Chapter Two
Charlotte was surprised by the number of people crowding the auditorium.
She would have thought that by now, at least, everything would have cleared up. Instead, people were pushing and fighting against each other as if the Kissing List had not been posted yet and the elimination round had not started.
Charlotte tried to turn away, however, instead hiding in the corner as she watched Alex and Rebecca walk together. She didn't want to, but they were so close to her, that she just had to eavesdrop.
"I had them stall the elimination round for you," Rebecca grinned at the guy she had so much affection for. She'd always wondered why Alex would play around with girls when he could settle with her. She was pretty, smart, and tactical, so why not?
"Mhm," Alex responded, staring off into space. He couldn't focus on anything—anyone for that matter. All he wanted was a good list. He didn't care about the elimination rounds if he had a crap list of girls.
"I made sure Gavin snatched the best list for you," she continued. Of course she would, after all, Rebecca made sure Alex's list had her name on it. Her phone buzzed against her. She chose to ignore it, as it was most likely Mandy.
"Yeah, that's great," Alex said as they turned the corner. Even though Rebecca didn't notice, because of her constant squabble, Alex saw, from the corner of his, Charlotte Whitaker, hiding from plain view.
Charlotte knew Alex saw her, yet he didn't say anything. She quickly ran to the other corner, sighing in relief as she saw her three friends racing towards her.
"Char, come on, we wanna see the Kissing Rounds!" Emily squealed sarcastically. Not that she didn't want to spend two hours watching it, but she wanted to see the insane fighting.
They dragged Charlotte to the auditorium before she had a chance to object.
Gavin was nervous. There were originally only twenty lists posted and only four lists were left. Now Juniors, they have been playing this competition since Freshman year. It was only the thing their year would do, especially since the most popular students were in there.
Gavin hoped he was in the game this year, last year losing the last spot to a JV jock. Rebecca had stalled the presentation, making Gavin fidgety and nervous.
The doors slamed open and finally, Alex arrived; with Rebecca right next to them. Gavin sighed, he just wanted to get everything over with.
The door slammed opened again, this time Charlotte and her friends. He was confused. Charlotte didn't seem like the type to be interested in this.
"Hello, everyone! Welcome to the third year of the Kissing List!" Alex announced, his voice booming across the auditorium.
Gavin fleeted to backstage, concealing the fingers were crossed in hope.
Charlotte winced at Alex's voice. She already hated this.
"In my hand, I have a list of the last four people receiving a Kissing List with the names of every single girl in Junior year."
The audience cheered loudly, mostly the screams of girls.
"The first guy to receive a Kissing List is..." Alex trailed off, wanting to create . "Ryan Pettyre!"
A bulky jocky guy ran up the stage cheering, and choosing a list that Alex was holding in his hands.
"Next is, Jake Saunters, then George Delma, and lastly..." he paused for a dramatic affect. "Gavin Tran!"
Charlotte watched as Gavin, the boy who she had bumped into earlier that day, grinned from ear to ear, happily taking the last list.
"Let's welcome the twenty participating in the Kissing List!" he clapped as everybody cheered and clapped excitedly.
"Okay, once again, I would like to remind the participants in order to win and be named 'Kissing King of PAC' you must kiss as many girls as possible on the list given. At the half point mark of the competition, we will come back and and narrow the list down. However, there will be a special part this year.You will choose four girls on you list that you have not kissed before. You will soon narrow it down to one girl. The lucky female will be taken on a date, and you will earn extra points if you kiss them sometime during the date. Let's get started now." Harry Rebeck, a Junior who coordinated this competition, announced.
People stood up in their seats, cheering, clapping and screaming like hungry animals. Charlotte and her friends stayed in their seats.
"Aw, I wanted to see some fighting!" Reyma whined. "Char's right, let's bail."
Emily shook her head, "I think its gonna happen sometime soon." She pointed at the stage where Fredrick Mercado was choosing his four girls.
As time went by, over ten competitors announced their choosings. Charlotte heard the names of mostly the popular girls who bullied the quiet and geeky, including Hannah and Mandy.
So far, Charlotte and her friends experienced two arguments and one almost-fight first handily. She had to admit, it was exciting.
Then, Gavin entered the stage, looking into the crowd. He noticed Charlotte in the front row, laughing at something funny. He secretly worried that she wasn't laughing at him.
He looked on his list, scanning through the fifty names included. To be honest, Gavin had only kissed one girl in his life. He saddened at the thought of her.
Arabella Sutherland, Giana Amendola, Rachel Cruz, Julie Ryniker... The list kept going on and on. And then he saw her name.
"Uh, I choose," he started, looking for three random names, "Mikayla Edwards, Deena Smith, Shanon Nguyen, and..."
He paused, nervous and scared at the same time. And finally, he spoke.
Charlotte wanted to leave. To her, this whole thing was boring and the fact that they added a special round was lame.
"I'm sorry, I can't take it anymore," she whispered to her friends.
Just as she was about to stand up, she heard something that shocked her, and the whole school.
"Charlotte Whitaker."
Murmuring rang through the crowd. Questions like Who the hell was Charlotte Whitaker? Or, How could a nobody like her get picked?
Charlotte felt her cheeks get hot. This was truly embarrassing, and Charlotte just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide there forever.
Alex was surprised at Gavin's last choice.
Everything seemed to race through his head. Since when did Gavin meet Charlotte? How did they meet?
Deep in thought, he didn't notice his best friend walking towards him.
"Alex! You're up," Gavin said, waving a hand in front of Alex's eyes.
Alex grunted, and walked toward the stage. The eyes of everybody landed in him. From a distance, he could see Rebecca and her minions smiling happily at him. And in the front, he saw Charlotte, looking as bored as ever.
"Um, based on the list I was given, I pick," he started furiously and frantically scanning through the names of people. Of course, he saw Rebecca's name. He knew it wasn't a coincidence that Rebecca was on his list and had been since freshman year.
"Mia Zauoky, Evelyn Sanchez, Rhianna Irwin, and," he stopped. Not because he was finding one last name, but because he couldn't believe his eyes. The last name, at the very bottom of page two. Was it acceptable? He wasn't sure, but he'd take the risk.
"Charlotte Whitaker."
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