"SIERRA VERONICA IS OUTSIDE" I heard my mom yelled from downstairs.

"I KNOW TWO SECONDS" I yelled back. I quickly threw on a pair of black sneakers on my feet. I grabbed my schoolbag and my wallet.

It was already that time of year. The SATs. In exactly three days we will be sitting in an uncomfortable chair for hours. Steph, Veronica, Mia and I decided to meet up at Starbucks to go over some flash cards in preparation and as a treat we will be going on a scavenger hunt for prom dresses.

Unfortunately I only woke thirty minutes ago. I was too busy watch weird and creepy conspiracy theories on YouTube and by 5 am when I realised the sun was rising I knew I was screwed. Not to mention I couldn't sleep because my head was filled with conspiracies such as 'what happens after you die' or how everything is just a stimulation controlled by the government.

"SIERRA COME ON!" My mom yelled again.

I groaned aloud and ran down the stairs. My mom's eyes widened when she took in my appearance. "Oh God hunny you look awful" She cringed. I rolled my eyes at her and opened the front door.

"Bye mom" I said and walked out the door. I made my way to Veronica's car and slid in beside Steph who was also next to Mia.

"Took you long enough and why does it look like you got up ten minutes" Veronica said.

"Maybe because I did" I grumbled. The girls didn't even bother questioning it. Once we arrived at Starbucks we all got our orders and began getting down to work.

An hour later and we were getting stuck into maths problems. "Ok but wouldn't x be 0.25?" Mia asked squinting her eyebrows. I looked down at her page and immediately spotted the problem.

"You forgot to divide each side by five here" I said pointing at her page. Her mouth formed an 'O' shape as she quickly realised her mistake.

"You know this isn't fair. You've been amazing at math since like the 6th grade. You're definitely getting into NYU" Steph said slouching back in her seat. "Speaking of... who's excited for college?" She squealed.

"You already know I am, hopefully we all get in" Veronica sighed. We all agreed that we would all go to the college of our choice and not go to the same college as someone else just because they are going. It so happens that we all want to go to NYU but the college is so big it's split into different buildings so it depends on how lucky we are.

"What about you Mia?" I asked her

"Stanford" she answered instantly. "It's always been a dream of mine and my mom went there so I have good connections"

I nodded my head and took a bite out of my muffin. "It's a bit annoying that our boyfriends will be in different colleges though" Veronica grumbled. Justin and Josh had no interest in going to NYU nor Stanford.

"Yeah but at least they won't be too far away from us. Sierra is lucky that Aaron is applying to the same college as her" Mia commented. My heart immediately started dropped at the mention of his name and my mind took me back to the conversation we had 48 hours ago.

*flahsback*
What's this?" I asked getting straight to the point. His eyes flew up to meet mine and then down at the computer. He sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair.

"You weren't meant to find out" he mumbled, walking over to the couch to sit down beside me.

"You weren't going to tell me?" I asked in disbelief.

"No no no, that came out wrong" he frantically said. "I meant you weren't supposed to find out like this. I was going to tell you" he said

I sighed and looked down. "I believe you but why Canada? Do you actually want to go there?" I asked

"I mean of course I would like to stay here but I've done my research and the colleges in Canada has better facilities and opportunities for what I want to do" he explained.

I pursed my lips and started fiddling with my fingers. I think he noticed my distress because he gently grabbed my chin and turned my head towards him. "If it makes you feel better I probably won't get in. You have to be super academic which I'm not so I'm applying for a scholarship"

"Sierra?"

"Huh?" I said snapping myself back to reality.

"You good?" Steph asked. I forced my lips into a smile and nodded

"Yeah I think all this studying is making my head hurt" I sighed

"Yeah me too but don't get tired now we still need to buy a prom dress" Mia said. At that everyone started putting away their books in their bags. Thankfully the mall was only a five minute drive away because I really just wanted to go home and sleep.

Once we made it to the mall we made our way to a boutique called Castle couture. I remember when I was fifteen and I would always walk past here and dream about coming in to pick a dress.

"Hi ladies do you need any assistance with anything?" A worker with short blonde hair asked politely. She looked to be in her early twenties

"We are looking for prom dresses" Veronica immediately responded.

"Oh yes right this way! We actually have a brand new collection that came in early yesterday morning but if you already have something in mind you can let me know" she continued.

We all had pictures on their phone from the official website but I was very curious what the new collection looked like. "Can I actually see the new collection instead. I might see something I like" I asked

"Of course. I'll just call Elaine to come help you guys instead" and walked off in the opposite direction to call who I assume is another worker here. After five minutes I found myself standing in front ten tall maniquens.

"Wow these look amazing" I complimented staring at awe at the dresses in front of me. The all ranged in different colours and styles.

"Any appeal to you?" She asked.

My eyes instantly went to the lavender floor length dress on the far right. Her eyes followed mine and smiled. "Ah yes I fell in love with this dress too when I first saw it" she said walking over to it. "Wanna try it on?"

I nodded my head.

"What's your size so I can get it from the back?" I told her My size and she left to go get it. I began to wonder if the other girls were happy with their choices. "Alright so I put the dress in one of the dressing rooms so just follow me" she said. As we walked over there I saw Mia walking towards the dressing rooms too.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"They are putting on their dresses too." Her eyes then lit up with excitement. "Hey guys we should all come out at the same time so we can all see what we look like" she suggested.

Within ten minutes I finally got the dress on. Ten minutes! I was so confused on how I was meant to put the dress on but I finally figured it out. I stared at myself in the mirror and couldn't help but smile at how good it looked. I was kind of scared that the lavender wouldn't look good on me.

"Are you done now?!" Veronica shouted from wherever she was in.

"Yeah on three" I called back "1-2-3"

We all walked out and looked at each other. "Holy shit we look fucking hot" I laughed.

"I know right. Funny enough I don't even want to try on anything else" Steph said

"You girls look beautiful! Does anyone need a different size or are we all good?" She asked.

"I think we're all good" I said looking at everyone for confirmation.

"Great so I'll take the dresses off you and you can either pay a little off every week or you can pay in full"

We all went back into the dressing rooms to get changed. I suddenly caught a glimpse of the price tag in the mirror. I let out a breath and looked down at the little card attached to the dress. My eyes widened as I saw the price. $480??!!!The problem is money isn't a problem. I've been saving for the last three years and my mom gave her credit card but at the same time I hate spending anything over $50 on myself.

I was brought out of my thoughts when my phone dinged. I took it out of my denim jacket pocket and saw it was Aaron.

My everything❤️- Guess who got 1100 on their practice SAT?

My eyes widened when I saw that.

Me- are you serious?

Almost immediately my phone dinged again. Except this time it was a picture of his scores. Wow her really was being serious. It was crazy to think how much progress he's made in maths in just under a year

Me- that's amazing babe! I'm so proud of you

My everything❤️- thanks can we FaceTime?

Me- I'm actually out with the girls right now getting our prom dresses

My everything❤️- ohhhh can I see😏

Me- nooo! It's a surprise but I have to go now. I love you bye

I didn't bother checking what else he had to say because I knew he would somehow convince me to show him. I quickly changed back into my clothes and made my way over to the counter to pay.
————————————————
"Bye see you tomorrow" Veronica and I said to Steph. She closed the car door and waved to us before walking towards her house.

"So since it's just us now do you want to tell me what's bothering you?" She asked. I was about to open my mouth but she interesting me. "And don't even bother denying it. We have been friends for thirteen years. I can read you like an open book"

I rolled my eyes and slumped in my seat. "Aaron might be moving to Canada for college" I sighed

"Oh you found out"

My head instantly snapped in her direction and narrowed my eyes at her. "What do you mean 'oh you found'?" I asked imitating her voice. "You knew?"

"I was over at josh's house two weeks ago and when Aaron called him to tell him on FaceTime he didn't know I was there until he saw me. He said I shouldn't say anything because he wanted to tell you himself" she explained

"Well all of that for nothing because I found out myself but he did tell me in the end"

"So how do you feel about it?" She questioned lowering the music on the radio down

"It's not exactly ideal for you're boyfriend to move away from you for the next 3 years" I stated

"Do you think he will get in though?"

"Honestly I don't know but he's been working really hard. He literally sent me a picture of a practice SAT test and he got 1100"

She looked at me with bewildered eyes and the looked back to the road. "Woah that's like above average"

"Yeah and obviously if he gets in, he gets in but what happens when we start drifting away because we are too busy to talk? I don't think I can do long distance" I sighed

"Hey don't stress about it. The SATs are in three days so get your shit together. If you ask me everything will work out. I promise" she said

"I sure hope so" I mumbled

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Authors note
Heyyyy lovelies. I just KNOW a lot of you are mad at me for not posting like I usually do. My goal is to get this book finished before school starts this month (end of August) so hopefully I can keep to that. I'd say there's 8-9 chapters left and then I can start book two. Thank you to everyone who reached out to me asking if I'm ok! You're all amazing xx

Also the dresses they will be wearing will be posted in the chapter that they have prom which will be very soon (you're going to love them)

Word count-2085