The Real Prom Queens of Westfield High (17 page)

Nice
touch
, I think, but say, “I need some space to think.”

He looks at me earnestly. “I'll wait for you, Shannon. As long as it takes.”

Over
the
top
. I turn away with my head held high and push through the crowd.
But
not
bad
damage
control, overall.

I'm definitely faring better than Amy. Speculation that she was the one who spread the McKinnley Vomit Video starts buzzing almost immediately. Suddenly, people are going out of their way to console Deena over the whole ordeal. Which is an interesting turn, since when it first happened, people treated her like bulimia was the newest version of the plague.

Deena's image is helped even more by the senior assembly we have the next day. It teaches us all about how bad it is to diet, and the dangers of eating disorders, and the evil influence of skinny models. Deena bravely stands up with her tattooed head shining and shares about how hard she's worked to recover from her bulimia and how she's finally learned to love her curves. She actually cries when she talks about the awful Vomit Video. Looking directly at where Amy, Kelly, and I are sitting, she describes how degrading diets and liposuction are. Amy sinks low in her seat, and Kelly and I keep our heads down, and everyone else gives Deena a standing ovation.

Afterward, people are too distracted by the Deena vs. Amy spectacle to give too much scrutiny to my sham relationship with the captain of the football team.

It makes me sad to see Amy undone, her body language reverting back to its geeky, shy origins from before Prom Queen Camp. At least George is sticking by her side, but unless something drastic happens over the next few weeks, Amy doesn't have a chance in hell of being voted Prom Queen.

To be honest, I don't think Amy made the Vomit Video and spread it around. I don't even think she laughed meanly when she saw it. But in the dual worlds of reality television and high school, perceived truth is what really matters.

The producers of
The
Prom
Queen
Wannabes
must be pretty smart, because they choose the very next week to showcase Amy's amazing singing talent. Sure, everyone at school has already heard her sing. But that isn't the same as watching her on television as she goes to an audition and gets picked to be a sexy backup singer for the variety show
All
The
Rave!
in New York City.

I'm relieved to see that Luke and I come across as a totally legit couple in this episode. There's footage of the homecoming game with Luke playing amazing and me looking stadium glamorous in all white as I cheer him on. Afterward, a long shot of the two of us slow-dancing together has to convince everyone that we are a couple of characters in a romantic love story. I actually squeal with happiness while watching it.

Unfortunately for Kelly, it's her turn to play the featured bitch of the week. The cameras follow her around as she presents her modeling portfolio to local businesses hiring models for catalog work. Her SACC's idea, of course. Knowing how much Kelly hates everything to do with looking attractive, I totally understand her pissy attitude. But people watching the show can't see how much cashing in on her looks is making her skin crawl.

And then we see the fateful day she shows up for a model interview at the same time as Grace Douglas. Grace has been the standard model for many local businesses ever since doing a garage door commercial for her stepdad back in elementary school. We're all used to seeing her in some cheesy pose or another on the cover of the
Nickel
Saver,
and she's even been on few billboards. It's one of the reasons I felt like there was no escaping her back when I was the Elf Ucker.

The scene shows Kelly and Grace sitting across from each other in a waiting room with their modeling books balanced on their laps. Grace must have been stress eating chocolate over her breakup with Luke or something, because even through the hidden camera in the ceiling and layers of foundation, we can see her face is covered in angry red bumps.

The obvious tension in the room is emphasized by the shark attack music playing in the background.
Finally
, I think as I watch the hostile looks between them escalate onscreen.
This
show
could
use
a
good
bitch-fight about now
.

Suddenly, Kelly stands up and verbally attacks Grace with unbridled viciousness. She looks like a lunatic, letting Grace know what a has-been she is and adding a number of unkind references to Grace's complexion. Poor Grace seems absolutely crushed.

“Wait a minute,” you may be saying. “‘Poor Grace'? Isn't she that hateful bitch that you hate?” Well, yes, she is. But continuing to hate her at this point seems sort of petty.

Besides, if you could see the way Kelly rips into her, completely unprovoked, you'd feel sorry for her too. Especially when they show Grace blowing her interview afterward. She keeps covering her face with her hands, which is not the best way for a model to win over a client.

The scene is intercut with more recent confessional interviews with each girl. Kelly comes off as cold, complaining about being forced to drag her butt around on go-sees. Meanwhile, Grace is almost in tears as she talks about wanting to make her modeling dreams come true
so
badly
. Kelly winning the ad ends up feeling like a huge injustice.

I've been trying to avoid the esteem-smashing message board about the show, but since I came off pretty well this week, I venture on for just a quick peek. Thankfully, I was right about me and Luke seeming swoony together and a few commentators say our dance was the highlight of the show. Grace takes a few hits for her shallow dreams, but Kelly's the one who really gets the hate on the forum this week. I seriously hope she doesn't decide to do a browser search for herself because things get pretty harsh.

Mona_184:
Kelly is beautiful on the outside, but rotten to the core.

Andrewthesun:
They never show her and Pete getting it on, but you can just tell she's a total slut.

JonJon_5:
She'd look better if she duct-taped her damn mouth shut.

And
to
think, a week ago she was my biggest competition.

***

Kelly and Pete have a very public fight and break up the next morning, supposedly over the way she treated Grace on the show. Her defiant strut down the hallway while flipping onlookers the bird does nothing to help her win back supporters.

“What was that?” I ask when she approaches the lockers. “You forgot the cameras were on?”

“Now
you're
giving me shit?” Despite her tough-girl façade, I can see she's upset. She may have even seen the blog. “Grace is evil, okay? She attacked me and threatened to cause problems for my mom at the Snack Shack if I didn't quit modeling. She basically dumped her bitchiness all over me and I reacted.”

“That's not what it—”

Kelly cuts me off. “I know, I know, through the
wonders
of editing technology, the show made me look like an unbelievable ass.” She slams her books around inside her locker.

“Well, what happened between you and Pete?”

“That meathead?” She laughs. “He's a poser. Drops me the second my status loses value. And here I thought
you
were the only one using a relationship to social climb.”

“Hey, that's not—”

“Oh, come on, Shannon, don't deny it. You don't have feelings for Luke any more than Deena has a promising future as a spokesperson for Ipegag.” I glance around as Kelly goes on, “I'm so sick of the show's stupid games, and I'm tired of being such a constant whore over a lousy million bucks. I'm making money modeling now. I don't need this. I'm quitting.”

I stare at her. Ever since making it through Prom Queen Camp Hell, I have never once honestly considered quitting an option.

“So now that you're obviously losing, you're going to bail?” I say. “You want to be a full-time whore-model for the rest of your life? Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I mean, for the rest of your youth, which translates to about the next three years if you were paying attention during the assembly we just had.”

Kelly stares at me then asks calmly, “So you really think you stand a shot at the million bucks?”

“Who's going to beat me?” I shoot back. “Amy?” I nod toward where she and George are huddled in their quiet clique of two. “She's not exactly going to win with only one vote from George. And
you
certainly aren't much competition, what with the way you
quit
the minute things get tough.”

I see Kelly's jaw working in frustration. I'm baiting her. And she knows I'm baiting her. But she's also too pissed off to ignore the bait.

“That's it, Depola. It's on.”

“Bring it!” I turn just in time to be caught seamlessly by Luke's bicep as he sweeps by. We move in sync down the hallway, and I see Rick out of the corner of my eye. He's talking to James, but his eyes follow as we pass and his brow furrows.

Unbidden, the scene from the math room looms in my mind. Even though there's no footage of it, it plays like a movie clip in my head. Rick cornering me. Leaning me against the desk. About to kiss me.

I kick a locker door shut with one of my red pumps, nearly taking an underclassman's head off in the process.

Luke grins down at me. “Feeling a little aggression, Depola?”

I growl back, “You have no idea.”

***

Maybe the
Prom
Queen
Wannabe
forum folks are right about me being clueless, because declaring war with Kelly is not the smartest thing I've done. The whole time we're practicing our dance routine in the big Prom Queen Camp ballroom, Kelly ignores me, which totally psyches me out. I look over at her now, dancing aggressively with Raaauuul.

I wonder if she could get him to sabotage me. Amy is sharing a laugh with Victoria, and I realize what an idiot I've been this whole time. Josie told me to build alliances with people attached to the show. But I was so focused on learning how to seem popular, I forgot about building strategic relationships with people on the inside.

“Hey, what ever happened to Mickey, anyway?” I ask Victoria, wondering if I'm too late to make a power play.

Victoria waves me off. “She's in New York, taking care of show business.”

“Don't worry,” Raaauuul says darkly as his eyes remain on Kelly. “She has left you girls in
very
good hands.”

Kelly snaps her glare toward me, and I shudder. Obviously, ignoring me isn't the worst thing she can do. I spend the rest of our practice time making eye contact with the floor.

The winter months are progressing on our show even as the trees are starting to bud in real time. I know that I had my best holiday season ever, popularity-wise, without a single rendition of “We Wish You a Tiny Pecker,” but I'm not prepared to re-witness what happened to Kristan before winter break.

Despite the fact that Grace's popularity followed her modeling career into the figurative toilet, and the video of Deena unloading into a literal toilet drove her to the ugly comfort of scalp tattoos, Kristan never stopped being friends with either of them. If anything, her loyalty made her even more likable. Kristan quickly became our biggest threat for Prom Queen.

But all of that changes in the next episode.

Josie and I are watching the show together in our living room. Partially for moral support and partially because Josie had a fallout with her bestie. “You're not the only one dealing with drama,” she tells me.

The show opens with a shot of Kristan huddled with Deena and Grace in classic girl-crisis formation. Kristan confesses she's been hiding the fact that her dad got fired from his advertising job over the summer. Now her mother is threatening to leave him flat if he doesn't find a new job. She cries as she haltingly describes him being devastated over his gorgeous wife's ugly ultimatum.

“He stayed in his pajamas, eating coffee ice cream all weekend,” Kristan says. “And he was still in bed when I left for school.” Her friends awkwardly try to comfort her.

“It's like my mom doesn't care about what he's going through at all.” Onscreen, she breaks down.

The episode gets more and more uncomfortable to watch as it follows Kristan through those first awful weeks of her parent's separation. She begins dabbling in the “natural look” which actually looks good on her. Right up until her eyebrows and mustache grow in.

“Oops, a little too natural,” Josie says, and I slap her leg.

“Ouch.” Josie slaps me back, and I shush her.

I get excited when I recognize the pink button-down I'm wearing onscreen and know what scene is about to play out.

Grace is alone at her locker when I approach, and I'm proud that I didn't need backup the way she did when she serenaded me. I stand, smirking at her for a moment, and she says, “Shove off, Shannon.”

Clearing my throat, I start singing the carol that I made up to the tune of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” It's titled “Padded Bras Make Grace Big and Round,” and I'm surprised to hear how in-tune I sound.

“Your nipples won't twist

A bug bit you twice

A boob job might work, if not for the price.

Pa-dded bras make Grace big and ro-ound!”

I make corny gestures toward my own boobs to go with the lyrics, and Josie gives a nose laugh at my performance. Onscreen, Grace scowls at me but draws her books up in front of her chest in a way that shows my song is hitting its mark. Josie laughs harder as I continue singing, but the camera catches a look in Grace's eyes that makes something click in my brain.

I know just what she's feeling.

In that instant, watching the screen, I can sense Grace's hurt and shame because it is imprinted on me. Being the punch line to a cruel joke. The pain is still so close I can feel it.

I zone in on the glossy shade of hot pink lipstick on my singing lips.
Shannon's Sugar Bliss
is a beautiful color. But the lipstick can't make the words coming out of my mouth any less ugly.
Who the hell
is
that
bullying
fashionista
onscreen?

I've been so focused on manipulating others that I completely lost touch with who I am. I thought that hurting Grace the way she'd hurt me would make my life better. I daydreamed for years about getting even, and now as I watch it play out, I feel nothing but hollow.

I can't look at the Shannon onscreen for one more second, and I pick up the remote to click off the television.

“What are you doing?” Josie asks.

“The thing I should've done a long time ago.” I look my sister in the eye. “I'm saying good-bye to the show.”

“Are you crazy? You are rocking this thing.” Josie lunges for the remote.

“Noooo…” The two of us start wrestling on the couch, and she rolls on top of me. I grab a throw pillow and start whapping my little sister on the side of her head until her hair's saturated with static. The two of us grapple for control—But then.

The background music starts picking up dramatically. The two of us turn our tousled heads toward the screen as the camera closes in on Luke walking past Grace in the hallway. And it catches him giving her a wink. And a nod.

I get a really bad feeling as I sit up and watch the two of them walk swiftly in opposite directions. They meet at the door to a supply closet on the third floor.

They go inside.

It happens to be wired, and Josie lets out a gasp beside me as onscreen Luke and Grace fall into each other's arms. I put my hands over my eyes and watch through my fingers. Witness what Luke looks like when he's kissing someone he has true chemistry with. He and Grace make out so hot and heavy that even the greedy
Prom
Queen
Wannabes
camera pulls back and shifts to soft focus.