Miss, Do I Know You?

14 - Friday, December 11

The Winter Ball illuminated the gym in a magical way that night. The atmosphere was electric, filled with laughter and stories as I spent time with Olivia, Sophia, and fun strangers.

Despite being at the end of the event when ideas of going home or attending the afterparty floated around, the excitement in the air remained. But just as I contemplated taking a breather to recharge, Sophia found my hand again, urging me back toward the dwindling dance floor, a clear sign that the evening was winding down.

Sophia groaned as she scanned the surroundings. The glitter adorning her face shimmered in the lights, practically transforming her features into a constellation of stardust. "Where did everyone go?"

"Probably migrated to your house. Shouldn't we get going too?"

"I've got someone keeping an eye on what's going on there. The student council and the teachers gotta stay behind. They're worried about the food rotting or whatnot."

The music abruptly stopped, making us stop with it. Surprise mixed with disappointment and contorted our features.

I flashed an apologetic smile. "I guess it's really over now."

"Nah." Sophia continued pulling me along. "I've been kinda waiting for this. Come on."

Confused but undeniably intrigued, I trailed her footsteps to the parking lot where she retrieved two guitars from the trunk of her car. That curiosity only intensified as she made a call and led us back to the dimly lit stage where Lucas was waiting for us with his bass, just as confused.

The school clearly took their extracurriculars very seriously, as evidenced by the equipment around us that I dared not disturb with my technological illiteracy. Sophia's cheeks were stretched wide as she connected the instruments and pressed buttons on the soundboard. "Ready to jam?" she asked, handing me one of the guitars.

Before I could turn my grin into words, a stern voice made us turn in unison. "What's going on here?" Harris peered up at us with a confused smile.

Sophia stepped forward and looked down at the principal. "Sir, we'll just play for a bit. Maybe the cleaning will go along a lot faster with some background music."

"I think we'd be better off with six extra hands, not music." He sighed. But as Sophia put her teacher's pet powers to good use, his initial faux sternness gave way to that usual grin. "Just make sure to switch everything off afterward, alright? I don't want any surprises in the morning."

Sophia beamed. "Of course. We'll leave everything as it was before."

Though the crowd had thinned to only a couple of dozen souls, nerves and excitement mingled within me; the nerves came from the fact that all our previous jam sessions had been confined to Sophia's room, while the excitement came from everything else. I'd gotten plenty of noise complaints from my neighbors back in Toronto and had surely ruined my hearing long ago because the music never felt loud enough. I needed it to make my heart vibrate and drown out the rest of me. And now, I felt it could be possible to make my insides pulse if I wanted to.

What began as an impromptu jam session unexpectedly turned into something more. I let it carry me away, carry us away. Whenever I dared look past us, it was clear that the music was affecting the lingering people, too, making them move with a bit more rhythm while cleaning up. Even some teachers, which made us exchange glances and laugh amongst ourselves.

One figure in the room stood in undeniable prominence. Alex had dedicated most of her time to tidying up and ordering people around, but during one of the songs, the principal ventured towards her. The two of them danced for a minute or two, moving together like two teenagers, caught up in the moment as if oblivious to the fact that they were staff. It was a fun sight until they slipped away together and never returned.