Spotlight

            “So how did it go last night?” Reed asked me as we walked to our first class.

            “Basically, she’s a life ruiner, she won’t let me go anywhere with Roy until she meets him, and God knows how well that will go.”

            “Aw Val it won’t be that bad, besides, everyone’s got to do it sometime.”

            “Did you introduce Terry to your parents?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

            “Well… no-but that’s not the point!”

            “What’s your point then?” I cornered her. She leaned against the lockers while I exchanged my books.

            “Oh never mind,” she gave in and looked around. “Well would you look who it is.”

            “Huh?” I said, and just as I turned around to see who it was, the clouds covering the sky lights departed, letting the sun shine through and down onto Roy. As he walked down the hall, it was almost as if his presence was so strong, he made everyone in his path part to the sides of the hallway.

            “Well hello there,” I smiled.

            “Hey babe,” Roy said, revealing hi brilliant smile. “Where were you last night?”

            “Stella had me on lockdown,” I frowned. “Sorry I couldn’t make it.”

            “Val, you know you don’t need to apologize,” he said, touching my nose. “That party was a drag anyways-“

            “Miss Scott, Reed, and Mr. Owen! Get to class!” Mrs. Wayward, our principal, shouted to us in her screechy voice. She forever tried to be intimidating to all of the students, but her extreme pettiness didn’t help her out much. She would always run through the hallways nagging on kids to get to class, such as this very occasion. I was among her favorite to chew on.

            “On my way Wayward, on my way,” I dragged. I turned back to Roy to wave goodbye, but unexpectedly, he kissed me instead, right in front of Mrs. Wayward.

            Stunned by his behavior, she called after Roy as he ran around the corner to his class, demanding to have a word with him about PDA and respect. “Mr. Owen get back here!” she screeched, but he was long gone. Reed and I used that opportunity to escape to class as well.

 

            I don’t want to sound conceited, but everyone loves me, well with an exception of Wayward. The seniors even accept me as one of their own. But what can I say, I’m lovable.

 

            “Good morning girls,” Mr. Harmon said as we walked into calculus, just barely missing the tardy bell. I smiled and then took my seat in the back of the class beside Reed.

            Calculus was my most hated course, even though Harmon let me do whatever I pleased, he wasn’t as lenient on my grades. The last test he handed back was the highest of my grades all semester, a 62. The sad part was, I celebrated.

            If I wasn’t whispering to Reed, then I was probably sleeping in that class. What was the point in trying to learn something if I never remembered it when test time came around? My educational guessing got me as high as a 62, what more did I need?

            “We will be having a quiz tomorrow on lessons one and two. I expect you all to review tonight…” Mr. Harmon said, and looked back at my with a hopeful look on his face.

            Those were the only words I heard him say all period, and why did he have that pitiful expression on his face? He should’ve known by now that I haven’t studied for this class since… well, ever.

            “Pssst …Val!” Reed whispered. I snapped out of my daydream and saw the geek of all geeks standing in front of me. Eugene Fowler. His glasses magnified his eyes, making them look like they were bulging from his face. He lacked all body fat, leaving him wraith-like, and his lips were dangerously thin. I felt a chill go up my spine just looking at him.

            “Hi Valerie,” he smiled, revealing his retainer.

            “Hello…Eugene?” I leaned back in my chair, trying to space myself. He slicked his hair back and leaned against my desk.

            “As you know, I am the best in the class,” he cockishly grinned. I looked over to Reed, but she was glaring at Eugene and her face was as disgusted as I imagined it would be. “Harmon asked me to do the honors in tutoring you after school today. He said you needed help,” he finished.

            I quickly shot a glance to Mr. Harmon who stood by his podium giving me an encouraging nod. At a loss of words, I looked back at Eugene and quickly made up an excuse.

            “That’s so sweet of you to offer your services Eugene, but I’m actually busy today after school.”

            His face fell for a second but lit up again as he pondered.

            “What about tomorrow?”

            “I can’t then either.”

            He huffed and as he looked down he started tapping his foot on the ground. “What about Thursday?” he continued. I looked over to Reed for help.

            “Hey Eugene?” Reed called.

            “Yes?”

            “Come here for a sec.”

            He walked over to Reed’s desk and waited as his foot continued to tap.

            “Look…” she said in a fake sweet voice. “She doesn’t want your help okay? She’s already got a tutor.”

            “Who?” he asked irritably.

            “Me,” She smiled. “So please leave her alone kay?”

            Eugene stomped away, reuniting with his geek squad by Mr. Harmon’s desk. Six sets of magnified glaring eyes turned to Reed and I.

            “They’re so creepy!” Reed said.

            “I know! Thanks for saving me.”

            “Val you know I’ve always got your back.”

            The bell rang and everyone cleared out of calculus and into the halls.

            “So Reed,” I began. “Did Terry ask you to the Valentine’s Ball yet?”

            “NO!” she complained. “I’ve been waiting for almost a week now!” She looked as if she were about to cry.

            “Calm down Reed! He’ll come around, don’t cry about it! He’s probably thinking of a clever way to ask you.”

            “Yeah, you’re probably right,” she admitted, as she regulated her breathing. “What about Roy? Has he asked you yet?”

            I sighed. “Nope, not yet-“

            “Will all students please report to the gymnasium for an assembly!” Mrs. Wayward screeched over the intercom. I closed the lock back on my locker, not needing my English book anymore.

            “Oh yeah, I forgot that there was a pep rally today!” Reed cheered.

            “Yeah, Roy and the rest of the guys on the team are one game away from being champions of our whole conference!”

            I had almost forgotten that Roy had a basketball game tonight. Stella had better let me go.

            “Come on Val!” Reed tugged at my arm. “We have to get a good seat!”

            I followed her through the crowd of students all going to the gym. Where’s Roy? I thought to myself. He usually meets me at my locker.

            Soon enough we made it safely into the gym and I followed her to the bleachers where our twin friends, Evie and Pippa, were sitting. They were exchange students from the UK, Luton, Bedfordshire to be exact.

            “Valerie! Reed! Hiya!” Evie greeted us.

            “Took you chums long enough!” Pippa added and focused on me. “Missed quite the bash last night Valerie. Interesting choice in timing though…” she trailed off.

            “Interesting? More like atrocious choice in timing!” Evie retorted. “What kind of divvy lad decides to have a bash on a school night? I mean, would you look at everyone here? They look sickly.”

            “Well you went,” Pippa pointed.

            “But I didn’t drink anything! Who in their right mind would get completely blathered knowing they had to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning? Not me I say.”

            “Half of the student body would disagree, if you can see,” Pippa giggled as she looked around at the many hung over students surrounding us.

            “Whose party was it anyway?” I asked.

            “Hmm…” Pippa looked around. “Was it hers?” She asked Evie, pointing at a petite blond girl.

             “No, not her, the lad beside her. I think his name is Lamar,” Evie said.

“He was the basher?”

“Mhm…every lass tried to get him alone with them,” Evie explained. “That lass beside him is his girlfriend.”

“She was the slag wearing the batty riders!”

“Well all of them were a bunch of bimbos if you ask me,” Evie said and then turned to Reed and I. I found it funny that both Evie and Pippa knew almost everything about everyone in our school. They had only been in the United States for seven months now and they knew more than I did, and I’ve lived here for about four years.

“Anyways, it was fine until a bobby showed up…that’s when everyone really started to act like the ankle-biters that they are.”

“What’s an ankle-biter?” I asked. Evie rolled her eyes as if I should’ve caught on to their British slang by now.

“They acted like a bunch of children.”

I nodded. “So did any of the basketball players get caught?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Pippa answered. “The bobby just told us to turn down he music. It was just a noise whinge, nothing too drastic-”

“Bloody hell Pippa! That’s the slag that was dancing all over Roy and Chandler!” Evie pulled Pippa close, and attempted to whisper.

“What?” I snapped. Both of them froze and turned to me slowly.

“Uh..uh… she was completely blazed Valerie. She didn’t know what she was doing.” Evie said.

“But what about Roy?” I questioned.

“He, uh…nothing happened Val, no need to worry-”

“Any who, we’re having a bommie night on Friday that you’re more than welcome to come to,” Pippa interjected.

“Hey Val look!” Reed tugged at my arm. She pointed at the door where Roy’s face was poking out smiling. I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Reed…”

“Yeah?”

“Roy wouldn’t ever, you know, cheat on me…would he?” I asked. It fell silent for a moment, both of us trying to process that thought.

“…No,” she finally said. “Don’t listen to Bonnie and Clyde over there, they gossip about everyone,” she smiled.

I giggled. “Yeah I guess you’re right.”

Suddenly the lights dimmed and spot lights started circling the gym.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand up and cheer for your fellow Crouching Tiger Cheerleaders!” Mrs. Wayward once again screeched over the intercom.

One cheerleader after another ran into the gym and yelled on the top of their lungs and chanted the same thing over and over. Soon enough the whole student body was repeating after them.

“We're strong! And proud! 
The Tigers are the best! 
We're on our way, 
Stand up and say, 
P - H – S! 
Yell it! P-H- S!”

“Everyone get ready for your fellow Tiger basketball team!” Wayward screeched.

Suddenly, dry ice began to fill the gym floor as the cheering continued. The sound of a tiger growling filled the area and soon enough, Roy poked his head out from behind the wall and was the first one to run out onto the floor, followed by the rest of the team.

“There’s your man,” Reed yelled to me, above all the cheering.

I smiled, waving my hands in the air, and grabbing his attention. He looked my way and blew a kiss to me and then ran over to one of the technicians, whispering something in his ear. Seconds later, they both looked up at me, and the technician nodded.

“What was that about?” Reed asked me.

“Don’t ask me,” I responded. ”He’s always up to something.”

Mrs. Wayward scooted in front of the cheerleaders, attempting to take the spotlight.

“Fellow students, we wanted to take this time to congratulate our Porter High School Tigers on doing such a fantastic job making it this far in the conference championship and to continue tonight and beat the Russell High School Quasars!” she screeched through her megaphone, and surprisingly the crowd went wild. Gratified by her short and successful speech, she started cheering herself, annoying the cheerleaders that were still behind her.

Out of nowhere, a projection screen began to come down from the ceiling, and the lights turned completely off.

Wayward and the rest of the faculty began to scramble around and freak out about the sudden darkness, while the students were loving every minute of it.

“What kind of pep rally is this?” Evie shouted.

“Not like any at home,” Pippa agreed.

I myself was wondering what was going on, but then was distracted by the vibration of my phone, a text message from Roy.

 

I love you baby ;)

 

Huh? I thought to myself. All of this was happening at the same time. First, the weird chat with the technician, second, all of the lights shut off, and now he tells me he loves me?

I started to text him back to return the love, but then Reed started hitting me on my shoulder obnoxiously.

“What?” I snapped, continuing to text Roy.

“Look!”

“Hold on…”

“No, Val look!” She demanded, hitting my shoulder again.

I looked up to see a video of Roy smiling on the projection screen.

“What in the world.”

“You’re the one who said that he was always up to something…” Reed giggled.

“Valerie, if you’re out there, which I hope you are, or this is going to be very embarrassing, I want you to know that I love you and I hope that I’m not embarrassing you by doing this but, will you accompany me in going to the Valentine’s Ball?”

My body froze. My mouth hadn’t closed since I’d seen his face on the screen and all airflow had ceased.

Just to make things even easier, a spotlight was put on me, letting the whole school see my frozen state.

This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, I thought over and over to myself. This stuff just didn’t happen, this kind of stuff just happened in movies, why was this happening?!

“Val! Say something!” Reed grunted next to me, nudging my shoulder once again.

It was like a whole different person had come out of me, because without even thinking, I automatically stood up into the spotlight and began looking for Roy.

“I don’t know where you are…” I began, regretting even opening my mouth in front of everyone. “But-“

Suddenly a second spotlight appeared and shined on Roy. The cheerleaders had lifted him up and we were directly across from each other.

“But what?” He smiled.

“I’d love to.”

The cheerleaders let him down and the whole school went wild again. The spotlight remained on me as tears started streaming down my face, as Roy came up to me and kissed me in front of everyone.

Right when I felt like I was on top of the world, a screeching megaphone brought me back into reality.

“Alright, alright! Enough PDA Mr. Owen!” Wayward said, rather calmly which was surprising. I guess she did have a soft side after all.

Roy kissed me on last time before he stepped down from the bleachers and returned to his teammates.

"Well fancy that,” Pippa smiled.

Reed leaned over to me and rested her head on my shoulder when I sat back down.

“You’re one lucky girl,” she sighed.

“Tell me about it,” I said, still a little dizzy. “I’m in love with superman."