Ki$$ & $ell

Ki$$ & $ell: Chapter Eighteen

“Sounds a little…depressing. I don’t want anyone going home after the dance and offing themselves,” Bree said. “Think more upbeat.”

“Depending on who it is, that could be upbeat,” Kyle Gambit joked. He erupted into laughter and leaned over to hi-five his friend whose name I couldn’t place.

Ugh. Boys were so disgusting sometimes.

“Not funny, Kyle,” Bree said in response. “Next.”

A bleached-blond with pink streaks in her hair, popped her gum loudly to get our attention. “Rock & Roll,” she said with a devilish smile. “Lots of black, pleather and spikes. It’ll be hot!”

“Not everyone looks good in skin-tight gear and I don’t want to have to stare at some girl’s jelly-rolls because she thinks it’s her right to wear spandex. Next.” Bree was getting frustrated now.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh!” Kyle’s hi-fiving friend said as he jumped up and down in his seat.

“Yes, Jake?”

Jake Pritchard. For some reason I remembered that he was on the wrestling team. And that he liked to hit the bong on occasion.

“Let’s do ‘Pimps & Ho’s!’ It’ll be so cool. Guys dress up like pimps—like my man Snoop Dogg—and chicks dress up in tiny, little…”

“Absolutely not,” Bree said cutting him off. “As much as I’d like to channel my inner Britney, Principal Howard has already made it clear that the theme can’t be clothing optional. Anyone else?”

“Heaven on Earth?”

“Been done.”

“Under the Sea?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Secret Lovers?”

“Come on, guys! We have to come up with something that’s actually good and won’t get us kicked out of school. It shouldn’t be this hard,” Bree said, gripping the bridge of her nose like she was getting a headache. “Think, people! We just need one good idea.”

“Opposites Attract?” I said, surprising myself when it rolled past my lips.

Bree looked like she was thinking this over. I waited for her to shoot down my idea just like she had all the others. Instead, after about thirty seconds, she reached over and gave me a squeeze.

“Opposites Attract…it’s brilliant, A!” Bree squealed. “Thank God you’re here, otherwise we’d have absolutely nothing.”

I saw the others roll their eyes as Bree threw out the backhanded comment. If this had been class, they’d all be calling me Teacher’s Pet right about now. And from the looks of it, they wouldn’t be wrong.

            “Okay, so now that we’ve got the perfect theme,” Bree announced, turning to me and winking, “we need to assign people to teams to make this dance happen. Let’s see…we’ll need a group on decorations, someone to book the music, another person to figure out refreshments and a few to get the word out to the student body.”

            “I’ll handle the music!” Kyle shot up out of his seat excitedly. “My cousin has a sweet music collection and he can do this thing with his computer that will blow your mind—”

            “Fine. Kyle, you’re on music,” Bree said. “But no country or rave.”

            “No problem,” he answered, a smirk on his face. “What kind of loser listens to that stuff anyway?”