Blue Mirth

Ball-Drop

John Kenneth

I wasn't exactly mad at her... I think.

It's just that I don't want to talk about what happened that night.

It's a lot to take in and I'm pretty sure that if I tell her right now, this occasion will be ruined.

But she really wants to know, and I guess that's why I have this mood.

****

"Lighten up, John. They're going to announce the Spring King and Queen soon and I don't want you in this lousy mood," Ivy elbows me in the gut as we're standing on the dance floor, waiting for the announcement. I grunt in annoyance and see her step away a bit. It's night-time now. Ivy and I had spent the whole day glaring at each other and doing stuff to pass the time. We were both angry, me at her constant curiosity for that night and her at me because 'I wouldn't lighten up'.

We'd danced again. This time all of our movements were forced, stiff. None of us had contributed to much conversation with Savannah and Walden, and Savannah had seen this, because she kept glancing at the two of us oddly. I'd shrugged her off and then she stopped. Ivy hadn't made a move to stop this cold war, so why should I? I don't even know why she wants to know what she wants to know.

Right now, she's standing right in front of me, with her back to me, her eyes probably skimming the stage. "I would lighten up if you'd drop the idea of mw telling you what happened that evening," I declare. She elbows me again. This time it's kind of hard, and I catch her elbow right before it retreats and whirl her around. I glare at her. "I have a right to know," she says, stubbornly.

"Stop elbowing me," I say, and feel her shudder. My hand was around her arm the whole time and she snakes it out of my grasp. It's then that I realise that I was holding her way too hard. She stares at me with this... horror in her eyes, and then turns around to watch the stage again. "Sorry, Lu- John," she mutters, walking away from me to where Savannah is standing with Walden. What the heck was that?

The MC – a redhead with freckles and dark eyes – comes on stage and takes a hold of the mic. "HOW WE DOIN' TONIGHT FAM?!" he says enthusiastically into it. Everyone cheers. I think he's a little drunk, I saw him by the Never Have I Ever table when I found Ivy. When I found her holding a drink and put it down the moment our eyes met. I want to trust her, but I just....

"Okay, so this year we added a few extra posts besides the Spring King and Queen, just for fun. While you were allowed to vote for the King and Queen, it was just the Student Council who voted for these other posts judging the conduct today. These posts are: Future Oscar Winner, Nicest Smile, Best Taste in Clothes, Loudest, Funniest Sneeze, Quietest, Biggest Drama Queen, Biggest Gossip, Kindest, Secret Superhero, Nicest Eyes, Best Laugh, Biggest Party Animal."

And with that he finishes reading of the small piece of paper he was holding, and moves on to say, "Let's do the extra ones first, because we all know that if we do the King and Queen first everyone's going to run off to Nowhereland." Nowhereland... I remember thinking that word when Kylie and I had split up and Ivy took me to Sapphire Park for dumplings and Despicable Me.

I glance over to her beside Savannah, and she her massaging her head a little. Panic grips me. I walk over behind her and decide that it's time we get over this silent treatment. "I've been a bad boy," I murmur into her ear, placing my hand on her flat stomach. I wonder if she's lost a little weight, thanks to the trip to the hospital. We stand like that – my arm around her, her looking in front of us – for a whole minute.

And then she turns her head and I bend to look at her. Her temple touches my lips as she says, "I've been a bad girl." It makes me laugh, her little voice finally talking to me. "You do have a right to know. I was just... it was just very painful for me. One moment you were on that kitchen isle laughing and the next, you were in a hospital bed with a drug-overdose and alcohol-poisoning diagnosis," I confess.