I'd Encourage Your Smiles

It was a typical Wednesday morning and 17 year old Jack Barakat was retrieving his books from the ancient purple locker he had had for the three years he had been at this school. With a sigh, he turned away from the locker, closing it, and almost ran into someone. Things were going to be strange, he could tell.

~

“Jack? Are you Jack Barakat?”

A small girl with raven black hair stood in front of me. I had never seen her before.

“Yeah. Who are you?”

“The name's Molly. I'm a freshman and I work up in the front office instead of having P.E., but that's not exactly that important. Some boy brought this in this morning and asked if I could give it to you.”

She presented a folded sheet of white paper and I took it from her, waiting for any more explanation, but none came.

“Who was he?”

“He asked me not to tell you. I'm simply a messenger. Just read the letter.”

With that, she was gone and I was still confused. I tucked the slip of paper into one of the books and rushed off to first hour, planning on reading it once I got there.

Once arriving to the class, which was fortunately just a study hour, I fished out the note and spread it out on the wooden desk.

Jack,
This all might seem a little strange, but I have a question to ask you. As I'm sure you know, senior prom is on Friday. If you don't already have a date, I would like you to be mine on one condition. The theme is The Phantom Of The Opera, so everyone will be wearing masks. If I can find you, regardless of the mask, would you do the honor of being my date for the prom?

Mysteriously,
Your (hopeful) Prom Date

P.S. If you could leave an answer by the drum kit in Mr. Montgomery's music class, that would help things.

Was this all a joke? It had to be. No one would care enough to go through all of this trouble just for a loser like me. I was intrigued, yet hesitant. I didn't want to be made a fool of if this turned out to be some kid's idea of a prank. I had Mr. Montgomery after lunch and Math today, so I could ask my friends what they thought about this whole thing.

~

The remainder of study hall and my English class afterward flew by. The bell for lunch rang and I wandered through the halls, catching up with Zack, Rian, and his girlfriend, Cassadee. I knew she would be the one to ask about all this. Rian and Zack would be useless, I was sure of it. We all talked about anything that had happened during the beginning of the day before arriving in the crowded, zoo-like cafeteria. Cassadee and I sat at a table while Rian and Zack went to get lunch.

“Hey, Cass? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What's up?”

“I got this note before first period this morning, but I don't know anything about who it came from, except that it was a guy.”

I handed her the paper and she quickly read it.

“Jack, oh my god! You have to say yes!”

“But I don't even know who he is!”

“So! He was willing to go out of his way to do this. You can't turn him down!”

“What if it's all a joke, though? I'd look like an idiot.”

“I don't know why, but I get the feeling that it's not a joke.”

I sighed and she pushed my arm a little.

“Come on, Jack. Take a chance for once.”

“A chance on what?” Rian asked as he and Zack returned to the table.

Cassadee filled them in and I zoned out of the conversation, thinking about whether I was actually going to go through with this. I wanted to because the mystery and the romance behind it drew me in, but I didn't want to if this was all fake.

“Dude, ii think you should do it. I mean, why not? You weren't even going to go to prom,” Rian said, breaking me out of my haze.

“You know why I wasn't.”

“We all do. Alex moved away, Jacky. I'm sorry, but you've gotta move on. It was three years ago.”

“Rian, I loved him! I still love him.”

“Just give this guy a chance, Jack. It'll be good for you. None of us think it's a joke. If some guy wants to be your date to prom, let him. I know he won't be Alex, or even come close to measuring up to Alex, but it's worth a shot.”

“Fine. Fine, I will,” I said, exasperated, as the lunch bell rang.

I walked to Mr. Montgomery's class nervously and pulled a sheet of paper out of my binder. I ripped it on half and scrawled 'yes' on it. No one was in the room yet, not even Mr. Montgomery. That was something I was thankful for as I went quickly over to the drum set. Nobody in my class played the drums, so I just left the paper on the kickstand. I figured that way the mystery boy would find it, but the kick drum would hide it from anyone else around it.

Students started coming in as I returned to my desk. Once the bell had rung and everyone had filed in, class began but I couldn't focus for the life of me. I barely even noticed when the bell signaling the end of the day.

“Mr. Barakat? Is everything alright? You seem a little distracted today,” Mr. Montgomery questioned before I got out the door.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Everything is fine.”

“Nervous about the boy?”

“H-how did you know?”

“He came in here this morning to tell me everything.”

“O-oh. Who was it?”

“I can't tell you that, but I think it would be in your best interests to say yes.”

“Really?”

“Really. Have a nice day, Jack.”

“You too.”

I thought it was strange that Mr. Montgomery knew who was asking me to prom, but I didn't. I guess I would find out soon enough.

~

Two days flew by, full of Cassadee helping me get everything ready for tonight. I was excited but also worried. What if he couldn't find me? What if he never shows? What if I don't like him or he finds out he doesn't really like me? I had voiced all of these concerns to Cass and I think she was getting tired of me because at this point she just ignored me.

Both Rian and Cassadee were at my house and we planned on meeting Zack there. Cassadee looked amazing in a full-length blue dress with a gold top and Rian cleaned up pretty nicely himself. I fixed my hair in the mirror for the thousandth time and they both smiled at me before my mom was calling us downstairs and escorting us out the door. She was probably more excited for this than I was. She knew how much I had loved Alex and how it tore me apart when he left, so I think she was glad I was giving someone else a chance.

We got into Rian's car and made the short drive over to the school. People wandered outside, everyone dressed nicely, their faces concealed by masks. I pulled my own over my eyes. It was nothing crazy or extravagant, just a plain red mask with branches inked on the outsides. Cassadee had helped me pick it out when we looked for hers. She had chosen a white plastic mask that was sprayed gold on the outside and had blue feathers extended from the right side. Rian's mask was just blue, the same color as Cassadee's and her dress.

We made our way inside the decorated gym and found Zack almost immediately. He was with some girl named Jessica, who I didn't know too well. We all sat at a table and tried to talk over the music before both couples went to dance, leaving me alone.

“He'll come. I know he will,” Cassadee whispered before joining everyone else on the crowded dance floor.

I waited another half an hour, with no sign of the mystery boy. Zack, Jessica, Rian, and Cass returned and another hour passed before they were back out on the floor, dancing. I was losing all hope, I knew this was a bad idea. Someone was probably watching me, laughing with his friends at the weird boy who had actually thought he would have a date. I sighed and put my head in my hands. Only seconds after, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Could it really be? Slowly, I lifted my head and turned to find a boy smiling triumphantly at me.

“I found you.”

“You found me,” I repeated lamely.

“Do you want to dance?”

I nodded and he took my hand, leading me towards the dance floor. I may have imagined it, but I could have sworn I saw him wink at Rian and Cassadee. Weird.

“So, Jack. Didn't think that I would find you, did you?”

“Honestly, no.”

“Why not?”

“There are a lot of people here and I'm nothing special. It's not like I stand out.”

“You're special to me.”

I blushed a little as a slow song came on. The boy pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around my waist and I rested mine around his neck. We stayed quiet throughout the entire song and he smiled at me when it was over.

“Do you want to go somewhere else? I would like to be able to talk to you without yelling.”

Still slightly hesitant, I nodded. He took my hand in his and led my out of the gym. He tested the doors on one of the classrooms to find it unlocked, then pushed the door open. I followed him inside and he sat down, leaning against the wall. I sat in front of him, my back against a desk, so I could look at him while he spoke.

“You know, you really are something, Jack.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don't think that you see just how great you really are.”

I blushed again and looked down at my hands that were folded in my lap.

“I'm not.”

“Yes you are.”

“Well, I don't think so.”

“That's okay. I know so.”

“How? I don't even know you.”

“You know me better than you think. Maybe even better than you know yourself.”

“Who are you?”

“Well, since it's clear I already know who you are, why don't you take your mask off, then I'll take off mine?”

“Okay.”

I pulled at the ties in the back and the mask slid off my face. I placed it on the floor next to me.

“Just as beautiful as ever.”

For the third time since he had found me, I blushed at the boys words. I was so anxious to see who it was.

“Your turn.”

He pulled on the white ties behind the purple mask he was wearing and the piece of fabric slowly tumbled down into his lap. I gasped. It wasn't. It couldn't be. He couldn't just be sitting in front of me after so long.

“You, no. This isn't possible. You're in England. You're gone. You left me without a second thought. You broke my heart.”

He cringed at my words but leaned forward to caress my cheek. Unwillingly, I leaned into his familiar touch.

“Jack, I'm sorry that I left you the way I did. I'm sorry that I was just suddenly gone. I couldn't say goodbye to you. I couldn't know that that could be the last time I ever saw you. I was too scared to tell you the things I wanted to.”

“And what were those things, Alex?” I asked coldly.

He didn't reply, just leaned forward more. Before I could react, his lips were moving against mine. I knew my eyes were wide and I was in too much shock to kiss him back, though I desperately wanted to.

Looking sad he pulled back and whispered, “I wanted to tell you that I love you.”