The Girl in the Boys' Dorms

Chapter Twenty-Two: You never thought I was anything more than a nerd.

The mention of the judges caught my full attention, and my gaze flew over to the only five occupied seats in the front row. There sat the judging committee, which was made up of Principal Dennis, Vera O'Connor - the student body president, who claimed to speak on behalf of the school, but who always did whatever she pleased - Ashton Chambliss - the head student ambassador, who was in charge of welcoming newcomers to the school, and who was infamous for choosing whichever contender would sleep with him - Freya Price - who seemed to be the only fair judge, and fortunately so, since she was one of the school's student officers; the people who handled minor disputes and such - and Amir Patel - the school representative, who didn't really care for pageants whatsoever. All in all, they were intimidating, mostly because they were fellow classmates who had the power to either help us or remove us.

A reassuring squeeze of my hand brought me out of my silent panic, and I looked over to see Chase gaping at me with concern written on his handsome features. "Hey, don't be so nervous." He advised kindly, offering me a grin. There was no trace of arrogance or amusement in his tone, and I felt myself relaxing a little. He thumped my shoulder with his, muttering under his breath, "Look at those other girls. All makeup and no real substance. I think you've got this."

His words comforted me some, and I peered around at the other competitors. Kathleen had been right in her observation earlier; they were, for the most part, blonde curls and fake smiles, like Barbie dolls. That, combined with Chase's encouragement, provided me with a shred of confidence in the depths of my stomach.

"Yeah," I whispered, leaning closer to him so we weren't making noise. "I'll do alright. Especially since all those girls out there would go nuts over you." I gestured to the chattering girls in the audience, who were repeatedly giggling and pointing at Chase.

"Sure," he chuckled. "But I've got a girlfriend, remember?"

I felt my blood freeze in my veins when he said this. There was something to how he mentioned it; casually, but still with an air of firmness. It made me want to believe him, to think that he was serious. But I knew better.

He was teasing. It was a joke. Just a joke.

"So," the headmaster cleared his throat, spinning on his heels to gawk at us. Running his hawk-like eyes over each competitor once, he announced, "We'll begin now. Because this is the first round, and we want to start off easy, we'll just have the questions tonight. Each participant will have five questions, which she must answer to the best of her ability, while still keeping the audience engaged and interested. By the end of this round," he stopped, as if for dramatic effect, "only five out of eight will remain. The audience will determine who stays... and who goes."

Beaming at the collective gasp of the students, Principal Dennis motioned toward the first couple, Evelyn and Marc, ushering them forward. As if she had practiced it a million times, Evelyn flawlessly glided to where Mr. Dennis was, her face alight. Even Marc, who didn’t seem to care about whatever was going on around him, was playing along to her strengths; he just let her hang off of his arm, never taking the spotlight from her.

"So, Evelyn," Mr. Dennis began, putting extra emphasis on Evelyn's name. "You look lovely tonight."

"Thank you," Evelyn replied, her expression the epitome of innocent grace. Pushing her reddish-brown locks back from her shoulder delicately, she murmured, "I'm so excited to be here, honestly. I mean, no one has ever been Pageant Queen three years in a row." She finished with a flourish of her hands, earning an appreciative whoop from the crowd.

Chuckling good-naturedly, the principal took control of the microphone once again, starting his interview with vigor. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves; don't forget, there are seven other magnificent girls fighting for that tiara." He advised, and I felt like hugging him; it was about time that someone reminded Evelyn that her place wasn't as far above the rest of the world as she assumed. "Alright, first question, then. In your opinion, what is most important for a student to succeed in his or her academic career?"