It was the last period of the day, band. Ray and Ren were helping out our band director today. They were selected along with ten other students to set up the stage for our concert coming up.Which left the rest of us to practice, including James and I.
He was my 'body guard' for the time being. We were now putting our instruments up, and James kept pestering me all period after I told him I had a new project.
" What is it this time?" James asked me as he looked over my shoulder.
"It's a surprise," I stated putting away my instrument.
"Aww, why can't I see it? Ray and Ren aren't here and I won't tell the others," he said giving me his best puppy eyes.
I closed my case and got up to put my flute in my band locker. " Sorry you'll have to wait and see," I said giving him a wink and started walking.
James and I walked towards the art room. We were told to meet everyone there, and not to wait for them.
" What is it? Please tell me! " James said. I shouldn't have told him about my project.
"Nope, you can wait a little longer," I said flatly and walked faster.
"No fair!...Hey! Wait for me Camie!" He called out but I kept walking faster.
I must've spaced out because I ran into someone in the hall. I felt myself fall to the tiled floor hard. I groaned in pain. "Oh I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going," I apologized, still looking at the floor.
"No problem but I'm the one who's sorry," a deep voice said.
I looked up and saw a tall, muscular boy, with hazel eyes and bright red hair. He stood up and offered me his hand. " Here let me help you up." I grabbed his hand and he pulled me off the ground.
I knew I was going to get a nasty bruise, I fell pretty hard. I brushed myself off and put on a smile. " Thank you, and again I'm sorry for bumping into to you."
"Don't apologize, it's fine. Besides I would rather had you crash into me then someone else," he said, giving off a flashy smile.
Wow he's such a weirdo. " Oh! By the way I'm Troy Mares," he introduced himself.
"Hi I'm Camillia Bates, but they call me Camie," I said.
Before he could say something James came barging down the hall towards us. " CAMIE! DON'T WORRY ! I'M COMING!" he yelled running at full speed.
"Hey boy, NO RUNNING !" a teacher yelled at him.
"Okay!" He shouted but as he attempted to slow down he mysteriously tripped on air and slammed his face into the ground.
" Ouch, that's got to hurt," Troy said.
"That moron," I mumbled as I ran to James. He lifted himself up and sat on the ground. " What were you thinking? You can't shout and run down the halls like you own the place," I scolded him.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I was worried, you're not supposed to run off by yourself you know," he shot back looking at the floor, like a child that was waiting for his lecture. I sighed.
"Okay I promise not to run off again, but you need to be more carful," I said helping him up off the floor.
He saluted me and answered back, "Yes ma'am !"
I shook my head. " You're such a child."
" Sorry to interrupt but, you wouldn't happen to be a Johnson would you?" Troy asked. I nearly jumped out of my skin. He came out of no where.
James looked at him for a second. I saw his eyes narrow for a split second then changed back to normal. What was wrong? " I am. The name's James Johnson son of Jeffery Johnson," James said holding out his hand for Troy to shake.
Troy grew a smile on his face and shook James's hand. " I thought so! My father used to work with your dad as a trainee. Your father taught my dad all that he knows. Oh! by the way I'm Troy Mares," he babbled on. He sure loved to talk.
I saw James tense up a little when he heard Troy's full name. " Well nice to meet you but we have to go, come on Camie," James said grabbing my wrist and dragging me down the hall.
"Okay maybe we can meet up later!?" Troy yelled after us.
"Sounds great!" I yelled back.
"Not a chance," James mumbled.
" What's your problem James? " I asked stopping him from dragging me further. His grip loosened up a little and he slowly turn towards me.
"Do you really want to know?" he asked darkly. I almost said no, but I stood my ground.
" I would," I said.
He looked at the ground," He's the reason my father was hurt."
"James what do you mean?" I asked. he looked me in the eyes and sighed.
" My father used to be a manager to a high class company. That was until Mares showed up. As the manager it was my fathers job to make sure a new employee was trained. My father took Mares under his wing, and became really great friends. My father taught him every thing he knew, but he taught him too well. It was only three weeks when the head of the company saw Mares. The head was impressed by how well he was doing in the short amount of time. He gave Mares a promotion to manager, throwing my dad away to be a normal employee. When my father tried to tell the head that Mares was doing so well because of the effort he had done to get Mares this far, the head fired my dad right away."
By this time I saw a few tears escape down his face. I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He wiped them away and continued.
" My father went to Mares, and asked him to explain to the head and try to get his old job back. Mares said that if he explained to the head, then that would throw him out of the job leaving him to be a normal employee. Mares walked out on my father and broke the strong friendship they had. He cared more about a job then his own friend."
" After that was awful, my mom worked her ass off. She was hardly ever home and when she was she was sleeping. My father was either looking for jobs or drinking his sorrows away. I looked after my only little sister that was born. The other two weren't born yet. Even after our effort we lost our house and moved into a run down apartment. And then that's when I met Ray. I was seven at the time, my little sister and I were walking to the apartment in nothing but rugged, old clothes. Caine spotted me and walked over to us with Ray at his heels. They continuously asked us questions, but I tugged my sister along and kept moving. We reached the apartment and I hadn't realized those two had followed. They helped our family get through, Ray's father offered my dad a job at his business, and my mother didn't have to work so much. We moved into the house we live in now, and not long after my two younger sisters were born. Me and Ray have been friends ever since. Mares however never contacted my dad, and we haven't seen him since then."
I understood now. I looked at him and he had a far away look in his eye. "Come on. Let's hurry up before the others have a major melt down," I said holding out my hand.
" Yeah," he started, clutching my hand," Lets go!" He yelled as we walked down the hall.
"No yelling!" a teacher called from down the hall.
"Sorry!" James hollered back, with a smirk on his face.
Her face scrunched up in anger,"I said no yelling!" We both laughed as we walked to the art room.
................................
" WE HAVE TO DO WHAT!?" all four of the boys yelled together.
"We have to attend a formal banquet Friday night for a job. You guys will come here after school and change into formal attire. Then I'll drive us to the banquet, any questions?" Mr.Z asked.
"What exactly is the banquet for? And why do we have to attend?" Ren asked from beside me. I could tell she was somewhat excited.
"You guys need to attend because I want this banquet to get you noticed. It's a chance for your art work to be shared with the world. I'm hoping this banquet will help you later on with your careers," Mr.Z explained.
" I have another question," I started, "why do I have to wear a dress?"
"Because it's a formal banquet which means you can't wear a nice shirt and a pair of slacks," Mr.Z said.
"But why!?" I huffed crossing my arms over my chest.
" It won't kill you to wear a dress," James said.
"As far as you know," I muttered gazing at the floor.
"Come on Camie you look so cute in a dress," Caine cooed.
"How would you know!?" Greg, James, and Ren yelled. Ray didn't say anything because we both knew what he was referring to.
"I'm not sure how to tell you,but I have proof," he said reaching into his pocket.
Oh no. He wouldn't, would he? Caine pulled out his phone, and my face went white. " I have a picture," Caine said. Before he pressed a button I lunged forwards towards him. I tried to snatch his phone, but he held it into the air above his head.
" Give me the phone! You can't show them!" I yelled as I jumped up to grasp his phone. Dammit I hate him being so tall.
"If you want it you have to get it~" Caine said. I jumped but couldn't reach it.
" This isn't funny! Give me the phone!" I said. Then a hand grasped Caine's phone away from him. I turned to see Mr.Z looking at the screen. He saw it, he saw the picture.
" I don't know why you're embarrassed, you do look great in a dress," he stated turning the phone so the others could see.
"Hana looks so cute! " Greg yelled excitingly.
"Yeah I have to agree with Greg on this," Caine said. He had a smirk on his face, and I wanted to punch it right off.
" You should wear a dress more often," James said.
"Camie you need to be like this more often. You're adorable!" Ren squealed.
I walked to the wall and slouched down. I hugged my knees and dug my face into them. " My reputation is a goner," I mumbled.
"What reputation?" Ray said. I heard his foot steps coming towards me. I looked up to meet his dark, blue eyes.
"My reputation of being a Tom boy with a dark attitude," I stated. He held out his hand. I grabbed it, and he helped me up.
He then chuckled," I agree with the Tom boy part but not so much on the dark attitude." I sighed. "You know it won't hurt to wear a dress once," Ray stated.
I scoffed, "That's what you said the last time."
That just made him chuckle even harder," Come on. Once more won't hurt." I gave him a glare then sighed. I looked over at the others. They were still hovering over the phone. I walked over to them with Ray following behind.
I looked up at Mr.Z, " What do I get in return?"
He gave me a confused look,
"What do you mean?"
"If I wear a dress what will you give me?"
He stop to think about it. " Did Caine give you something?"
I nodded. " I got revenge on both of them!" I said with a smile.
He raised an eyebrow at me. I kept my smile on my face. He sighed and reached into his pocket. " How's this?" he asked pulling out ten dollars.
"Double or nothin'," I said crossing my arms over my chest. He grumbled to himself and pulled out a twenty.
"Thank you!" I said snatching the twenty from his hands. I shoved it into my pocket.
Mr.Z walked back to his desk. "Can we get money for dressing up?" James asked.
"Yeah I want some cash," Caine said beside James.
Mr.Z leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk and supported his head with his hands. " Look, if there was another way to get her into a dress I would've went with it. But since she's too stubborn there wasn't another way." he explained.
"I still want some cash," Caine mumbled while walking towards Greg, James following him.
Mr.Z leaned back in his chair," You kids are a weird group, you know that right?"
"Yeah we get that a lot," James and Ray said together. They shrugged and looked at each other then back to Mr.Z.
"But we're your weirdos!" Ren said from beside me.
Mr. Z scoffed and went back to what he was doing. "Yeah along with Camie the con artist," he said giving me a smirk.
I huffed and walked to a table. I crawled on top of it and laid back. "You are a little con artist, aren't you?" Caine asked walking towards me.
"I just think it's fair. If I wear a dress I get something in return," I stated.
"That's conning someone Hana," Greg said with a sigh.
I sighed," Fine I'm a con artist, kay? I still don't want to wear a dress."
Greg shook his," You have to wear one you promised."
I looked up at the ceiling. " I'll wear one this time, but enjoy it while you can because this is the only time I'll wear one for a long time."
"Yay! Hana's going to wear a dress!" Greg said excitingly. I hope this banquet is a good thing. Otherwise it's a waste of my time. I closed my eyes as drowsiness took over me.