East Chapel Academy

Chapter 44: Marcus

"Oh, you look so handsome," Mom said straightening the lapels of my tuxedo jacket. We, as in Rosa, E.J., Dad, and myself stood in the foyer waiting for Nick, Sam, Stacy and Crystal to arrive.
"I'm so glad you decided to go to prom. Of course it would have been better if Nia was going with you, but prom is such a special experience. I would have hated to see you miss it," she went on.
"I know, Mom." She was over the moon when I told her that I had decided to go despite not having a date. I disagree about the special experience part, it's just a dance, on a bigger scale but at the end of the day, it's just my classmates dancing in fancy dresses and tuxedos in the middle of the gym.
She pinched my cheeks. "You're such a handsome young man." she pressed kisses to both of my cheeks, "I love you so much."
"I love you too, Mom," I said scrunching up my nose.
"That's enough, Ellen," Dad said to her. He gently pulled her away from me. "You're going to get lipstick all over his face."
"Sorry," she said clutching her hands to her chest. "I just can't help it. My sweet little baby is becoming a man."
"Jesus christ," my dad said under his breath. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he said, "Remember what I told you."
"Steal you a hand full of dinner mints from the restaurant," I repeated his request.
He shook his head, chuckling, "No, the other thing...about having fun."
"Oh, right." I nodded. "Don't worry about any rumors or drama and have good time."
He smiled at me. "That's right. Don't let the opinions of others stop you from enjoying your night. I know you would never do the things that Whitney said you did, I didn't raise you that way, and above everything else, you are a nice guy."
"Thanks Dad."
"We need to take pictures!" Mom announced. "E.J. come over here."
"Mama, I'm right here," he said coming up to us. His long hair was pushed back with a headband while he wore Nia's gift around his wrist like a bracelet. He'd traded in his Harry Potter costume for shorts and a t-shirt with sea turtles all over it, but he hadn't completely abandoned his Harry Potter inspired clothes. He still wore the fake wire glasses.
"Take a picture with your brother," she told him. "Go, go stand next to him."
"Pick me up," he insisted when he got next to me. I picked him up with ease, trying my best not to get any wrinkles in my suit. Suit? Tuxedo? Oh, hell, I don't know what this glorified school uniform is called.
"E.J., why are you wearing these?" I asked him wiggling the glasses with my index finger. "You don't need them."
He swatted my hand away, furrowing his brows. "Stop it. I like them."
I guess I can't argue with that.
"Why is Nia not here?" he asked.
"She's busy." I actually wasn't sure what she was doing except not talking to me. Though completely unlikely, I still had a small glimmer of hope that she would be at prom tonight.
"Did she not want to be your date because you're ugly?"
I scoffed, shocked, "No."
"E.J.!" Mom chastised him. "Your brother is not ugly. I'm not ugly and your father's not ugly, therefore he's not ugly. Apologize."
He sighed. "Sorry, Bubby. You're not ugly."
"Thank you," I replied apprehensively. I'm not ugly, and Nia doesn't think I'm ugly. At least I don't think she does.
I held the little meany as Mom took our photos. He gave me a wet kiss on the cheek before I set him down. I love that crazy gremlin.
We could hear the sound of the limousine pulling into the driveway. The limo was Crystal's idea, Nick was completely repulsed by it. He thinks that limos are one of the ugliest vehicles ever made, but she rented one anyway.
I met them outside, and I had to say my friends cleaned up nice.
Nick and Sam wore black tuxedos just like me, but Nick wore a boutineer with a red rose to match Crystal's dress. Crystal wore a floor length, tight vibrant red dress. Her long blonde hair seemed fuller than usual, falling around her shoulders and down her back in large curls. Stacy stood next to her in a light blue dress that matched her hair almost perfectly. It was adorned with pink flowers.
"You all look lovely," Mom said from behind me.
"Thank you, Mrs. Garrett," Sam said.
"Sam, I've told you a million times to call me Ellen," my mom smiled at him. She's told him this at least once every time he's come over since we were in kindergarten but he still hasn't kicked the habit.
"Sorry, Mrs--Ellen," he corrected himself.
"Better." She held her camera in her hands. "Everybody get together I want to take your picture before you go."
This was not up for debate, she was not going to let us go anywhere until she got her photos.
She made me take some pictures with just Nick and Sam, and then she took some of all of us together.
"Mom, we have to go. We're going to be late for our dinner reservation," I said trying to speed up the process.
"Let them go, Ellen," Dad said placing his hands on her shoulders.
She pouted, obviously wanting more photos. "Okay, have fun. Be safe."
"We will," we all said before piling into the car.
"I hate this thing," Nick said once we got into the limo. "It's so obnoxious."
"You get a new car every other week, all more expensive than the next. I don't want to hear it," Crystal said cutting his whining short. He huffed and began to mumble his dissatisfaction under his breath. Out of our group Nick and Crystal were the only two with a date while Sam, Stacy, and I were going stag. Sam's plan to ask Nia to prom failed for obvious reasons, but I don't understand why Stacy didn't have anyone to go with.
"Stacy, why don't you have date?" I turned to where she was seated next to me in the limo. Sam sat across from us eating the snacks from the bar even though we were driving on our way to dinner. While Nick and Crystal sat closer to the doors, Nick had his arms folded against his chest regarding the interior of the car in disgust.
"I would also like to know why you don't have a date, Stacy?" Crystal said looking at herself in her compact mirror. "It's not like you didn't have plenty of guys to choose from."
"Sure, I had some guys ask me," Stacy replied. "But I didn't want to go with any of them. Going to prom alone isn't that bad."
"I agree," Sam said with a mouth full of cocktail peanuts, crumbs already littered the front of his jacket. I feared that he wouldn't have the option to turn down dates like Stacy. "Who needs a date anyway?"
I wish I had my date with me right now.
"Marcus, remember, the only thing Whitney hates more than losing is being ignored," Crystal advised, closing her mirror and placing it back in her bag. "We may only be able to accomplish one of those things tonight, because I've gotten word that she's already won junior prom queen."
"How do you know that?" Stacy asked.
"I may have had one of the sophomores in charge of counting votes text me with the results," she responded. She rolled her eyes. "But it's not like we didn't know she was going to win anyway."
"I wish she wouldn't have," Stacy frowned.
"I don't care about her winning," I said. "How are we going to let everyone know she lied?"
"One thing I know about Whitney is that when she thinks she's already won something she starts to get comfortable. Too comfortable. That's when she starts to get messy."
Petty is the word I would use, but messy works just as well. "Okay, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"She'll crack," Stacy answered for her. "Once she realizes that this hasn't completely destroyed you like she thought it would, she'll begin to crack under the pressure of her own failure."
"That's when you confront her," said Crystal. "She'll expose herself. The only thing that will make it better is if Nia shows up."
"She would completely lose her shit," Nick laughed. "Oh, I hate her so much."
Don't we all. "But can we all agree that dinner is going to be a Whitney free zone. I don't want her toxic energy around my food," Sam said.
"Agreed," we said in unison.
Having a Whitney conversation free dinner was great. I got to eat my steak without thinking about how utterly evil she is.
We arrived at prom fashionably late as Crystal insisted that we had to. The parking lot was already full of exotic cars and a red carpet had been rolled out for students to walk into the gym.
"Am I really doing this?" I asked myself as I watched my classmates walk inside. I didn't want to be here, but I couldn't let Whitney get away with this. And if I had to be the person to prove it, then so be it.
I got out the limo helping Stacy step out along the way. Her dress got caught on the door.
"Thank you," she said once she had untangled her dress from the door hinge. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," I exhaled.
"Don't let her get in your head," she told me as we walked inside. Under the lights you could see the iridescent glitter that she had rubbed all over her arms and chest."She only has power over you if you let her."
"Noted." We approached the podium where they were collecting tickets. Jackie stood behind the desk wearing bright red lipstick to match her gaudy red dress. Shock was written all over her face when she saw us.
"Oh my God, you're here!" she blurted out as Stacy and I approached the podium. "I mean, you're tickets please," she said through her braces covered teeth.
We handed her our tickets without a word.
"Whitney's head minion would be taking tickets at the door," Stacy said once we had passed her.
I hadn't bothered to pay attention to the prom theme, but the gym had been decorated with draping blue fabric and a large stage had been built in the front of the gym. New lights cast the gym in a gold glow. People danced on the makeshift dance floor in the center of the gym.
Sam went to the appetizer table as soon as we got inside. Stacy was pulled away by some of her art friends, and Crystal dragged Nick away to dance. Leaving me alone, I scanned the room to see if Nia was here.
I immediately knew she wasn't there, because she's like a shining star in a pitch black sky I wouldn't be able to miss her. I wasn't surprised, just disappointed. But I did spot Whitney across the gym in her extravagant dark red dress. She stood tall among the girls that surrounded her showering her with compliments. She looked....pretty. But certain snakes look pretty too.
We locked eyes, and I could tell that she was surprised to see me. Good. Remembering what my father and Crystal had told me, I turned away like I hadn't seen her.
I just had to keep doing that until she got so frustrated that she snitched on herself.
Oh God, I hope this works.
I know Whitney absolutely hates being ignored. She would be enraged if I didn't answer her texts or calls right away. But the whole telling on herself thing I wasn't sure about. She would have to be beyond mad, and I don't know if me simply ignoring her would push her to that point.
I found an empty table in a far corner, and sat down. I'm not a dancer, my friends are busy, and the girl I like is M.I.A. What a lovely prom this is turning out to be.
"I can't believe you came," Thomas said approaching my table. Of course, he couldn't wear a regular tux like the rest of us, he had to put his own spin on things. The lapels of his jacket were covered in various buttons and pins, he wore a t-shirt of two eighties pop stars on the front. Hall and Oates.....I don't know who that is.
"I could say the same for you," I said to him. "I didn't think prom was your thing."
"It's not," he answered honestly. "But I am the editor of the newspaper, and nobody else wanted to cover this thing tonight. They all wanted to enjoy themselves or some b.s like that."
"Did Nia come with you?"
"No, she didn't."
He nodded. "I hope you two work it out. I mean, not really, I just hope she's happy."
"Uh, thank you." It was sort of a backhanded compliment, but I also wanted her to be happy. I just wanted her to be happy with me.
Thomas and I were talking about something when Whitney came up to us, or me, rather. She stepped right in front of Thomas cutting him off mid-sentence.
"You're just going to show up, and not say hi to me," she said slightly irritated.
Thomas stared at the back of her head with his mouth slightly ajar. "Wow," he mouthed, before walking away.
I looked down at her.
It's time to piss her off.
"I didn't see you," I lied.
"Oh," she said taken aback. "Well, did you come here by yourself?"
"That's none of your business," I answered keeping my voice monotone.
She smiled. "So you did come here by yourself. It's too bad Nia didn't want to come with you, you look so cute in your tuxedo."
I had to stop myself from shuddering at her compliment. I just gave her a blank stare instead.
"Are you even listening to me?" she asked her brows furrowed.
I looked past her to where Sam and Stacy were waving me over to the snack table. He was holding a cupcake in his hand. With their cue, I didn't even answer her question simply brushing past her to get to them. I heard her scoff loudly behind me, and I knew I had succeeded in pissing her off, if only just a little bit.
"You looked like you needed saving," Stacy said when I got over to them.
"I was doing exactly what Crystal said, and ignoring her," I explained. "And I think it worked."
"It definitely did," Sam said with frosting on his mouth. "She did that weird face scrunch thing that she does when she's angry, like when I spilled Coke on her shoes."
"She still hates you for that," Stacy told him. "But it's not just you she's mad at. Crystal and I are ignoring her too. She thinks we're going to crawl back to her, and it's pissing her off that we're not."
"But what can we do to make her more mad?" I asked.
"We have to steal her spotlight," Stacy stated.
"That won't be hard to do. Look who just walked in," said Sam looking towards the door.
I turned to see who he was talking about, and there she was. My bright shining star.
Nia looked beautiful. Breathtaking. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. She looked radiant in her aqua blue dress. Her hair was no longer in braids but big and curly. She was a few inches taller in her heels but I was still much taller than her.
She had her arm linked through Lavender's. Who wore black, but what else is new, her hair was pinned up into an intricate updo and she wore intense black lipstick on her lips.
"They both look gorgeous," Stacy said staring at them.
"I like Nia's hair like that," Sam commented. "It's so big."
I couldn't say anything I was so transfixed by her. And I wasn't the only one people openly gaped at them. Thomas went to meet them at the door, and I felt intense jealousy as I watched her hug him.
Crystal rushed to meet them hugging Nia tightly. She hugged Lavender too, she accepted it hesitantly.
"You should go talk to her," Stacy suggested.
"What if she doesn't want to talk to me," I said nervously. "I mean what if she's not ready to talk to me."
"I don't know, but I'm going over to talk to them," Sam said shoving the rest of his cupcake in his mouth before brushing the crumbs from his jacket. "I'll tell her you said hi."
"Sam!" I called after him but it was too late he was already gone.
She smiled brightly at him when he approached. He said something to her that made her look in my direction. She waved at me, and awkwardly I waved back.
Nia gestured for us to come over. Stacy gave me a nudge from behind. "Come on, Marcus."
"I know. I know," I said straightening my jacket. "I'm just nervous..."
"Don't be. She wants to talk to you," she encouraged me.
"Okay," I sighed.
Okay.