The Reluctant Prom Date (The Reluctant Series Book 4)

by Melanie Brown

  I started to walk towards the theater when I saw a girl from school approach me. It was Karen. She was carrying a bucket. She waved me over to her.

  “Hi Chrissy!” smiled Karen. “How’s it going?”

  “Hi Karen.” I gave her a dubious glance. “What’s up?”

  She smiled a broad smile and said, “I’m collecting for the Nikki Fund.”

  “Again?” I asked. “Isn’t she home yet?” I guess that was a stupid question. I’m sure it would be all over the cable news shows when Nikki returns.

  Looking solemn, Karen shook her head and said, “Oh, no. No, not yet.”

  Opening my purse, I said, “Is she all right? Is she still in Afghanistan?”

  Karen shook her head. “I guess she’s okay. But she’s not in Afghanistan any more. She’s in Guam. She’s been in a coma ever since the plane she left Afghanistan in was shot down over Uzbekistan because the plane’s instruments went out and the pilot got lost. She was sent by train to New Delhi then flown to Phuket Thailand. After that, no one knows how she got to Guam.”

  I stood there with my mouth hanging open looking at Karen’s earnest face. I blinked a couple of times, pulled the ten dollar bill instead of the five dollar bill out my purse, and handed it to Karen. She put the ten in her bucket.

  “Thank you so much, Chrissy!” gushed Karen. “I always know I can depend on you. All you cheerleaders are terrific!” She turned, spotted another target and headed in their direction.

  * * *

  Finally, nine-thirty and time for me to go home. The mall closes at nine o’clock during the winter months, even though the movie theater keeps selling tickets until eleven at night.

  I rushed out into the mall’s corridors and hurried to the shoe store where Jeff worked. He should be getting off from work as well. When I got there, Jeff was just pulling the big gate down and locking it.

  “Hey! I wanted to buy some shoes!” I called out to Jeff.

  As he turned around, I flung my arms around his neck. He looked at me with a serious expression and said, “I’m sorry. We’re closed.” He looked at me for a second, then suddenly his lips were on mine. Smiling, he said, “Aren’t you grounded? I thought you weren’t supposed to see me.” He kissed me again.

  I ran my fingers through his hair as I said, “I still have a job to go to. And I don’t see my parents here. Do you?”

  He took a quick look around, grinned and said, “Nope, don’t see them.” He then gave me a long, deep kiss.

  We started walking hand-in-hand toward the exit on the end of the mall Jeff parked at. He’d have to give me a ride back to my car.

  As usual, we could see a crowd of teens near the exit, standing around, talking. I tried to see if I knew any of them, but they were still too far away. I directed my attention back to Jeff. I snuggled against his shoulder.

  As we got closer to the exit, I scanned the group of kids again for any familiar faces. I stopped so suddenly, Jeff’s hand jerked from my grasp. I just stood there, staring dumbly at the couple making out on the benches in front the arcade.

  Jeff was suddenly in front of me, blocking my view. “Hey! Chris! What’s wrong? You okay?”

  Without really looking at him, I waved Jeff off and said, “Yeah, yeah. I’m okay. I have to talk to someone. I’ll be right back.” I walked away from Jeff.

  “Dani! I need to talk to you!” I said to the kissing couple.

  The guy gave me a dirty look. Without looking back to Dani, he asked, “Do you know this chick?”

  Looking at me sheepishly, Dani nodded and said simply, “Yeah.”

  Pissed off, the guy said to me, “Can it wait?”

  Ignoring the guy, I said, “Dani, I need to talk to you right now. It’s urgent.”

  Dani looked from me to the guy she was with and back to me. Still looking at me, she said, “It’s okay, Jerry. It’ll only be a minute.” Dani slowly disengaged herself from Jerry and followed me over to a wall near the arcade.

  I grabbed Dani by one arm and whispered angrily through clenched teeth, “Are you crazy! What do you think you’re doing?”

  Dani jerked her arm away. Straightening herself up, eyes flashing, Dani whispered, “I’m trying to have some fun! Do you have a problem with that?”

  “I certainly do! You were kissing that guy!”

  Dani frowned, “What? Are you my mother? What’s wrong with kissing him?”

  Looking shocked I said, “What’s wrong? Does that guy know you’re a boy?”

  Shaking her head, Dani said, “No. I don’t think he’d be kissing me if I wasn’t a girl.”

  I thought of the fate of Diane’s transsexual friend at college and said, “Are you nuts? It’s not right to fool him. He’s going to be royally pissed if he finds out. You could get into a lot of trouble, maybe even beaten up. And, I thought you told me you weren’t interested in guys.”

  Dani dismissed my comment with a wave of her hand. “For starters, he’s not going to find out. And second… well, girls date guys, don’t they?” A sudden, earnest look washed over her face. “Chrissy, I… I guess I lied to you a few weeks ago when we first met in the restroom when I told you I liked being a guy. Actually I hate it!” She paused a moment, then added, “I want to be a girl… A girl just like you.”

  I wanted to tell Dani that she was a girl just like me. Instead, I opted for the same lecture I got. “Dani, there’s more to being a girl than just dressing up… or kissing guys.”

  Dani frowned and made a move to leave. “My Mom told me the same thing. I thought we were friends.”

  I caught her by the arm, “I am your friend. You’re playing with fire here and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  Coldly, Dani said, “I know what I’m doing, so mind your own business. I’m not going to have sex with him; I just want to experience being a girl. I want to know what you know; know what you feel.”

  I was about to tell her that she could never know what we know, what we feel without being born a girl. The words caught in my throat. Instead I said, “Please be careful, Dani. If your boyfriend there knew about you and was cool with it, I’d be happy for you. But what you’re doing is dangerous.”

  Dani flashed a brief smile. “I’ll be careful. I promise.” She started to walk away, then turned back to me and said, “I wouldn’t have had the nerve to do this without your help. Thanks.” She gave me a hug, and then pranced back to Jerry, who was scowling at me.

  “What was all that about?” queried Jeff when I took his hand. “Who was that girl?”

  I sighed. “Just a friend that I don’t want to see hurt.”

  Jeff nodded. “Yeah, I know Jerry. He’s a total asshole. I don’t know why he attracts so many girls. He treats them all like shit.”

  Gee, that made me feel so much better. And it was my fault that Dani had the confidence to try to make out with guys.

  We walked out to Jeff’s car, and then he gave me a ride back to my Mom’s waiting and rusting Escort. Before I got out, I looked Jeff straight into his eyes and took his hand. “I feel so lucky to have you. I love you so much.”

  Jeff smiled and leaned over to kiss me. “I love you too, babe. You’re beautiful.” He kissed me again, longer.

  * * *

  “Don’t be so nervous!” admonished Diane. “You’ll be fine. You might even win!”

  Entering the dress store, I was suddenly nervous as hell. My hands were shaking. I finally realized how crazy this was. I was going to be walking down a runway in prom dresses in front of hundreds of people. I pointed out the store window at the crowd already starting to form.

  “Look at that, Diane,” I said nervously, “and it hasn’t even started yet. There’s going to be a lot of people here.”

  Diane laughed, “Yeah, so? That’s nothing compared to how many people watched you as a cheerleader at the stadium during all those games. What’s the big deal?”

  I looked out the window again, “They’re a lot closer here.”

  Diane
looked around at the other girls waiting in the store. “Relax. You’re the prettiest girl here, so don’t worry. Just remember when you’re changing to turn your back to everyone when you’re down to your bra and panties so you don’t flash your fake boobs.”

  “You’re not helping,” I frowned, feeling a trickle of sweat roll down my back. “I think I’ll tell them I’m backing out.”

  “Don’t be chicken, girl!” Diane said cheerfully. “Besides, unless you want to go to the prom in a t-shirt and jeans, this is your only shot at a prom dress.” Dad was standing firm that he wasn’t going to spend that much money to buy a prom dress for his “son”.

  I frowned, “I have been thinking. Maybe it’d be easier if I just didn’t go to the prom.”

  “You have to go to prom! It’s one night you’ll remember the rest of your life. You don’t want to miss that!” Diane actually looked worried.

  “I guess so,” I said sighed heavily.

  Then Mr. Watson, the store manager, appeared from the back room and announced, “Okay. I need all the models in the back room. Models only, please.”

  Diane pretended to punch me in the shoulder and grinned, “Break a leg!”

  “That’s just for actors, isn’t it?” I asked as Diane left the store.

  When I entered the back room, I took a quick survey of the “competition”. I knew most of the girls there. In fact, three of them were fellow cheerleaders — Brandi, Stephanie, and Brittany. I had hoped Mandy would be there. Then I saw that bitch snob Sandy. I tried, but I could never bring myself to like her.

  The three squad members came running up to me and we all hugged. “I’m glad to see you guys!” I squealed. “Where’s Mandy?”

  Stephanie said, “Family emergency. Sick aunt or something.”

  “Well, I’m glad you guys are here. I’ll be honest, I’m about ready to chicken out. I don’t think I can change clothes with all these other girls around.”

  Brandi smiled and said, “Don’t worry. We’ve already talked about that. We’ll always stand between you and the others to block their view.”

  Some of my nervousness subsided, “Thanks! You guys are great!”

  Mr. Watson clapped his hands and said, “Okay, girls! I need you all in your first dress in fifteen minutes. Line up in the order of the numbers I’m handing out.” He then started going to each girl, asking their name and handing out a number on a sheet of paper. We each got four trips down the runway.

  I turned around and there was Mandy, coming through the doorway. “Mandy! I thought you weren’t going to make it!”

  “Hey everyone!” Mandy grinned. “Yeah, we thought my aunt in Sanderson was suddenly ill, but it turns out she was just drunk.”

  I hugged Mandy, “I’m glad you’re here. But you better not beat me in the contest!”

  She looked me up and down and said in all seriousness, “I’ll try not to beat you by too much.” She then smiled and gave me a hug back.

  We got to pick which dresses we were going to model. I picked only dresses that didn’t show cleavage. I grabbed my first dress, headed to the corner of the room while the other cheerleaders gathered round to change and to partially obscure me.

  The dress was beautiful. It was a light blue, satin gown with a long, tight skirt. While it didn’t show any cleavage, it did have an open back. Once they were glued on, I had never had any problem with my fake boobs falling off, but I was sweating more than I usually did.

  We all lined up in the order the store manager had given us. I was number eleven out of twenty girls. I was starting to get nervous again. I had taken a quick look out the window and the crowd was getting bigger. An assistant went up to each girl and made last minute adjustments.

  I looked up the line and saw that Sandy was at the head of the line, wearing a bright red gown. It had a daring, plunging neckline. And it looked like she had been poured into the dress, she fit it so perfectly.

  We then lined up at the door to the store. Mr. Watson was standing on the elevated runway, addressing the crowd. After giving himself some quick advertising, he then quickly introduced his assistant who then introduced the first girl to model. Sandy stepped on the runway with confidence and more grace than I thought possible.

  Through the store window, I tried to scan the crowd. Off to one side, I spotted Mom and Diane. And, surprisingly, my dad was even there. His eye twitched. Standing near the end of the runway, stood Jeff. He must have been taking his lunch break. And not surprisingly, there were a lot of faces from school.

  The girl in front of me started down the runway. Mr. Watson’s assistant described the dress as the girl strutted up the runway and back. As she made her return trip, my stomach started to knot up. I suddenly did not want to be here. Mandy was standing behind me.

  Whispering, I said to Mandy, “Get in front of me. I don’t think I can do this!”

  “Are you nuts? It’s too late.”

  “I don’t want to get out in front of all those people!” I whined.

  Looking puzzled, Mandy asked, “What’s the difference between that and doing cheers in front of hundreds of people?”

  As the girl was coming down the runway stairs I sighed, “I’m not alone there.”

  Mandy just smiled, “You’ll be okay.”

  The assistant was looking expectantly at me. I drew a deep breath, closed my eyes for a second, and then started climbing the stairs.

  I heard the assistant start to say, “Christine is wearing a beautiful gown with a daring open back…” I stopped listening as I concentrated on walking down that narrow runway. I don’t wear heels very often, and even though I don’t have any problem with them, I was worried stiff that they’d cause me to fall off the runway.

  I took my eyes off the runway long enough to shoot a smile to my parents and sister. I then glanced over to Jeff who stood there with a big toothy grin. I hit the end of the runway, struck a pose and held it for a moment, then turned to go the other way. Behind the crowd, leaning against the wall was Danny. He was dressed normally and gave me a small smile and a brief, embarrassed wave.

  I finally made it back to the steps. As I started down them, Mandy whispered, “See? You like, did great! You were beautiful!”

  “Thanks!” I whispered back to her. Then I hurried back into the store to change into my next dress. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t going to have the crowd around me to hide me as I changed clothes. Only Brandi was in the back. The others on the squad were still waiting their turn to go.

  I took my next dress from the rack and went back to my corner. Brandi tried to block the view of me, but there wasn’t much she could do. As I changed, I glanced behind me to see Sandy looking at me strangely. I hurriedly removed the dress and stepped into the new gown. Brandi zipped it up for me.

  By the time I started down the runway for the fourth and last time, I had completely regained my confidence and was strutting like a pro. I found that I absolutely loved it. As I stepped down from the runway, I was so disappointed it was over. When we were done with the last dress, we were supposed to change into our favorite of the four dresses. Then we’d all line up on the runway for the vote by audience applause. I quickly changed back into the blue dress, the first one I’d worn, and then waited for the others to finish.

  The last girl left the runway and there was a few minutes pause while she changed her dress. Then finally, we all paraded out onto the runway.

  The store manager strutted in front of us and said to the crowd, “Let’s have a big hand for all these lovely young ladies and their great job of modeling!” While the audience clapped, whistled and cheered, all of us on the runway took the hand of the girl on either side of us.

  Mr. Watson continued, “Now that you’ve had a chance to see all the wonderful fashions we have available for Prom, now you have the opportunity to choose the lucky girl you thought was the best model. The winner this year gets to wear this dress to Prom!” He pointed over to his assistant who brought the beautiful dress o
ut for all to see. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

  He walked behind us and held a hand up over Sandy’s head. There was quite a bit of clapping and cheering. I thought that it looked like she was going to win this event too. The next girl got a less enthusiastic response from the crowd. The next girl got an almost embarrassingly small amount of applause. And then complete shock. When he put his hand over my head, the room roared with applause. I couldn’t believe it. I looked over at Sandy, who just stood there and scowled at me.

  Mandy got a big round of applause herself. I couldn’t tell if it was more than what I got or not. I wanted to win, but if I was going to lose, I wouldn’t mind losing to Mandy. We held tight to each other’s hand, looked at each other and giggled like school girls. Well, we are school girls.

  The voting was finally over. Mr. Watson walked to the far corner of the runway and said, “Ladies and gentlemen! I do believe we have a winner in this year’s model contest.” The assistant handed him the prize dress. He held it up. “I’m happy to announce that this gown is awarded to… Christine Davis!”

  The audience applauded and there was a tug on my hand. It didn’t even dawn on me for several seconds that he said my name. Mandy was clutching my arm and screaming, “You like, won!”

  Mr. Watson walked up to me and held the dress up for me. “Congratulations, Miss Davis!” The assistant handed me a bouquet of flowers.

  I just stood there, flabbergasted. I never really dreamed I could actually win it. I said in a small voice to Mr. Watson, “Thank you!”

  All the girls gathered around me to congratulate me. All except one. Sandy had already left the runway. Then I found myself practically tackled by five cheerleaders. Aubrey had been out in the audience and now joined us on the runway for a group hug.

  We slowly made our way back into the store. Mom, Dad, and Diane were standing by the doorway. Dad was actually smiling. I’m not sure if it was because he was happy I was the winner or happy because he wouldn’t have to buy me a dress. I guess it didn’t matter. I got hugs all around regardless. I handed Mom the dress and Diane the flowers for safe keeping while I went back into the store to change.