Chapter 24 – Drama

I was late to school Monday morning due to once again a late night phone call from my mother. Ian must have been more suspicious than I thought about my day long absences with the no-name friend because I spent the majority of the call fielding questions about boys, possible crushes, and what I did for fun these days rather than listening to her latest and greatest drama.

Being late is the only excuse I could come up with for being blindsided by the subject of prom after English by Emilee. I should have seen the garish posters.

"You're going to prom, right? You're not going to ditch again?" She asked as if it was a personal offence to her that I didn't go last time. I didn't know why since my not going gave me a perfect excuse not to accept her boy-crush's invite, but whatev.

I had no idea what my answer should be to the first one, so I latched on to the second. "I didn't ditch last time. I had family business to attend to."

"Sure, you did. And that family business just happened to include Regan," she sneered just as she was walking into her biology class.

What the hell was her problem?

I decided not to waste my energies on that and instead focus on how I was going to answer her original question, since someone else was bound to ask me. The problem was I knew what I wanted to do, what I would have done if I had been back in Quebec along with all my friends. We would have gone in the most ridiculous outfits ranging from Adams Family's Morticia style to Gone with the Wind's curtain ensemble and the Joker's custom made purple monstrosity to Hancock's unshaven bum panache, taking pictures the whole time before blowing it off and going to Ashley's house to watch some cheesy horror film about prom gone gorily wrong. Correction: They would be watching it while I edited everyone's photos.

The problem was that my plan B involved Evan, but I didn't know if he still wanted to keep it low-key or not. And even if we made known our friendship status, if he would even want to ask me.

I decided until I knew the answer to that question that I was going to sit with Maggie and her crowd avoiding further contact with Emilee's foul mood and Max's probable date request. Regan sat with us, and apparently, her view on the subject was quite well known so nobody brought it up.

Evan did though.

"So are you going to prom at all?" His eyes danced with unfathomable glee.

"Uh… I don't know. You?" was my informative and elegant reply.

"No, I don't go to dances," he responded a little bit abruptly, causing me to examine his face for signs of pain, but he still had that odd merry air about him that I could not comprehend.

"Oh," was all I said though. I was slightly disappointed. It would have been fun to see him dance. He could probably do it old school and that would have been far more enjoyable than the current style. At least that was the reason I allowed myself to acknowledge. I mean, we were just friends, new ones at that, so I couldn't exactly ask him to get over his aversion to these "archaic customs" just for me, now could I? Especially, not since I now knew the reason for it.

"I suppose, you want to know why I asked." It was more statement than question, but I nodded anyways. "Well, I wanted to know if you had an escape route planned like you did for the Valentine's Day dance."

"Not currently, but I'm working on it. Why? What do you know?" I asked anxiously and suspiciously. He was having way too much fun dragging this out.

"Edward told me something very interesting at lunch…" (If I hadn't been afraid for my foot, I would have kicked him by now.) "Aaron seems bent on asking you again. The only reason he hasn't done so yet is because he can't decide on the most appropriate of methods; and by appropriate, I think, he means that which appeals to his dramatic flair." His smug grin was so irritating, but not as aggravating as the information that he just divulged.

I groaned. "Do you think it's because he sees me as a challenge? Or is it out of guilt for nearly causing my death? Or is it because he made another bet with one of his locker room buddies?"

This last one wiped the grin off his face, "You heard about that?"

"Yeah," I shrugged, "Tiffany made sure to tell me."

His face became so angry and it looked as if he was muttering curses under his breath but they were so fast I couldn't distinguish them that I rushed to tell him, "That didn't bother me really. It would just be nice if I could figure out what drives him to ask so that I can make him stop."

I thought for a while about the possible consequences if he were to ask me yet again instead of a certain someone else, and I shuddered before getting yet another brilliant idea. I looked up underneath my eyelashes and pleaded, "Do you think you could work your magic for my benefit?"

He laughed, "Nope, not only would that be unethical, but it would also deprive me of my fun."

I scowled at him, "So it's okay for you to use your gift for your own purposes but not to help out a friend?"

He grimaced, "Your life is not in danger, so no."

I looked away and mumbled, "Says you."

So as not to arouse Ms. Girard's wrath at our lack of discussion, I broke the silence and asked, "Do you think if I straight up and told him that I know of his plans and that the answer is no that he'll leave off? I mean, of course, I would blame my knowledge on the rumor mill. But do you think it would work?"

"Maybe, but I would still have a backup plan, just in case," he acceded.

The next day, I had yet to accomplish my goal before I was pounced upon by Emilee again, although it was not for the exact same reason as yesterday.

"Are you going to prom with Evan Keegan?" she accused more than questioned.

"Um, no…he doesn't go to dances. You said so yourself. Why?" Merde. Merde. Merde.

"Well, Genevieve told me that she heard from her mom, who heard it from either my mom or Tiffany's mom, who heard it from their hairstylist who heard it from your very own father that you've been hanging out with him an awful lot lately. I thought we were friends!"

It took me a minute to figure out why Ian would have told the queen of the gossips about my personal life when he has spent most of his life at least since puberty avoiding that woman, when I realized that he had gone yesterday to talk to Old Tink. Her car was being worked on according to Zach and they must have been talking within her earshot, while she was in the shop. Not that any of that mattered, at the moment I had bigger issues.

"Of course, you are my friend," I affirmed. "It's just that Evan is a private person, and he didn't want there to be a whole lot of gossip," and before she could ask me what we did these past few weekends and what my feelings were for this gorgeous enigma, I said, "For your information, and you are the first to hear of this, Evan and I have formed a kind of friendship."

She looked pleased at being the first to be told, amazed that I had gotten around his aloofness, and disappointed that it wasn't juicier. "What changed? You two weren't very fond of each other a few weeks ago."

I shrugged before making my way into chemistry class, "I called him out on his crap, and he just sort of let me in. He's a decent guy once you get to know him."

At lunch I was still avoiding Max and now Genevieve's pointed questions that she had bombarded me with throughout history (Emilee must have relayed to her what I said) so I sat again with Maggie's crowd. I also wanted to talk to Regan and see if she could help bail me out of this dance as well. As luck would have it the seat next to her was available.

"So the most often repeated question of the past two days: are you - ?"

"No," she interrupted morosely, "I'm not. I have to baby sit my sister's brats that weekend unless I can hunt up a date. I would just go stag to get out of it, but my mom says that she's not cancelling her plans unless it's because I'm actually on a date."

"Oh, isn't there anyone that you could ask?" I would have offered to baby sit in her place, but I had heard too many horror stories from Regan's mouth to even consider that as a viable option. My sanity was much too important to me.

"Not without making it awkward."

I looked around the table at this searching for someone else to be my escape route, when my eyes settled on someone, a someone who I had made a promise to myself about. I had yet another idea. It wasn't exactly a stroke of genius, but it was certainly unconventional. I turned back to Regan and whispered my radical plan. She took to it as a drowning woman to a thrown life raft.

Later when we talked it over with Maggie and Dani, they decided to join in on our fun making the plan truly outrageous.

By Thursday my escape route was confirmed, so I approached Aaron after school just before he went and got ready for track practice.

"Hey Aaron, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, trying to ignore the openly curious stares and blatant once-overs that I was getting from his teammates.

"Sure," he agreed and then to his friends, "I'll be there in a few."

I was grateful that he sensed that I wanted to speak in private, so I started off a little easier than I intended, "I, uh, heard from the rumor mill that you intend to ask me out for prom. Is that true?"

He was a little shocked by that, but he didn't ask me who exactly told me. Instead, he answered, "Yeah, that's true. I was going to ask you properly, but since you brought it up, do you want to go with me?"

I shook my head no, "The reason I brought it up was because I wanted to save you the money on your 'proper' invite - "

"Who are you going with?" he interrupted. "It has to be that Keegan guy."

I was a little irritated at his rudeness, but more amused at his obviously over-inflated ego. He conceitedly assumed that the only reason I was turning him down was because I had already agreed to go with the handsomest and most mysterious bachelor on campus. All I said though was, "It's none of your business, but if I was you I would make sure that the girl you do officially end up asking thinks that she is your first choice." I left him with that, sincerely hoping that he took me up on my advice.

I was unsure of how to proceed exactly, now that I had my family's approval. I continued our friendly chats in French class, asking her questions and occasionally answering a few of her own. I didn't want to monopolize her time at school, although I was tempted, because I felt she should have some balance. I wanted to avoid a Bella-Edward situation, one in which the happiness of one depended entirely on the presence of the other. Therefore, I made sure that she understood that I was unavailable as a prom date. My excuse was not a lie. I never went to dances; they were too filled with happy couples for my tastes. It would have been fun to go with Cadie this one time, but I refused to give anyone the impression, including myself, that we were one of those couples as well.

However, despite my desire to avoid making her an obsession, I still followed her home from school and watched over her at night. Whoever had broken into her house was still out there. I still watched her avidly at school as she interacted with all of her friends.

I saw that the prom situation distressed her greatly. I saw that her usual lunch friends were not overly pleased with her when they found out about us. I saw that her chemistry friends welcomed her with open arms and were able to contain their curiosity concerning the rumors about her and me that were now spreading about the town. They respected her privacy.

I saw that she handled the situation with Aaron quite skillfully in that he was no longer going to pursue her. However, I also saw that his pride was wounded and that he had now jumped on the bandwagon with his number 1 fan and joined in on giving her the cold shoulder when she did rejoin their table on Friday.

I saw that she did not handle well the situation with the Cortland boy by avoiding him because although he asked one of Cadie's other friends to go with him to prom, he continued to look at her with sad orphan puppy dog eyes.

I continued my passive surveillance even when she went on a shopping trip for dresses with her lunch girl friends. I saw that she was on better terms with Ms. Graham, but not the other two.

By Tuesday, I saw that the hostility was not going to decrease with time, but the gossip about us had. I decided then that it couldn't hurt a little to adjust the routine. If some of her companions failed her, then it would only be natural for a friend to give her a little more emotional support. I decided to walk with her to a few of her classes, starting with whatever class was after chemistry.

She was wishing her reporter friend good luck on her next piece concerning something about archaic customs when I pushed off the wall and walked towards her. She looked up and smiled at me pleased, but then she stopped walking and began to look around us a little uncertain, causing me to laugh. "I think, everyone knows that we talk to each other outside of class now, thanks to your dad."

"Yeah, oops," she ducked her head and adjusted her bag causing her hair to fall in front of her face. She grabbed at it exasperatedly and pulled it back; waffling between irritation and sheepishness, she said, "I told Ian that you were alright, that you were friends with Jacob, and that if he wanted to double check he could talk with Old Tink. Apparently, he took me up on that but did so in the hearing range of the biggest rumormonger in town."

"No hard feelings," I reassured as I opened the door into the social science building for her, "I was meaning to ask you …how did your shopping trip go?"

She half-smiled, half-grimaced, "It went good as far as that I got a dress, but I don't know…" she hedged, "shopping just isn't my thing, clothes shopping that is."

"No," I smiled, "your kind of shopping would be at a paint store or an old dusty bookshop, wouldn't it?"

She smiled at me again just before she went into her classroom, "You're catching on, Mr. Keegan."

I decided that I would also walk with her from French class to the gym along with her friend Maggie. After all, friends hang out with the other's friends. I greeted her with "Hey Maggie. It is Maggie, right?" When she nodded, I continued, "So you haven't by any chance seen or heard a description of what Ms. Darby's dress is for the big social event of the season, have you?"

The girl was awed but managed to keep her cool, probably due to the fact that Cadie had jabbed her with her elbow, was vigorously shaking her head no, and mouthing death threats if she divulged anything. "Uh…er…no, I haven't seen it, but I'm sure we'll all be dazzled on the night of."

"Pity, I, sadly, won't be among that number. I'll be out of town that weekend."

Maggie looked disappointed, probably hoping to see the two of us out on the dance floor, but Cadie looked slightly amused. I soon found out why. "Oh, that's too bad. Is it a sick uncle maybe?" Ah, she was waiting to see what unimaginative excuse that I would present this time.

"Um, no, my uncle signed over his guardianship to the Cullens a few years back," I reminded her of my cover story, making her friend feel a little awkward, "but Carlisle wants me to go to his alma mater's preview day. Apparently, their reputation is not limited to its pre-med program but also includes architecture and engineering."

At the same time as her friend was saying that it was a pity that it had to be the same weekend, Cadie replied with mock admiration, "I'm impressed; that's so responsible," just as she headed off to the girls' locker room.

The rest of the week and the next was pretty much like that except for the two days that I had to avoid being out in the sun in public. I took advantage of that time to go hunting with Jasper and Alice again, leaving her under the protective vigil of one Jacob Black.

Lucky for him, not one hair of her head was touched, literally or figuratively, or so I thought.

AN: So sorry for the delay in updating.

Next chapter - My Black Lion