Whitney High's principal , dressed as a knight in shining armor, stepped up to the podium. The room moaned, as he introduced himself simply as "Mr. Knight."
"That is sooo lame," Cyler said, as he shook his head at the bad pun, personified in front of the microphone.
Mr. Knight's voice echoed throughout the gym, as he made the announcement that the costume contest was about to begin.
"Well, Cyler, I appreciate all that you guys did to help pull this together." Ralph said, as the first group from the Freshman class and all dressed as Michael Jackson clones, walked to the center of the floor. "I doubt we will win, since I'd say half of us aren't even part of Whitney High, anyway!"
"That's ok, Mr. H. You know, everyone here knows our costumes are the best."
Ralph patted his student on the back.
"And now, from Mrs. Jenson's Dance Club..." Three ballerinas danced their way out into the center of the room.
"Well, I wish Paco would get here..." Cyler added, although he was a little worried about what he might see when he did.
"Well, you know Cyler, I wouldn't worry about it. It's all for fun."
Cyler ran his hands down the edge of his cape. He was admiring the costume, and Ralph was surprised to see how much he appreciated it.
"Where did you get that costume, Cyler. It's really nice. If I had to say, it looks professionally done!"
"Well," Cyler responded, a little embarrassed. "I made it."
"What?" Ralph was shocked.
"What, Mr. H. You didn't think I could?"
"No, Cyler, that's not it. I... I'm proud of you! That's really great!" Ralph looked around at all the store bought costumes, and realized that Cyler had done something pretty fantastic.
"You made that? Really?" Ralph felt the cape, and the silky gold lining.
"Well, yeah. Me and my Aunt Bea. She taught me how to sew it up. Spent three weekends down with the ladies at her church doing it, too."
"Really?" Ralph smiled, happy to hear it.
"But I'll deny it, if you ever tell anyone!" Cyler was not ready to let his classmates know he was proud of the first costume he ever made.
"Well, it's really good, you know. I bet you could get a job after High School working in Hollywood. You know, costume designs, props." Ralph offered, hoping the suggestion would legitimize Cyler's interest.
Cyler looked at his teacher, and nodded. Something like that could be interesting.
"Next, from Mr. Thompson's Junior math class..." the announcement began, as four figures in thick rimmed glasses and dressed in square cardboard boxes walked across the floor. The boxes were each painted up like Rubik's Cubes. Everyone in the room started to laugh at the sight. It was appreciative laughter, however, as everyone began to laugh at the clever costumes pulled together by math geeks.
Still laughing, Ralph nudged Cyler. "You know, I have been practicing up on my magic tricks. I was thinking about incorporating some of that into our little show there, when they call us up..." Ralph pointed at the costume judging that was going on.
Cyler looked back at Ralph, and wondered what kinds of tricks he had up his sleeve.
–continued–