I pulled open the big wooden door and walked into the now crowded bathroom.
This time there were other girls surrounding the counter redoing their
makeup because it had come off when they were dancing or their boyfriends
had licked it off. At that time I realized that there should be a separate
place to actually use the bathroom and to stare at yourself in the mirror.
I didn't much care for using the bathroom with thirty girls around. The
thought was just odd to me, maybe, or maybe I just disliked most people.
Closing myself in the stall, I looked down at my feet, I'd taken my shoes off to dance, and failed to put them back on. No one could see my feet though because my dress was so long. After doing my business I tried to turn around and make sure that I was still presentable. I'd hate to have my dress stuck in the back of my underwear or something like that. My legs were real white, and I didn't want to blind anyone.
Being as I was, always amused by what other people discussed when they thought no one was listening, I stood there for a little while quietly, as it was my thing to do. I probably knew more about more people than anyone else did just because I listened and watched everyone, as opposed to asking so many questions. I was the last person anyone suspected of being nosy if that was even what I was. I didn't really care about what went on in other peoples' little lives, but it interested me just to know. I liked to feel like I knew more than everyone else, that's all.
"I bet Ren Stevens is Prom Queen." Someone said to someone else.
"Did you vote for her?"
"Yeah...I did. She's a nice person, and I'd rather have her Queen than some other prep."
"I didn't vote for her. It'll be another notch added to her belt off accomplishments to shove in everyone's face."
"It's not like she brags about anything all that much." The first girl said, somewhat defensively.
"Yeah, but everyone knows that she wins everything, and gets awards constantly, whether or not she talks about it. It gets announced and that's all she needs. She doesn't need to brag about it, the principal does it for her, just like in middle school."
"Jease...she can't help it she's perfect."
"Ha. She's not perfect."
"Sure she is, just deal with it. You're jealous because you can't be like her."
"For one, Louis Stevens is her brother, and she flaunts that boyfriend she has. She picked him up from that reality show she was on, that just added to her popularity."
"Seriously, you sound jealous."
A thought came to me, and I thought that maybe I knew why she was bent on being the best at everything. It wasn't because of Louis, it was because of something else, that imperfection, she was covering it up, trying to distract people from it. She covered it in confidence, achievements, and happiness. I unlocked my stall door, and as I came out I purposely slammed it into the wall, making the girls that were talking jump. I glared at them in the mirror. I don't know if they saw me, but I could be pretty scary.
I walked out of the bathroom, and returned to the ballroom, or whatever it was, sat down with Louis again, and put my shoes back on. "Did they announce the King and Queen yet?"
"Nope." His eyes lit up. "I have my plan! Where's Tom?!"
I shrugged, "Haven't seen him in a while. What about Twitty?" I asked, and found him with Allison, standing with some of her friends, and nodded toward him, "He's right over there."
"Heck with Twitty. He has Allison, and has no time for me anymore." There was a little resent in his voice now.
"Alright. Forget I said it. What're you gonna do to her?"
"Nothing too bad, I promise. I don't have the proper equipment that I'll be sure to have prepared at her graduation."
I sighed, his plan would probably fail horribly and get him kicked out, along with poor Tom who would go along with whatever it was. I surveyed the area as he got up and left me sitting there alone. I grabbed my purse and started pinching it nervously, then rubbing the material together to make a scratching noise. I couldn't find Ren, still, or Jason, and it bothered me. I don't know why other than I didn't like to picture her having sex, and I was getting vivid mental pictures of the doing it in the back of a car in the parking lot.
The DJ came over the speakers, and said, "Hey everybody, it's time to announce this year's Prom Court, so stop moving around and listen to me for a minute." I pinched my bag more. "To start with, let's tell you the Prince and Princess."
"Spit it out already!" Some guy shouted, and people laughed. I just thought he was stupid.
"Allan Twitty...and...Tawny Dean."
"What the hell?" I said, half to myself. I wasn't supposed to be Prom Princess or what the hell ever. I looked at Twitty, he was jumping up and down, and motioning for me to come to him because we had to dance for this slow song coming up.
"Come on up here." The DJ said, and I progressed to Twitty, and he put his arm around me. "Oh look, it's the lovely lady that danced so well tonight. Now she'll get her chance to slow dance."
I winced, the DJ was a fruit, and not a good one. He was a bad fruit, like an avocado or something. At least it was Twitty instead of some stranger or something. I hugged him, and whispered between my teeth, "How the hell did this happen? I'm not supposed the Prom Princess."
"I dunno, dude, but I'm feeling pretty sexy right now."
"And now for what you've all been waiting for..." The DJ drug out his syllables, trying to build up anticipation or something stupid like that. "Your Prom King and Queen of this years prom are Larry Beale...and...Ren Stevens!"
Where was Ren? I found Larry, he came up and stood by us, and greeted us nicely, but there was no Ren. I wondered if Louis had something to do with slowing her down, and if this was his plan.
"Hey...you two..." Larry whispered, "Where's Ren?"
"Dunno." Said Twitty, still grinning, and waving at Allison.
"I dunno either." I told him.
"She's gonna forfeit if she doesn't show up real fast."
"Does that bother you?" I asked curiously.
He blinked, "It actually does. I'd rather dance with her than dance with anyone else that's been nominated for this thing."
"Alright, where's Ren?" The DJ teased, "If she's not here by the time I count to ten then her crown goes to the next runner up."
"Twitty..." I elbowed him a little to draw his attention away from Allison, who was standing in the front of the crowd that had gathered. "I'm worried about Ren."
"C'mon, don't worry about her, she can handle herself." His attention went straight back to Allison, "Dance with Louis if you can find him, sweetie."
"Six...seven...eight..." Counted the obnoxious DJ.
I looked over the people and toward the big double doors that were open.
"Wait! I'm here!" Ren yelled, and ran in, holding her dress up, so she wouldn't trip, moving quickly to where we were.
"There she is!" The DJ said excitedly.
I could see that her hair was a little messed up as the people made a path for her to walk through for her to get to the front. Pieces of her hair were hanging down that weren't supposed to be hanging down, it was probably from running from wherever she was. As she got closer I could see that her makeup was looking rather poor as well, and that her eyes were slightly red and bloodshot, as if she'd been crying. I would have given anything right then to just hug her and tell her that everything was okay, but I couldn't. There was a small plastic crown being stuck on my head.
"Give a round of applause for your Prom Court!"
People clapped, and I looked at everyone. Allison had found Louis, and Ren was holding onto Larry rather tightly, making me wish I were him. Louis' plan had either not worked, or he hadn't done it yet, but if it had been executed already then he didn't get caught since he was still here and all.
The song began to play and Twitty kept looking at Allison and Louis, so I took it upon myself to look at Ren. Her head was resting on Larry's shoulder, and her eyes were closed. He rubbed her back, kindly. My attention then turned to find Jason to see how he was reacting to this, but he was nowhere in sight, at least not my sight. I even had my shoes on and still wasn't tall enough to see very well from my position surrounded by people.
The song ended and Twitty went back to Allison, and left me standing there as another slow song started to play. I lost Ren during Twitty's abandoning of me, but I found Louis, and grabbed onto his sleeve, taking my crown off with my other hand, "Was your plan to make Ren late and almost lose her Queenship or whatever you call it?"
"No. She was late on her own. I was about to go and reunite with Tom to execute my plan." He started to pull away from me.
"Wait. Do you know why she was late?"
"Nope. She's my sister. I know nothing about her."
I let go of his sleeve, and he went in search of Tom. I sat back down at what we claimed as our table. I was quite alone now, and I was the odd person. I slipped my shoes off again and began to mess with my purse. Something was off, other than Louis' scheming because that was normal. I looked around for Ren once more and found nothing. Following Louis would probably lead me to her because he was looking for her too. He was easy to spot. He had found Tom, and they were both scanning the room as I did, but they did it much more obviously and it was apparent what they were doing.
Putting my shoes back on quickly, I watched them, and then they started to move, and I got up and followed. They went to the refreshment table, and Tom got a drink, while I stood against the back wall in the shadows. They passed back by me and I followed at a distance. Louis pointed, and I followed his finger to a table off in a back corner.
Ren was sitting with Ruby, Monique, Bobby, and Larry, no sign of Jason. I couldn't tell what was going on, but Louis and his sidekick were moving in swiftly. He probably planned for Tom to spill his drink on her. I thought about stopping him from doing it, but before I could react, someone grabbed my wrist and turned me away from them.
It was some guy. I didn't even know him. I kept glancing over my shoulder trying to get a glimpse of what was going on behind me across the room.
"Would you please dance with me?" He asked, before I could respond with a quick no he voiced his side of the scenario, "I know you don't know me, and I don't know you. My name's Mark, and I'd like to dance with you just once."
"Um...I have to think. No." I said hatefully, and looked back over my shoulder.
"Please? Why do you keep looking back there?"
"I'm having neck spasms. I can't dance."
"Please...just until the end of this song then."
"Why?"
"Because...I've seen you sitting alone for most of the night, you're the Princess, and I saw you dancing earlier...and..."
"Fine." I said quickly, and I pulled him to the dance floor since he was still latched to my wrist. I positioned us so that I could see the certain far table and make it look like I was looking at him. I felt like the song would go on forever, and he pulled me closer to him. He didn't seem to notice that I wasn't looking at him at all.
Louis went to Ren's table first, while Tom hung back with the drink. He started talking with them. I couldn't hear them of course, and I couldn't see very well. The song I was dancing too was beginning to fade, and I was glad, until I found Mark's face blocking my vision.
"I wanna kiss you..." He whispered.
I froze in my place, and stared at him. "Okay, you wanted to dance with me, and I agreed to it. That's all you get." I pushed his hands off of me, "Sorry. I don't know you, like you said, and I don't kiss people I don't know."
Closing myself in the stall, I looked down at my feet, I'd taken my shoes off to dance, and failed to put them back on. No one could see my feet though because my dress was so long. After doing my business I tried to turn around and make sure that I was still presentable. I'd hate to have my dress stuck in the back of my underwear or something like that. My legs were real white, and I didn't want to blind anyone.
Being as I was, always amused by what other people discussed when they thought no one was listening, I stood there for a little while quietly, as it was my thing to do. I probably knew more about more people than anyone else did just because I listened and watched everyone, as opposed to asking so many questions. I was the last person anyone suspected of being nosy if that was even what I was. I didn't really care about what went on in other peoples' little lives, but it interested me just to know. I liked to feel like I knew more than everyone else, that's all.
"I bet Ren Stevens is Prom Queen." Someone said to someone else.
"Did you vote for her?"
"Yeah...I did. She's a nice person, and I'd rather have her Queen than some other prep."
"I didn't vote for her. It'll be another notch added to her belt off accomplishments to shove in everyone's face."
"It's not like she brags about anything all that much." The first girl said, somewhat defensively.
"Yeah, but everyone knows that she wins everything, and gets awards constantly, whether or not she talks about it. It gets announced and that's all she needs. She doesn't need to brag about it, the principal does it for her, just like in middle school."
"Jease...she can't help it she's perfect."
"Ha. She's not perfect."
"Sure she is, just deal with it. You're jealous because you can't be like her."
"For one, Louis Stevens is her brother, and she flaunts that boyfriend she has. She picked him up from that reality show she was on, that just added to her popularity."
"Seriously, you sound jealous."
A thought came to me, and I thought that maybe I knew why she was bent on being the best at everything. It wasn't because of Louis, it was because of something else, that imperfection, she was covering it up, trying to distract people from it. She covered it in confidence, achievements, and happiness. I unlocked my stall door, and as I came out I purposely slammed it into the wall, making the girls that were talking jump. I glared at them in the mirror. I don't know if they saw me, but I could be pretty scary.
I walked out of the bathroom, and returned to the ballroom, or whatever it was, sat down with Louis again, and put my shoes back on. "Did they announce the King and Queen yet?"
"Nope." His eyes lit up. "I have my plan! Where's Tom?!"
I shrugged, "Haven't seen him in a while. What about Twitty?" I asked, and found him with Allison, standing with some of her friends, and nodded toward him, "He's right over there."
"Heck with Twitty. He has Allison, and has no time for me anymore." There was a little resent in his voice now.
"Alright. Forget I said it. What're you gonna do to her?"
"Nothing too bad, I promise. I don't have the proper equipment that I'll be sure to have prepared at her graduation."
I sighed, his plan would probably fail horribly and get him kicked out, along with poor Tom who would go along with whatever it was. I surveyed the area as he got up and left me sitting there alone. I grabbed my purse and started pinching it nervously, then rubbing the material together to make a scratching noise. I couldn't find Ren, still, or Jason, and it bothered me. I don't know why other than I didn't like to picture her having sex, and I was getting vivid mental pictures of the doing it in the back of a car in the parking lot.
The DJ came over the speakers, and said, "Hey everybody, it's time to announce this year's Prom Court, so stop moving around and listen to me for a minute." I pinched my bag more. "To start with, let's tell you the Prince and Princess."
"Spit it out already!" Some guy shouted, and people laughed. I just thought he was stupid.
"Allan Twitty...and...Tawny Dean."
"What the hell?" I said, half to myself. I wasn't supposed to be Prom Princess or what the hell ever. I looked at Twitty, he was jumping up and down, and motioning for me to come to him because we had to dance for this slow song coming up.
"Come on up here." The DJ said, and I progressed to Twitty, and he put his arm around me. "Oh look, it's the lovely lady that danced so well tonight. Now she'll get her chance to slow dance."
I winced, the DJ was a fruit, and not a good one. He was a bad fruit, like an avocado or something. At least it was Twitty instead of some stranger or something. I hugged him, and whispered between my teeth, "How the hell did this happen? I'm not supposed the Prom Princess."
"I dunno, dude, but I'm feeling pretty sexy right now."
"And now for what you've all been waiting for..." The DJ drug out his syllables, trying to build up anticipation or something stupid like that. "Your Prom King and Queen of this years prom are Larry Beale...and...Ren Stevens!"
Where was Ren? I found Larry, he came up and stood by us, and greeted us nicely, but there was no Ren. I wondered if Louis had something to do with slowing her down, and if this was his plan.
"Hey...you two..." Larry whispered, "Where's Ren?"
"Dunno." Said Twitty, still grinning, and waving at Allison.
"I dunno either." I told him.
"She's gonna forfeit if she doesn't show up real fast."
"Does that bother you?" I asked curiously.
He blinked, "It actually does. I'd rather dance with her than dance with anyone else that's been nominated for this thing."
"Alright, where's Ren?" The DJ teased, "If she's not here by the time I count to ten then her crown goes to the next runner up."
"Twitty..." I elbowed him a little to draw his attention away from Allison, who was standing in the front of the crowd that had gathered. "I'm worried about Ren."
"C'mon, don't worry about her, she can handle herself." His attention went straight back to Allison, "Dance with Louis if you can find him, sweetie."
"Six...seven...eight..." Counted the obnoxious DJ.
I looked over the people and toward the big double doors that were open.
"Wait! I'm here!" Ren yelled, and ran in, holding her dress up, so she wouldn't trip, moving quickly to where we were.
"There she is!" The DJ said excitedly.
I could see that her hair was a little messed up as the people made a path for her to walk through for her to get to the front. Pieces of her hair were hanging down that weren't supposed to be hanging down, it was probably from running from wherever she was. As she got closer I could see that her makeup was looking rather poor as well, and that her eyes were slightly red and bloodshot, as if she'd been crying. I would have given anything right then to just hug her and tell her that everything was okay, but I couldn't. There was a small plastic crown being stuck on my head.
"Give a round of applause for your Prom Court!"
People clapped, and I looked at everyone. Allison had found Louis, and Ren was holding onto Larry rather tightly, making me wish I were him. Louis' plan had either not worked, or he hadn't done it yet, but if it had been executed already then he didn't get caught since he was still here and all.
The song began to play and Twitty kept looking at Allison and Louis, so I took it upon myself to look at Ren. Her head was resting on Larry's shoulder, and her eyes were closed. He rubbed her back, kindly. My attention then turned to find Jason to see how he was reacting to this, but he was nowhere in sight, at least not my sight. I even had my shoes on and still wasn't tall enough to see very well from my position surrounded by people.
The song ended and Twitty went back to Allison, and left me standing there as another slow song started to play. I lost Ren during Twitty's abandoning of me, but I found Louis, and grabbed onto his sleeve, taking my crown off with my other hand, "Was your plan to make Ren late and almost lose her Queenship or whatever you call it?"
"No. She was late on her own. I was about to go and reunite with Tom to execute my plan." He started to pull away from me.
"Wait. Do you know why she was late?"
"Nope. She's my sister. I know nothing about her."
I let go of his sleeve, and he went in search of Tom. I sat back down at what we claimed as our table. I was quite alone now, and I was the odd person. I slipped my shoes off again and began to mess with my purse. Something was off, other than Louis' scheming because that was normal. I looked around for Ren once more and found nothing. Following Louis would probably lead me to her because he was looking for her too. He was easy to spot. He had found Tom, and they were both scanning the room as I did, but they did it much more obviously and it was apparent what they were doing.
Putting my shoes back on quickly, I watched them, and then they started to move, and I got up and followed. They went to the refreshment table, and Tom got a drink, while I stood against the back wall in the shadows. They passed back by me and I followed at a distance. Louis pointed, and I followed his finger to a table off in a back corner.
Ren was sitting with Ruby, Monique, Bobby, and Larry, no sign of Jason. I couldn't tell what was going on, but Louis and his sidekick were moving in swiftly. He probably planned for Tom to spill his drink on her. I thought about stopping him from doing it, but before I could react, someone grabbed my wrist and turned me away from them.
It was some guy. I didn't even know him. I kept glancing over my shoulder trying to get a glimpse of what was going on behind me across the room.
"Would you please dance with me?" He asked, before I could respond with a quick no he voiced his side of the scenario, "I know you don't know me, and I don't know you. My name's Mark, and I'd like to dance with you just once."
"Um...I have to think. No." I said hatefully, and looked back over my shoulder.
"Please? Why do you keep looking back there?"
"I'm having neck spasms. I can't dance."
"Please...just until the end of this song then."
"Why?"
"Because...I've seen you sitting alone for most of the night, you're the Princess, and I saw you dancing earlier...and..."
"Fine." I said quickly, and I pulled him to the dance floor since he was still latched to my wrist. I positioned us so that I could see the certain far table and make it look like I was looking at him. I felt like the song would go on forever, and he pulled me closer to him. He didn't seem to notice that I wasn't looking at him at all.
Louis went to Ren's table first, while Tom hung back with the drink. He started talking with them. I couldn't hear them of course, and I couldn't see very well. The song I was dancing too was beginning to fade, and I was glad, until I found Mark's face blocking my vision.
"I wanna kiss you..." He whispered.
I froze in my place, and stared at him. "Okay, you wanted to dance with me, and I agreed to it. That's all you get." I pushed his hands off of me, "Sorry. I don't know you, like you said, and I don't kiss people I don't know."