Prom Queen of Disaster (27 page)

Kaleb laughed and Mila gestured for me to wrap it up. I turned the switch off on the machine and left the room, feeling exhilarated. Kaleb pulled me into his arms.

“Let’s see what they’re saying,” Mila said, opening the AV Club door.

There were no crowds, waiting for us, although from the classrooms, the spark of laughter moved fast.

“I guess that’s better than any poster,” I added.

“That last bit,” Mila said, smiling, “was genius.”

It wasn’t long before Principal Sanders called me into his office. His aide sat at her desk outside, her eyebrows arched and her arms crossed.

“Can I go in?” I asked her.

“Can you?” she replied.

“Well?”

“Yes, go in.”

I knocked to hear his voice call out. It wasn’t too intimidating, although my body was doing somersaults, experiencing a new level of vertigo.

“Do you know why I’ve called you in?” he said, offering me the seat at his desk. “I’ll cut to the chase.” I nodded as he paused awkwardly.

“Because I used the PA?”

“Because
you
used the PA,” he said. “That’s exactly it. I’ve seen you grow these past few years. You were part of a successful cheerleading squad and you’ve been spiraling since you dropped out earlier this year.”

I nodded along with what he was saying. “You know
why
I did that?”

“Enlighten me.”

“Char hooked up with Dylan. Char got pregnant, she told me it was Dylan’s, and then it turns out she’s too far along for it to be his because apparently she was pregnant already,” I said. “So, that’s what’s happened, and within all of this, I found myself.”

He rolled his hand to keep me going.

“And just so you know,” I said. “It was Char who spiked the punch. We can’t rule anything out now, can we?”

He huffed. “Zoey, we understand your situation,” he said. “But you really shouldn’t be going in the AV room or using the PA system without express permission of a teacher, or the club.”

“So, nothing about the punch?”

“That’s been closed now,” he said. “You should’ve told us sooner.”

“You know I did everything to stop my dad from suing—I mean,” I placed a hand on my chest, “what if I did something I wasn’t ready for.”

“That’s enough of that,” he said, clapping his hands together. “I think we’ve done all we can for now. Go back to your class, and I hope that’s the last of this behavior.”

I nodded. “Truly,” I said, again with my hand on my chest. “I hope they get what’s coming to them.”

“Please,” he said. “If you girls can’t get along I’ll cancel your prom.”

My heart pounded through my chest. Almost an out-of-body experience as I spoke. Principal Sanders was probably bluffing, but they’d canceled our winter formal in December, so I took it as a warning.

They announced the four girls and four guys on the ballot a few days before prom. You didn’t have to be a couple, but it helped. I was up against Char, Ava, and Mila, but the votes didn’t count anyway.

My mom sat at the table looking through her prom pictures. She still had the tiara they’d given her, in great condition, she placed it on her head.

“My head’s grown since then,” she chuckled, removing hair from the comb inside the tiara. “You’re going to take plenty of pictures for me?”

I nodded. “Of course, and you’ll take some of Kaleb and I before we go,” I said. I was lounging around after my shower. I’d tried the dress on, it fit perfectly, but I wanted to make sure I ate beforehand. Nerves brought out the worst in me, and I’d probably spill food over the dress.

“After tonight, you’ll only have a few more weeks left,” she said. “You’ll have your yearbook, the exhibition, finals, graduation, and finally college.”

“I haven’t heard back from any of them,” I said. “I sent off the applications and even submitted some art.”

She kissed my forehead. “Don’t stress, you’ll be at college come fall.”

I nodded. “Where’s dad?”

“Upstairs talking to Kaleb,” she said. “Putting his suit on.”

I’d never seen him in a suit. He wouldn’t show me when he was trying them on, much like I wouldn’t show him the dress, it was probably why he was doing it.

We didn’t see each other until we were called down for the limousine my parents had hired. My dad came into my room. I held tight to the white rose boutonniere I’d bought for Kaleb. I swayed in the mirror. I had a pair of nice white satin heels, some my mom had grown out of, and a white pear; necklace.

“Beautiful,” he said.

“Thanks, mom did my make up.” I smiled.

The night had been planned differently all those months ago. All the girls were supposed to be here, we were going to do each other’s faces and make sure we were perfect when our dates came. I’d already picked out a suit for Dylan, something that would match the dress I had, but the one Kaleb had bought was perfect. It was a boat neck with a detailed chest of sequins and stones. My mom had a perfume that glittered on your skin. I applied several coats, and the smell was delicious.

“Kaleb’s waiting downstairs,” my dad said. “You’re really growing up.”

He waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. He was in a gray suit with a coral tie, the same color as my dress. He twisted a corsage between his fingers, holding out a hand for me. I took the last couple of steps with his hand in mine. I locked eyes with him. He’d had his hair cut, it was combed and styled.

My dad watched us from the top of the stairs and my mom and Maddie were in the kitchen, their hands covering their mouths to stop themselves from crying.

“I got you this.” He presented the corsage as I held out my wrist.

I gave him the boutonniere, the same white rose, completely coordinated. He took the back of my hand and kissed me.

“The car awaits,” he said.

“Aw,” my mom broke her silence as she sobbed. “Have fun.”

They waved us off as we climbed into the back of the white limo. We took seats and sat silently for a moment, my heart skipping several beats. The driver put smooth romantic music on, almost on cue. He didn’t speak.

“I’m lost for words,” he said. “How you make me feel, it’s—it’s like I’ve never been here before, I don’t know how I should feel right now, but it’s nice, and I want to always feel like this.”

I kissed him. “You make me feel like all the bad shit was worth it.”

He smiled. “I think so.”

“I love you,” I said, moving my head to kiss him.

“You drive my body crazy.”

Strobe lights were visible in the sky from the school. It was the beginning of summer, days were becoming longer and it was much warmer. The driver dropped us off at the doors. One of the teachers, Mrs. Harkness stood outside like it was the entrance to an exclusive club. She had a clipboard in hand.

“Have fun,” the chauffer said as we climbed out of the car.

“Zoey Jensen,” I said as she scrolled a finger down.

She ticked my name off.

“Kaleb Delgado,” he said.

They’d really increased the security at school since the last dance. Prom was mainly for the seniors, unless you were dating a senior. The theme was
Guilty Pleasures
.

We walked through the hallway, guided by the lights of the main hall. We walked in to music from a live band, singing songs from romance movies. There was also a photo booth and the professional prom photographer. We went through both to have our pictures taken. It was essential they had options for the yearbook and my mom’s scrap book.

“They have a chocolate fountain,” Kaleb said in excitement after the photos.

“Not in this dress,” I said, twirling.

I stopped him from heading over when I saw Char standing next to it. She wore a maternity style prom dress. She was almost about to burst out of it, I hadn’t seen her weeks, we’d avoided each other for so long now, she was double the size of the Char I knew.

“You can’t hit someone if they’re pregnant,” Kaleb said. “Just FYI.”

“I wasn’t going to. Maybe I thought about it.”

“Good.” He took my hand. “Let’s get a drink before she spikes the punch again.”

I’d waited so long for this night, and now it was here. I wanted everything to be perfect. I danced with Kaleb. Libby and Hannah were there with their boyfriends, and Mila had found herself a date, from wherever he was hiding—in her basement.

“This is Rick,” she introduced. “We’ve been seeing each other for a few months.” They kissed. “It was on the DL, but prom is here.”

“Hey,” we said.

“Do I know you?” Kaleb asked.

“If you smoke pot you might,” he laughed. I didn’t notice it in the strobe lights but I could see his eyes now. He was definitely high.

“Guilty pleasures,” Mila said. “Tonight is going without a hitch. Everything is in place.”

“It is?”

She nodded. “I can’t wait to see you up there,” she said. “Don’t forget to submit your ballot cards.”

“Where are they?” I asked.

She pointed to a desk beside the photo booth. “Give your name and they’ll give you a card. Principal Sanders brought in a few teachers to watch over it.” She chuckled.

“C’mon then,” I said to Kaleb, tugging his hand.

The buzz of excitement made me sweat. I was glad I put on extra deodorant. Kaleb grabbed my sticky hand and smiled, he had a coral handkerchief in his top pocket, matching his tie. He pulled it out and gave me it to wipe my hands.

“I’m the model boyfriend,” he said.

We turned to lock eyes with Dylan, standing around with some other guys from the basketball team, beside them was Char and Ava. Char, no longer on her feet after taking her heels off to sit with a plate of food.

“It’s funny,” I said, grabbing Kaleb’s hand to dance.

“What?”

“That I came out on top of all this,” I said. “Soon to be prom queen.”

“You’ll always be my queen,” he said.

With the right words at the right times. I felt nauseous, in a good way, if this had been Dylan, I would’ve felt comfortable and normal, because that’s how it was, but with Kaleb, I knew it was a struggle for him to say that. He wasn’t the most emotional person, and that made any expression special.

I couldn’t help compare him to Dylan. He was the only person I could compare him with. Kaleb always came out on top. The things he said and the actions he carried out were worth more than any gift Dylan had ever given me.

“Damn, I
really
love you,” he said.

I took a couple fast hitched breaths. “I—I love you too,” I said, squeezing his hands in mine. “Love you more.”

A wave of people flew past us. I turned to see Dylan charging for Kaleb, his palms clenched into fists. I pushed myself in front of Kaleb to stop him.

“What are you doing?!” Dylan shouted. “Why are you here?” I’d thought he was speaking to me. I took a deep breath and before I could say a word. “Go on, Kaleb, what’s happened, quiet all of a sudden.”

“What are you doing, Dylan?” I asked, pushing him on his chest. “You don’t have the right to come up to me and ask what we’re doing.”

Kaleb kept quiet. I knew he was internalizing everything. I imagined him getting angrier. I reached behind for his hand, already in a fist and plied it apart with my fingers, pushing them into the palm of his hand. Dylan’s face flushed red as he puffed out of his nose.

“Of everyone,” he said. “Him.”

“Don’t be fucking ridiculous,” I said, slamming my hands into him again. “You slept with my best friend. Over everyone, you slept with her!”

“It was an accident,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” I laughed, the burning tears in my eyes threatened to fall if I dared stop laughing. “Your dick slipped out when she opened up her legs.”

“You’re a joke,” Kaleb said. “Go somewhere else.”

He turned away as we walked in opposite directions. Kaleb wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I dipped my head and took several deep breaths. I didn’t see what happened, but I felt his hands leave my back and shoulder. I noticed, several seconds later, Dylan dropped on the floor.

“Don’t lie to her,” Kaleb said as Dylan groaned on the ground. “She’s worth more than that. Keep your hands to yourself.”

I didn’t say a word. Kaleb wrapped an arm around my shoulder again and guided me to the punch bowl.

“What happened?” I asked as he poured us both drinks.

Mila joined me at the hip. “Oh my god,” she laughed.

“I didn’t touch him,” Kaleb said.

“He swung for you, Kaleb,” Mila said. “You’ve got cat-like reflexes,
don’t cha
.”

The sweat of relief rolled across my brow. I’d expected the worst. The bloodied knuckles and bruised faces. “He put
whatever
force into that swing and it threw him to the floor,” he said. “Rookie mistake, I guess that’s a benefit of having older brothers to fight all the time.”

Mila chuckled. “Crowning is in 15 minutes,” she said. “Prepare yourself.”

I was already prepared. I’d been prepared for this since I was little. I locked eyes with Ava and Char sat in the corner, surrounded by their entourage of has-beens and wannabees.

“Zo?” I heard a soft-spoken voice from behind.

“Bex, hi,” I said, hugging her before taking a look at the beautiful blue and white dress she wore.

“You know Char’s no longer on the team,” she said. I nodded. “Good, we miss hanging out with you. Of course, the season is over now, but I wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I only left because of what happened. So, did you do anything nice with the prize money?”

She raised and knitted her eyebrows together in thought. “Char wanted to use it on herself, because she’s fully pregnant now,” she snorted. “Mr. June put his foot down. But we had a retreat. It was nice, wish you could’ve been there.”

I’d remembered something Libby mentioned. I’d wished I was there to destroy Char from within instead of Mila taking me in for whatever use she had.

The band stopped playing.
“If you could all make your way to the dance floor, we’re moments away from revealing your 2016 Prom King and Queen!”

All four girls and all four guys took to the stage. The guys up for prom king were Benny, Dylan, Kaleb, and Rick; Mila’s boyfriend. We stood in a line as the awkward vibes were felt on and off the stage.

Principal Sanders took the microphone. At either side of him there were two teachers holding the crowns and scepters.

“Before I begin,” his voice screeched through the microphone. It was a loud static crackling through the speakers. I shuddered, plugging my ears with my fingers. “These are your nominated students before me, have been picked by you, they’re the best our 2016 student body has to offer.
Apparently.
”

I took a deep breath clenching my hands by my side.

“It’s with deep regret, I have been informed someone has tried to replace the ballot boxes to guarantee a win,” he said. “Zoey Jensen.” For a moment, I thought I’d won. “All votes under your name have been taken out, you tried to game the system. Please leave the stage.”

Gasping, I snatched the microphone from Principal Sanders. “FYI. Char is a whore.” I handed him the microphone, glancing at Mila. She mouthed
sorry
. I walked off stage as Mila took the microphone.

“Zoey approached me to replace all votes, she was going to pay me,” Mila said.

Principal Sanders pulled the microphone from hand “You too. You’ve been disqualified after adding Rick’s name to the ballot. It turns out from the papers in the trash, he received only one vote.”

Mila walked off stage, following me, her jaw lopsided and slack. I slapped her. “You’re just like Char,” I said. She didn’t reply or move. She held her cheek and watched the stage.