My Mom Locked Me Upstairs on Prom Night—Then Told Me the Secret My Best Friend Had Kept for Six Years
My mother locked my bedroom door on prom night while my date was standing downstairs holding a corsage.
At first, I thought she was about to give me the usual speech.
No drinking.
No disappearing after midnight.
Keep my phone on.
Call if plans change.
Instead, she stood with her back against the door, stared at me in my prom dress, and said something that made every joke die in my throat.
“Maddie, before you leave with Ethan tonight, there’s something you need to know.”
I frowned.
“About what?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“About Ethan.”
My stomach dropped.
Downstairs, I could hear his voice drifting through the floorboards.
He was laughing with my aunt.
Probably telling her the same terrible baseball joke he had already told me three times that week.
I looked at Mom.
“What about him?”
She sat on the edge of my bed.
Then she whispered:
“And about something I asked him to do six years ago.”
That was the moment I realized this had nothing to do with prom.
And everything to do with the worst year of my life.