The Idea of Us | Manthony

Hoco?

   "Hey Christian. Didn't expect to see you here." a boy from the tech department calls out.

   "Yeah me either." Christian sighs as he stares at the light board in front of him.

   The reflective metal glows under the dim lighting in the school's gymnasium. Christian stares at all the small nods and switches on the machine, unsure of what to do without instructions.

   "Thank you for helping out," Stacey walks up to the side of the tech booth and looks up at Christian, "Mike called out sick for the past few days, has mono or something I don't know."

   "Yeah, no problem." Christain gives Stacey a weak smile.

   Stacey turns and looks around the room. People hustle around the large gym putting blue and teal tassels on every pole they can find. A small group of people go around to each round table and set them up with place settings. They throw down large black tablecloths, covering the cheap wood of the tables. Bright cloth napkins lay on each plate in an attempt to make the decorations seem more sophisticated.

   "No, the balloon arch goes by the entrance. I've said this how many times?" Stacey yells across the gym to two helpless males, "This all is starting to get to me." she turns back to Kras.

   "I'm sure." Christian pushes a knob on the light-board up making the lights in the room turn blue.

   Stacey stares up at the lights, marveling at their color, "That is perfect. Now did I go over everything for tomorrow with you?"

   Christian shakes his head to the side. His long blonde hair hit his face from the movements of his head.

   "Okay so, when we open the doors I want not too dark but not too bright, a light blue maybe?"

   Christian's hand slides across the metal of the light board. He flicks a few switches, making the lights of the gym turn a light blue color.

   "Yes just like that." Stacey's head swivels as she looks at either side of the room.

   Christian's fingers quickly click on the keys on the board as he locks the lights in place. He pulls out a small notebook and flips through the pages. If he didn't write everything down he'd never get anything accomplished. He would lose his head even if it wasn't attached. He fips past multiple filled pages and finally lands on an empty page. Christian scribbles the number of the setting of the light and when to start it, making sure the lighting goes as smoothly as possible.

   "When everyone takes their seat and dinner is served I want more teals and greens in there. Maybe shifting between the colors? The theme is Under the Sea, so can you make it look like we are underwater?" Stacey looks up at Christian.

   The blue lights bounce off Christian's skin, complementing his warm complexion. His hair falls gracefully around his face, framing his soft features. His hands gracefully move around the board from his years of experience with technology. His intelligence stuns Stacey as she watches the boy in awe.

"Stacey? How about this?" Christian snaps Stacey out of her trance.

The young girl looks around the room. Blue and green lights glimmer off of the brick walls and move around the room in no order. The lights bounce off all the shiny decorations hanging from strings stung across the room, causing small pockets of light to dance around the floor.

"Perfect," Stacey sighs as she takes it all in, "When we announce homecoming court, as the senior president, I'll be on stage announcing it. We need bright lights on the stage and dim those of the crowd. Then when I go through all the names pan the lighting in the stage to each person as they walk up."

Christian writes everything down in his notebook.

"You can do that right? It has to be perfect." Stacey looks up at Kras before turning back towards the gym, "When they're all up there I want lights going every which way when the drum roll hits, to keep the suspense up and all. But one light has to be focused on me..."

Christian starts to zone out. There's only so much his brain can tolerate of Stacey's rambling. As charming as the girl is, Christian can not stand to listen to her much more.

"... then the lights snap into focus on the homecoming queen and king as they accept their crowns. Then as they walk downstage..."

A little stick figure appears on the page of Christian's notebook as he begins to doodle. He draws a top hat on the small figure and places a large mustache on his face. The blonde boy chuckles as he turns the stick figure into the monopoly man.

"... I hope this all goes well, I've spent all month planning this dance. If it doesn't go right I don't know what I'll do. But I think there's one more thing I need to figure out."

Christian flips the page and begins doodling more images of his character in the bottom right corner of the page. Each drawing is slightly different from the last.

"... every girl needs a date and no one has asked me yet. How stupid would it look if I showed up with no one you know?"

"Mhm..." Christian nods his head.

"See? Even you think it's stupid I don't have a date. Well, I've been waiting for this one guy to ask me but he hasn't yet..."

Christian flips through the pages with his doodles, seeing his short animation come to life. A small giggle escapes his lips as he watches the stick figure slip on a banana peel.

"... I don't think he'll ask me though, so it looks like I'm going to have to do it myself. So Christian, do you want to go to the dance with me?"

Christian freezes. The pages slip from his fingers as he turns his head toward Stacey.

"What?" Christian's face grows warm.

"Will you go to the dance with me? I know we'll both be preoccupied with other duties, you doing lights, and me keeping the party going, but I think it would be fun to have someone to dance with. We could do a few dances together or something I mean..."

"Sure." Christian interrupts her spiel.

"Really?" Stacey's face lights up.

"Yeah, why not? It'll be fun." Christian turns back to his cartoon character.

"Oh great!" Stacey begins to bounce on her toes, "I already have my dress picked out. It's a dark forest green dress so you have to get something to match obviously. You'll have to pick me up from my house, my mother will want to meet you. I'll expect you around 7, you can't be late or..."

Christian looks at Stacey with his soft eyes. He looks the girl up and down stopping her mid-sentence.

"I'll be there at 7 sharp, I won't be late. I'll pick up a green tie-"

"Forest green." Stacey corrects Christian.

"A forest green tie, sorry. I got it all." Christian flashes Stacey a warm smile.

"Okay. Perfect" Stacey blushes as she walks off.

Christian stares down at the light board and takes a big breath in. Tomorrow is going to be a long night.