Life, Love, & Lemons

Lemon Water

"Welcome to East High's Homecoming, A night under the stars." Mrs. Grover yelled into the microphone. She looked even tenser than she usually does, or maybe she just wasn't used to wearing a dress and heels.

"Now before we get this dance started we are going to announce your Homecoming king and queen." She smiled, but it was a tight lipped forced one.

I stood on the stage with arm looped around some guy from the basketball team. I don't think he had said two words to me, but sure was excited to whisper and make jokes to his team mate that was standing next to us with Macy.

At St. Christopher's they usually rented a hall for dances and had professional decorators come in and used real flowers with every bit of expensive silk drapery that they could find. This was definitely not the case at East. Homecoming was in the gym and basically it looked like a gym with the lights turned down and a few blue streamers draped from the ceiling.

"Your first court nominees are Macy Simpson and Michael Cole." Mrs. Grover yelled as Macy and Michael strutted across the stage like the already had it in the bag.

As I watched Macy I realized how much of my old self I saw in her. The blonde hair and the perfect persona that she put on for the world. Then I wondered if that's really how she was on the inside, or if she just wanted to forget about all the pressure and just let go. I hated to admit it, but finally letting go of all the pressure to be perfect was one of the best things that could have happened to me. Now if I could just figure out this whole juggling a boyfriend who is suspended and trying not to wear gang colors to school, I'd be set.

"And your final nominees are Bentley Evans and Ryan Brown."

The crowd cheered louder for us than any of the other nominees. I actually couldn't believe it. Even the girls with neon hair that threw spit wads at me were cheering from the back of the gym. I tried not to blush as I walked by with Ryan, who was definitely eating everything up as he flexed and did some other stupid jock poses. When we got back to our place he finally calmed down and just continued to run his hands through his stupid blown out hair.

"And this year's Homecoming king goes to: Michael Cole." Mrs. Grover yelled into the microphone as Michael beat his hands on his chest like some sort of a caveman.

The king and queen were each supposed to give a speech and you could tell that Michael was pretty sure that he would win because both him and Macy had little pieces of paper in their hands.

"Oh man, first off I'd like to thank God..." I couldn't listen to his stupid Chicago accent and tried not to yawn.

I scanned the gym to look for people I knew. Taylor already had her hands grazing all over her date's body and Gabby was happily watching everything from the front row with Brett at her side. Brody and Grant stood in the back with Roxy and Teegan. I couldn't see if Brynne was with them or not, but I was going to be sure to stay away from the bathroom if she was around.

"Miss Evans?" Mrs. Grover called.

I blinked hard and saw that everyone was staring at me and clapping.

"Are you high or something? She just said that you got queen." Ryan spat between clenched teeth.

"Oh...OH." My cheeks flushed as I walked over to the microphone where last year's queen put a plastic tiara on my head and a shimmery sash over my dress.

I stepped up to the microphone. I knew I was supposed to be giving a speech, but even though it's really cliché I wasn't expecting to win.

"Wow, um, definitely wasn't expecting this to happen." I giggled nervously. "I guess all I could really say is thank you. Really thank you for making the new girl feel a little bit better about herself and for taking the time to vote for me. It's already been one interesting first month at school and I really look forward to the rest of the year."