Prom Queen, The (Life at Kingston High Book #3) (3 page)

“There is obviously no thinking involved,” Lishia added.

Megan restrained herself from reacting.

“Be quiet, you guys.” Chelsea’s voice grew firmer. “I want to hear what Megan has to say about this.” She turned to Megan. “Go ahead now.”

“Okay . . .” Megan took a deep breath, trying to remember what Pastor Robbie had said yesterday. “I’m trying to utilize the power of positive thinking. I think God has shown me that I’ve been too negative about myself.”

“Well, that’s true,” Lishia admitted. “You usually are knocking yourself down.”

Megan nodded. “That’s right. And I’m going to put an end to it.”

“But running for prom queen?” Janelle still looked skeptical. “What if you lose?”

“That’s just it,” Megan explained. “I can’t think like that. I need to believe in myself, and I need to put everything I’ve got into this campaign.”

“And if you lose?” Lishia pestered.

Megan held up her hand like a stop sign. “I don’t want to hear that kind of negativity, okay? I’m sorry you don’t get this, Lish. I just think it’s something I really need to do. It would be nice to have your support, but if you want to—”

“I think it’s great you are doing this,” Chelsea interrupted. “I would absolutely vote for you, Megan.”

“Really?” Megan blinked.

Chelsea nodded enthusiastically. “I’m always saying that just because we’re Christians doesn’t mean we should exclude
ourselves from everything around us. Aren’t we supposed to be an influence? How about what Jesus said about not hiding your light under a bushel basket? I think it’s great you want to run for prom queen. I’d love to see a Christian in a position like that.”

“Then why don’t
you
run?” Janelle pointed at Chelsea. “You’d have a way better chance of making prom queen than—”

“That’s not fair,” Lishia shot back at Janelle. “Megan’s the one who came up with this idea, so why are you trying to horn in on her—”

“It’s a free election,” Janelle argued back, and just like that, Lishia and Janelle, two girls who used to be best friends, were fighting over who should be running for prom queen and why or why not. Megan sat down and stuck a fork into her salad. This was another part of her plan—to eat more healthfully and hopefully take off a few pounds before the big event.

“Hang on, you two.” Chelsea hit her fist on the table. “First of all, I do not
want
to run for prom queen, thank you very much, Janelle. I appreciate your support, but I’m not into that. Second of all, I want to help Megan run for prom queen. I think she’d be a great candidate.”

“Really?” Megan couldn’t believe her ears. Chelsea was the prettiest girl in their group of friends, maybe the prettiest girl in the whole school, and she wanted to help? “You’d actually do that?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll help you too,” Lishia said in a slightly indignant tone.

Megan smiled at her. “I was hoping you would.”

Janelle still looked unsure. “Have you seriously thought about this, Megan? I mean, do you have any idea what you’re actually getting into?”

“You do remember that her sister was prom queen, don’t you?” Lishia said defensively. “Of course Megan knows what she’s getting into.”

“Your sister was prom queen?” Chelsea looked surprised.

Janelle filled Chelsea in, then added, “But believe me, Belinda and Megan are as different as night and day. Some people would swear they’re not even related.” She laughed. “And some of us think that’s a good thing.”

“Thanks, I think.” Megan made an uncomfortable smile.

“Is that why you want this?” Lishia asked cautiously. “Like you feel some weird, misplaced need to fill your sister’s prom queen pumps?”

“Not at all. Belinda doesn’t even know I’m doing this.” Megan bit her lip, wondering what Belinda would say when she found out. “Although I’m sure I could get her to help me some—I mean, if she has time, since she is in college now.”

“Well, I think you’re very brave,” Chelsea assured her. “And I meant what I said—I’d love to help you.” She turned to the others. “You guys meant it too, right?”

“She’ll need all the help she can get.” Janelle took a bite of her burrito.

Suddenly Megan remembered her new mantra:
Act like you’ve already been crowned
. “Thank you so much.” She graciously smiled at her friends. “You have no idea how much I appreciate all of you.”

Lishia giggled. “Sheesh, Megan, you sound like you’re giving your acceptance speech or something.”

Megan forced a laugh. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Thankfully, the conversation switched gears now. But as Megan sat there, eating her salad and listening to her friends, she felt more excited and hopeful than she’d felt in ages. She felt like her life was finally on track!

M
egan’s first official campaign planning meeting was scheduled for after school on Tuesday. However, Lishia had a yearbook meeting, so only Janelle and Chelsea were able to attend. To sweeten the deal, Megan offered to treat her friends to sundaes.

“Why are you having frozen yogurt?” Janelle gave Megan a suspicious look as they sat down with their sundaes.

“I’m trying to lose a few pounds before prom.” Megan patted her midsection. “You and Chelsea are already skinny. But I need to watch the fats and calories.”

“Are you working out?” Chelsea asked.

“Not exactly, but it’s on my list.” Megan opened her bag. “Speaking of lists, I brought some with me.” She handed them each a copy. “These are the things I need to get done in the next few weeks.”

Chelsea’s eyes grew wide. “Wow, this is more involved than I realized.”

“That’s why it helps to get more people involved in the campaign,” Megan explained. “I read that a prom queen campaign is no different than any other sort of political campaign. In fact, I got to thinking that if I enjoy this as much as I think I will, I might even go into politics.”

Janelle’s pink plastic spoon stopped just inches from her mouth. “You cannot be serious.”

“Why not?” Megan shrugged. “I’ve always been interested in political science.”

“You would actually run for public office, on purpose?”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Chelsea told Janelle. “We need more Christian leaders in politics. Don’t you think?”

“I guess,” Janelle said reluctantly.

“You know, Janelle,” Megan said a bit cautiously, “it wouldn’t hurt you to start thinking more positively.”

Chelsea laughed and Janelle just rolled her eyes.

By the end of their meeting, Janelle had agreed to handle Megan’s Facebook campaign, and Chelsea planned to help with posters.

“Since Lishia’s not here, we’ll assign her buttons,” Megan said.

“We’ll need to get some really good photos of you,” Chelsea told her.

Megan frowned. “I’m not that photogenic.”

“What happened to your positive thinking?” Janelle teased.

“Right.” Megan nodded. “I am going to become very photogenic.”

“We can help you with that,” Chelsea offered.

“Oh, yeah,” Megan said, “I heard how you made Janelle look so hot on that youth group retreat last fall.” She
pointed at Janelle. “So why don’t you look like that all the time?”

Janelle made a face. “Because I happen to be perfectly fine with my appearance, thank you very much. I know that beauty is only skin deep. And I’d rather improve my mind than obsess over my outward looks.”

Megan controlled herself from sniping back. Reminding herself of one of her slogans—
a prom queen is gracious and kind to everyone
—she simply smiled and nodded. “That’s very admirable.”

Janelle laughed. “There she goes again, putting on her prom queen act.”

“Being polite doesn’t have to be an act,” Megan replied. “Maybe I just want to become a nicer person. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Not if it’s genuine,” Janelle told her.

“Anyway, back to the photos,” Megan said to Chelsea. “Do you think you can help me with that? Maybe a little makeover?”

Chelsea nodded. “Sure, it’d be fun. But we don’t want to go too far with it. The whole point that Janelle and I were trying to make at the retreat is that everyone is too focused on looks. And there’s no way I want to turn you into a jerk magnet.”

“Huh?” Megan frowned. “A jerk magnet?”

Janelle giggled. “No chance of that, Chelsea. Short of the kind of costume I was wearing, Megan doesn’t have what it takes to become a jerk magnet.”

“What is a jerk magnet?” Megan asked.

Chelsea and Janelle took turns explaining how some girls
have a certain look—a look that magically attracts guys who are only interested in one thing.

“You know the kind of girl, really pretty with all the right kinds of curves and a mane of long, blonde hair,” Janelle told her. “A guy takes one look at her and assumes she’s auditioning to be his personal playmate.”

Megan nodded. “Well, that’s definitely not the look I’m going for, so don’t worry.” She pointed to Chelsea. “To be honest, the first time I met you last fall . . . well, I kind of thought you were one of those girls. But I know now I was wrong. Besides, you’ve kind of toned it down.”

“Thanks.” Chelsea dropped her spoon into her empty sundae cup. “I had to learn that the hard way. Kate—that’s my stepmom—she kind of helped me with a makeover that went a little too far. Trust me, I’m glad not to look like that anymore. Besides it being too time consuming, it’s a relief to not feel like a jerk magnet.”

“Nicholas Prague seems to appreciate it.” Megan knew that Chelsea and Nicholas were “almost” going together.

Chelsea grinned. “For sure. Did you know that he was totally put off by the way I looked before?”

Megan shook her head. “That’s hard to believe.”

“Speaking of guys, have you considered your date for prom?” Janelle asked.

Megan shrugged. “Not exactly.”

“Well, I hope it’s on your list,” Janelle teased. “It’d probably be embarrassing to be a dateless prom queen.”

“How about you?” Megan decided to defer this. “Who will you go to prom with—I mean, if you go?”

Now Janelle looked uneasy.

“Chase will probably ask her,” Chelsea said. “Hey, maybe we could double-date with you guys.”

“Good idea,” Janelle said with enthusiasm. “Tell Nicholas to start putting a bug in Chase’s ear, and we can all go together.”

Suddenly Janelle and Chelsea were discussing their plans for prom, and Megan felt like an outsider. Still, she knew she couldn’t get mad about it. At least not in front of them. So she just sat and listened, trying not to imagine herself as the dateless prom queen. Really, she would need to start working on that important ingredient too.

Before they parted ways, Chelsea promised to figure out the makeover and photo shoot. “Maybe this weekend,” she suggested. “I’ll see if Kate is available. She’s a good photographer and pretty smart about makeovers too.”

“Just don’t turn me into a jerk magnet,” Megan said in a joking tone as she unlocked her car.

“No worries there.” Chelsea waved.

Megan got into her car and let out a big sigh. This running for prom queen thing was starting to feel like a part-time job. But, she reminded herself, the payoff would be worth it. Suddenly she noticed something in her car. Oh, it had been there since she’d been allowed to start driving this car last fall, after Belinda went to college, but it felt like the first time she’d actually seen it. Hanging on the rearview mirror, dangling on a faded pink ribbon, was a gold heart. Actually it was a plastic heart, but it was supposed to look like gold. Embossed in the center of the heart in teeny tiny letters were the words “I Believe.”

Megan remembered how she’d made fun of Belinda last
year. Her sister’s prom queen slogan, “Believe in Belinda,” had not only sounded lame to Megan but sacrilegious too. Not that Megan’s opinions had influenced Belinda in the least. But now here Megan was, not only driving what used to be Belinda’s car but attempting to imitate her sister in her quest for prom queen too.

As Megan put the car into gear, she wondered if there might be something wrong with this unexpected development. Was she making a big mistake in getting into this whole prom queen business? Was she becoming shallow and superficial, the very things she used to tease Belinda for? Or was this just those “pesky naysayer doubts” that Pastor Robbie had preached about? As she drove over to the middle school to pick up Arianna from soccer practice, she decided not to listen to the negativity. After all, she already had three friends who were willing to help and support her in this campaign. She couldn’t let them down. She couldn’t turn back now. She was not going to let those negative needles pop her balloon.

“Why are you late?” Arianna demanded as she threw her pack into the backseat of the car.

“I’m not late,” Megan shot back. Of course, this instigated an argument, but glancing at the clock on the dash, Megan decided to concede. “Okay, so I was ten minutes late, Arianna. Sorry.” Fortunately, that shut her baby sister up.

“Are you still planning to run for prom queen?” Arianna asked.

Megan was trying to decipher her tone. Was Arianna getting ready to launch into tease mode again? Did it even matter? “Yes,” she said slowly. “I’m still planning to run for prom
queen. In fact, that’s why I’m late. I was having a planning meeting.”

“A planning meeting?”

Figuring this was good practice at congeniality, Megan explained the nature of the meeting and what her friends were offering to do, including the makeover and photo shoot.

“That’s cool.” Arianna nodded. “Sounds like fun.”

Megan concealed her surprise. “Yeah, I think so too.”

“But I’m still a little confused.”

“Confused?” Megan braced herself for a snitty sister attack.

“Last year when Belinda was running for prom queen, you constantly made fun of her. You even told her she was acting like an oversized Barbie doll. You called her
Belinda Barbie
, remember?”

Megan grimaced. “Yeah, now that you mention it, I do remember.”

“Why did you think that then? And what makes it any different now?”

Megan thought about it. “Those are good questions.”

“Uh-huh.” Arianna was peeling open a granola bar wrapper. “Got any good answers?”

“To be honest, I suppose I was jealous of Belinda.”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded and took a bite.

“I suppose I owe her an apology.”

“Maybe so,” Arianna said with a full mouth.

“And the reason I want to run now . . . ?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“The truth is, I really want to start thinking more positively about myself. I want to believe in myself and that I’m able to accomplish something big.”

“So you’re really serious about prom queen?”

Megan nodded. “I am.”

“Cool. Well, let me know if I can help. Olivia would probably help again too. Remember we made buttons for Belinda last year.”

“That’s right. You guys are like the button pros.”

“Of course, Belinda did pay us in pizza and videos and stuff.”

“Sounds like a deal to me.” Still pretending she was already prom queen, Megan decided to ask Arianna about her day. “How was soccer practice?”

As Arianna opened up, going on and on about how stupid Felicity Gossler was acting like the world’s worst prima donna and like their team wouldn’t survive one game without her, Megan realized that putting on this whole prom queen persona had some unexpected perks. Not only was Megan learning how to exercise tact and diplomacy, but everyone around her seemed to be acting a little nicer too. There really was power in positive thinking!