This Prom Queen is winning out of spite.
Since the dawn of internet video, the AV Club of Van Buren High has hosted a reality show for twenty lucky seniors to compete for the coveted titles of Prom King and Queen. Self-imposed social outcast, Aspen...
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I stared through heavy eyelids out the windshield of the car. Ky had gone inside almost immediately, eager to see if there was an envelope taped to his locker. I was in no such rush. Despite stopping for caffeine on our way to school, I was still dead tired. It was going to take awhile to adjust to waking up this early.
After an impatient text from Liv asking when I was going to meet her, I sucked it up and merged into the stream of people trickling inside the building. I spotted the first nomination on my way to my locker. Tayshia Johnson squealed as she pulled the little white envelope off her locker, surrounded by ecstatic friends. I wondered what it felt like to have that moment: finally getting the thing you'd wanted so badly. Had Ky gotten his moment?
I was going to text him when I found Liv leaning against the wall at the end of my hallway. She glanced up from her phone, the eager energy pouring off of her.
"There you are!" she shouted, stuffing her phone back in her pocket.
"Chill. It's barely even seven-thirty. What has you so worked up? Did Christian finally ask you out or something?" I asked.
"God, I wish," Liv replied. She grabbed my hand and tugged me around the corner. "Just come on!"
"I'm too tired for this," I groaned, trying to keep her pace as we wove through the bodies that packed the small space. But then, my breath caught in my throat as I saw the white envelope taped to my locker. My feet almost stumbled over the smooth tile floor.
As I snatched it, I gushed, "Shut the fuck up! This can't be real."
"Freak out justified?" Liv asked.
"Completely."
"Who do you think you're playing with?"
"How would I know? I don't even know how I got this far."
My name had been scrawled across the envelope in shimmering, golden ink. I could hardly believe it. Why would anyone want to nominate me?
I tore it open, finding the decorative card inside. The same gold ink had been used to hand write the message.
Congratulations, Aspen! You've been nominated to play Senior Standoff with Asher Brandt!
"This has to be fake," I said immediately, handing the card to Liv. Her blonde brows furrowed as she read over the card again and again.
"Asher? Do you even actually know him?" she asked.
"No. Besides last night, I've talked to him, like, once. I think."
"I guess they're pulling twists early this year."
"Either that, or someone's trying to mess with me. What are the chances that this is fake?"
I hadn't spent the past three years making enemies, so I wasn't sure who I could've pissed off enough that they'd want to go to such lengths to prank me. But, on the other hand, how could I have possibly scored a nomination? And with Asher of all people? Neither of us had the friends or fans to score the votes. With his track record of apathy towards any school events, he was the absolute last person that would ever want to play.
