A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy)

by Lockwood, Cara

  Heathcliff sometimes waited for me at breakfast but today he was notably absent. I couldn’t decide if I was disappointed—or relieved. When I saw Blade and Samir at a table in the corner, I grabbed a muffin and a carton of milk from the breakfast line and headed their way.

  “Miranda!” Samir said, relief in his voice. “You’re alive!”

  “When we didn’t see you at dinner, we got worried,” Blade said. “But when they didn’t send out the hounds, we assumed you hadn’t gone AWOL.”

  That’s what happened when you broke curfew or went missing from your dorm. They literally sent out hound dogs to find you.

  “I didn’t feel like dinner,” I said. “Sorry to worry you guys.”

  “I told you she’d be fine,” Samir said, sounding triumphant.

  “You only said that because you didn’t want to go out in the dark to look for her,” Blade said, her mouth half-full. “Gotta watch out for this one, Miranda. He does not have your back.”

  “I do so,” Samir said. “As long as I can watch her back in daylight or a very well lit area.”

  I couldn’t help but smile.

  “See? She forgives me,” Samir said, as if that was his trump card.

  “So why did you ditch us for dinner?” Blade asked, chewing a bit of oatmeal and then swallowing.

  “How can you eat that?” Samir asked Blade, watching her down the gruel-like oatmeal.

  “Mind over matter,” Blade said. “So? What gives?” She looked at me again.

  “I was just tired,” I said. “Maybe I’m coming down with something.”

  “Well you look like crap,” Blade agreed.

  “Hey, thanks,” I said sarcastically, but I didn’t mind. There was something warm and familiar about their good-natured insulting.

  “I told them all you were probably with Heathcliff and he’s like a big bad ass, so you would be okay,” Samir said.

  “Yeah,” I agreed weakly. There was no doubt that the version of Heathcliff I met last night near my dorm was pretty scary. It’s just I wasn’t used to him scaring me. But I didn’t want to tell Blade or Samir about that.

  “Did Heathcliff ever find Catherine?” Blade asked me.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t know what?” This was Hana, she’d come up behind me and put down her tray. “Miranda, good to see you among the living.”

  “I’m fine – really,” I said.

  “We almost broke curfew to look for you,” Hana said.

  “We told her already,” Samir said. Tentatively, he shoveled a tiny bite of oatmeal in his mouth and made a face of disgust as he tasted it.

  “And by we I meant Blade and me,” Hana said. “Samir offered to stay at the dorm in case you came back.”

  “I’m a coward and I am not afraid to admit it,” Samir said.

  “So who were you guys talking about?” Hana asked.

  “I asked Miranda if Heathcliff found Catherine.”

  “Oh. Did he?”

  “Miranda doesn’t know.”

  Now was about the time Hana would jump in with a hundred questions, but instead she just said, “oh,” in a distracted kind of way. She sounded preoccupied, like she was in a bit of a daze. It was like she wasn’t even hearing the conversation around her.

  “Do you think Catherine showing up will affect whether Heathcliff wants to go to prom.…” Samir didn’t get to the end of his sentence before Blade had elbowed him in the ribs. “Oof! What did I say?”

  “Just the worst possible thing,” Blade said.

  “No, it’s okay,” I said. “It’s not like I haven’t been thinking about it. I have.”

  “You worried?” Blade asked me. “You shouldn’t be.”

  “Why?”

  “Heathcliff is gaga over you. Everybody can see it.” Blade shrugged. “And he doesn’t seem like the type to just go around handing his heart to anybody.”

  “Yeah, but I look just like her.” That little insecurity popped out before I could keep it in. Honestly, I didn’t understand myself sometimes. One minute I was worried about Heathcliff turning into a monster of some kind and the next I was paranoid that he didn’t love me after all. I needed to make up my mind.

  “But you don’t act like her,” Hana said. “You remember how awful she is in that book? Trust me, you’re an upgrade. Not a downgrade.”

  “Thanks,” I said, and I felt better.

  “Well, now that that’s all settled, can we talk more about prom?” Samir asked. “I think we should go as a group. You know—Blade, me, Miranda, and Heathcliff, and Hana.”

  “Sure.” I wasn’t sounding too excited. I remembered the smell of alcohol on Heathcliff’s clothes. I had new doubts about prom that had nothing to do with the quirks of Bard.

  “Am I invited in your little group, too? Or is it just you LIT nerds?” This was my sister, Lindsay. She sat down the tray on the table next to me with a clap. “Or are you guys just going to pretend I’m not here? Like you did last night when you guys thought my sister had gotten lost in the woods?”

  “We didn’t ignore you. We just didn’t want to drag you into it,” Hana said.

  “Right—ignore—whatever!” Lindsay shrugged as she scooted her chair forward. “For the record, Miranda, my vote was that you were somewhere private sucking face with Heathcliff. Was I right? I was, wasn’t I!”

  I didn’t answer Lindsay. She had a way of always making everything sound vulgar. She turned back to Samir. “So? Am I in or what?”

  “Of course you’re invited,” Samir said, even as Blade tried to cut Samir off with a swiping motion across her throat. Lindsay and Blade weren’t the best of friends.

  “But you don’t have a date,” Blade said to Lindsay. This could’ve been harsh, but Lindsay bounced right back.

  “So? Neither does Hana. And you guys aren’t going to leave her out of it, are you?”

  “Well, of course Hana is invited,” Samir said.

  “Yeah, you and Hana could go together,” Blade suggested.

  “What? Did someone say my name?” Hana asked. She was definitely distracted. Hana wasn’t usually so checked out.

  “We were just saying you’re welcome to come with us to prom,” Samir said. “You know, as a big group.”

  “We can go dateless,” Lindsay clarified. “We’ll make a feminist statement. Who needs boys?”

  “Oh, well…” Hana glanced around the table. “Actually…someone did ask me to prom.”

  “What?” Lindsay said, sounding betrayed. “Who?”

  “Um…” Hana glanced uneasily around the table. Her eyes eventually met mine. And that’s when I knew just what she was going to say.

  “Ryan asked me,” Hana said, instantly confirming my suspicions.

  I quickly searched my feelings about it and I was instantly relieved when I didn’t find any jealousy. Hana was my best friend and Ryan was my first boyfriend and I wanted them both to be happy. I was excited for them, and I was glad. My sister, however, was another story.

  Lindsay was shocked into silence, which for her really says something. She turned a shade paler than the white tile floor.

  “That’s great, Hana,” I said, the first one of any of our stunned friends to speak.

  “How did I not know this?” Samir asked.

  “Ryan’s a nice guy. A good guy.” Blade nodded her approval.

  “But… how?” Lindsay’s voice wavered a little.

  “He asked me yesterday in the library.” Hana glanced down at her plate.

  “So, you two are dating now?” This was Lindsay. She was still pale, and her voice was flat.

  “Why shouldn’t she?” Blade was not someone who was going to worry about letting Lindsay down easily.

  “Well….” Hana hesitated. “I told him I’d think about it.”

  “You told Ryan Kent you’d think about going with him to prom?” Even I was surprised about this. I was sure he hadn’t been expecting “maybe” as an answer.

  “You do know
how many girls – Parker Rodham included – who’d kill to go with him?” Blade asked.

  “I know,” Hana said. “I needed some time to think about it because it kind of came out of the blue.”

  “Wait, let me get this straight. You don’t know if you like Ryan Kent?” Lindsay couldn’t believe her ears. I’m sure she was torn between utter disbelief and a faint hope that Hana would turn Ryan down flat. “What’s not to like about Ryan Kent?”

  “Not all of us go for preppy, jock types,” Blade informed Lindsay. She and Samir exchanged a sly smile.

  “With a body that won’t quit and a killer smile that belongs to a guy who is also genuinely nice?” Lindsay countered. “Also, Ryan risked his life to save us last year. Remember? He fought pirates for us.”

  “We all fought pirates,” Blade corrected.

  “Yes, well, he didn’t run away.” Lindsay sent a look to Hana, implying that Hana had ditched us during the firefight. But that wasn’t quite right. We’d gotten separated in the woods before we ever stumbled upon the pirates.

  “Hey!” Samir jumped in. “I didn’t run away. I hid—and I moved quickly to avoid being stabbed—that’s very different.”

  “I didn’t mean you,” Lindsay said, crossing her arms. “I meant…”

  “Everyone knows who you meant,” Hana said. She was angry, and she wasn’t going to let it go.

  “Maybe if you were more of a loyal friend…” Lindsay’s color was returning to her face, in splotchy pink marks.

  “What did you say?” Hana’s voice rose.

  “Lindsay, that’s out of line,” I said. “Hana brought back reinforcements remember? She brought the faculty that saved us. We were all trying to get away. She got separated from us. You can’t blame her for that.”

  My little sister and best friend just glared at each other.

  “Why are you taking her side?” Lindsay turned on me. “You always take her side.”

  “I don’t always….” I began.

  But Lindsay had picked up her tray in a huff and had spun away from the table before I could finish my sentence. She stomped off to finish her tantrum somewhere else. I felt bad for about two seconds and then I realized that Lindsay could grow up and deal with this, or she could handle it like a toddler. Either way, it was her choice. Ryan had made it clear to everybody—including Lindsay—that he wasn’t interested in dating her. It’s not like Hana had stolen him away. He was never hers to steal.

  “Sorry, Miranda,” Hana said, as if this was somehow her fault.

  “You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said.

  “She’s got to grow up sometime,” Blade said and shrugged.

  The bell sounded, letting us know that breakfast was over and morning announcements would start soon. Lindsay was gone, so the rest of us picked up our trays and carried them to the plastic bins in the corner of the cafeteria. Then, we made our way to the chapel where Headmaster B would give us news of the day. Announcements were held every morning next door at the campus chapel. It was like a church, complete with pews and stained glass, but it was nondenominational. In fact, the windows didn’t show biblical scenes like most churches. Instead, they were all famous scenes in Shakespeare from Macduff rallying the troops against Macbeth to Juliet standing in her balcony. As we filed into the chapel, my eyes were drawn again up to Macduff, the avenging nobleman from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He had his sword up and behind him were legions of men camouflaged by tree branches. I shivered a little when I looked into the fighter’s eyes. A year ago, he came to life and tried to kill me. Now, he was safely back where he belonged in stain glass. For now, anyway. I took my seat in between Hana and Blade. The faculty were already sitting at the front of the chapel. Headmaster B was standing at the podium.

  “Good morning, students of Bard,” Headmaster B began. “As many of you know, we will be having a prom in a few weeks and there’s are several ground rules.”

  Headmaster B went on to name all prom restrictions. No illegal substances (which at Bard could mean anything from alcohol to your iPhone). No extremely loud or rowdy behavior will be tolerated. Students may attend in pairs or groups or as singles. Dancing will be allowed, as will refreshments, but the dance will end promptly at ten p.m. and everyone will be expected to be back in their dorms at the usual time.

  People listened mostly in silence. A few people groaned, but when the Guardians moved toward them, they quickly went quiet.

  “Anyone violating these rules will be escorted from Prom directly to detention, or assigned cleaning duty,” Headmaster B continued.

  “What can we wear?” Someone shouted. I didn’t know who, but I thought it might be Parker Rodham. She was sitting in the middle pew, her sleek blond hair up in a ponytail. I’d successfully managed to avoid her most of the year. She hadn’t been eager to talk to me, either, not since she got busted for cheating off me.

  As if she could feel me looking, she turned to me, meeting my gaze. Her hair curled on her shoulder like some kind of deadly snake poised to strike. That was Parker, always just on the verge of being lethal.

  Headmaster B cleared her throat. The Guardians paced the aisles, glaring at the students as they passed.

  “Students will be allowed to choose formal dress over their traditional uniforms. Families may send you attire, or there is a closet of gently used clothes that you can choose from. Of course, if you’d prefer to stay in your uniforms, that is always welcome.”

  I wondered what “gently used” meant. And if any of the clothes were from this century. You never knew at Bard.

  “Girls will have special hours to shop in the closet this Saturday and the following Saturday. Boys will have Sunday. Also, there will be special phone call times available to talk to relatives about sending clothes from home, posted on the announcement board in the coming week.”

  “I’m going to wear leather and chains,” Blade whispered to me, and I wished she hadn’t because I had a sudden vivid picture in my head that I really didn’t want.

  “And, I’d like to extend special thanks to the student prom committee who have spent many hours helping to plan this event,” Headmaster B said. “And particular thanks to the chair of the committee, Senior Parker Rodham.”

  There was a spattering of reluctant applause.

  “Parker is behind this?” I hissed to Blade, who looked as shocked as I was. Hana and Samir also seemed a little stunned. I glanced over and saw Parker smiling and nodding her head at the thin applause.

  “This can’t be good,” Samir said.

  My bad feelings about prom just got worse.

  “And that ends morning announcements. Please proceed now to your homerooms.” Headmaster B nodded to the room and then stepped away from the podium.

  As we all stood and filed out, Samir was the first to speak.

  “Well, if Parker is planning prom, then she won’t sabotage it, right?” Samir said as we all walked out of the chapel.

  “That’s the perfect way to sabotage it,” Blade said. “Working from the inside.”

  “But why would she do that?” Samir asked.

  “Why does she do anything? Because she’s an evil b-”

  “Yeah, we know,” Hana said, interrupting Blade before she could finish.

  “You know if you go with Ryan, Parker will hate you,” Blade told Hana. Hana looked as if that hadn’t occurred to her. We all knew that Parker had a long-standing crush on Ryan. This was just a fact. “I mean remember how she made Miranda’s life miserable – and they only dated for a few months.”

  “I’m sure she’s matured,” I lied.

  “Right.” Hana didn’t seem convinced.

  “Maybe she doesn’t know Ryan asked her,” I offered.

  “Parker?” Blade said, sounding doubtful. “She’s got her clones everywhere spying for her.” Parker clones were the girls of Parker’s posse.

  “Are you ready to deal with Parker?” I asked Hana.

  Hana’s face crumpled into a frown. “No,” she
said. “I mean I could care less what Parker thinks. I’m not scared of her. I just don’t know if I want an added complication in my life.”

  Given that our lives usually involved running from homicidal fictional characters crossing into our dimension, I didn’t blame Hana for wanting to keep her enemies in this world to a minimum.

  “You can’t let Parker scare you off,” Blade said. “Want me to hex her? I can totally do that.” I don’t think she could really do any kind of magic, but it was still sweet of her to offer.

  “Thanks, Blade, but I will handle it,” Hana said.

  “You seriously think Parker would be that petty? I don’t think she’d ruin prom for everybody just because she wasn’t asked by Ryan,” Samir sounded sincere. Poor boy. He was either suffering from amnesia or a bad case of wishful thinking.

  “Do you remember who we’re talking about?” Hana asked. “She blamed all of us for what happened with Ahab’s ship. Even after we saved her, she still turned against us.”

  “Yeah, by the way, that reminds me. Next time we’re fighting pirates, I am so going to let them slash Parker first,” Blade said.

  “Agreed,” Samir said. “I am always in favor of someone else that isn’t me getting slashed by pirates.”

  “Even me?” Blade asked, giving Samir a playful shove.

  “Hell, no,” Samir said, laughing. “I need my human shield.”

  “Aw. You are so romantic,” Blade and Samir joked some more and picked up the pace and walked away, leaving me behind with Hana in front of the chapel.

  “Miranda…” I could tell Hana wanted to ask me something. I didn’t want her to feel bad about being asked by Ryan.

  “It’s okay if you go with Ryan,” I told Hana. “If you want to. Don’t worry about Parker. Or Lindsay. Or me. If you like Ryan, you should go.”