Call Me Crazy

“Come on! You’re taking too long!” I shouted through the door. We were getting ready to leave for the dance, and Alexis had been in the bathroom for the past 20 minutes. She had told me she was getting her dress on. She had left it to be a surprise for me, and she wouldn’t even give me a clue as to what it looked like.

“Fine,” I heard her shout, followed by some muffled noises. It sounded like things were falling over. I stifled a laugh.

“Having trouble in there?” I asked, and then the door opened.

“No,” Alexis said, sticking her tongue out. I laughed and looked at the dress. It was gorgeous! It was a bell-shaped strapless dress. The brightness of the blue silk could probably blind a person in the right lighting, but it looked amazing on her.

“You look amazing, chica!” I screamed, throwing my arms around her, “But what took you so long?” I added.

“I was nervous,” Alexis said softly, looking down.

“Aww, why?” I asked as we headed down the stairs. The guys would be here to pick us up any minute.

“The guys have never seen me in a dress,” She said, blushing and looking away.

“Really?” I asked, surprised, “It won’t matter though, they’re be blown away” I gave her an encouraging smile, which she returned, just as the doorbell rang.

We were greeted by all three of them shouting random comments at us, along the lines of “Hey!” “You look great!” or in Kevin’s case, a squeal, followed by a bear hug. When I finally escaped Kevin’s clutches, I smoothed out my dress and recommended we get moving.

“Like the ride?” Kevin asked, motioning to his beat up Honda.

“It’s absolutely loverly, Kevin,” Alexis responded, hardly paying attention. She was conversing with John.

“Well I like it,” I said, laughing slightly. I felt giddy. This day was so surreal; I was about to do something I never thought I would. I walked over to Ben and gave him a huge hug just before I clambered into the back seat with Alexis. Kevin was driving, and Ben was sitting in the passenger seat, leaving John and I in the back with Alexis.

Kevin popped in a CD and pressed a few buttons before settling on a song. The thudding base erupted from the speakers. It took me a while to match the steady beat to the song. Of course, it was Kevin’s latest obsession. I watched as he sang along softly, before bringing all he had into the chorus.

“I'm the kind of guy that you ain't ever seen before. If you want to hit the floor, are you ready for more? I'm the kind of guy that it ain't easy to forget. Girl, I'm gonna make you sweat. Are you ready? Are you ready for more?” he yelled, nowhere near on key.

“Dude!” John shouted over him, “Are you trying to make us deaf?”

“I can’t hear you!” Kevin shouted back, and began to sing even louder. How his vocal chords didn’t give out was a mystery to me.

We talked the rest of the way there, trying to block out Kevin’s tone deaf singing and laughing when his voice cracked. We pulled into the hotel parking lot, and stepped out into the darkened night. Couples and groups were already entering the expensive establishment, mingling and squealing in joy as they noticed everyone’s attire.

As we stepped into the warmth of the lobby, I slipped, and almost fell on their marble floors. The receptionist gave us a dirty look, like us high school kids weren’t good enough for a hotel like this one. I had no idea how our school afforded this place for homecoming, but I wasn’t complaining, it was a very nice place. We followed the signs to the correct ballroom, myself receiving many compliments on both my dress, and Alexis’s dress. I couldn’t help but notice the way John was looking at her. It was too cute!

The lights were off in the ballroom, the only source of light coming from the strobe lights the DJ had set up, and the light coming in from the doors that led into the lobby. Just like we had predicted, the music wasn’t our taste. They continued to play rap song after rap song, and it was driving me crazy.

Kevin was pretty fed up with it too. He dragged me up to the DJ booth and attempted to request a song.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY COBRA STARSHIP?” Kevin yelled over the hideous thing people called music. The DJ cupped his hand to his ear, indicating he couldn’t hear. “COBRA STARSHIP?” Kevin yelled again. The DJ seemed to understand this time, but shook his head no. Kevin was pissed.

“DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING OTHER THAN RAP?” he yelled again. The DJ nodded, and wrote something down on a pad of paper and turned away. When we were far enough from the speakers, I said, “Well that went well”

“Yeah,” Kevin said, rolling his eyes. We made our way back to where John, Alexis, and Ben were standing.

“Any luck?” John asked. We shook our heads ‘no’ and proceeded to kill time until the homecoming court was announced. It would happen at 9, which meant in about 15 minutes, we would all find out who had won.

I spotted Mackenzie across the room, working the dance floor, in a surprisingly not so slutty way. Her dress was short and black, classic, yet it made her look better than everyone else in the room. The guys were all looking at her, as were the girls, jealously in their glares as their boyfriends ogled at her.

Scanning the room once again, my eyes landed on Adam. And to put it bluntly, he looked hot. Beyond hot was more like it. Just like Mackenzie, he held the attention quite a few people. His hair was less messy than it was at school, my guesses at an attempt to look nice. His eyes looked around a bit, before stopping on me. He smiled; it was adorable. I smiled weakly back and waited for him to look away. When he did, I exhaled, and I noticed my stomach was in knots.

I tried breathing to steady myself, and eventually I regained my composure, just in time to be greeted by Ashleigh’s skinny arms. Her dress was a pretty pink and it made her even more gorgeous than she usually was. Mike was next to her, and for once, he didn’t look like much of a nerd.

“You look amazing! You’re in a dress!” Ashleigh exclaimed.

“You too! I didn’t even know it was possible for you to be any more gorgeous!” I replied, “and oh my gosh, Mike!” I squealed, and jumped into him for a hug. He chuckled.

“Ashleigh helped me pick it out,” He admitted, referring to his spiffy attire. I smiled, raising an eyebrow.

“So are you two, um, here together?” I asked, trying not to sound so straightforward. They both blushed, “I knew it!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Ashleigh admitted, biting her lip to hide the smile spreading across her face.

“Hey everybody, are you having a good time?” The DJ’s voice boomed through the speaker. There were some rowdy cheers. “Ok then, at this time can we have all the nominees come up here please?” He said into the mic. My stomach seemed to swell as if it was going to swell up and pop out of my mouth, but I tried to push that feeling aside. Ben gave me a push, and reluctantly, I made my way towards the DJ booth.

I looked around to see everyone around me. There were a few different categories for homecoming court, and then homecoming queen and king. There were about 20 people in total standing next to me. I watched as one of the cheerleaders came forth and pepped the crowd up a bit.

“Okay, so we are going to start with the category for most athletic girls,” There were some cheers as the cheerleader, whose name I figured out was Anna, read off the paper. “The winner is, Kelsey McDonald!” The crowd went wild as a tall brunette walked up to accept the rose.

Next they announced most athletic guy, most spirited girl and guy, and most talented girl and guy. I didn’t know anyone who was nominated, but every time a winner was announced, the student body went wild.

“And now we will announce the homecoming queen,” My throat tightened. I sideways glanced at Mackenzie. She turned to me and gave a small smile. We were the only ones still in the running, Mackenzie had threatened the other girls to drop out. “And the homecoming queen is…” I gulped, “Nichole Martin.”

Oh shit.