dedicated to sealevel for her second-place entry in the teen helpline one-shot!
Chapter 39
Now Everybody Knows
Ellis
"I was thinking either Britney Spears' 'Baby Hit Me One More Time' schoolgirl look or Grease's Sandy leather tight outfit," Astrid was saying as I washed up in the bathroom, cleaning my hands. "Or I could go for Daisy Buchanan in the Great Gatsby or..."
"Have you ever read The Great Gatsby?" wondered Calista critically.
Astrid blushed furiously as Calista eyed Astrid sceptically. Astrid tugged at one of her hair ties that kept her fishtail braid intact, with some loose brown strands falling out. "No, but I love the movie-"
Calista bumped her head against the tiled walls. "How are we friends again?"
"Oh shut up," Astrid snapped and then turned to give Calista a once-over. Calista was perpetually shrouded in black so it was no surprise she decided to make October the month where all her clothes had some form of skulls on them. Today was no different. She wore a black tank top with an asymmetrical curved hem, a skull pattern and distressed jeans that revealed more skin than what Principal Sullivan liked when he lectured Calista- or rather, lectured Calista in front of us. "What are you wearing, Dracula?"
"No," retorted Calista, "I hate vampires. Twilight ruined them for me."
"Then what?"
"I might not come."
Astrid and I stopped whatever we were idly doing- Astrid replaiting her braid and me scrupulously rubbing my hands with cheap toilet paper. "What do you mean you're not going?" I asked incredulously.
"It's so cliche." Calista shrugged and brushed her thick heavy blonde bangs out of her eyes. I still couldn't get used to her bangs- they made her look good, admittedly, edgier and punk-rock, which was Calista's whole scene, but they made her look...not Calista. As if her outward appearance had matured and grown up, like a College Calista, and I was stuck looking high school.
"What, Dracula?"
"No," Calista said, and grimaced as she spat the word: "Prom."
"Yeah, but it's like the last high school event."
"So?" Calista shrugged, "I've been to the last three, which is more times than I wanted to go."
"Come on, Lista," complained Astrid, pouting adorably, "It's our last prom and it'll be fun! It's Halloween, your favourite time of the year!"
"Fine," Calista relented, "But only if you don't make me dance to those stupid sucky radio songs that people justify as 'music'."
"Deal."
-
I helped Astrid fasten the zipper of her slimming black dress as she lined her eyes with an eyeliner pencil, rounding the inner corners to make it pop in the dim lights. Her newly dyed brunette hair was already done, hairspray and tucked into a high Disney princess bun, with a fake diamond crown jammed and tightly woven with braids over the delicate silver bands. A diamond necklace similar to the crown glinted on Astrid's neck, with pearl earrings to go along as well.
"There," I announced once the zipper was up. Astrid was now applying lip gloss- the finishing touches to her costume.
"Thanks," she smiled and grinned at her own reflection. Astrid decided not to go with Britney or Sandy, not even Daisy, but with an Audrey Hepburn-inspired outfit; which was tasteful and simple. Astrid's black cigarette stick sat by Astrid's classy black purse, which was too small to even hold a wallet.
My stomach was burning with queasiness. Tonight was the night. Everything had to go perfect, the decorations, the food, the music, the election, the atmosphere- it all had to be perfect. My checklist was inside my school bag- and only half of it was filled. I had to skip the whole of fifty periods to fetch back-up orange tinsels and black bats because somebody thought it was a good idea to accidentally dip it into white paint. I also had to yell at somebody's mom, who failed to turn up with three hundred spider chocolate cupcakes. My whole body was stressing.
My phone beeped- and it was Andrea Hailey, a girl who was in charge of the food committee. I picked it up instantly and answered, "Hello?"
Andrea was breathless on the other side of the line, "So I managed to backup on the cupcake fail- I called Domino's Pizza for about fifty boxes of pizza. What do you think?"
"Can they make it on time?"
"Yeah," confirmed Andrea, and I heard a hair-dryer in the distance. She must be getting ready too. "They're on their way, Ellis. It'll be fine."
I let out a relieved sound. "Oh God," I almost cried, "You're a lifesaver, Andrea."
"Thanks," I could feel her smugness coming off the phone. "Anyway, have fun at Prom, Ellis! You deserve it."
"You too, Andrea."
She hung up and I pumped the air with a fist. "Yes!"
Astrid raised an eyebrow at me, "What's so great?"
"We have a replacement for those cupcakes," I informed her, feeling the burden heaving off my shoulders. As I said this, the bathroom door opened and Calista emerged in an Anime-inspired Sailor Moon schoolgirl uniform.
Astrid's jaw dropped, "Oh my God."
Oh my God, indeed. Calista's transformation was drastic- not by clothes, but by the makeup. Calista's real short hair was rolled up and pinned into tiny blonde meatballs on the top of her head, then she added long blonde hair extensions inside the meatballs for Usagi's classic pigtails hairstyle. Her face was contoured and shaped to the typical anime cartoon- overly large, unrealistic eyes drawn by a cat-like liner, a pointy sharp nose, super pink lips and a pale glow dusted on her whole face and body. For a while, I was almost convinced she was some blonde Japanese girl until- Calista self-consciously shrugged and said:
"What do you think?"
"You're going to win that costume competition," I was ultimately convinced, "Dude, how did you even do that makeup?"
"It took ages," grumbled Calista, dumping her heavy bag of makeup onto the counter. "Especially the eyes. But years of eyeliner practice and tada!"
"You both look so good," I admired them both.
"What about you?" wondered Calista, indicating to my clothes- the same clothes I've been wearing since this morning before school started. "Don't you need to get change?"
My costume was stashed inside a Macy's department bag, which I had been lugging around all day while fetching last-minute errands, driving up and down the whole of Greater Philadelphia. I retrieved it at the corner near my leather satchel school bag containing all my heavy books and held up the silk material for my friends to see- it was a Chinese Empress costume, resembling the Tang dynasty style of clothes. I laid out the dress and the headpiece on my sheets as I retreated into the bathroom to shower.
Once I was done, I changed into the costume. Sorting out the inner red dress that flowed outwards down to my feet with the robes and layering pieces that went on top with the gold embellishes and delicate flower pins, I managed to get it all done under an hour. Calista helped with my makeup as Astrid used her hair expertise to weave my hair into a high bun.
When we all finished, like really finished in the sense that Astrid had already run back into the room to check that her makeup wasn't smudged and Calista had stopped screaming at Astrid for holding us up by the foyer then proceeded to return to the room to make sure she remembered to bring the tickets, we all gathered by the front door- much to the insistence that my father wanted to take pictures of all of us in our costumes before we piled up in Astrid's car.
"You all look so beautiful," my father said and I smiled, even though it was a very Dad thing to say. Paige loitered by his side, with the ever-growing need to make sarcastic comments as Dad tried to work out how to turn on the flash on his iPhone.
"How come you guys got no dates?" remarked Paige as casually as she could but I could taste the poison lacing her words.
"Because we're independent girls who don't need stupid, immature high school boys to define our social status," fired back Calista. My hands were tightly coiled around her wrist, just in case she decided to lash out violently.
Paige's lips curled as she blinked, unable to reply back- or hadn't gotten the chance to because my father cheerily interrupted, "Okay, I got the flash now. Get together girls."
"Yay!" Astrid clapped and wrapped her arms around our shoulders, pulling us close- much to Calista's discomfort. "Smile, Calista," she ordered the other blonde specifically.
Calista's crescent moon superimposed forehead creased. "Fine," she scowled; which looked odd with the bright, vivid makeup suited for a positive person. Calista plastered a smile, as promised, and my cheeks were straining from smiling so much as my dad adjusted his position on the front porch.
"Say-"
But then I saw Heath's car revved up the pavement. There was an abrupt honk that caused my Dad to jump three feet in the air and turned around, "What was that?'
"The boys are here," murmured Astrid. "I thought Heath was going with Samara and Jem was going with-"
I saw the doors swinging open and legs popping out and plopping onto the ground with the general clatter of polished shoes landing on cement roads. Jem weaved out of the car's shadow and smiled that half-turned up grin, looking handsome in a suit with a flower pinned at his pocket. He was holding a corsage in his hand, a corsage where the flower matched the tulips in his pocket. His dark hair was still messy as ever, a trait that stayed with Jem no matter what. His messy hair mirrored his messy disposition.
"What's Jem doing here?" wondered Calista, eyes narrowing conspiratorially, lips curling as her gaze sharply pivoted towards me. "Ellis did you-"
"No," I swallowed the accusation with half of a conscious mind. "I-"
"Hey," Jem smiled as a greeting and propped his chin in acknowledgement of my father, "I'm about to head over to Effy's house. Do you think this should be okay?"
He held out the orange tulip in his hand. It was fragile and flimsy, easily breakable if one was to tear out the princes and grind it with the sole of their shoes but it was beautiful. It's orange hue lightened considerably at the tip, almost white, and it contrasted starkly on Jem's suit.
"Yeah," I trembled when I gave the flower back to him. "Have fun with Effy."
Jem's smile was almost secretive, "You too."
Then we went our separate ways.
-
The prom was a success. Much better than I had expected.
The gym had ultimately transformed. From the boring industrial steel-framed window, standard blue bleachers pushed against the light sandalwood panelled walls and the screechy reflective walls, we decorated it until it was nearly unrecognizable. Orange and black tinsels hung by the entrance, coiled by the handles of the grey double doors- which had been plastered with old Hollywood posters, splattered with blood, netted with white cotton spider webs and black spiders made out of fur. The theme continued over the walls and the bleachers; stringy cotton scattered over the bleachers' seats, bloodied-up posters on the walls, orange and black balloons covering the roofs and food eloquently set out on the tables, ranging from casual snacks like orange and black bowls of chips and shimmering silver platters of pumpkin spice cookies and cupcakes to heavier mains like boxes of pizzas and plates of chicken wings. A reflective floor was mottled with spots of the multicoloured lights flashing from the disco ball.
My makeup was heavy and suffocating on my pores as the heat of the LED lights beamed upon me as I rounded the dance with a mental checklist. The photo booth was working by the corner, fully operating and I swore I heard somebody was making out in there. Calista was hanging by the food table, plunging her hand in ranch dressing chips as Astrid chat up a boy dressed in a vampire costume.
"So what do you think of the school dance?" Astrid chirped conversationally, putting her hand on the boy's arm flirtatiously, "It's so cool that it's Halloween-themed, right?"
The boy seemed generally terrified or stunned to the point of disbelief that he just nodded and smiled at Astrid's remarks. Calista rolled her eyes at their exchange and popped a chip in her mouth, looking like a moody Sailor Moon- which she was.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" I jumped right behind Calista.
"Looks great," shrugged Calista as she made another round for the chips, "But I told you, high school dances are-"
"-not your thing," I finished for her because Calista was so easy to read after a while. Sometimes, I wondered if it was all an armour to stop people from attacking her vulnerability. "Hey, Calista?"
"Hmm?"
"How come didn't you want to ask anybody out?" I casually dropped, "I mean, Astrid told me Toby McCartney asked you-"
"Toby's a tool," retorted Calista meanly, "And Astrid's a blabbermouth so..."
"Yeah, but don't you want to go with a guy?"
Calista stopped reaching for chips, "I hate all high school guys...they're just so immature. Like Cher once said: Searching for a boy in high school is as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie. And besides, I met..." she hesitated, waiting for a reaction.
"You met?" I impatiently prompted.
"This guy," she exhaled, pursing her pink lips. With her blazing blue contacts that made her eyes even more massive, her scowl didn't take its usual run-the-other-away effect. 'He's...you'll think it's stupid."
"I won't judge you."
Calista barked a harsh laugh as the DJ by the front of the gymnasium began blasting another tune- Michael Jackson's Thriller and everybody cheered as a swarm of students joined the dance floor.
"I won't," a small smile started to form on my lips as this happy dumb schoolgirl look seized the whole of Calista. I crossed my fingers. "I promise."
"He's this guy who just...I met him in LA. He was....his name is Flynn. We met at this restaurant where he had this band gig; anyway, he invited me up to sing a song and we kind of had a moment? I don't know....it's stupid to think more about it since it's just one song and so High School Musical-esque that it's ridiculous but..." Calista halted herself before she let herself admit too much but I could hear the wistful longing in her tone.
"Sounds...like you have to find him," I concluded and I wondered if Calista was in love- it sounded ludicrous that Calista, out of all people, would fall in love so quickly with a stranger but I came to learn circumstances could come to change.
"Yeah," Calista shook her head and brought herself back to reality. "Seven billion people in this world and we'll see how that story ends."
"You'll be surprised," I said vaguely as my eyes traced over to the dancefloor where Jem was treating Effy to a dance. Effy was practically dying with happiness as Jem spun her around in a circle and it made me feel good that I did something for somebody else when Effy never had the opportunity for something better. To sweeten the pot, Tabitha was by the bleachers, glowering as she watched the both of them, and whispered surreptitiously to her friends as she seethed with jealousy at Effy's happiness, eyeing them with a type of cattiness reserved in mean girls and petty bitches.
When the song had ended, clapping ensued as everybody laughed and hugged their friends. Then Principal Sullivan made his way to the top, dressed in a Freddy Krueger costume, and paused the music from continuing. The mic amplified his voice as he cleared his throat and said, "Now, it's time to announce the King and Queen of Prom. Ellis, may you please come up to the stage and do the honours?"
Proudly, I held my head up high as I strode up to the stage. Andrea was working by the music station, telling the DJ which playlist to launch once the Prom Queen and Kings were announced. Then she breathlessly sprinted towards me with a piece of paper and pushed it in my hand, "They just finished counting," she said.
"Thanks," I held the crisp folded paper. I couldn't see the names. Guess I would reveal it soon. "And hey, Andrea-"
"Hmm?" She said, seeming distracted with the mental tasks in mind.
"Go have fun."
"But I thought-"
"I'll take care of the music for later," I promised her, "Now take a break- you deserve it."
Andrea seemed momentarily speechless, blinking, wide-eyed as she regarded me oddly, as though I had a stroke or something. "Really?"
"Really."
I quickly walked up the stairs and towards the mic with the results burning in my hand. "Hey guys," I said, watching the volume of my voice on the mic as the attention of a hundred pair of eyes landed on me. "So I'm just going to, uh, cut towards the chase because I'm sure you'll like to know the results as soon as possible."
The crowd remained stoic. Wow, hard crowd. "So, um," I rubbed my hands as I unfolded the paper and proclaimed, with a slight smile in my tone because I knew he would win it by a landslide, "Your Prom King is Jem Leighton."
The crowd burst into predictable applause as Jem bashfully dawdled his way up to the stage. Principal Sullivan was the one who bequeathed him with the plastic gold crown and some of the boys catcalled, "Looking hot, Jem!" some of them laughed, "No homo though!"
For some reason, I had no trouble thinking that was Heath. "Do you want to make a speech?" I was trying to keep a straight face, fighting the red flush creeping up my cheeks.
Jem grinned at me, and our secret seemed to linked hands as he said, "Sure." I stepped back from the mic and gestured him towards it. "So I would like to thank two idiots called Caleb and Heath, uh- and um, I like to thank everybody else for their votes and I bid all of you a good night." Jem retreated out of the blinding spotlight and stood by me. His hand slipped unnoticed into mine, surreptitiously hidden by our bodies close together. I squeezed his hand momentarily before releasing, letting go, and entering the spotlight once again.
"And your Queen is..." I turned the paper around and slightly shocked, I said: "Effy Kaiser."
The whole room didn't clap. They were stunned by the revelation that she actually won- plain old boring Effy Kaiser was prom queen. But then, somebody prompted an applause and the whole room was roaring with cheers, shouting and rooting for the underdog. My heart was actually bursting with pride as she mousily made it over to the stage. Effy wasn't my best friend and we weren't even that close, but it's nice for somebody I could relate to taking the spotlight for once. It's nice that Tabitha doesn't have to win, it's nice that the people who always win didn't win.
Effy was gorgeous, of course, cladded in a Katniss Everdeen Girl On Fire inspired red gown. Her red hair was pulled tight in the bun as she held up her skirt, showcasing her delicate black heels, and journeyed towards the mic. The crowd's enthusiasm surged even more when she appeared on stage and Principal Sullivan graced her with the crown.
"Thanks, Ellis." Happy tears brimmed the edges of her eyes. "Thanks so so much."
"It's not me." I moved my head from the mic so it wouldn't amplify as I spoke to her. "It's because they liked you, Eff. They think you're great."
Effy's cheeks were permanently fixed in a smile so wide that it may fell off her face. She went to express her gratitude and her disbelief of winning Prom Queen to the crowd as people clapped at the end of her speech. Then I resumed announcing how the slow dance was about to commence and watched as Jem treated Effy to a dance by leading her down like the gentleman he was.
The room parted like a curtain, allowing Jem and Effy to take the front and centre as a slow song pounded out of the speakers. Jem had his arms around Effy's waist as he swayed her around the space, Effy's arms were interlocked around Jem's neck. Strangely, a knot of jealousy tightened in my stomach but I pushed it. It was just two people dancing, out of King and Queen obligation- I mean, yes, Effy liked Jem but it was just a schoolgirl crush and Jem didn't like Effy that way. Hell, a few months ago, Jem didn't even know she existed. But even then, my stomach continued to twist even further.
"Effy's probably dying from happiness," Calista whispered as she licked cupcake frosting from her fingers, "She got everything she wants. Dancing with the boy she likes, Prom Queen..."
"She deserves it," I graciously replied, "I mean, Tabitha's such a crap friend. Tabitha's always making Effy feel like she's nothing and now that Effy got some confidence...well, she deserves to be a normal teenaged girl for once?"
Calista snorted cynically, "Being Prom Queen is not a normal teenaged girl fulfilment. It's just a teenaged girl dream."
Before I could reply back, a shout raised its voice from the stage's direction. I heard Jem yelling, something vaguely along the lines of: "Hey, get off!"
The music shut off, the romantic atmosphere shattered and fell apart in shambles as everybody clamoured around in a circle to see what happened. Calista and I followed the flock- me because as Head of the Prom Committee, I had to assure that everything ran as smoothly as possible meaning no alterations, no horny teenagers sneaking off from the gym to continue the human species and no spiking the fruit punch accidents (so far, I thought I was rather pleased with my progress) and Calista was interested because there was a sound of a fight breaking out and Calista wanted blood.
I saw Jem and Effy standing away from each other- with Effy confused and Jem quite angry. It appeared that Effy tried to kiss Jem and Jem had pushed her away, kind of loudly. "But I'm sorry..." Effy wordlessly gaped, "I didn't mean to- I just thought-"
"Well, you thought wrong," Jem spat meanly, and I knew it was all a misunderstanding. Effy must've wanted to seal the moment with a kiss- with Jem, her crush since forever, but she didn't know about Jem and I, about what we've had going on for almost three months. "I'm with somebody else, okay?"
The whole room's attention landed on Jem, even Principal Sullivan had stopped snacking on the barbeque wings. Effy was shocked, blinking, "Really?" she prompted. "Who?"
In that nanosecond, I saw Jem froze, congealed as the words stuck in his mouth- and I froze. Shit. I could feel the weight of everybody leaning in, wanting to find out who could've possibly been the new girlfriend of Jem Leighton, the school's golden bad boy. I bit my lip. Everybody was going to find out. Our gazes flickered together for a moment as he saw me in the middle of everybody faces, he saw me out of those beautiful girls, he saw me out of Effy, who was now hard to resist and willing- more than willing.
And then he snapped out of the trance and announced:
"My new girlfriend is Ellis Chan."
___________________________________________________________
and all hell broke loose. welp. anyway, here's an UPDATE GUYS! I'VE PREVAILED. anyway, vote, comment and you know that bit where Calista says she met a guy named Flynn? Well, I HAVE NEWS FOR ALL OF YOU.
THERE WILL BE A SPIN-OFF SERIES FROM THE GIRL WHO SAW THROUGH JEM.
IT'LL BE CALLED THE MILE HIGH CLUB AND IT'LL BE BASED ON CALISTA! AHHHH, I'M SO EXCITED! I've started writing The Mile High Club and the timeline happens kind of in between TGWSTJ and kind of a little bit out towards into TGWSTJ's sequel. SO, after TGWSTJ, I will post up The Mile High Club and the sequel to TGWSTJ, which will be called The Boy Who Couldn't Forget Ellis.
The Mile High Club is so different from anything I've ever write but i'm so psyched to write it! AHHHHHHHHHH.