4.

Monday morning Louis paraded down the hall towards his locker. He eyed a few pretty girls in the hallway and tried making conversation with a few. One of which was the tall, blonde-haired Becky Fletcher, a cheerleader. Louis made his index finger and thumb into a pistol and did the annoying point with it and wink that girls never like. Becky turned her lip and eyebrow up and said, "Oh please" in disgust.

Louis put his hand down and continued strutting down the hall like he was a million bucks. He made it all the way down the hallway winking and pointing at all the pretty girls. He even passed by Tawny who was walking to a classroom. Unlike all the other girls, Louis stopped, smiled and just said hi. Tawny made a half-smile and they continued on their ways. Once Louis was gone, Tawny rolled eyes. Oh brother, what a show, she thought while thinking about how stupid Louis had been acting. He's just about getting the ladies and pulling the same stupid pranks, she thought, nothing ever changes.

During the course of this day, Tawny got asked by someone else to go to the prom. Wow. She couldn't believe it. It's not as though Tawny was not popular. She was well-known throughout the school for her dramatic abilities and peace marches. Perhaps she was more known as Louis Stevens's occasional girlfriend. She was the lady friend of the biggest prankster in school. But this guy was Rick Carter, linebacker on the football team. Big guy, 6 feet 4 inches tall. Louis would be lost in this guy's shadow. It came about innocently enough. "Hi, Tawny" Rick said.

"Oh, um, hi there."

"It's Rick, from the football team."

"Yeah, I know you." There was a long pause. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Well, as you know, prom season is coming up and I was just wondering if you had a date?"

Tawny bit her lower lip, looking at the floor and said, "Um, no I don't."

Rick had a slow smile grow on his face. "Well, then, would you like to go to the prom with me?"

Tawny was a bit surprised to have a football player asking her to the prom. She didn't quite know what to say. Then she had this image of Louis parading down the halls like he was Mr. Stud. But for some reason she looked up and said, "I'm sorry. I don't think so." Rick couldn't believe it, said he was sorry for bothering her and left. Tawny felt pretty bad about having to say no to the guy. Then she thought, oh he's probably just like all the other football players. Probably just looking for some action after prom. Glad I turned him down, she thought. Then Tawny looked up to see Louis, kicking and screaming, being picked up by several large guys and being stuffed in a large trash can. She wondered, OK, what did he do now? Instead of prying, Tawny just decided to move on to class and not worry about it. Although it was hard not to because Louis's screaming could be heard for quite a distance. Tawny grinned, what a loser, she thought.

Another week passed by with the same chain of events. Louis was either trying to catch the girls' eye or he was getting put into detention. Tawny, going about her usual routine, was asked to prom by another two guys. Again, for some unknown reason she turned them both down. There was nothing really wrong with these guys, but she didn't want to go to the big event with them. Tawny had eventually convinced herself that she was just waiting for Louis to come to his senses and ask her instead of messing around with the ditzes and the tramps and the trash.

Today was different. When she got to school in the morning, she saw Louis standing by her locker. "Hi, Louis."

"Oh, hey, Tawn. What's up?"

"Not much. What are you doing?"

"Just waiting."

"For what, may I ask?"

"This!" Louis exclaimed as he darted off when he saw the girl he was looking for. This one was a real winner. Janette Reigler was this one's name. She was a tall, blonde, with a very low-cut dress, gawdy nail polish and an IQ of 12, at the highest. Tawny had seen enough. She walked off, but was determined not to act hastily. Then she passed by Corey from the play.

"Hi, Corey."

Needless to say, Corey was pleasantly surprised to find Tawny talking to him again. "Hi. What's up?"

"Not much." Then they stood in silence for a few moments. "Say, I remember you asked me to prom a little while ago." Corey nodded. "Well, I was just wondering if you had found a date yet."

Corey still did not quite know how to react to this. He shook his head. He had actually thought about asking another couple girls but didn't. He really wanted Tawny and wanted to get her to go with him. In response to the question Tawny asked he said, "No."

Tawny's face got a spark and she said, "How would you feel if I took back my initial refusal?" Tawny was biting her lip in anticipation.

Corey grinned and said sure.

Meanwhile, back where Louis was flirting . . . "You know, it's only about three weeks until the prom, sweetheart, and the L-Train doesn't exactly have a passenger yet, and the L-Train was wondering if you'd like to come for the ride?" The ditz Janette giggled loudly and obnoxiously and uncontrollably and snorting. After several seconds of this, Louis was beginning to wonder what was so funny. Of course, it was him, he thought. Who was funnier than the great Louis Stevens? But then Louis realized that maybe she wasn't laughing at Louis's clever quip. He felt heavy breathing on the top of his head. Louis closed his eyes in anguish and thought, oh no, what have I done? Louis slowly turned around to see not just a football player, but the captain of the team itself standing over him. "Uh oh."

"Big uh-oh, Shrimp." Louis was then picked up in one hand by Dirk Martin and shoved against the lockers. "This here is my girl. You been flirting with her and I hate that. You're nothing but a little wimp. All you do is crack stupid jokes and pull even stupider pranks. I think it's time that you were taught a lesson, runt!"

Louis was freaking out by this point and murmured, "Mr. Big football player man, I should warn you that my body is very brittle and my bones break real easy. I just want you to know because I'd hate to have insurance come into all this, you know?"

"No, I don't know." And before Louis knew it, he was being hurled down the hallway as he screamed like a girl.

Louis landed in a pile on the floor and said to himself, "This is just not my day."

Then Twitty walked by and lent a helping hand. "Hey, Louis, what happened? Oh wait, I think I can figure this out. You were going after a girl that already has a boyfriend that is a lot stronger than you. Am I right?" Louis nodded. "I mean, Lou, why are you wasting your time on all these girls? What about Tawny?"

"What about her?"

Twitty rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Lou, you're my best friend, but sometimes you just can't get it."

Louis thought for a moment. Then his face lit up, "Oh, you mean I should ask Tawny to the prom?" Twitty nodded. "Dude, you're such a genius! Tawny'll go with me! I mean, yeah, we've broken up a few times and all, but hey, this is perfect." Twitty grinned thinking that he had just solved all the problems.

Louis dashed through the hall searching for Tawny. He looked up and down each one until he found her. Ah! There she was. Hmm, she's standing next to the guy from the play, Louis thought to himself, guess they're friends and all. "Hey, Tawny," Louis said with a big, goofy smile.

"Hi, Louis. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm just fine. Say, I was just wondering . . ." Louis began but was cut off.

"Oh, Louis, did you hear? Corey and I are going to the prom together! Isn't that great!" Tawny was slightly less excited inside than on the outside. Her main intent was to make Louis jealous. After all, Louis had blown chance after chance with her. Tawny then let Louis say what he came to say. "Oh, Louis, what were you going to say?"

Louis struggled for the right words to say because he was still in shock. "Um, I was just gonna say . . . uh, congratulations." Louis's big, goofy smile was long gone and he slowly dragged his feet to class.