[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗘]

"MOM, THE DRESS FITS GOOD, BUT IT'S all scratchy." sage told her mom as she looked at herself in the mirror. "you'll get used to it," karen told her daughter and zipped up the dress.

"here are some heels," karen said with a smile then handed some of her own heels to her daughter. "thanks, mom," sage smiled and took the shoes, putting them on.

"all right. you look so gorgeous! if you want — nance can put some makeup on you." karen said then fixed sage's hair with a smile.

sage nodded then walked out of her room, to her older sisters.

"nancy," sage said after knocking. "yeah?" nancy asked before opening the door.

"could you do some light makeup on me?"

"oh, my god. yes! i've always wanted to put some makeup on you. even if you don't need it."

sage laughed then allowed nancy to put some makeup on her.

downstairs, mike was getting pictures taken by his mom.

"oh, wait," karen said then picked up the polaroid that fell to the floor. "all right, that's enough," mike said to his mom.

"one more, okay? just one more. plus, i still need pictures of both you and your sister." karen told her son and smiled. "why?" mike asked.

"you look so handsome,"

"mom!"

"mike,"

"do . . . do you think max'll like the dress?" sage asked her sister as nancy applied mascara to sage's eyelashes. "i'm 100% positive, sage. you're beautiful. i'm sure she likes you back." nancy told her younger sister, moving onto the next eyelash.

sage smiled softly. "i hope so,"

mike and sage made it to the snowball an hour later with nancy. the twins got out of the car and walked into the school gym, handing their tickets to mister clark.

"you two look fabulous," mister clark grinned at the twins. "thank you!" the twins said in unison.

the wheeler twins walked into the dance and sage immediately noticed how her dress was different than the other girls.

"i feel out of place with what i'm wearing," sage immediately said. "you look great," mike said to his sister with a smile, dragging her to a table where will, max, and lucas were waiting.

"hey, guys! you look amazing." sage was quick to compliment everyone's outfits. "as do you, ms. wheeler." lucas said and bowed making sage smile at him — doing a courtesy.

the twins sat down at the table, talking about what they wanted to do while they were at the dance — waiting for dustin to arrive.

sage could not stop glancing at max. she was pretty. no, not pretty. she was gorgeous. soon enough, dustin arrives with his look.

"holy shit. what happened to you." mike said as he stood up from his chair. dustin's smile fell.

"what do you mean, "what happened" ?" dustin asked mike. "what?" mike asked, shocked.

"dude," lucas said, staring at dustin's hair.

"your hair," max said.

"is there a bird nesting in there?" lucas asked, reaching his hand to dustin's hair. "no! what do you mean, "what's wrong" ?" dustin asked his friends. "there's no bird nesting in there, asshole."

"okay,"

"i worked hard."

"dustin, i think it looks amazing! don't stress about it." sage told the henderson teen, patting his shoulder.

slow romantic music then began to play. the group looked at the dance floor and saw the teenagers on the dance floor, dancing with each other. lucas took a deep breath and turned his body to the mayfield teen.

"max . . ."

max turned to look at lucas.

"hey. um, it's nice, right?" lucas asked. "you want to, um . . . you want to, like . . . you know? like, just you and me?"

"are you trying to ask me to dance, stalker?" max asked the dark-skinned boy. "no, of course not," lucas denied. "unless you want to."

max chuckles and grabs his hand. "so smooth. come on." max drags lucas onto the dance floor, putting her hands on his shoulders as lucas puts his hands on her waist.

sage stares at the two and frowns. she wanted that dance with max.

"hey, zombie boy," someone called, walking over to sage, mike, will, and dustin. "do you want to dance?" the girl asked will.

"um . . . i don't . . ." will looked at mike then at sage, noticing how upset she was. "s-sorry, but i'm gonna dance with sage," will stammered.

"oh, that's okay. have fun." the girl said with a smile then walked off.

"sage, come on," will whispered to sage, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the dance floor.

"wait, what?" sage asked, snapping out of her trance. "dance with me. you look upset." will said and put his hands on her waist.

"oh," sage mumbled and put her hands on will's shoulders, smiling softly. "you're trying to cheer me up?"

"yeah. you don't deserve to be upset on this kind of day. we're supposed to be having fun."

"thanks, will,"

the byers boy smiles at sage and continues to dance with her. the two teens talked on the dance floor with each other, having fun.

"i'm surprised you can dance this good," sage told will sigh a chuckle. "my mom taught me this whole different way of dancing," will smiled.

"it's joyce — i'm not surprised . . ." sage slowly stopped talking when she saw something she didn't wanna see.

max and lucas kissing.

"what's wrong?" will asked sage, seeing tears form in the wheeler twins eyes. "sage? sage?"

sage pulls away from will and walks off, wiping tears away from her eyes.

"sage!" will called and chased after her. "sage, wait! please!"

the wheeler twin passes by dustin and nancy dancing together and rushes out of the school gym. will follows sage. nancy sees will following sage and furrows her eyebrows.

"what's wrong, nance?" dustin asks nancy, seeing she wasn't smiling anymore. "sage just ran out. we need to talk to her." nancy replied then took dustin's hand, dragging him out of the school.

sage opened the last set of doors and finally made it outside. the wheeler girl lets out a sob, walking over to a bench that was outside, and sits down. will made it outside and heard the small sobs of sage. the byers boy walks over to sage and sits down next to her, putting his hand on her back.

"what happened, sage?" will asked then heard the doors to the gym open. "i saw . . . i saw max and lucas . . . they — they kissed." sage sobbed, leaning her head on will's shoulder. "sage," nancy called her sister, walking over with dustin.

"max doesn't like me, nance. she likes lucas." sage sobs to her older sister, her head still on will's shoulder as the byers boy rubs her back.

"no, no, no," nancy says and sits on the opposite side of sage, dustin kneeling in front of sage. "she doesn't like me." sage cried. "i thought she did. there were so many signs that showed she did."

"she doesn't deserve you, sage. it's her loss." nancy told her younger sister, rubbing her back.

"she lost one of the greatest people she could ever meet," will said. "yeah . . . she's missing out on a lot," dustin added in.

"what did i do wrong, guys?" sage whispered.

"you didn't do anything wrong! you did nothing, all right?" nancy said then stood up from the bench, pulling sage up. "we're gonna show her what she is missing out on, okay?"

dustin stands up with will and smiles at sage.

"we will show her," nancy said and smiled at her sister, hugging her. sage lets out a chuckle, sniffling as she hugs her back.

will joins in on the hug and dustin follows.

"we'll show her," sage mumbles onto nancy's shoulder. "we'll show her . . ."

AUTHORS NOTE //

AND THAT IS SEASON TWO !! WE FINALLY FINISHED IT. WOOOOO !!

ONTO SEASON THREE, MY LOVES

bee <3