Vig #7 – Pep Rally Re-do
"The Cheerleaders have put together a little skit to help get us in the spirit."
As the coach relinquished the microphone to Shelby, Austin resettled himself fin his seat, feeling trapped. Here he was, the whole school expecting him to lead them to victory on Friday, and all he could think about was how much he hated the pressure. How much he despised the necessity of pretending football was the most important thing in his life – how much he wished he could simply turn in his seat and tell his father to forget it.
But Austin Ames was a coward in some respects and doing what wasn't expected of him by his dad was one of them.
As the Cheerleaders set up on stage, he clapped along with everyone else, pretending to enjoy what was happening because that was what his father, his teammates and his school expected of him. Shelby's opening line caught his attention-
"Once upon a time, there was a big, strong fighting frog."
- and held it when a girl, dressed in a green shirt with his number emblazoned on the front hopped from behind the curtain and up onto the backs of two of the cheerleaders. The laughter around him went unnoticed and Shelby's gaze refused to meet his, sliding instead across the crowd with an almost impish smile. Impish on Shelby, however, had never been a good sign.
"He had a beautiful girlfriend," continued Shelby, "and his dad owned the biggest pond in all the land."
This time the laughter was unmistakable and his own father, guessing that the girl wearing the #2 was supposed on be him, got a good kick out of it. For a fraction of a second he figured things weren't going to be as bad as they seemed. Shelby's next comment, paired with the almost whimsical way she said it, however, made Austin's blood run cold.
"But, he still wasn't happy."
The Cheerleaders opposite Shelby held up cue cards and the whole audience "aww"ed. A sinking suspicion formed as another girl was brought on stage wearing a Princess dress. As Shelby continued, her gaze dropped to his, and there was malice in those eyes.
"If only he could find a princess, who could kiss him and turn him into a prince, and they would run away together."
"One night-" the mirth around him lodged in his chest as Shelby held his gaze for a long second and suddenly, with clarity, Austin knew this was revenge. Revenge for breaking up with her. Shelby intended to humiliate him in front of as much of the student body as he could. Who else would be the target when no one even knew who his Princess had been?
"-after the slimy frog ditches his super cute senior poll most popular girlfriend...he meets his princess."
The girl wearing his uniform and number bowed to the other. "Your highness!"
Enough was enough – while willing to bear the brunt of a personal attack, he wasn't willing to sit there and be humiliated in front of a crowd. With the teachers seeming to think that this was about 'school spirit' he knew if he didn't do something and fast, things were about to get ugly. Incensed that Shelby could be so deliberately cruel, Austin was on his feet and on stage in seconds, tearing the microphone, note cards and papers from her hands. Papers littered the stage as he confronted his ex.
"This is a new low, even for you, Shelby."
"Austin!"
"This isn't school spirit," Austin shot back over his shoulder, his gaze firmly locked on Shelby's. "This is revenge, dad; I broke up with Shelby before the Homecoming Dance and this is her way of getting back at me. It's not funny and it's not-"
"About you," Shelby informed him pointedly. "Not everything's about you, Austin."
"No? Would you have done this if we'd been together?"
Shelby glanced around, well aware that they were having a personal fight in a very public place – and that everyone seemed interested in what they had to say. "If you hadn't ditched me for that... that no good lower class, boyfriend stealing -"
"Boyfriend stealing?" Austin looked at Shelby as if seeing her for the first time. "It was my choice to breakup with you, Shelby. Mine and no one else's."
"All she ever wanted was to steal you away from me, Austin. You're out of her league - she doesn't deserve you!"
"Uh, bro, you might want to take this-"
"No," Austin cut Ryan off with a slash of one hand. Shelby had wanted humiliation; she was going to get it. "Shelby seems to think that there was something going on."
"There was." She cried, pointing at him accusingly. "You were cheating on me, planning to leave me all because that tramp convinced you to."
His heart lurched in his chest. Did Shelby know who Princeton Girl was? Had he been wrong – that this wasn't about him, but instead about the girl he'd been chatting with?
"Maybe," he told her softly, so no one else could hear. "If you'd listened months ago when I said I was having seconds thoughts about us, or done anything to convince me you're more than the shallow, self absorbed person you are, you might have clued in before now, Shelby."
"The joke's on you, Austin Ames," Shelby informed him harshly, lifting her hand as if to point someone out. "Your princess isn't a princes at all, she's-"
"A better person than you'll ever be," Austin snapped before Shelby could give any more away, and pushing her hand down and away. "And when she's ready for me to know who she is, she'll tell me. The last person I want to learn it from it you."
Her eyes flared and behind Austin the teachers stood up, waving at the students to disperse, calling a close to the Pep Rally. Austin noted it mostly in the way Shelby's gaze darted somewhere behind him and he stepped between her and whomever she was looking at.
"Try it, Shelby, and you'll find your secrets aired like dirty laundry for the rest of the school year."
"You two deserve each other," Shelby hissed maliciously, "One to air the laundry and the other to do it!" Turning on her heel, she stormed away. Austin watched her go, collecting the rest of the cheerleading squad as she did and taking the two girls who had been dressed as him and Princeton Girl away with them.
Shaking his head, he turned to find very few people left. The teachers, his father and several of the football players. Ignoring them all, Austin knelt to collect Shelby's notes – and exhaled dejectedly with what he found. Copies of e-mails – his and hers – scripted for this 'skit' to fit. Tearing what was in his hands in half with a frustrated move, he knew with sudden certainty he couldn't trust anything any girl said to him with regards to Cinderella anymore. The date at the top indicated they'd been printed that morning, but who knew how many girls – how many people had read them?
Who had found Princeton Girl's identity and told Shelby instead of him?
"Austin?"
Looking up, he found the last person he'd ever expected to see at a pep rally standing in front of him. Yet, somehow - after their discussion at the diner the night before – it was fitting she be the one to remain. "Hey Sam."
She knelt down next to him, reaching out to help collect the papers he'd missed. "Did that help?"
"Not in the least." He waved the torn sheets, adding the undamaged ones to them. "Who knows how many people read these; now I'll never find out who she was."
"Cinderella, you mean?"
He nodded, resting his elbow on his bent knee and looked at her with sudden curiosity; why had she stayed? "Shouldn't you have left with everyone else?"
"Probably." Sam conceded, glancing back at the coaches and teachers who were talking about suspending the cheerleaders for such a malicious stunt. "But I promised Carter I'd talk to you."
One eyebrow rose. Sam was full of surprises. First at the diner, when she'd been able to nail exactly what he'd been feeling – probably, he reflected, because she understood intimately how it felt and now... talking to him after the fiasco of a pep rally where he'd probably lose his one shot at learning the identity of his chat partner. But he couldn't regret stepping in when he'd thought it had been about him; if he hadn't, she would probably have been humiliated and he never would have forgiven himself.
"Why'd you promise Carter you'd talk to me?"
"Because he told Shelby that he was Zorro," Sam shifted nervously, adding another couple of papers to the pile "the guy who saved her from David at the Homecoming dance."
"That was Carter?"
Nodding, Sam grinned and laughed a little - though it had an uneasy edge to it. "Method actors, huh? I guess playing Zorro actually convinced him he could be Zorro."
"Brave soul; David's no push over."
"Neither is Carter."
"And neither are you," resuming his clean up of the papers he'd torn from Shelby's hands, he glanced her way. "But that doesn't explain why you would need to talk to me."
"Carter was Zorro, Austin. Who did Cinderella arrive with?"
"Zorro." He stopped, turning to look at her. "Do you know who she is, Sam?"
Biting her lip, Sam looked away and Austin was unaware that the hurtful things Shelby had been screaming were reverberating around in her head. As he watched her, Austin could see her swallow hard, as if fighting to say something. She collected another set of papers, the last ones, and glanced down at them before handing them over. He saw her wince, a flicker of hurt flashing through her gaze, and his eyes dropped to the passage.
It had been written by Princeton Girl and read; "Dear Nomad; I want you to know who I am, but I'm scared. I'm scared you'll reject me. And... I've never had a real kiss before."
He well remembered getting that e-mail and how thrilled he'd been to think that, when they finally met, he might just be the one to give her that first real kiss; now he'd probably never know who she was – unless Sam knew.
"Sam?" Unexpected tears glittered in her eyes as she met his questioning gaze. "Are you okay?"
"No. I'm as scared now as I was then."
"When?"
Sam laughed shortly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Taking a deep breath, she stood, looking down at him. "I have just one question for you, Austin."
He rose slowly to his feet, feeling as if he should be reading off a script, except his part had been omitted. "Just one?"
"Yeah. When... I dropped my cell phone running out of the Homecoming dance, did you pick it up?"
When she dropped... His eyes widened in surprise as her words sank in. Sam was Cinderella - his chat buddy, PrincetonGirl818? Was that what she was saying? In the back of his mind, he'd already started comparing her height, hair and face, trying to picture her with that half mask. And, suddenly, their discussion from the previous evening at Fiona's diner – her words in particular – were ringing through his head.
Like being yourself isn't good enough - like you're wearing a mask. You just want to be honest with this person and tell them it's me; I'm the one you've been looking for.
Sam continued, looking at him with eyes that seemed so guarded yet vulnerable, searching his for something – acceptance maybe? "Because if you did, I'd like it back."
"You're Princeton Girl?"
Sam nodded, once. "I know I'm not what you expected, and I don't expect special treatment or for us to be friends or anything, but I would-"
"Sam."
Holding up her hands, she took a half step back, as if expecting him to say something hurtful – and didn't give him the chance. "I know that Shelby was right, Austin and that I don't belong in your circle; can I please just have my cell phone back and I'll never-"
"Sam!"
Her lips snapped shut at the exasperation in his tone, her eyes widening as she waited for whatever he had to say.
"What's your cell phone look like?"
She blinked, caught off guard by his question, and answered it without pause. "It's a blue Samsung with silver stars on the front and back."
"It's in my car; I'd have to go get it."
Sam was Princeton Girl – somehow it was poetic justice and fitting. It was as she'd said; he'd seen her before but not seen her; it had taken their conversation at the diner the other day for him to actually see her for the first time and even then he hadn't placed her. Oh, he'd come close; those eyes of hers were as entrancing as his Cinderella's – which made sense since they were one and the same.
"I can wait."
"Or you could come with me."
"Austin!"
"I know," He raised his hand to his dad in acknowledgement. "I'll be home later."
Mr. Ames nodded and left but Austin had already returned his gaze to the girl before him. She looked miserable and uneasy. With a bow, not unlike the one he'd executed while wearing the Prince Charming costume, he extended his hand to her. "Walk with me, beautiful lady?"
"If you're going to make fun of me, just get it over with."
"I'm not going to make fun of you, Sam," he assured her quietly, hoping she could see the sincerity in his eyes. "Please - walk with me?"
She glanced around, seeming to take his word and nodded, stepping off the stage before turning to wait for him. Austin tucked the papers under his arm – he'd burn them later – and stepped down. She slid her hands into her pockets instead of taking the one he offered and he couldn't say he really blamed her. Heading towards the parking lot, he moderated his pace so Sam could keep up with him and was pleasantly surprised when she began walking faster than he did allowing him to resume his normal gait.
"I think it's your turn to play twenty questions."
"The full twenty?" She looked at him cautiously. "That hardly seems fair when I only gave you ten."
That cinched it. Sam had to be Princeton Girl; he hadn't told anyone about that little fact and they hadn't discussed it in their e-mails.
"I'm feeling generous."
"I... don't really have anything I want to ask you, Austin. Although I never did tell you that asking me to dance didn't count as a question – so I guess that means you have one left."
And he knew just what he wanted to ask – except it was a multi-part question. Considering he knew bits of it based on their e-mail conversations he was more looking for clarity. Still, the very basis of it was all the same.
"Did you really think I'd reject you when I found out you were Princeton Girl?"
"Aren't you?" She returned, stepping into the parking lot beside him as they headed for his car. "Until the Homecoming Dance you'd never given me two minutes of your time. I know where you and I stand in the school hierarchy. We can't be friends - it would throw things into total chaos."
Which was good, because he didn't want her to be just his friend; knowing who she was only alleviated the mystery but not the yearning to be near her – be with her. "So let's mix things up a bit," he told her recklessly as they reached his car and he was reaching for his keys. "Let's turn things upside down."
Sam stopped beside his car, placing one hand on the hood and was already shaking her head. "You don't know what you're asking for; that pep rally is only the beginning. Once Shelby tells people I was Cinderella - and they realize who I am - things could get ugly."
"I don't care."
Looking up at him again, Sam's smile turned sad. "Don't you get it, Austin? She was right; we're from different worlds. You wouldn't fit in mine and I don't want to even try fitting into yours."
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." He quoted softly, stepping towards her.
Sam's response was automatic. "Emerson." And she was right – as usual.
"Sam... I don't care; I meant what I said. I want to be with you at Princeton – now that I know who you are, I'd like that to be sooner. If we're going to whether a storm, let's do it together instead of trying to survive on our own."
"Does this mean you don't hate me?"
Leaning in close, he trapped her against his car, bracing his arms on either side of her. "That depends."
"On?"
He eased in, watching her eyes. "Will you hate me if I kiss you?"
Those eyes that had so captivated him at the Homecoming dance widened in shock. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why would you want to kiss me?"
"Because I've thought of little else since meeting you?"
Impossibly, her eyes got wider – but there was no fear in her gaze as his head came down. And in that moment, as their lips touched for the first time, Austin knew his relationship with Sam was going to be one discovery after another. She'd challenge him as he'd challenge her and they'd be able to grow together; it was the beginning of a real life fairy tale.
fin
