Popularity Contest

11

The school is buzzing with excitement all day. It's so bad that most teachers don't even try to make us pay attention. Three of my classes just showed a movie and the last two periods were replaced with an assembly about teen drinking.
After the final bell, Eva, Kam, Frankie and I meet at my locker and walk out to the parking lot together. Wyatt is waiting at his car with the trunk open. The girls brought their dresses with them so we can all get ready at my house.
Once everything is loaded in, we climb in the car and drive off. As quickly as rumors of me and Wyatt started, they've fizzled out. It's become old news to see me getting in and out of Wyatt's car. Plus some senior girl is pregnant, that's the new story on the metaphorical front page.
"I'll see you ladies later," Wyatt says once we grab all of our things and head for the door.
"Just wait until you see how hot we look," Eva says with a wink.
"There's no way you could get any hotter," he says back to her.
I roll my eyes and Eva melts, tripping over her own feet and almost hitting the pavement.
Once we get inside, Eva finally takes a breath. "I don't understand how you can be so chill around him," she says to me.
"Because I know he's full of it," I say, leading the way to my room. "Half the crap that comes out of his mouth is a lie."
"Whoah," Frankie says when she walks through the door. "What happened to your room?"
I forgot they haven't been in here since I trashed half of my things. I shrug. "I just needed a change."
Eva turns to face me, hand on her chest, dramatically. "Our little girl is growing up."
"Shut up," I say laughing, ready to move on from this conversation before it turns back into being about Wyatt. "Let's start this heinous process of conforming to gender stereotypes."

Mom brought a pizza home so we could stuff our faces before she drove us to the school at 7. Now, we're standing outside the door, gathering all of our courage to go in. This isn't really our thing. Frankie is completely uncomfortable, even though she looks amazing. Kam would rather be home reading a book. Eva, though she seems like the type to thrive at functions like this, gets insecure when surrounded by other "pretty" people. And then there's me; socially awkward, no rhythm, basically nonexistent to everyone else in the room.
"It's going to be fun," Eva says, trying to convince us. "Once we walk in, the anxiety of what it will be like will be gone. Let's take the first step."
"Go ahead," Frankie says with a snort, pulling at the hem of her dress.
Eva nods tenaciously and walks through the door. We follow her.
The gym hasn't been altered that much. There's strands of lights hung up in various places, some streamers that I can't tell the color of because there's no light except one spinning disco ball hung from the rafters, casting white dots around the room.
The DJ table is up front with just a single laptop and two large speakers standing next to it. Behind the table is tonight's DJ, Mr Park. He gets recruited for most of the school dances, because apparently he's the only musically inclined adult in this school.
I follow the girls to a table on the right side which will mainly serve as a place to put our things. We set our purses down and turn back to the dance floor. There aren't that many people here but we're sort of early.
"See, not that bad," Eva says, her shoulders already bouncing to the beat. "Let's go dance."
We walk onto the makeshift dance floor, stop dead center like we are somebody and start putting our Just Dance expertise to the test. I can't dance but I just try to do whatever Eva or Kam does since they're always the winners of our competitions.
Pop song after pop song plays until finally a slow song starts and we pair off. I put my arms around Eva and Frankie grabs Kam's waist. Slow songs are more my speed because we just walk in a circle and talk.
"This isn't too bad," I say.
"It's not too good either," Eva complains. "There's, like, no seniors here and no hot juniors."
"Do you ever think about anything else?"
"Like what?" She asks.
"I don't know, like how much you love your friends? What a great time you're having with them?" I tease.
"Of course," she shouts, her voice louder than the music. "I'm having such a great t-," her voice cuts off and she gasps, her eyes are wide and looking toward the gym doors. "They're here."
I can't help it, I turn my head to see who she's referring to and that's when I see him. Wyatt and his friends stroll into the room like they own the place and judging by everyone's reactions, they kind of do. All eyes have turned toward them although they all act like they don't notice.
Wyatt looks good, but when doesn't he. He's wearing black pants and a long sleeve black dress shirt. The only color on him is a bright pink bow tie. His hair is slicked down but it looks good.
I don't realize I'm still staring at him until I look back at his face and see he's looking at me too. I quickly look away, turning back to Eva.
"They who?" I ask, like I haven't noticed.
"Wyatt and the team. You told him about Jack right?" She asks.
"Yes, I told him that you would like to be introduced to him or any other willing guy on the team."
Eva smiles excitedly. "Can we go over there now?"
"No," I practically shout. "They just got here, I'm not going to bombard him. Plus, if he wants to talk to me, he can come to me."
Eva rolls her eyes and almost stomps her foot the next time she takes a step. "No fun."
"Your boyfriends here," Frankie says, leaning over towards us.
"Shut up," I say, annoyed with the whole situation.
"Someone else didn't have a problem bombarding him," Eva says, forcing me to look back at the group of guys.
Sure enough, four girls have made their way up to them and started pairing off, moving further into the dance floor. A tall, thin, blonde girl takes Wyatt's hand and leads him to the left side of the room where they wrap their arms around each other and start moving to the music.
"Damn it," Eva says, breaking my attention, "Jack's with Tori. Maybe Brent then, he's still alone."
"Ok, Eva. I get it. Anyone will do," I snap. I don't mean to but my emotions are all over the place.
Thankfully the music changes to another fast song and I drop my arms. "I'll be right back," I say before making my way over to our table.
I grab my phone out of my purse and see a text from Wyatt.
W: r u here?
Now I'm even more confused. I know he said he'd see us later but I honestly didn't think he would seek me out. I thought, if anything, we'd wave at each other from across the room. I knew he'd be with his teammates and the girls that follow them like puppy dogs, I don't know how to navigate us in this setting.
My mind is racing and the heat in here isn't helping. I walk out into the hallway and around the corner to the bathroom. It's much cooler out here and I think about staying in here as long as I can before someone comes to find me.
I was having a good time before Wyatt got here. Why am I letting him ruin my mood? We're not here together, I'm here with my friends and I'm going to have fun with them.
I check my hair and makeup in the mirror before walking out and colliding with another body.
"Easy tiger," Wyatt says as he grabs my arms to steady me.
Of course he's here. Of course he knew exactly where I was. "What are you doing here?" I ask angrily after I collect myself.
"Uh, it's a dance. I bought a ticket and this super cool tie," he says, reaching up to pull on it, smiling proudly.
I tuck my lips in to resist smiling and take a deep breath. "I mean right here, outside of the bathroom."
"I was waiting for you, you didn't answer my text but I saw you walk out here," he says, honest as ever.
"Stalker," I mumble, letting myself smile a little.
"You want to dance later?" He asks, his hand going to his ear, pulling on his lobe.
"I'm sure your dance card is already full," I say. "But I guess if you want to pencil me in." I can't ignore the way my heart has sped up.
"Next ones for," he says, dropping his hand and winking. "I'll find you."
He starts walking away and my head starts spinning. "Wait," I call, "don't forget about Eva."
Wyatt pauses before he rounds the corner and gives me a thumbs up.
I let the breath out of my lungs once he's out of sight. I take a few seconds to calm my heart rate before heading back into the gym.