All right, I'm back from Drama Club, so I'll update before I practice my tenor saxophone.
I'm trying to make up for the horrendous 1-month gap earlier. Sorry about that...
"Oh, NIck," I said, shaking my head disapprovingly. "Must you ruin everything?"
Nick rolled his eyes. "I don't ruin everything," he lied.
Tess had wandered off to hang out with Iggy and Ella was dancing with Keith, so that left Nick and I sitting awkwardly at a table shoved in the corner of the cafetorium, ridiculing all the people dancing and making fools of themselves.
"Do you see Dylan?" I said, hanging the subject so that I wouldn't end up hitting him. For the third time. That minute.
"Uh, yeah?" He said, looking at me, his face a mixture of weirded out and a sort of on-edge expression I didn't have a name for.
"Do you know what he's dressed up as?"
He thought for a moment, his eyebrows scrunched together as he scoured his brain.
"He's...not?" He offered finally.
"No," I said, and, not botherin to hide my sniggers, "Justin Bieber."
He shot me this total freaked out look, and then burst out laughing. He'd never laughed like that before and, you know, laughter is contagious and all that, so I exploded. We ended up leaning on each other, guffawing and panting for breath, and I got this warm, funny feeling in my stomach. LIke...super happy. At peace. It was nice, just sitting here, laughing my head off with Nick.
How odd.
"Wait," I said, finally catching my breath and wiping a tear of laughter from my eye, "why was that so funny?"
"I have no idea," He replied seriously, somehow keeping a straight face.
That set me off again, and he let out a feeble sort of chuckle and waited for me to finish.
Suddenly, my ears perked up.
"No." I whispered disbelievingly.
Nick quirked an eyebrow, saying nothing, as I rose out of my chair like I was possessed.
"This song..." My voice trailed off, straining my ears.
Sure enough, Gerard Way started singing, "Na na na na, na na na..."
I stared down at Nick, whose eyes had widened.
"They're not cool enough to play this song...are they?" I asked. Nick just shook his head disbelievingly.
Out on the dance floor, people were either looking at each other, confused-this was a big drop from 'Stairway to Heaven', which had been playing earlier-or jumping up and down enthusiastically.
I grabbed NIck's elbow and dragged him out, positioning him in front of me. My mask almost fell off as I jumped up and down, the lights having dimmed with the exception of neon spotlights coming from the DJ's corner of the room.
NIck kind of sort of in some respects smiled at me, and bobbed his head a little.
Love, gimme love, I don't need it but I'll take what I want from your heart and I'll keep it...
In the corner, Ella and Tess were high-fiving each other, thrilled that their plan had worked. Max was hopping maniacally and grinning hugely, and Nick was...well, he was doing the best he could in that situation.
...than be in purgatory.
Just as suddenly as it had began, the song ended, and I ended up loooking up at Nick, panting for breath and grinning.
"Well, that was fun," I said, and grabbed his arm to drag him back over to our table, but then I noticed that the lights were coming back on, that no music was starting. Lots of people were talking excitedly and pointing out each other's costumes, wringing their hands.
"What?" I said, whirling around, but the DJ had handed his mike to Mr. MacMIllan, the principa, with his hair in a comb-over as usual. He had omitted a tie from his usual getup for the occasion, however.
"Now," he began, grinning like he was about to give us the best news ever, "I have the honor of announcing the results of our costume contest!"
"There was a costume contest?" I whispered to Nick, confused, and ten different people turned around and shushed me. He shrugged his shoulders.
"For best overall costume," he began, licking his lips, "we have... Miss Kristina Riley!" Kristina walked up to the small platform that served as a stage in our poor hobo school, smiling ear-to-ear and waving her Glinda the Good Witch wand, dress sparkling and heels clacking. Her friends clapped and hooted.
"Now, best humor costume..." Here he paused again for ambience, "Ignatious...er, Iggy... Griffiths!"
Pumping his fists and waving his pimp cane, Iggy sauntered on stage, accepting the flimsy trophy. Next to the stage, Tess was going wild, snatching her wig of her head and tossing it into the air in victory. I clapped and yelled louder than anything else, and Nick covered his ears and looked at me, affronted.
"And now, our third and final award..." He cleared his throat and pressed his lips closer to the mike, "Best Couple Costume-Max Martinez and Nick Falkin!"
Behind us, Ella screamed and pushed us toward the stage. I allowed myself to be prodded along by people around us, all congratulating us on 'how great our costumes were' and 'how cute we looked together'.
...Together?
Somehow, with me not cooperating, we were shoved onstage. We must've looked a sight, with my mouth hanging open unashamedly and Nick rapidly trying to cover his shock.
"Smile; it's for the school paper!" Someone in the front yelled, and all the winners crowded together. Iggy rushed to our right side, Kristina our left. AFter taking a few shots, the guy with the camera called out, exasperated, "NIck, Max, put your arms around each other or hold hands or something!...you're the cutest couple I've ever seen, so flaunt it!"
When we made no move in any direction, Iggy roughly shoved our hands into each other and gently pushed us together, closing my mouth and desperately trying to stretch Nick's lips into a smile.
There were two flashes from the now thinning mass and the photographer-who I now recognized Drake Harper-tipped the fedora of his Blues Brothers costume to us in farewell before spinning on his wheel and walking out. Kristina raced down to her friends; Iggy, after shooting us a rushed congratulations, raced down to Tess, who gave him a hige hug and squealed into his shirt; leaving Nick and I staring at each other, appalled.
"How?" I said quietly, but stopped.
NIck was looking at me with a kind of intensity I'd never seen in him before, searching my face for something. I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it, and raced down the stairs, flinging off my mask as I went, almost crushing it underfoot.
"Max!" He yelled from the stage, from the darkness where lights had once shone, but I didn't turn back until I was halfway down the street to my house and was sure he wasn't coming after me.
END SCENE.