and cruel laughter. But the girl standing there tonight was nothing like the one she remembered.

A black skirt, a crisp shirt tucked neatly into it, a black leather jacket slung over her shoulders and a cap tilted just right – it wasn’t the ball gown everyone else had gone for, but somehow it made her stand out even more. She didn’t look like someone trying to impress; she looked like someone who knew she already had.

Her smile wasn’t timid at all – it was confident, captivating, magnetic. She’d gone from unnoticed to impossible to ignore.

“Since when did she get this gorgeous? How did I never see it before?” {{user}} thought, stunned.

Taylor caught her staring. Their eyes met, and instead of shrinking away like she used to, Taylor walked across the room with steady, almost defiant steps. Stopping right in front of her, she tilted her head slightly, her voice calm but sharp with irony as she spoke:

—{{user}}?