Eva looked at Michael and rolled her eyes.
I looked at Eva and sighed. She really was starting to be a pain now.
As we were looking around the crowded gym, the DJ started to play another song, which was from Justin Bieber. Usually, I wouldn't dance to Justin, but I figured tonight was going to be full of surprises.
"Let's go," I said to Michael.
Michael looked at me as he took my hand.
Ashley and Eva, as well as the rest of Belmont, watched as we went out on the dance floor. The pounding beats of Justin's latest song were going strong from the speakers as I started to find the rhythm to the beat. Michael went behind me and started to dance with me. He grabbed my waist and put me closer to him. I felt like he and I were the only two people in the gym as we were dancing a little too close on the dance floor. Some people had shocked expressions on their faces while most of the girls were wishing it were them Michael was dancing with. Even though I wasn't dressed in the best attire for dancing, I didn't care. I was just in the groove with a guy I thought was the most perfect man here.
When the song was over, I looked at Michael and smiled. We had the crowd watching our every move, which was starting to become annoying now. I looked over the dance floor and noticed Danielle by the refreshment table giving me a cold stare. I looked at her and gave her a mean stare back. I was sick and tired of Danielle and her childish behavior. Michael did not and never would want her, so she needed to get over it. I looked over at the table and saw Eva, Ashley, Brandy, and Kim talking up a storm. I knew those four would get along fine. As we walked back over to the table, Ashley looked at the two of us and smiled.
"From the looks of it out on the floor, it looked like you two were having sex."
"Ha, ha. Real funny," I said while sitting down.
"When are we going to Range?" asked Eva.
"In a few. Don't worry, we're not staying long," I said.
"We can go now if you want. Believe me, this is how it going to be the entire night," Michael said.
We looked at each other and started to get up from our seats. When we did, Mr. Davis went onto the stage. He looked at the crowd with a happy expression on his face.
"Is everyone enjoying the dance tonight?"
Everyone started to clap or yell out in the crowd.
"Good. Now I would like to announce this year's homecoming king and queen."
I looked at the crowd and noticed everyone was talking at once. I didn't care who was homecoming king and queen. All I wanted to do was leave the dance so I could have some real fun.
"First is homecoming king. This year's king is no other than Michael Collier."
The crowd started to go crazy after Mr. Davis announced Michael's name. Michael stopped walking and turned around to the stage as the spotlight nearby shined on him. He looked at me and started to walk up to the stage. As soon as he arrived, Mrs. Donald, the assistant principal, gave Michael a crown and cane and whispered in his ear. He smiled and went up to the microphone and looked out to the crowd.
"Thanks guys for voting for me. This means a lot. Thanks again," he said as he went over to the royal high chair that was behind Mrs. Donald.
Mr. Davis smiled at Michael and turned around to the crowd. I was happy for Michael winning homecoming king. I wondered who homecoming queen would be. Whoever it is, I don't want to watch the girl sharing her title with him.
Mr. Davis looked at the piece of paper he had in his hand and smiled.
"Now for our homecoming queen." he said as he open up the paper. He looked at it with a surprised look on his face.
"Turns out the winner is a write in. This year's homecoming queen is Charlie Perry."
I looked up at Mr. Davis as if he lost his mind. How could I be homecoming queen? I've only been going to this school for four days! I looked at my friends, who all had huge grins on their faces.
"Congratulations, girl," Brandy said as she gave me a hug. She gave me a wink after we pulled apart.
I had a feeling Miss Edwards had something to do with the voting.
"Thanks Brandy, for the votes," I said silently.
"What do you mean? I didn't do any such thing," she said innocently.
While Ashley, Eva, and Kim all gave me hugs, I went up to the stage with a look of confusion on my face. From the look of the crowd, it seemed they didn't want me as queen. Believe me, I didn't want the title. Maybe at Parker, but not at Belmont.
I walked in front of Mrs. Donald as she put my crown on my head and put my slash over my dress. I smiled at Mrs. Donald and went up to the microphone. All of a sudden I was really nervous as I looked out into the crowd. Some people had smiles on their faces, but from the majority of the crowd, the expression "if looks could kill" was evident, as some wondered why I was up there receiving the crown.
"Wow, this is unexpected. Thank you all for giving me a chance even though I have only been here for a short time."
"No one gave you a chance!" someone yelled from the crowd.
"How did you win the crown?" someone else asked.
"Y'all just mad because y'all not up there!" Eva yelled at the crowd.
I shook my head and sigh. Leave it to Eva to make a situation worse than what it was.
"Why is her ass up there? She doesn't deserve the crown. She doesn't deserve anything," someone yelled.
"Excuse me," I said into the microphone. When I found out who said that, I was definitely going to go off in here. No one, and I mean no one, is going to call me out like that.
"Calm down everyone. The voting was done fair and square. There's no need to be upset over it," Mr. Davis said to the crowd.
Michael got up from his seat and took the microphone from Mr. Davis.
"Whoever said that please apologize to Charlie," he said.
The crowd looked at each other and started talking all at once again. I had a feeling who said the last comment. Of course she wasn't going to reveal herself because she was a scared witch.
"Fine then. You all are being really childish right now. Let's go." Michael said to me. He threw the crown on the stage floor and grabbed my hand. There was no way I was giving up my crown and slash, so I kept everything on and walked off the stage with Michael. As we were going through the crowd, someone stuck their foot out and purposely tried to trip me. I almost fell on the hard gym floor, but Michael caught me in time. I looked up and realized Danielle was standing in front of me with her friends looking at me with a stony glaze.
"Now you know who's territory this is. You knew that crown was mine."
"Listen Danielle, I don't want any trouble tonight. Now get out of my face."
"I'll get out of your face when I feel like it."
"Stop it, Danielle. This is getting out of control."
"Shut up, Michael. I'm not finish talking to your girlfriend," she said as she got up in my face. It took all of my strength not to beat her right there on the gym floor.
"You think you can waltz up in here and take everything that's mine? You have another thing coming. This is my school, so take yourself back to the hood where you belong."
That was it. I was about two seconds from hitting her when someone stepped in my way. It was Brandy who jumped in front of me. Eva, Ashley, and Kim stepped in front of me as well. They looked at Danielle ready to jump her.
"I think you want to take that last comment back," Ashley said while getting into Danielle's face.
"Why should I? No one wants her here. The question everyone wants to know is why is Charlie Perry at Belmont? It's too late in the semester to just transfer schools. So what is the real reason you're here?"
I looked at Danielle and walked right past her. On my way, I pushed her, causing her to lose her balance. My girls were behind me giving Danielle and her friends vicious looks. I think Eva and Ashley even scared her friends a little bit, because they jumped back from us as we made our way out the door. Michael looked at Danielle with a mean expression on his face.
"You went too far this time, Danielle," he said as he started to walk away.
I walked toward the gym door and opened it wide with both hands. I couldn't believe what just happened a minute ago. I thought things were going so well here. I thought I wouldn't have to encounter such hatred towards me. I knew it was going to be a rough transition transferring from one school to another, but I didn't think it would all blow up on me in a public event. Even people of my own race were giving me dirty looks when they found out I was homecoming queen. What have I done to make people dislike me?
I looked at the clear night sky and sighed. Tears were starting to well up in my eyes, but I fought them back hard so none would spill. I didn't want anyone to see me cry, especially Michael.
Michael came over to me and put his arms around me.
"I'm really sorry about what happened in there. I didn't think people here would act that way."
I pulled away from Michael and turned around to face him.
"Well you thought wrong. I knew people here would act like that. They just didn't show their true feelings until now."
"Come on Charlie. Don't let what happened in there ruin the rest of the night."
"Why? Because everything going to be okay? If you're going to say that, don't bother because that's a bunch of bull. People at this school are always going to look at me as the black girl who tried to take over Belmont."
"No one even said that."
"But they are thinking it. I could tell from the nasty stares people gave me when I went up on stage."
"Michael's right. You overreacting, Char," said Ashley.
"What do you know Ash? You don't get stared at everyday from these people. When I'm walking down the hall, people begin whispering. I wondered if they were talking about me or not. You think I wanted to come here? No, I didn't. I just wanted to make myself feel comfortable around here."
"And you have. Charlie, why don't you calm down? There's no point for you to be this upset." Michael said.
I looked at him and sighed. He was right. I shouldn't care what people at Belmont thought about me.
"I guess so. I guess I'm not used to being the person people loved to hate, that's all."
"No one hates you, Char," said Brandy.
"Besides, I don't even think it the issue with race that people are upset about. I mean look at you. You've only been here for four days, and you already cheerleading captain, and you're dating the most popular guy in school. That's enough to make people not like you," said Kim.
I looked at everyone around me and smiled. Everyone made such good points. I looked over at Eva who nodded her head in agreement.
I took a deep breath and sighed.
"You're all right. I guess I let what happened in there get to me. Sorry everyone."
"It's okay," Michael said. He went up to me and gave me a hug.
Eva looked at the scene and sighed.
"Well, since you calmed down, do you still want to go to Range?"
"Sure," I said.
"Alright then. Let's roll," Eva said.
As everyone got into their cars, Michael looked at me and put his arm around me.
"Don't worry. Everything is going to work out. Besides, on Monday, everyone will forget about this."
I smiled and kissed Michael on the cheek. Even though he was dishing out some encouraging words, I knew that things were not going to go away overnight. After what happened tonight, I was wondering if it was a good idea to take Michael to Range.
After changing clothes
at Eva's house, and driving for thirty minutes, we were finally pulling up into Range's parking lot. As usual, the place was packed, as people were waiting in a long line to get inside. As I got out of Michael's BMW, wearing a blue and white flowing tube dress, a smile formed on my lips. I was home, and it felt pretty good. As Michael got out, he looked around the parking lot, taking in the environment around him. Range was considered one of the hottest teen spots in Houston. Almost every high school in the area, including Parker, was there dancing and having a good time. I looked over at Michael and took his hand. He looked at me and smiled.
"You look really nice Mr. Collier," I said as I looked at him up and down. He was wearing a brown leather jacket with a black T- shirt underneath with blue jeans. He looked at what I was wearing and whistled.
"I take that as a compliment," I said smiling.
"Definitely," he said smiling.
Although it was a little chilly outside, I didn't care. I never wore this dress, and I figured this was a good time to do so.
Ashley and Eva got out of Eva's car wearing matching denim cat suits. I noticed Brandy and Kim have not pulled up yet. I didn't want to go into the club without them. A few seconds later, and Kim's boyfriend's car pulled up into a parking space near Michael's car. The four got out of a silver Lexus coupe and walked over to us.
"Thanks again for inviting us tonight," Brandy said.
"No problem. I know you're all going to have fun tonight."
"I've been here before. This place is hot," Andre, Kim's boyfriend, who also goes to Belmont, said.
"We really need a break from the Belmont crowd," said Kim.
"I don't see how you all put up with those people at that school," Ashley said as we all were walking up to the club door.
"It something you get used to." Michael said as he took my hand.
While going up to the door, the bouncer, who's a football player from Parker, opened the door for us to go in. He gave us all smiles as we all went in. That's one of the perks of being popular. You get to go into the club free without waiting in the cold trying to get in.
"Why'd they get to go in?" a girl who was standing in line asked.
"That's none of your concern," the guy said.
While we were going in, several people gave Michael and me dirty looks, but it didn't matter anymore. People can stare all they want. It just makes us feel even more popular.
"You all want anything to drink?" Ashley asked as we were heading to the bar.
"Not right now," I said.
"I'll get something. But I'll go with you," Brandy said.