After a month into the school year, the staff and school board realized that having a homeroom was a waste of at least 10 minutes so they just got rid of it. So now, basically we go to first period and they take attendance and we have announcements sometime during first or second period.
Mr. Brown, my first period math teacher, put down the paper for the announcements. "So, for announcements today…Key Club meeting before school Friday, a meeting for P.R.I.D.E. is after school tomorrow, tryouts for jazz band are after school Monday and Tuesday next week, and the Winter Formal's coming up." I let out an audible sigh. The Winter Formal was a dance. A dance meant I had to buy a dress and wear makeup and get a date. I would have to go dress shopping with Ella and most likely Nudge. Fantastic. Even worse, that meant I needed a date. And considering my best friend was a boy, I couldn't exactly go with like a group of girlfriends like most of the grade probably would.
"I have a question," Alyssa, friends with that stupid Cassidy girl and insanely obnoxious, said swinging her hand back and forth in the air. "Mr. Brown?" Well no duh. I mean she was waving her hand back and forth for Pete's sake. What else could she possibly want?
"Yes, Alyssa?" Mr. Brown said patiently. He was one of my favorite teachers because he was young, fit, not to mention a tiny bit cute and a good teacher. He was fun but still strict enough where you wouldn't blow him off.
"Okay so do you like need a date?" No you go by yourself. All alone, Because no one would be stupid enough to ask you.
"Not necessarily. I mean you can go with a group of friends, or go on like a group date." He shuffled a few papers on his desk. "Any other questions?" No one raised their hand, so he continued. "Alright then, moving on." He went to the board and started writing a bunch of equations on the board, and told us to solve using a system of equations. We could use either substitution, or elimination. I'm pretty sure you could use a matrix too, but I just went with the program. Class went by normally as we solved a variety of problems using different methods.
It was lunch time and I was starving. I hadn't had time for breakfast and I was gonna die of starvation. No joke. "You going to the Winter Formal?" I asked Fang as he sat down in the seat next to me. It was the end of November, and the dance was approaching faster than I liked.
He shrugged his shoulders as he bit into his apple. "Maybe."
"Vague much?" I couldn't resist saying. He smirked and continued chomping away. "Iggy what about you?" I asked wondering if he would ask Ella.
"Yeah. I don't know who I'm going with. You have to have a date though. At least that's what Ethan said. He's a junior. Like everyone gets dates for the dance and they even play slow music." He seemed to be deep in thought, probably deciding whether or not to ask my sister.
"What about you Max?" asked Fang giving me a weird look. He'd already eaten his apple and was steadily making his way through a bag of pretzels.
"Yeah. My mom and sister will make me. With a date too." I said trying not to groan aloud. I noticed Fang smirk.
"Well you better ask somebody," I replied practically eating my sandwich whole.
"Okay Max. Whatever you say." I rolled my eyes, and then an evil smile appeared on his face, "Maybe Gordon will ask you!" Gordon was this cute guy in my science, and English class. Fang always teased me about liking him.
"Shut up!" I said shoving him jokingly. But before he could tease me more, the bell rang and I had to hurry to get to the next class.
The rest of the day flew by, even World Studies which seems to take forever. I was at my locker getting my books ready to blow this popsicle stand, when I practically ran into Gordon.
"Hey Max!" he said smiling brightly.
"Hey Gordon! What's up?" I asked smiling. Yes unusual for me I know, but I sorta kinda had a teensy weensy crush on him. Well okay, it wasn't really that teensy weensy.
"Going to my locker. Look Max, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked his gorgeous eyes wide. He ran a hand through blond hair that was spiked up in the front.
"Yeah sure," I replied casually, trying not to get too hopeful.
"I just have a thing here…" he trailed off and he set his backpack down to find something. "Here," he pulled out a huge poster that read 'MAX, IT WOULD ROCK MY WORLD IF YOU WENT TO THE WINTER FORMAL WITH ME?' and he pulled out some of those fake air guitars with words on them, to prop up the poster. One of the guitars said yes, and the other said no, and I reached for the one that read yes without a second though. It was such a cute way to ask someone to homecoming, especially since I was into rock music. He really knew me already and this was so sweet.
"I would love to go to the Winter Formal with you," I said smiling.
"That'd rock Max," he said with a wink and I laughed, and he smiled. "Wanna maybe catch a movie sometime or grab some fro-yo uptown?" Fro-yo by the way, for all of you unaware, is the frozen yogurt at Yogen Fruz which is freaking delicious.
"Sounds great!" I exclaimed with a grin. As I was about to say goodbye, Iggy came strolling up the hallway and saw me just in time.
"Max!" he jokingly yelled across the room. "This is a Kodak moment!" he yelled making his way over to us and grabbing out his phone.
"Iggy," I groaned and he grinned. Gordon came over and put his arm around my shoulders, and I put mine around his back. He held up the poster with his free hand, and I held up the air guitar with the answer yes on it.
"CHEESE!" Iggy said sounding triumphant.
"Today Iggy. I don't want to stay here until the dance," I muttered and Gordon laughed. Finally Iggy finished taking the picture, and I said good-bye and thanks to Gordon.
"Yeah, fro-yo sounds good! I'll text you!" I said as I turned to walk down the hallway. Gordon took the bus, he explained so he couldn't walk me out. "Thanks, I can't wait." He grinned and then waved good-bye.
"Hey what's up with you? You're practically glowing," a familiar voice said coming up from behind me.
"Guess who just asked a special someone to Winter Formal?" I said smiling huge.
"Hmmm…let me see…Iggy?" he pretended.
"Haha, very funny Fang. And no gross. No offense to Iggy or anything but nope…guess again."
He noticed the huge smile, "Gordon!" he exclaimed teasing but I nodded still grinning.
"Ooooh! Max and Gordon sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-S-S-S-I-N-G!" yelled Iggy coming up the hallway. Apparently the picture wasn't enough.
"There's only two S's in kissing Iggy," said Fang in a how-stupid-are-you-voice.
"Unless they're doing it for a long time!" Iggy said cackling. I couldn't help laughing at Iggy's stupid joke.
"See, she thinks it's funny!" Iggy said defensively, and then wiggled his eyebrows at me.
"Whatever Ig," Fang said sounding a little upset.
"What's wrong?" I asked Fang once we had gotten outside, back in the fresh air. Might I add away from Iggy, because he got distracted by someone from his English class.
"Nothing," he said in a voice that sounded fairly forced for Fang, who was normally easy going and quiet.
"Something's obviously wrong Fang," I said in my no-nonsense tone.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing Max, it's fine. I just need to figure out who I'm going to ask to the dance." Fang was acting somewhat strange, and I'd noticed it since around lunch time. We'd already approached the street where we turned to get to our houses, and I decided to drop the conversation for now.
"Okay. Hey by the way, when's our next band rehearsal?" I asked eager to change the subject.
"Random much Max?" Fang asked. I could tell something was still bothering him but he was trying not to show it. Maybe it was just the funeral and the dance and just school and everything getting to him. I mean that happens to me sometimes, but I'm also a girl and emotional and all that crap that you get stuck with for being smarter, stronger and a freaking girl.
"Whatever, Fang," I said rolling my eyes. "But we do have a gig coming up right? The Christmas one? When's the benefit concert?"
"Geez Max, not so fast," he said smirking. I rolled my eyes again but grinned anyway. "But we're actually gonna to a combo concert thing on Christmas Eve or the day before. We're gonna do the sad songs to get donations and do Christmas music too."
"Isn't that a little redundant?" I wondered aloud, not intentionally. "I mean like sing a bunch of sad songs and then skip to all these like happy, upbeat songs?"
"Yeah I guess, but whatever. It'll be fun I think. Maybe Gordon will come," he said wiggling his eyebrows at me. I smirked, but noticed the smallest glare in his eyes when he mentioned my new dates' name. Unless I was imagining, this wouldn't be unusual for me.
"You're just jealous I have a date to the dance and you don't," I teased and he instantly blushed, leaving me very confused at this point. Why was he blushing, while talking about who I like? Man, does being a girl suck sometimes. And I thought Ella was confusing, but this was like a whole new level.
"Yup, Max. That's it," he muttered. "Well I'm babysitting Angel tonight because my mom has some PTA meetings and stuff to do. Text you later." He called as he headed toward the curb to get to his house.
Man, I had some major thinking to do about some major things. Like Fang. And Gordon. Well I guess not major problems, but you catch my drift. Anyways okay so I kinda like Gordon, and now we're going out, so what was Fang's problem with everything. I mean when does he care about my like personal issues? Whatever, I decided to just forget it until later. I'm guessing I'm over analyzing this lot. I walked in the door, and was greeted by the fantastic, magical scent of baking cookies. In case you are a very deprived child, and have never experienced the amazing sensation of baking cookies, it's like a freakin' masterpiece. They smell like heaven, in case you were wondering. My mom was in her office working, so I sat on the ground in front of the oven and watched the cookies for about 10 minutes, until I heard Ella's shriek.
"OMG! OMG! MAX! MAX! MAX!"
"That would be me," I said sarcastically grinning. "Yeah Ella?"
"GORDON!" she continued, still in an octave I could barely hear.
"Asked me to Winter Formal." I finished the sentence for her.
"HOW?!" Geez this was a lot of questions. I felt like I was one of those suspects in jail or court that gets like interrogated about crimes to see if they're guilty. However, because I'm a great sister, I explained everything to her that happened today.
"Aw Max! That's so cute!" Ella squealed grinning in delight. "It was on Facebook." She explained as I opened my mouth to ask how she found out so fast. Of course. Iggy. I was really gonna kill that kid.
"We're going dress shopping!" she squealed after a moment of rapid-fire texting to a bajillion people she had met already at school. "And he has to get a matching tie to the color of your dress!" I rolled my eyes. She opened her mouth and kept chatting on about all the excitement of my first date for the dance and a bunch of other stuff I didn't listen to.
(FPOV)
I walked in and slammed the door shut after me, partially on purpose but mostly on accident. My dad was working late tonight and mom was taking Angel to swimming lessons and wouldn't be back for at least 45 minutes. God. I had so much to think about and just digest from today.
Max. Max. Max. That girl was confusing, but I loved her. Well I'm pretty sure I loved her. I mean she was the only person I could think about. Ever. Like she basically controlled my feelings. She brought me up or down. Yet I loved her for it. She was just gorgeous, and funny and an amazing guitar player and singer. I just wished she would think about me the way I thought about her. I laid down on my bed, and plugged my earbuds in, and sang outloud to my new favorite song.
Katie don't cry I know,
You're trying your hardest
And the hardest part is letting, go
Of the nights we shared,
Ocala is calling, and you know its haunting but,
Compared to your eyes nothing shines quite as bright
And when we look to the sky, it's not mine but I want it so,
Let's not pretend like you're alone tonight (I know he's there)
You're probably hangin' out and makin' eyes (While across the room he stares)
I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance,
And she'll say yes.
Because these words were never easier to say,
Or her to second guess,
But I guess
That I can live without you,
But without you I'll be miserable at best.
You're all that I'd hoped I'd find,
In every single way.
And everything I could give,
Is everything you could take.
Cause nowhere feels like home, when you're a thousand miles away.
And the hardest part of living is just taking breaths to stay
'Cause I know I'm good for something
I just haven't found it yet, but I need it.
Let's not pretend like you're alone tonight (I know he's there)
You're probably hangin' out and makin' eyes (While across the room he stares)
I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance,
And she'll say yes.
Because these words were never easier to say,
Or her to second guess,
But I guess
That I can live without you,
But without you I'll be miserable at best.
Ladada Ladada Ladadaoh ohhh
And this will be the first time in a week,
That I'll talk to you and I can't speak.
Been three whole days since I've had sleep
'Cause I dream of his lips on your cheek.
And I got the point that should leave you alone
But we both know that I'm not that strong
And I miss the lips that made me fly.
Let's not pretend like you're alone tonight (I know he's there)
You're probably hangin' out and makin' eyes (While across the room he stares)
I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance,
And she'll say yes.
Because these words were never easier to say,
Or her to second guess,
But I guess
That I can live without you,
But without you I'll be miserable
And I can live without you
Oh, but without you I'll be miserable at best.
I breathed out heavily. These lyrics basically described how I felt about Max. I don't get it. I've known her for like 5 months but she's almost impossible to not like. I tightened my gut. If you really cared you'd want her to be happy. Yeah. She's happy with Gordon. As long as she's happy, I'm happy. I told myself this a few times.
Since Max is going with Gordon, I need to ask someone else. Besides she's basically the only who doesn't know I like her. We'll probably all hang out before and after anyway. We, referring to Ben and Alexis (Lexi), Ella and Iggy, and Max and Gordon, and then obviously whoever I ask.
I guess there was always Marian. She was in a few of my classes, kinda pretty and sang in choir. I mean nothing like Max, but she was better than nothing. I wondered if Iggy had ever asked Ella yet? I mean since she was still at middle school and all. And Ben was going to ask Lexi at their volleyball game this weekend, and I was going to help. Even though I was a guy, I had to admit the way he was gonna ask her was adorable. It involved volleyball and lacrosse, her too favorite things. You think I'm gonna tell you how he was gonna ask her? Nope. You can wait.
Sorry, I know this is kinda the opposite of FAX but I wanna have it be later on in the story! Sorry it's been taking me so long to update! Got lots of stuff going on! Thanks for the ideas! Keep them coming! RnR! 333