Chapter Twelve
“S
o what exactly are we gonna do?” I asked Sarah later that day. “If we get the crowns, Jessa won’t out us, but how do we make sure we win? Do we just leave it to Jake?”
She laid prone at the end up my bed, her lower stomach exposed as she stretched out on her back. An open book was perched precariously between her hands just a foot above her face. I didn’t recognize it; she’d evidently finished the one she’d borrowed from the LGBT resource center and was now reading something new.
“I don’t know,” she mumbled, and after a pause, added, “Just relax. Since I got us into this, let me worry about it.”
“Those are two very contradictory sentences,” I pointed out. “And in case you’ve forgotten, we were in this position before, and it only worked out because we
made
out. I don’t really feel comfortable letting you worry about it alone given that if we don’t get those crowns you probably have no clue how to make this only
mildly
catastrophic for us, as opposed to, you know, majorly socially suicidal.” She lowered her book and shot me a look.
“It’s simple,” she said. “We just have to play to our strengths. We’re hot and people like us, and the only thing that’ll change people liking us is if Jessa outs us. Which you said she won’t. So as long as no one else finds out we’re frauds we’ll be fine.” Her phone buzzed in her purse, and I sat up on the other end of the bed, curious.
“That’s not Jessa, is it?”
She didn’t respond. Instead, she found her phone and pressed a few buttons, read the message, and then tossed the device back into her purse all in the span of a few seconds.
“You’re not replying?” I asked.
“It wasn’t her,” she told me, shifting her gaze to me. Suddenly, she looked serious. “Katie?”
“Mhmm?” I leaned back, abruptly feeling a little self-conscious.
“You know that if we don’t win, I’m taking the blame for all of this, right? Like, I want to. So don’t worry.”
“I’m gonna worry,” I countered. “And I’m gonna take half the blame. I went along with it.”
“Why? It was my idea. You’re practically a victim.” She glanced away, at last, and closed the book in her hands as she mumbled, “One of many.” I watched her as she let out a sigh and continued, “So Sam really
is
an asshole, isn’t he? Did you hear him on the phone earlier?”
“According to my mom, this is somewhat normal teenage girl drama,” I said, trying to reassure her. “I mean, maybe not the whole ‘faking gay for attention’ thing, but liking assholes? Definitely a thing.”
“You’ve never liked the wrong person,” she insisted. “Austin was harmless. Meanwhile, here I am, falling all over people who either can’t or won’t feel the same way. I’m gonna be alone forever… especially after all of this shit comes out. I can’t believe he’s dating Christine and I’m stuck being ‘the other woman’.” She sighed. “Actually, scratch me being alone forever… I’m just gonna be the other woman forever because no one thinks I’m worth being in a relationship with.”
“That’s not true, Sarah.” She arched an eyebrow at me disbelievingly, and I smiled. “There’re always guys from other schools who haven’t heard of you.”
“Bitch,” she laughed out, fumbling for a pillow and tossing it at me. I deflected it with both hands and it bounced into her lap. She rested her book on top of it even as I glanced to the cover.
“So is that why you read your cheesy happy ending romances?” I guessed. “As some sort of wish fulfillment?”
“Possibly,” she agreed, grinning. “And in case you were curious, the second one ended horribly, so this is number three.”
“Wait, that one’s gay, too?” I leaned forward to get a better look. “Is that a vampire on the cover?
Really
?”
“I figured the ones that looked like they’d have happy endings haven’t been ending well, so maybe if I picked something that looked dark, it’d surprise me.”
“So you picked lesbian
Twilight
,” I deadpanned. She laughed and hit me with a pillow again.
“God, you are so frustrating… but I’m glad you can make me laugh at a time like this.”
“We really are screwed, aren’t we?” I marveled. “We have so much work to do. I’m not quite as convinced we’ll win as Jake seems to be.”
“Just let me do the talking,” she said. I scoffed.
“No way. Like I said: Last time I let you handle things alone, we only didn’t get caught right then because you mauled me with your lips,” I reminded her wryly.
She smiled at me. “Like
I
said: I thought it went well.” She got a pillow to the face for that. “What!? That was a compliment!”
“Shut up,” I countered, and willed my cheeks to lose their red tint before she got a good look at me again.
I wasn’t sure what I expected at school the next morning, but it wasn’t, well…
nothing
. It wasn’t to walk in through the front doors at seven-thirty to the same amount of glances I was used to by now, and to reach my locker peacefully with Sarah at my side without anything more than a few usual smirks sent our way. Jessa, seemingly, was keeping her word after all. As long as we did our best to win Winter Formal Queens, our secret was safe.
Sarah and I went our separate ways to our first classes of the day, but before class started, we were forced to listen to the morning announcements. I sat in my desk silently, stomach churning, as Principal Crenshaw’s voice echoed through loudspeakers around the building. “The senior class nominations for Winter Formal King and Queen are in. In two weeks, anyone who chooses to do so at the dance may head to the polls and vote for the couple they wish to see crowned. In no particular order, our nominees are…”
He paused for suspense, and I bit my lip. I was sure Sarah and I would be nominated, and we definitely needed the nomination at this point, but I still wasn’t looking forward to it. I didn’t want the attention. But what I wanted was pretty irrelevant now. Jessa outing Sarah and me would ruin our reputations faster than Principal Crenshaw could say, “Sarah Cooper and Katie Hammontree.”
A few of the students in the room clapped politely for my sake, but most of them just slouched in their chairs, eyes half-open. I couldn’t blame them. It was first period.
“Christine Goddard and Samuel Heath,” Principal Crenshaw continued. “Jasmine Buford and Curtis Draper. And last but not least… Ryan Calloway and Fiona Edgerton.”
So that was that. Four couples: three straight and one gay. Sarah and I were nominated. Now it was just a matter of winning.
I got called into the principal’s office right around the end of my second class period, and spent the walk there with my heart hammering in my chest. I was so paranoid and distrusted Jessa so much that I was sure I knew what was going on. She’d changed her mind and decided a straight couple winning was better than a fake gay couple winning, and had gone to Principal Crenshaw with the truth. Now he was calling us in to force us to withdraw on the grounds that we’d faked being a couple. I wasn’t even sure that was something he was allowed to do, actually, but if it was, it was certainly what was going to happen.
Sarah was already in his office when I got there, hands folded in her lap as Principal Crenshaw motioned for me to take a seat beside her. His secretary closed the door behind me as I moved to sit down.
Crenshaw was an intimidating man, thin and lanky and sporting greying hair that made him look older than sixty when I estimated he was mid-fifties at most. “Hello, Katie,” he said, and leaned forward in his seat once I was settled. I glanced over at Sarah, but she didn’t meet my eyes. “How are you today?”
“I’m okay,” I mumbled, heart sinking deeper in my chest. We were
so
screwed.
“I was just chatting with Sarah about your nominations this morning. How are you guys feeling about being up for Winter Formal King and Queen?”
“Um…” I glanced to Sarah again. She’d raised her head, now, and I could tell from the expression on her face that she was just as caught off guard as I was by his question. “Okay, I guess? I don’t really know.”
“I take it this isn’t something you’re very interested in winning, then?” he asked. This question was open to both of us, and Sarah answered before I could.
“No, we’d like to win.”
His lips pressed together, and his eyebrows turned down. He didn’t like that answer.
He leaned even further forward, like he wanted to share a secret with us, and told us, “I’m aware that there was quite the campaign to get you two nominated.”
Sarah and I exchanged looks, and, at last, she agreed, “Yeah.”
“You are aware we have a tradition here at Flowery Branch High, I take it? The crowns are typically won by male/female couples.”
“You mean ‘always’,” Sarah corrected.
He tilted his head slightly. “Hmm?”
“They’re
always
won by male/female couples.”
“Ah.” He let out a short, disingenuous laugh. “Yes. Exactly.” He cleared his throat. “Well… I just wanted to call you both in here to talk about your options regarding the nominations.”
“Options?” I repeated before Sarah could.
“Options,” he confirmed. “You see… there are a lot of students at this school who have some growing up to do. You two seem like very nice girls, but you must understand that your nomination doesn’t exactly come from a place of acceptance.”
“Not completely, sure,” Sarah cut in. “But we’ve had some people tell us that they genuinely want us to win.”
He chuckled at that. “Yes, well, I’m sure there are a lot of students who’d like for you two to win. Particularly quite a few of the male students. However, I personally feel that having two females win the titles of Winter Formal King and Queen would be a little…” He paused, searching for a word, and then finished, “misleading. Like a prank. Your picture would go in the school yearbook, and we have parents funding the purchase of these books who have the maturity to-”
“-to be homophobic,” Sarah cut him off. I shrank back in my seat, uncomfortable. I’d realized what was going on here right around the time she had. Jessa hadn’t come to him; he was coming to us all by himself.
He let out a deep sigh, rubbing at his temples. “That’s not what I’m intending to get across here. I’m saying that kids can be immature, and parents will understand that this was all a cruel prank, you see? I’d like to avoid making a mockery of what’s meant to be a fun activity for the senior class every year.”
“And us winning would be a mockery because we’re both girls,” Sarah filled in for him. “So you’re about to ask us to drop out.”
“I’m only concerned for the two of you,” he explained. “The students that vote for you as a joke would-”
“If you were concerned for us,” she interrupted, “you’d have stopped students from putting stickers with the word ‘dyke’ written on them into my girlfriend’s locker. You’d have started punishing boys for harassing and catcalling us in the hallways and you’d have made the discounts on our tickets equal to the discounts for heterosexual couples
without
pressure from LAMBDA. You’d have made an effort to look into the complaint I made to the office
two months ago
about the nonstop text messages I’ve been getting from anonymous numbers that belong to students at this school.”
“Now, Ms. Cooper-”
“You’re not concerned for us at all,” Sarah ranted, unaffected by his attempt to cut in. I was watching her with amazement now. She was absolutely
destroying
him.
“You just think we’re a joke yourself, and so you can’t comprehend the fact that not everyone at this school is gonna think the same way as you. And neither is every parent. Some of them will actually be glad to see their kids aren’t a bunch of homophobic jerks. Look, Principal Crenshaw, this may be hard for you to understand, but one person with some power – such as yourself – happening to be homophobic doesn’t mean that everyone else is. We’re not dropping out on your behalf, so can you please stop wasting our time and start getting to work on ending bullying or lowering the calories in our school lunches? I’m missing my Physics class right now and I’m really,
really
bad at science.”
“I think you just turned me straight.” Jake’s eyes were wide with adoration, and he shook his head as he pulled Sarah into his arms and hugged her tightly. I grinned next to her along with the rest of the LAMBDA kids at Jake’s lunch table.
“She was amazing,” I told them. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a teenage girl stun a grown man into silence until today.”
“So he didn’t even do anything?” Hattie asked, smirking beside Jake. “He’s all talk?”
“What could he do?” Sarah asked as Jake finally released his grip on her. “I didn’t cuss and I didn’t do anything that violates school policy, unless he wanted to try and get me on disrespect, and besides, that’d involve telling other people the exact circumstances of our meeting with him. I don’t think he wants to directly out himself as a homophobe.”