I walked into the East High School main office and looked through the glass windows. I noticed Tom filling out paperwork to begin his classes there, but I had to act like I didn't know him.
We were in the same school, but had slightly different assignments. I was going in as Mickey McCormack, joining the dance team to see if the athletes were taking performance enhancing drugs. Tom and Doug were assigned here also, working together with me to see who the suppliers were.
Flashback
"McCormack?" I asked while snarling my lip. The team and I were sitting around at the table, getting our assignments for the day.
"From Footloose," Ioki stated.
"I know where it's from," I said back.
"These nerds are going to smell that it's from Footloose a mile away," Tom stood up for me.
"I don't care," Fuller said, "it's just a last name."
"But I'm joining the dance team," I said.
"We are not changing it," Fuller stated firmly.
"Has anyone told you that you look exactly like a statue?" I asked.
He paused to look at me and he responded, "yes. Go to school."
End Flashback
I walked up to the window and I locked eyes with the woman at the front desk. She gestured to the door, and I didn't realize Tom was sitting in a chair right in front of me until he snapped his head back. I walked past the windows, Tom following me with his head and his eyes until I got to the door.
"Hey, honey," the woman at the front desk said to me. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm here to sign up for the dance team," I said. I looked back and saw Tom filling out his paperwork with his legs crossed.
"That's fantastic!" She said excitedly, "you'll have to fill out these forms. Take your time."
She handed me a little packet and went into a little storage closet behind her. I sensed Tom walking up behind me. He asked, "you dance?"
"Occasionally," I said to him without turning around. It didn't matter if we thought that no one was around, we still had to act like strangers. We did not want another McQuaid incident.
"I just transferred here with my brother," he said to me.
"I've been here a week. I'm not the one to show you around."
"I wasn't asking."
"Good," I said quickly. I finished filling out the forms and placed it on the counter. I smirked at him and left the office.
In between passing periods, I stopped off at my locker to change out my books for the second half of the day. This locker had sharpie scribbled inside, with hearts and the names of students in them. I tried to rub it off either my thumb, but they're stuck on there. As soon as I closed my locker door, I nearly jumped out of my socks when I saw Doug and Tom standing right beside me.
"Jeez, you guys scared me," I said once I caught my breath.
"Hey, you said that she's the girl on the dance team, right?" Doug asked Tom.
"Yeah, she is," Tom answered.
"You can just ask the girl if she's on the dance team," I said to them.
"Do you think we could make it on the dance team?" Doug asked before he and Tom did a funny dance in front of me. They jumped around on their feet and gave me dramatic gestures with their arms with silly smiles on their faces.
I chuckled and asked, "did you guys rehearse that?"
Tom and Doug stopped and looked at each other. That response, told me yes. Then, they both put their hands in fists and blew on their knuckles before letting the imaginary dice roll in the air.
"Guys, go to class." I rolled my eyes and laughed before I headed off to my own class. They're so funny. I'm curious how long it took them to come up with that.
Just a couple hours later was my first dance practice. I was introduced as Mickey McCormack, and once I was compared to Footloose, I said, "yeah, I get that a lot."
For the next few days, I heard some sketchy remarks about obtaining performance enhancing drugs, but nothing I could really crack down on them on.
I shared one class with Tom. I sat at my desk when one of my dance teammates, Diana, sat next to me. It was before the teacher walked in, and she began telling me about the drugs that she was going to get during that period. She said that it was her first time, so she was nervous and wanted me to go with her. I looked back at Tom to see if he heard any of it, but he had the end of a pencil in his mouth and he lifted his chin up and brought his attention to the front of the class, pretending like he wasn't just looking in my direction.
I turned back to Diana, and I scratched my arm over my blue sweater. I asked her when we were going.
She looked at her watch. "He wants to meet at the football field in... now. There's no one there this time of day."
"Okay, let's go," I said and got out of my seat to follow her outside.
I followed Diana to the football field, where some random high school drop-out was standing on the outskirts. He felt nervous toward me, but Diana reassured him that I was cool. He either has allergies, or snorts cocaine because he kept sniffing.
As soon as he sold us the drugs, I presented my badge. The color drained from his face, and he tried to run. Luckily, Tom came out of a nearby door and tackled him to the ground. He arrested the dealer, while I had to arrest Diana for buying the drugs. Happy ending to an assignment.