What Senior Prom Taught Me

“Hey, are you guys doing anything Friday?” I asked, breaking the silence of Natalie, Rachel and me doing homework in front of my locker.

“I’m free,” Rachael replied, her eyes imploring me to elaborate.

“I think I am too."

“Great! How would you two feel about going to a party? Dean’s friend is throwing it, and he lives down the street from you, Natalie.”

“Dean?” Rachel slammed her hands down on her AP Biology textbook. “Dean the Greek God that you work with?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s human. I mean, why would a Greek good choose to work at the local grocery store after school? But, yeah, sure, that Dean.”

“Oh come on Lina!” Rachel whined, shooting me an incredulous look. “You’d have to be blind to not think he’s attractive.”

“I mean, sure, he’s attractive. He’s just not my type.”

“Who is your type then?” Natalie questioned, her eyes flashing skeptically as if neither of them could believe I could find someone attractive, but not be attracted to them.

As if on cue, James Gordon walked into the locker room, his eyes locking on mine. My stomach flipped regretfully, as I turned my eyes back down on my History textbook, hoping my two friends didn’t see that the interaction was the reason a slight blush to rose to my cheeks.

“I dunno,” I shrugged.

Natalie and Rachel both gave me a look to signifying that I didn’t fool them before Rachel continued, “It’s a fact of life that hot guys travel in groups. If Dean’s not your thing, there’s bound to be someone at this party that is. I’ll ask my parents tonight.”

“Me too! We can stay at mine. That way we can just walk there and home!”

“Hi Ladies!” James chirped with a Nazi killing smile, interrupting our conversation as he approached his locker.

We each greeted him as he unlocked his locker and got himself ready for the beginning of the school day. How he was so chipper in the morning was a mystery to me. How anyone could be so happy at 7:15am was a mystery to me. Especially when one was up at that time to go to school. However, I wasn’t what one might call a morning person, and it was obvious that James was. Although, to be fair, James was never in a bad mood so I guess he was an all day kind of person.

“OH! Are you doing the history homework?” he asked, his eyes boring into the book on my lap.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Can we work on it together? I’m confused about some things.”

“Sure!” My bright smile almost matched his as he took a seat next to me.

“Oh Rachel, we have to go to the office, to uh, sort out the confusion with our…parking passes,” Natalie stood, tugging on Rachel’s sleeve. “We’ll see you later?” her eyes resting on me imploringly.

I nodded with a slight smile as she and Rachel left, knowing that I was going to be in for the Spanish Inquisition later.

“What were you confused about?” I asked, turning my attention to James, willing myself to not let my thoughts get carried away.

“Well, question number 3 for starters,” James pointed to the number in my text book making sure that our fingers brushed as he did so.

My body started to heat up much to my chagrin. I didn’t like the feeling of starting to lose control.

“Okay, that’s easy. The Tennis Court Oath basically marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The Three Estates of France demanded the King recognize them as a National Assembly. It was pretty much the start of the shift in power.”

“Ohhhhhh!” the sparkle of understanding lit up James’s face. “Got it! God, the French Revolution is so confusing.”

“Tell me about it. I had to read that section maybe three times before understanding the text enough to answer that question.”

“Well, if you’re having trouble, there’s no hope for me. You’re amazing at this stuff,” his eyes twinkled with admiration.

I ignored the fact that my stomach in that moment had decided to try for gold on the uneven bars, and flipped my wrist in feigned nonchalance.

“Please, it’s too early for flattery.”

Plus, was it really that much of a compliment? I mean, I’ll take what I can get, but what does it really me to be amazing at history class? Sure, it’s helpful to enjoy the subject—which I did—but all it really took was being able to read and answer questions in complete sentences. However, any compliment from James felt like high praise. Even being told that I didn’t smell that bad to him would have felt like receiving a medal of honor.

“You make it hard not to,” he quipped back brushing my arm slightly and letting his eyes trail up and down my body quickly.

I willed myself not to seem visibly affected by what seemed like James’s blatant flirting, and opted for mock annoyance at his statement. With a playful nudge of my shoulder into his and an eye roll, I suggested we get back to work all the while enjoying a victory dance in my head.

We continued working together to answer the questions that went along with our required reading until the bell for homeroom rang. James made sure that our hands, arms or the legs touched as much as possible in a seemingly accidental way. I felt slightly vindicated, but mostly worried. It seemed like I was barreling down the road to having serious feelings despite my best efforts to ignore them. Although, was it so bad to go down that road when James overtures were becoming increasingly obvious? Or were they just friendly gestures that I was warping in my mind to convince myself that the person I was interested in me felt the same? I knew I would have to break second deadly sin for denying one’s feelings: I’d have to admit it to Rachel and Natalie. It was a necessary evil. I needed the impartial eyes and ears so we could discuss the minutia of my interactions and come to a unified conclusion on if he was flirting or not.

“Thanks for all your help this morning,” James shot me another one of his knee-weakening smiles, running his hand through his short brown hair that seemed to be always just perfectly tousled.

“Anytime,” I smiled back as we joined the throng of students making their way to the upper levels of the school.

***

“Ugh!” Emma’s face twisted in disgust. “That bitch!”

“Hey, now!” I held my hands up with a expression of fake anger on my face as I joined Emma and Rachel at the lunch table. “Just because my mom packs me extra peanut butter cookies does not make her a bitch!”

Emma rolled her eyes at me before continuing, “I’m talking about Anna,” she nudged her chin to direct our attention to the entrance of the cafeteria.

At the end of the lunch line Anna Ruiez stood next to Seeley as they waited to buy their lunch. It’s clear that he’s said something funny as her head is thrown back in laughter. She slaps Seeley’s arm playfully and he flexes it subtly under her touch.

“You mean our friend Anna?”

“Well, sure,” Emma spits, annoyed that I’m pointing out her cattiness, “But must she flirt with everyone?’

”She’ll flirt with anything that has a penis,” Rachel chimed in.

I always felt bad when people used this line. Not only was it over used and no longer a clever way to say someone was a slut, it was too much of an exaggeration. There’s quite a big leap from enjoying a manfolk or two to wanting to get with a goat. Also, wasn’t flirting harmless? The thought sent a slight pang of sadness through my body as my mind trailed back to my morning homework session with James. However, I didn’t have time to dwell on the thought as Seeley and Anna join us at the table, each holding a foil wrapped sandwich.

“Hey girls!” Anna exclaimed, tossing her sleek pin straight hair over her shoulder as she dug into her lunch.

I noticed Seeley stop in his movements to watch her do this, reinforcing at least one gender stereotype about teenage boys. Boys were dogs—sorry, pathetic, horny dogs—and even if he was practically head-over-heels for one of my best friends, he still couldn’t help but stop and drool at an attractive girl sitting across from him. The interaction did not go unnoticed by Rachel as she gave Seeley and Anna some serious side eye. I rolled my eyes quickly, making sure she saw before responding.

“Hey! What’s up?”

Was it really Anna’s fault that she was the product of great genes? The girl couldn’t be blamed for the fact that a zit never marred her smooth caramel skin or the fact that she somehow skipped the awkward teenage phase that every adult on the face of the planet warned you about on your thirteenth birthday.

“We just came from Calculus,” Anna moaned. “I’m pretty sure I just failed our quiz.”

“Who cares?” Seeley shrugged, bits of food falling from his stuffed mouth. “You’ve already gotten to college.”

“My parents do,” she huffed. “And if I want any semblance of a social life this next month, I can’t be failing tests. Speaking of which, do you guys have any big plans this weekend?”

“Dean—my friend from work—invited me to a party. You’re welcome to come. Not you, Seeley, girls only.”

Seeley shot me a hurt look as I felt a stab of pain on my shin from Rachel kicking me under the table.

“That’s sexist!” he pouted, finishing off the last bite of his sandwich.

“Sorry,” I shrugged. “He goes to an all-boys school. I think they’re trying to even out the odds.”

“That sounds fun!” Anna chirped. “I’ll ask my parents tonight.”

“Ugh!” Emma spat. “My brother’s engagement party is Friday. I can’t go.”

Anna, Rachel, and I gave her sympathetic looks. Celebrating love was fun and all, but it didn’t hold a candle to drinking with potentially attractive teenage boys that were obviously desperate for the female touch.

We finished our lunches, the conversation turning into various lamentations on how much the last two months of school were going to be brutal. All of us had gotten into and accepted a college for the next chapter of our lives. Now, we were stuck completing busy work until the end of the school calendar.

Rachel and I headed up to our lockers separately from the rest of the group under the claim that she needed the use the bathroom and that she needed my companionship to do so.

“Why’d you invite Anna?” She hissed, the moment we were over the threshold of the cafeteria.

“Did I miss the memo that we weren’t friends with Anna anymore or something?”

“No!” Rachel threw her hands up in indignation. “It’s just like, aren’t we going to this party to meet boys? No one is going to pay attention to us if she comes.”

“You don’t honestly believe that do you?” I rolled my eyes. Rachel had a bit of a flair for the mellow dramatics. Sure, Anna was attractive, but she wasn’t like some holy grail of womanhood. “I’m sure there will be enough attractive guys at the party to go along. You yourself said they travel in packs.”

Rachel rolled her eyes in response with a slight smile and bumped my shoulder playfully. “You’re right,” she stated. “How do you always keep your cool?”

“Years of practice,” I laughed and she laughed too.