In the Best Damn Dress I Own

Gerard’s P.O.V

The day was finally here, and I was shitting a brick in the anticipation that was murdering me slowly. The crowd had just begun to arrive and the families of the contestants got a front row seat. From behind the curtain I could see Frank smiling with that stupid I-really-don’t-know-what-I’m-supposed-to-be-doing grin on his face.

“Okay girls. First up is the group dance then it’s the swimsuit portion. Are we all ready to get a move on here?” I nodded along with the rest of the girls. We were all nervous but I was shaking.

Every one of us was matching down to the shoes. Evaleen had picked out the costumes; red, white, and blue with black fishnets and knee-high, white boots. We looked like hookers. Every one of us wore a white top-hat to finish off the ever so tacky outfit.

The curtain opened and we were all smiling on the stage in front of maybe a thousand people. In the front sat Frankie, that smile still etched on his face. Our song began to play, “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue” by Toby Keith. We were set hurtling into the variation of kicks and steps we had learned over the past month or so.

All of us had that smile on our face. I had seen a couple of the girls put Vaseline on their teeth beforehand. As for me, I didn’t need it to smile. In fact, I had been told that I had a beautiful smile on more than one occasion. The thing was, I just didn’t smile very often. I figured that it was stupid to smile when something good wasn’t happening. It was a waste.

My mind trailed off and one of the girls bumped into me. Feeling myself regain control of my actions, I noted what step we were on and fell back into synchronization.

From way in the back, past the spotlight, I thought I saw a glint of mousy hair. The man’s glasses were falling off the edge of his nose and he was wrapped in a jacket. Maybe I was mistaken, but he seemed to be…smiling? But there was no way he could be enjoying watching his big brother flaunt around in women’s clothing. There was no way Mikey would be having a good time here, watching me.

The song ended but the girls on stage, myself included, continued smiling like we were maniacs. From across the room I could have sworn I saw a macabre stare given to me by Erika, but I couldn’t be sure. A thin film of sweat began to form on my brow, but I couldn’t wipe it off, not yet anyways. Evaleen went up front to talk and we were dismissed as applause filled the auditorium.

I suddenly felt someone grip my hand tightly, squeezing it a little too much. My hand felt like it needed to breath. Looking down at my hand, I realized that we were in alphabetical order and that the person who was holding my hand was none other than Erika. I jerked my hand away from hers. She looked hurt.

“I’m sorry for what I did to you and Frank. It was wrong and I should have never done it. Please, I just want to compete without anyone mad at me. Please forgive me?” she pleaded. Staring at her for a moment, I saw that her eyes looked genuine.

“It’s never going to be okay, but for now let’s just say I’m not mad.” She brightened up as I whispered my response. It was like I was back in High School, I swear. If I had any idea how much drama was going to be in this pageant, I would have never entered in the first place.

“Thank you. I’ll make it up to you.” And for some reason, I believed she would.

Erika’s P.O.V

I was going to make it up to Gerard. Of course, in the process I would be destroying him forever. Maybe Frank would even leave him because of the humiliation of dating such a fucking freak. God, that would be the best revenge I had ever tasted. And believe me, over the years I had tasted plenty of fucking revenge.

My plan was this; if Gerard didn’t slip up before the day was done, I was going to announce the news for him. Maybe I wasn’t doing him many favors, but maybe he’d thank me in the long run. Maybe it’d cure him of this sickness he seemed to carry along with him all this time. Maybe he’d be normal for once. Ha! What a fucking joke.

Then maybe Evaleen would respect me and know that I was right all along. Gerard would be banished and become the laughing stock of the whole town and they would all praise me. Hail Erika! She saw past that freak’s disguise for what he really was; a freak and a poser! Now he rots in his self-made prison of resentment for himself! Hail Erika!

Or maybe they wouldn’t do something so drastic. Maybe Gerard would just retreat back into the little hole of an apartment where he came from in the first place. In any case, it would still be my victory. There was no way something like him could ever beat me when it really came down to it. I was just so much better than he was.

Evaleen called out to us, telling us that the swimsuit competition was up next. Gerard would never survive that one. Looking across the room I caught his eye and he smiled at me. Oh, how naïve that Gerard Way could be.