With You ✔

14

"What? You guys should totally go!" Maci chimes in just as two girls I've never seen before approach our table.

"Hey, Gwen. We got those ballads you asked for." The first girl says, handing a stack of papers to Gwen, "There's just one problem."

"I don't like problems, Fieldan."

"It's not her fault." The second girl says, moving closer to Gwen, "I didn't notice that the last spot was blank until after Field started making copies."

"Gwen, who are these girls?" Maci looks the two girls up and down, just as confused as I am as to who they are and why they seem to be slightly scared of our friend.

"This is Fieldan and Annie. They're the sophomores that Hannah dumped her work on. As cheer captain she's supposed to help me with Homecoming court, but her highness is too busy, so she gave me these two instead."

I roll my eyes and notice Kit chuckle a little under his breath, causing Annie to look at him as if she is just now noticing who he is. "Kit! You can fill the empty spot for king nominee. Your brother is already on the ballet, it'll be fun to have you both."

All eyes are on Kit and I can see the tension coursing through him as he rattles his brain for an excuse good enough to get him out of this situation. "Uh..." Seems to be all that he can come up with though.

"Great idea, Amy!" Maci claps her hands together before grabbing a pen from her purse and writing Kit's name on one of the ballets that the girls had just given Gwen.

"It's Annie."

"And you know who would be the perfect queen for our king?" Maci ignores the girl's comment and looks at Gwen. I know what they're thinking before they even say it, but they're looking at me with wicked grins before I can argue, Maci's pen already scribbling my name on the paper next to Kit's. "Go make new copies, you have your new nominees." She tells the cheerleaders, who take the new page and wave goodbye before heading back inside the school.

"Why would you do that?" I reach for a grape on Kit's tray and throw it at Maci's face, glaring at her as she laughs at my reaction.

"Because, now you have to go to the dance. Together."

"We don't have to do anything." I argue, stealing a look at Kit who seems to be in a state of shock. He's staring at the stack of ballets that the girls left behind, and his leg is bouncing nervously under the table.

"Yes, your highness."

"Okay, your majesty." Gwen adds as the both stand up, gathering their things and leaving the table as I shoot daggers at them with my eyes.

Once they're gone I look at Kit, placing a hand on his bouncing knee to stop the nervous movement. "Just because our names are on a piece of paper doesn't mean we have to go."

He pushes the paper in front of me and starts to laugh, quietly at first, but then louder. "What's so funny?"

"Look at the paper. Who do you think will win queen if you're not there?" He asks, as if it's obvious that I would win Homecoming queen.

I roll my eyes and look at the other three girls on the list, "Hannah. Duh."

"Right. And if I'm not there, who will win king?" His laughter resides a little but he can't hide the smile on his face.

I look at the list of boys on the list, "Parker."

"Good choice, but try again."

"Finn?"

"Bingo."

I understand why he thinks Hannah being Finn's queen is funny, but I'm not so sure that Finn would win over Parker. "Are you sure that Parker won't win?"

"I'm positive." He places a hand over the one I have still placed on his knee. "Because we're going to tell him to skip the announcement at the dance, and let Finn be crowned. Once he has to dance with Hannah, he'll never tell us we can't eat in the car again."

A smile that matches his own spreads across my face, "That...is diabolical. But how do you know Parker will go along with it?"

"Because you're going to ask him, and because he will enjoy this just as much as we will."

Kit

"You're on homecoming court?" Finn asks as I push the vacuum back into the house after spending the past hour vacuuming every small crumb and piece of dirt out of our car, as well as wipe down the interior and cleaning the windows.

"It's not a big deal."

"It is definitely a big deal. You're for sure going to be king." He moves out of the way as I open the closet door and push the machine inside, hoping to never have to bring it back out for this ridiculous task again.

"I don't want to be king."

"Not even if Ellie is the queen?" He starts to make kissy faces as he follows me down the hall and towards the kitchen.

I ignore him and start to make myself a sandwich, although it's hard to ignore him when he won't get out of my face and keeps singing "Kit and Ellie sitting in a tree."

"Dude, shut up." I push him away, trying to hide my smile as I think about how pissed he is going to be when he finds out that I'm setting him up to win and be Hannah's king. Maybe I'll even sing Finn and Hannah sitting in a tree to get back at him.

"Yes, King Kit. Anything you say, King Kit." He bows as he backs away from me, laughing as I threaten to throw food at him.

"A king wouldn't have to clean out the car." I say, still annoyed that I had to clean our car when there is no way that Ellie and I accumulated all that dirt on our own.

"A king wouldn't act like a peasant and make a mess in the first place."

"You have got to stop being such a neat freak."

"Or you could stop being a slob?" He suggests, shrugging his shoulders as he leaves the room, finally leaving me alone.