Real Beauty Is Within

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As she fixed her white, feathery earrings and checked her hair for the final time, May smiled. She was finally ready to go.

"May, honey?" Caroline, May's mother, meekly tapped on the door and popped her head around it. When she saw her daughter, she squealed with glee.

"Oh my baby's all grown up! Why, it seems like only yesterday when you were wearing your little tutu and dancing around the house..." Caroline gushed, looking back on the memories of her daughters childhood.

May's cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "Mom!" she whined, but Caroline just giggled.

"Okay okay. You look stunning Maybelle." she beamed.

For once, May actually agreed with her mom. With her soft white, figure-hugging dress which hung loosely at her knees, she felt beautiful.

But there was only one person that she wanted to feel beautiful for.

Brendan Birch, the most popular guy in school. When May somehow bagged a date with him, she had been blissfully stuck on cloud nine ever since. She wanted to look her best if she was going to be with him all night.

She felt her stomach flip as the doorbell rang. Slipping on her shoes, she headed downstairs and beamed as her father answered the door. Brendan smiled at her, a slight smirk on his face.

This made her blush, although she couldn't help but notice the scowl on her dad's face. He didn't approve...

Brendan stepped into the house and walked up to May, handing her some kind of flower that matched her dress. She thought it was a lily. Caroline quickly whipped out her camera.

"Mom...do you have to?" she sighed.

"Of course I do, this is a moment I want to remember!"

May sighed, defeated as Brendan put a comforting arm around her. She decided to let her parents have their fun, it'd be over soon enough anyway.

As the couple walked up the school steps, May couldn't help but notice the clouds above turning a dark-ish colour, and the stars in the sky were impossible to see at this point. I sensed rain.

"What are you staring at, come on!" Brendan gently tugged at her arm and she came back into focus.

"Sorry..." she muttered, her tone slightly off. Brendan didn't seem to notice this however, as he simply held the door open for her to pass through. This was a sweet gesture though, so she couldn't complain.

The school was packed out, with cute couples and groups of people in every corner.

"Hey guys." Brendan grinned broadly at his friends and their dates. May couldn't help but notice they were the more popular girls, and the beauty the brunette felt at the beginning of the evening was slowly fading away as she watched these girls eye her up and down, making mental notes about her.

She was way out of their league.

May faked a smile, but deep inside she felt so uncomfortable. She looked across the room and spotted her best friends Dawn and Misty with their dates Paul and Ash. They looked like they were having such a good time, laughing together. Even Paul was smiling, which even she knew was a rarity.

May longed to go over and see them, but Brendan had his hand clasped with hers. It was clear that he wanted her to stay right where she was, and May didn't object.

After a few moments of May staring down at the floor, the two finally went to dance.

On the way, they passed a certain emerald haired boy, who looked at May with a glint in his eye. May noticed him looking and half-smiled back at him.

May Maple and Drew Hayden had been friends/rivals for a long time, and there was nothing Drew liked more than to tease her. Her reactions were funny and cute.

However, he held off the teasing this time because Birch might take it the wrong way. The last thing Drew needed was to make a show of himself at the Winter Formal.

He watched as Birch literally pulled her to the dance floor, and she was just letting him drag her around like a doll? Drew rolled his eyes, he knew why. She was letting Mr Popular do as he pleased, simply because he was Brendan Birch. He did whatever the hell he wanted.

He didn't deserve her, and Drew had a terrible feeling that he was going to do something that would push her over the edge.

And as much as Drew loved to tease the airhead brunette, he would hate to see her get hurt by anybody.

"Heya, wanna dance?" Drew came to his senses and noticed a petite girl standing in front of him, wearing a midnight blue dress. She was pretty, but he didn't usually go for blondes. They tended to be ditzy, as stereotypical as it seemed.

"Sure." he shrugged and took her hand, leading her to the dance floor. It was better than being alone, he thought.

"You having a good time May?" Brendan asked. May giggled, nodding in response. Dancing with Brendan felt amazing, all eyes were on the couple and she felt butterflies whenever she looked at him.

Despite the shaky start to the night, May was having the time of her life. Being in Brendan's arms felt warm and safe, like nothing or nobody could ever touch her.

"You know May, you look so hot tonight. That dress looks pretty on you." Brendan complimented.

Although 'hot' may not have been the exact word she'd wanted him to use, she wasn't going to complain about it.

'Maybe he likes me...' May thought. This made her smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Drew Hayden dancing with a short, blonde girl, and she felt a pang of...jealousy?

'No.' she thought. 'I am not jealous...'

She couldn't resist, and stared back over to see Drew whispering something to the girl, and she giggled in response.

May shook her head and concentrated back on Brendan. Drew could do whatever he wanted and she had no idea why she'd reacted like that. This was going to be a good night for her, and she wasn't about to let anybody else spoil it.

She looked into Brendan's eyes, which were a peculiar shade of ruby. May had never seen anything like them before, but she just didn't feel that spark when she gazed at him.

But did it matter?

'Of course it didn't.' she mentally reassured herself. 'Shut up May.'

"What's wrong babe? You look deep in thought." Brendan asked with a cool tone.

"Babe?" she repeated, trying not to gag.

"Yeah. Something wrong?" he actually looked like he cared, so she decided to let it slide.

No guy is total perfection, after all.

"No no, I'm fine." May smiled and Brendan pulled her closer to him.

She flinched slightly, but didn't object.

"So, what are your plans for after the dance?" Brendan asked, his tone flirtatious.

"I...hadn't really thought of anything." May replied, her voice dry and anxious. She felt like she was playing with fire.

One bad move, and everything goes up in smoke.

"What a coincidence, I don't have any plans either." Brendan spoke casually. May could feel her heartbeat increasing.

Something about this just didn't seem right.

"Oh...I thought you'd have plans with your friends or something." May replied, licking her lips as they'd suddenly become dry.

"No, I think they're all going to be pretty busy tonight." he smirked, looking over at his friends with their dates. May felt her stomach churn.

She didn't like his smirk at all, and she felt trapped in his grasp.

"Look, Brendan..."

Brendan shushed her by putting a finger to her lips. "You don't need to say my name just yet May, I may just have you screaming it later." he smirked arrogantly.

He was showing his true colours, and it had taken May this long to realise why he had asked her to the dance in the first place.

Her mouth dropped open in disbelief, and her face flushed crimson.

"Who the hell do you think I am?" May snapped at him, which seemed to be a mistake as he just smiled frostily, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the dancefloor.

"You should consider yourself lucky, every other girl would love to be in your shoes right now." Brendan sneered, folding his arms.

"I'm not every other girl, I'm just me! Why are you being like this Brendan..?" May asked, feeling tears spring to her eyes. She blinked them away.

"Come on, surely you were expecting this?" he shrugged. "You know you want me May, you're just lying to yourself." Brendan pushed her into the wall and she felt his hot breath on her neck.

"Get away from me, creep!" May snarled, pushing him away with every ounce of strength she had. Then, she just bolted for the doors.

The perfect night, shattered. Just like that.

And he didn't even call after her.

'How could I have been so stupid?' she thought as hot tears trickled down her face. 'I'm not anything special at all.'

May pushed open the doors and a blast of freezing cold air hit her face. She felt slightly dazed by the coldness, but then again, it managed to clear her head.

She sat on the stairs, put her head in her hands and just cried. She didn't care that the winds were attacking her once-perfect hair, and she didn't care about her smudged make up.

The truth was, she never cared about those things in the first place. She only glammed herself up like that to impress Brendan...

...

"May?"

May's first instinct told her 'Brendan' and she turned around, opening her mouth to shriek.

Only it wasn't Brendan, it was Drew.

"Oh...hey Drew." May shivered and Drew sat on the stairs next to her. He was radiating warmth.

"I heard what happened between you and that asshole. Do you wanna talk about it..?" he asked, his tone sweet. It made a change from his usual sarcasm and teasing.

"I can't believe I was so stupid Drew..." May's voice cracked and she started to openly sob. "I thought he r...really liked me, but he was just g...going to use me..."

"Hey hey...shush..." Drew put his arms around her and began to rock her gently. He didn't care that she was crying into his shirt. Drew felt something soft and gentle hitting his head, and he opened his eyes an looked up to see delicate snowflakes falling to the ground from the skies above.

"The snow matches your dress." Drew smiled as the snow fell heavier, making her giggle whilst she was still crying.

May glanced at the snow falling all around her. "It's beautiful." she whispered, wiping away her tears.

"Yeah, but it's not as beautiful as you are." Drew blushed slightly after he spoke, indicating to May that he was serious.

Even though her hair was windswept and her make up was messed up, he had still called her beautiful. And he meant it. That was the biggest compliment she'd ever received.

"Drew..." she whispered, a huge smile on her face as he leaned closer. May had never noticed before, but Drew had the most enchanting eyes. It was like looking into a pair of emerald gems, and they sparkled in the moonlight.

Drew moved closer and touched her lips with his own. Something amazing occurred inside the brunette and May knew that this was perfection.

She kissed him back, and Drew wrapped his arms around her.

He broke away for air, and a snowflake hit May on the nose. Startled by the cold, she leapt back slightly and Drew began to laugh at her. She smirked and tried to hit him, but he caught her hands in mid air. He entwined his hands with hers and they both smiled.

Looking into his eyes once more, May Maple not only felt beautiful on the outside, but she also felt beauty within, for the first time.

It was then that she realised this beauty had been here all along, and all it took was one act of affection from Drew Hayden to bring it to life.

Authors Note: Heya, hope you liked it:D Don't have much else to say but Review?

:)~