Denton High/The Rocky Horror High School

Science Fiction Double Feature x Damnit, Janet!

The air was heavy over Denton High School. Ralph could barely be heard over the din of kids laughing and shoes squeaking inside the narrow hallways no

The din of shoes squeaking and kids laughing was cut through by the voice of Ralph Hapschatt. He was a large boy, an all-American boy, good-natured to most, but likely to be found diving headfirst over a keg on the weekends. Captain of the football team, all the boys really wanted to be him. Brad especially. Typical of him, he was loitering in the hallways just before the bell rang, reluctant to get to class on time, the other boys following suit. Betty, a thin young sophomore, strode past the group.

"Hey Betty!" called Ralph. "You got a minute?" The group of boys laughed and shoved him forward jokingly, as Ralph feigned confidence. Everyone knew that Betty would say yes. Captain of the football team, large, and strong, he was the type of boy that every girl in Denton high school could ever want. There wasn't really any need for excitement. But in a town like Denton, well, not much ever happened, and they took things as they came.

"Yes, Ralph?" Betty replied hastily, stopping. Ralph grinned at her.

"Whatta you say me and you, we go out next weekend You know, for dinner or something. And a movie? I hear they're rerunning Forbidden Planet at the cinema down the road, that is if you don't mind something a bit older." All of Betty's eagerness to get to class quickly dissipated into excitement.

"Well of course! I- that sounds wonderful! Yes, yes!" Betty exclaimed. The bell rang, and the group of boys dissolved into their separate classrooms. Ralph walked off down the hallway, taking Betty to her class.

Brad stepped back, observing. He wasn't worried about being late to class; he had yet to sign up for one. It was something he had been putting off for quite a while now and was the only reason he hadn't been sitting right in his assigned seat at the moment the bell rang. As the boys chased each other down the hallway, a thin blonde girl, Janet, previously unrecognized amongst the group, surfaced. Brad started as he noticed her.

"J-janet!" He exclaimed.

"Brad! Wow, it's been forever since I've seen you!" Brad had in fact seen her at one of the large parties hosted at Ralphs's house, which he had been reluctantly dragged to by a friend of his.

"Yes, Janet, it's uhh, it's nice to see you again. I was just on my way to the office, it seems that I don't have a class scheduled for this period."

"Oh, how- what a coincidence! I don't either. Well, I hope you wouldn't mind me going with you then."

"Um, certainly not Janet," Brad said as he turned and started walking down the hallway.

"Say, Brad, wasn't that just wonderful? Didn't Betty look so radiant? Oh, I bet that's all the girls at lunch will talk about today, and can I blame them? I can't wait to hear all about it!" They passed several art students working on a mural on the wall, a bad rendition of an American Gothic painting. Two dreary figures stared blankly at the hall, one holding a pitchfork.

"Sure Janet, she's a... she's a very lucky girl to have a guy like Ralph."

"Oh, I just wish that a guy would come and sweep me off my feet like that." She glanced, not so subtly as she had maybe hoped, or maybe not, towards him.

"Yes, why... Ralph's probably in order to win that championship game in a few weeks with a catch like her cheering him on."

"Oh... yes!" Janet said. Brad turned to her.

"Hey Janet"

"Yes Brad?" It was silent in the hallway, but from the church down the road, you could almost strain to hear the distant sound of wedding bells. Suddenly, a loud clap of thunder, so strong it almost shook the ground, followed by a flash of lightning, echoed down the hallway and the power flickered. Brad yelped and jumped backward, slipping on a paper that had fallen off the wall. He looked around, embarrassed, but the art students seemed to have gone.

"Oh Brad are you alright?" Janet exclaimed. Brad, shaken but trying to appear calm, brought himself up off the ground.

"Uh yes Janet, yes, I'm perfectly fine," he said. "Um, perhaps we might... uhm..." He trailed off as he noticed Janet staring plaintively at him. There was an awkward pause as he tried to look anywhere but her eyes. The paper on the floor caught his eye. It was a poster for some sort of... event is all he could gather from it. The words "Rocky Horror Picture Show" were plastered across it in red, dripping letters- still slightly damp, shining in the dim LED light of the hallway.

People had been getting suspicious of Brad. He hadn't ever dated, despite being a fairly popular boy, in with the "it" crowd but not too in, just enough to slip by without being bullied, but without being praised. Still, at a place like Denton High, even the slightest hint of anything would raise suspicion. People had been outcast for less. Brad shuddered as he remembered what happened to Eddie. But Janet was a nice girl, a little airheaded, sure, but would that not serve him? Surely a little date couldn't hurt, though... ever since he saw her in Doctor Scott's science class freshman year, he couldn't help blushing a bit at her doe eyes and soft blonde hair she let fall around her sharp face... He realized that Janet was still staring at him expectantly.

"Uh, I've got something to say"

"Uh huh?"

" I really love the... um, will you maybe... there's this show I'd like to see and I- I was going to bring Ralph to it but I guess he's busy this weekend though and I- um, maybe you'd enjoy it-"

"Oh, yes Brad! I'd love to go with you!" Janet exclaimed.

"Well, then it's settled. I'll pick you up this weekend?"

"That sounds lovely!"