(17) Karaoke Klash

'How was your date?' was Jack's (hardly) welcome greeting to Ralph at lunch the next day. He had been feeling extremely out of it earlier that morning (unsurprisingly) and had decided to skip their homeroom class.

'Fine,' Ralph replied, setting his tray down. Having noticed the cold tone lacing Jack's voice, he prompted, 'What's up with you?'

'Nothing.' The latter turned his attention to the blackboard in feigned interest. 'Okay, yes, something,' he admitted not two seconds later.

'It's Lynn, right?' Ralph inquired, though he already knew what the answer would be.

'Yes . . . no . . . I don't know!' The other teen practically tore out his hair. He was more than a little stressed that morning, because he had spent a sleepless night thinking over what he had seen. Ralph. Ralph with a girl. Ralph with Lynn, who seemed like such great gal.

'Jack?'

Jack sighed.

'Lynn seems like a really nice girl, Ralph,' he said lamely.

'She is. I'm glad you like her.'

'Have you known her for long?'

'Only since last afternoon,' Ralph responded, shrugging. 'My mother introduced her to me when I arrived home.'

The teen sighed again.

'Well, I might as well get right to the point—I don't want you to date her, Ralph.'

'Why not? What's wrong with her?'

'It's not her. It's just . . . okay, this is going to sound really stupid and selfish, but . . . I don't want you to date anyone, Ralph!'

There was an awkward silence, then, 'Why?' asked Ralph.

'Because I'm yours.'

'I'm not a possession to be owned, Jack Merridew!' Ralph retorted briskly. 'I am your equal. I'm not your inferior, and I am definitely not yours, so—' He stopped suddenly, having just realized what Jack said. 'You're . . . mine?'

Jack smiled.

'You heard me, Ralph. I did not say, "You're mine". I realized the same thing you did—we are equals.' He sighed and casually pushed his hair out of his eyes. 'I must admit, I've never been in that kind of relationship before.' He leaned closer until his lips were but a whisper away from his companion's. 'But for you, I think I'll take that chance.' They shared a chaste kiss before Jack regretfully pulled away to gauge Ralph's reaction.

The latter had a faded look in his eyes, as if storm clouds had decided to make his dark orbs their new home. His plush lips were still parted slightly from their kiss, yet there was something about him that just didn't seem right.

'You kissed her!' Jack accused, glaring at the other teen balefully.

'Why would you say that?'

'You seem . . . different, somehow.'

'Nothing happened, Jack.'

'Bullshit.'

'Bull true!' 1 Crossing his arms over his chest reproachfully, Jack turned his back on Ralph and determinedly stared blankly ahead of him. 'What exactly happened last night?' he inquired of the wall.

'Well, I have to admit, I had a really great time last night,' Ralph replied.

'You're breaking my heart, Ralph. That's not what I wanted to hear.'

'Just let me finish . . . We went to see a movie, went for a little stroll in the park.' He let out a soft chuckled. 'We sprayed water at each other at the fountain . . .'

'And . . .?'

'I walked her home, and . . .'

'And . . .?'

'And then I told her that things were over between us.'

'What? Why?' Jack demanded, whirling around to face the other teen. 'You two were really hitting it off. What happened?'

'I thought of you,' Ralph said without a hint of embarrassment in his eyes.

If his life was a movie, Jack knew that that would have been the perfect time to kiss the pants off Ralph (?). However, one look at those lovely lips and the teen felt a slight wave of nausea wash over him. Sure, Lynn was a great girl and all, but to kiss those lips after she did just seemed . . . wrong.

As if he knew what Jack was thinking, Ralph leaned forwards and whispered into his ear, 'I never kissed her, Jack. Kissing is still just for us.' 2

Jack felt an anxious shiver travel up his spine, and he would have kissed Ralph again if it hadn't been for his friends' untimely arrival.

'Hey, guys,' Fred said, seating himself between them. 'I hope we're not interrupting anything.' He looked back and forth at his two friends with a teasing grin on his face.

'Oh no, Fred, not at all,' Jack said, clapping the new arrival "heartily" on the back. Really, it was just one notch less of full-out abuse.

'That's good . . . to know . . .' Fred replied. He winced when he tested the forming bruises on his back.

'So, are you ready for your grand finale, kid?' Terry questioned Jack.

'As ready as I'll ever be,' the latter responded. 'I'm in a much better mood than I was this morning.'

'We can see that,' John said with a fey wink in Ralph's direction.

'Little fuckers,' Jack muttered under his breath, feeling heat rush to his cheeks.

'And hello, hello, everybody!' announced a familiar voice. 'JD, your student council prime minister, here! Gosh, I love that title!' he added under his breath. 'Are you guys ready for the results of yesterday's competition?'

Jack, who hardly expected anyone to take heed of him (let alone reply), was surprised to hear the unified response of, 'YES!'

'I guess everyone is just eager to see how well the school slut will do,' Lee said.

'He isn't a slut anymore, Lee,' John said in defense.

'Oh really? We'll just see about that.'

Knowing that Lee never gave into anything without a fight, Jack knew that he had a reason to worry.

"But what can Lee possibly do?" he inquired reasonably. "The bet is almost over. There's nothing he can do anymore!"

The thought was extremely calming to his nerves.

-

Ralph was one of the people who had enthusiastically yelled, 'YES' when JD had inquired of their interest in the former competition. Now he just waited for the elder teen to continue; he had high confidence that Jack would make the top seven (out of twenty-eight). He was just that good!

'Well, after much debate and consideration,' JD said, 'the student council members and I, as well as Mrs. Wynta, decided upon our top seven finalists. As your name is called, please line up along the left side of the stage . . .' He indicated said area with a wave of his hand. '. . . Carl Rene!'

There was a polite scattering of applause.

'MJ Phoenix!'

This time, the applause was slightly louder, but still not very enthusiastic.

'Jackson Tairn . . . Gerry Walters . . . Alexander Smith . . . Christopher Andrews . . .'

"Come on, come on," Ralph prompted mentally, rather anxious now. What if Jack didn't make it?

'And Edward Johnson.'

Personally, Ralph did not really like Eddy's performance; he had found it too vulgar and sexual. His heart fell upon hearing the redhead's name being called. What happened? Jack was supposed to make it! Not stupid Eddy!

Erm . . . And apparently, he was not the only one who thought so.

'What about Jack?' Terry cried out.

'Yeah, Jack deserves to be up there, too,' Fred agreed.

'I'm sorry, boys, but we have already made our decision,' JD replied.

'You biased bastard!' Greg shouted. 'We wanted Jack in the top seven but you overruled us because of your little breakup a few weeks ago.'

JD's face turned beet red.

'Shut your mouth, Greg, unless you want to be demoted!'

'What would it matter? This is my last year here anyway, so being "deputy prime minister" is the highest I can go!'

'Boys? Boys!' Mrs. Wynta said loudly, trying to calm the two teens down. 'Listen, this problem can easily be solved. We will simply place a eighth person on the panel.'

'I'm fine with that,' Greg said immediately.

'Fine. Whatever,' JD muttered. 'You aren't giving me much of a choice, anyway.

'Good,' the professor said, rather stern now. 'Now, JD, I believe I shall take over from here.' She took the microphone from him and turned to face the eager crowd. 'Well, you heard it, folks, Jack Merridew is now added to the top . . . er, eight.'

It was obvious to Ralph that the audience was very, very pleased with this—Jack received the loudest cheer yet! He watched with eyes glowing with pride as Jack made his way to the podium and stood alongside the others.

'Way to go, Jack!' he murmured under his breath.

The teen waited with bated breath for his beloved's turn to come. He listened with vague interest as one by one, the other competitors took their place on the podium. The songs that burst out of their lungs were rather old, for the school hardly possessed newer karaoke CDs. However, they were exceptional, nonetheless. Such tunes as "The Hardest Thing I'll Ever Have to Do" by 98 Degrees and "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys.

"These are so outdated," Ralph thought with a dramatic roll of his eyes. "Who the hell buys these things! Argh!"

Then, it was finally Jack's turn to take the stage, and warmth washed through Ralph's entire body as he listened to the soothing beats of "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The other guys sang their songs with their lungs (and their vocal chords, obviously). Jack, however, sang his with his heart.

'"All my bags are packed

I'm ready to go

I'm standing here

Outside your door

I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breaking

It's early morn

The taxi is waiting

He's blowing his horn

Already I'm so lonesome I could cry

So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me

Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane

I don't know when I'll be back again

Oh, babe, I hate to go" . . .'

After a few more verses and choruses, Jack's song finally drew to a close. Ralph was more than a little depressed to realize that. However, as one would soon discover, he was in for a pleasant surprise.

'That was beautiful, Mr. Merridew,' Mrs. Wynta said through her stream of tears. 'I'll just give the judges a few moments to make the next cut, and then we'll continue.'

'Next cut?' Jack echoed. 'There's more?'

'Why, yes, Jack,' Mrs. Wynta replied. She brought the mike to her lips and spoke to everyone in general. 'I'm sorry, everybody. I have forgotten to tell you that there are still two more cuts before the winner is announced. At the moment, our unbiased—' She emphasized, glaring at JD, '—judges are deciding who should continue on to the top five. Then, those remaining people will perform again.'

'Then what?' someone called out.

'Then three more people will be cut,' she explained patiently. 'If there is still some time remaining in this lunch hour, they shall sing for us yet again.'

'And if not?'

'Then this competition will continue tomorrow.'

There was a sudden eruption of cheers from the crowd.

'Calm down, everybody,' Mrs. Wynta said calmly, holding up her hands to stem the unexpected fanfare. 'Before we can continue this competition, we must first find out whom the next few finalists will be . . . Greg.'

The deputy prime minister nodded his head in a business-like fashion and took his place on the stage.

'The five finalists are . . .'

Ralph held his breath.

'MJ Phoenix.'

Applause as a red-faced MJ stepped onto the stage.

'Edward Johnson.'

A very smug Eddy went to stand beside the other teen.

'Carl Rene . . . Alexander Smith . . . and Jack Merridew!'

Ralph clapped harder than anyone else . . . Er, well, perhaps excluding Terry. The big bloke looked like his hands were about to fall off.

'Here you have it, folks!' Greg announced. 'Your five finalists. Let's give them all a nice round of applause before we continue.'

More clapping, and then . . .

'This contest is almost over, and the pressure is rising. Who will reign supreme? Let's find out, shall we? First up, we have MJ Phoenix!'

Smiling, the latter stepped up to the microphone, and started to sing.

Time seemed to creep so slowly that an earthworm moved faster. Ralph was getting restless as MJ finished his turn and Jeffery went up. Then Carl. Then Eddy. Ralph groaned when he saw the familiar heap of red hair jump up onto the stage in a showoff-ish way.

'Let's go!' Eddy cried out, signaling for Greg to start the song.

Ralph rolled his eyes when he heard "Smooth" (by Santana) bursting from the speakers. How cliched was that song? Shifting anxiously in his seat, the teen impatiently waited for Jack's turn to come up; eventually, it did.

'And now, folks, we have Jack Merridew performing "All or Nothing" by O-town,' Greg announced briefly before passing the mike onto said teenager.

Clearing his throat dramatically, Jack brought the instrument to lips and opened his heart to the audience.

"'I know when he's been on your mind

That distant look is in your eyes

I thought it's time you realize

It's over, over . . .

It's not the way I choose to live

And somethin' somewhere's got to give—"'

Ralph closed his eyes and allowed himself to be swept away by the deep tones of Jack's voice.

"Just one more day," he silently promised. "One more day and Jack will be mine."

-

The next morning passed rather uneventfully for Ralph. He and Jack shared little more than yearning glances and whispered words of promise. Neither one of them dared to breach the invisible wall between them, a wall of which only time could shatter. For Ralph, it was like being trapped in a nightmare to have Jack so close yet still too far out of Ralph's reach.

"Oh, now I get the title," Ralph mused as he collected his books together for his next class.