All Planned Out

Nineteen (Alex)

"I don't even want to know how much any of this cost."

"They paid to have all of this done overnight and yet we have to beg for actual school supplies."

"And it'll all be gone tomorrow."

Mr. Harlow and Mrs. Dearing stood against the wall a few feet away playing chaperone. We had been listening to them complain ever since we came into the gym and Charlotte dragged me over toward them in an attempt to keep away from the growing crowd and to have the best vantage point she could of the entrance.

"I can't believe they aren't here yet."

"I can." I said. This got me a cold stare.

"I should have texted her, but after the week we've had..." She rolled her eyes and then grimaced. "...it just feels weird."

After what had happened during Tuesday's lunch, neither Montana or Stuart had spoken to either of us. We didn't car pool. In homeroom, Stuart had moved himself back over to his original seat. He also hadn't been writing, at least not then. I wasn't exactly spying on him while he worked, but watching him scribble away was, dare I say it, kind of cute.

Ugh.

I wasn't trying to cause a problem. I was just playing along like I thought I was supposed to. What I didn't think was going to happen when I offered Stuart up some of my lunch was that it would end with Montana threatening to break my legs if I, ahem, broke anyone's heart.

And now, four days later, I was standing in the gym and watching as my 'girlfriend' eyed the door like a hawk looking for a rodent to swoop down, steal away, and swallow whole.

"Montana's never been the punctual type." I said as three more couples wandered in. All of them gave the gym the same confused look that we had when we'd walked in earlier.

When Gina and Randy had told us that the theme was going to be the elements, none of what I was now standing in the middle of would have ever crossed my mind as reasonable decoration.

Temporary walls, probably about eight feet tall, had been erected around the perimeter of the room and were all constructed to appear as though we had wandered into some kind of futuristic, science fiction space laboratory. Something like that. Pipes criss-crossed their way between each of the walls, with markings suggesting that they were somehow transporting earth, wind, fire, and water. Lights flashed in time with the music, because of course there also happened to be a DJ and dance party lighting doing their absolute best to not at all fit in with whatever aesthetic the designers the school had hired were trying to accomplish. It was as though we had stepped through a portal and into the world's cleanest boiler room that also happened to have a floor painted up like a basketball court.

"Whose idea was this, anyway?" Mr. Harlow was starting to sound just as annoyed as Charlotte.

"Like you have to ask." Mrs. Dearing said before the two of them erupted in laughter and then walked off toward the concessions.

Charlotte turned to me and shuddered. "Teachers aren't supposed to have inside jokes. Makes me think that they're talking about me behind my back."

"Speaking of behind your back." I pointed over her shoulder and then got to see her face as she spun, saw Montana, and nearly fainted. "What's she doing with Gloria Marten?

"Hunnnnnnnuhhh..." Charlotte moaned, her fist shoved into her mouth.

"There's no way she could—"

The fist pulled from her lips and whipped around into my stomach. "Shhh! I...I can't...I have to..." She was up and moving before I had caught my breath, beelining her way across the floor and toward the two girls. I jogged off after, but only managed to catch up just as Charlotte reached them.