***
At the pep session on Friday afternoon, the Homecoming Court couples competed in a race where each couple had to place a balloon between their stomachs and, without touching the balloon with their hands, sashay to the center of the gym, pop the balloon by slamming their bodies together, and run back. It was a race between the classes, and since the senior class had three Court couples, one couple from each other class had to do it twice. The sophomore couples were in the corner of the gym where the cheerleaders were gathered between cheers.
“We’ll go twice, Mrs. Miller!” Brooke volunteered, pointing back and forth between herself and Brady.
“Great, thanks, Brooke,” Mrs. Miller, one of the sophomore guidance counselors, said. “You two will go first, then Lindy and Landon, then Brooke and Brady again. Come on, let’s get into position.” She took Brooke and Brady by the shoulders, and as they stood facing each other, she placed a balloon between them. Brooke held Brady’s shoulders and he held her waist.
Jill glanced at Lorylyn. She was laughing at them and didn’t seem bothered by it. If only she knew how much Brooke likes him, Jill thought.
The student council president announced the race and introduced the Court couples, and then counted down. “Three, two, one...GO!”
Couples took off from all four corners of the gym, galloping idiotically toward the center. When Brooke and Brady were halfway there, their balloon fell out.
“Come back, come back!” Mrs. Miller and Mr. Vaughn, the other sophomore counselor, yelled, waving frantically at them. They galloped back, still clinging to each other, and Mrs. Miller placed another balloon between them.
“Hold on tighter this time!” Brooke shouted to Brady, and they took off again, squishing the balloon between them.
Jill turned and glanced at Lorylyn again. She wasn’t smiling anymore, but she was staring at them.
“I wish that was me,” Lorylyn mouthed to Jill and Hillary.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be you holding onto him like that tomorrow night,” Hillary said with a grin.
When Brooke and Brady finally reached the middle, they threw their bodies together in a violent hug and the balloon popped between them. Brooke cheered, and they turned and ran back.
Just then Hilton and Riley were starting from another corner. Jill watched them, almost doubling over in laughter as their balloon started to slip out from between them and they struggled to balance their weight to hold it up while keeping up their speed. Suddenly, in a blur of feet and legs, they tumbled to the ground, still holding each other’s arms, and rolled a couple of feet forward.
Jill and Hillary were laughing so hard they had to hold on to each other to keep their balance.
“Oh my gosh!” Jill gasped, tears of laughter streaming down her face.
Lindy and Landon had been successful, and Brady and Brooke started out again. This time their balloon popped before they even got to the center.
“If you guys wouldn’t hug so hard that wouldn’t happen!” Blake Bishop called out with a giggle. “Save that for tomorrow night!” Then she turned to Susan Kruger and said more quietly, but still in a voice intended for the other cheerleaders to hear, “Oh wait, they’re not going to the dance together, are they?”
Jill whirled around to glare at Blake, just in time to see her smile smugly in Lorylyn’s direction. Ugh! Jill thought. She’s probably just trying to suck up to Brooke and get in good with her! Jill looked over at Hillary and they shared a look that said, Yep, she really is a bitch!
Note to self: Stay away from Blake Bishop! Jill thought.
***
It was a perfect night for the Homecoming game. Brooke was glad the weather was nice so she’d been able to wear a short skirt. Since she wasn’t a varsity cheerleader, she’d been allowed to skip wearing her cheerleading outfit tonight and dress up for the Homecoming Court instead. Now it was almost halftime, and the whole Court, minus the football players and varsity cheerleaders, was gathered together, ready to walk out on the track. As she stood at one end of the track talking to Lindy and Hilton, Brooke glanced at Brady out of the corner of her eye and was pleased to see him subtly checking her out.
“Okay, we need everybody in line!” Mr. Hooper, one of the assistant principals, called out. “Thirty seconds to halftime!”
Brooke shifted her lone white rose to the other hand and adjusted her green Homecoming Princess sash. She took her place behind Hilton but ignored Brady as he stepped up beside her. She wasn’t over being pissed at him for not asking her to the dance, and she’d barely talked to him since he’d asked Lorylyn.
“Ready, Brookie?” he asked, grinning at her.
“Sure,” Brooke said uninterestedly, only meeting his eyes for a split second.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, come on, Brookie, you can tell me.” Brady reached out and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and knocking her a little off balance.
Brooke shoved out from under his arm and pretended to be captivated by the football players rushing off the field. “Careful, I’m wearing heels,” she snapped.
Landon jogged over, holding his helmet in one hand, and joined Lindy.
Brooke turned around to smile jubilantly at Lindy. This was their second year on the Court together, and they both loved walking out in front of the crowd.
“I’m so excited!” Lindy said, putting her hand through Landon’s arm.
“Welcome to Brinkley-Caldwell Homecoming 1997! Let’s hear it for those Chargers!” the announcer’s voice boomed out over the bleachers onto the field. He waited while everyone in the stands screamed and applauded. “We’re pleased to introduce to you this year’s Homecoming Court. But first, let’s welcome back our 1996 King and Queen, Clark Borderman and Ivy Leshore. Clark is currently a freshman at Eastern Indiana University, majoring in political science. And Ivy has flown all the way back to join us from Georgia, where she’s studying education and running track at the University of Atlanta. Let’s hear it for Clark and Ivy!” He paused to give everyone in the stands time to scream and applaud some more. “And now, please welcome our first Freshman Princess, Paige Largo...”
Brady peered down at Brooke. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yep, fine.” She stared straight ahead, and the smile she’d offered Lindy was replaced by a carefully blank expression. She wanted Brady to feel like she was excited to be around Lindy but not him.
“Our second Freshman Princess is Hilton Joliet. Hilton is the daughter of...”
“Okay, well, are you ready?” Brady offered Brooke his arm.
She slid her hand through lightly, still refusing to look at him.
“Our first Sophomore Princess is Brooke Carlson, daughter of Ron and Meredith Summers of Brinkley. Brooke is active in football and basketball cheerleading and Spanish Club. She is escorted by Sophomore Prince Brady Cash, son of Donald and Diane Cash of Caldwell. Brady is active in baseball and Spanish Club. Let’s hear it for Brooke and Brady!”
Brooke smiled radiantly as she and Brady walked down the track. It felt so right, hearing her name with his. They should be together. What the hell did he want with Lorylyn?! Maybe I’ve been giving out the wrong signals, she thought. Maybe he thought I’d lost interest so he asked Lorylyn instead. But how is that even possible?! I made it pretty obvious I liked him! And all my friends think Brady and I would be the perfect couple.
As they came to a stop beside Hilton and Riley, Brooke stood closer to Brady than necessary. She knew they made a striking pair, and she wanted to make sure every spectator, including Lorylyn, realized it too.
Lorylyn’s going down, stupid little bitch! she thought, and she flashed the crowd a winning smile.
***
The next afternoon, Jill and Hillary got ready for the dance together. Jill was really starting to look forward to it. She was still riding the high of the 31-0 blowout the night before. After the game
everyone had hoped to go to Landon’s, but his parents were using the cottage because they said it would probably be one of the last nice weekends of the year.
“Can’t you go up on Saturday?” Landon had asked. “Why do you have to go after the game?”
“Landon, we are not letting you have a party on Homecoming weekend. The cops are gonna be expecting parties, and we just wanna be careful.”
“You always let me have one on New Year’s! Don’t you think that’s more of a time the cops would be expecting parties than Homecoming?”
“On New Year’s it’s cold and you’re inside. We don’t have to let you have a New Year’s party this year though, if you think it’s too risky.”
So Landon had shut up and Lindy had invited the girls to stay at her house, which Jill was secretly glad about, because she knew her parents weren’t thrilled about her going to a party at Landon’s on Homecoming weekend. At two in the morning they had snuck out to meet the boys at Lindy’s pond, which was far away from her house and surrounded by trees; her parents would never hear them. Before they snuck out, they had already finished off a bottle of her parents’ whiskey that Lindy said they’d never miss because they had practically a full bar, and the boys brought beer Landon’s brother had bought. Jill had hoped Todd would come, but it was just the sophomore boys.
Jill had let Lindy pour her a whiskey and Coke inside, but she had only finished about a fourth of it. She didn’t think she was ready to get drunk, but she thought everyone else was buzzing, so she pretended she was too.
They went skinny-dipping in the pond, just like they would’ve at Landon’s lake, then played spin the bottle with the empty whiskey bottle Lindy had brought along.
“Yay!” Hilton had cried when Lindy grabbed the bottle off her bed. “Good thinking!”
The only time the bottle landed on Jill, the spinner was Kevin, Hilton’s date to the dance. Jill kissed him as quickly as she could and returned to her place on the dewy grass. She didn’t want Hilton to think she was interested in him or anything. But Hilton just laughed and clapped when they kissed, and Jill remembered Hilton didn’t even like him.
When Jill spun, she got Brady. She kissed him quickly too, embarrassed as she thought of Lorylyn and Brooke both watching. She prayed Brady’s spin would land on Lorylyn. It landed halfway between Brooke and Landon.
“Well, I think that’s me, unless you wanna kiss Kessler,” Brooke said loudly.
“I think I’ll pass on Kessler,” Brady replied as he pushed himself to his feet and walked toward Brooke. He walked right into her and kissed her all in one motion, and their bodies were pressed together for a brief second before Brady pulled away. “Kess, you want some, too?” Brady asked jokingly, making a playful half lunge at Landon before laughing and returning to his seat.
Jill stared after him, her mouth practically watering, then looked at Brooke. Their kiss had been so sexy it almost took her breath away. She wished she would have a kiss like that! Brooke licked her lips and smiled from ear to ear as she reached out to spin. Jill tried to see Lorylyn’s facial expression in the dark but couldn’t.
“What do you think is up with Brady?” Jill asked Hillary now, as they sat in their robes in Hillary’s bedroom painting their toenails and fingernails.
“You mean the Brooke thing? I don’t know. That was a crazy kiss last night!”
“I know! I just don’t understand why he’d ask Lorylyn, after that night at Landon’s where him and Brooke made out. And it seems like there’s still something there.”
“Oh, yeah, there’s gotta be something there!”
Jill didn’t tell Hillary about Brooke and Brady going on a date, because she was afraid Hillary would tell Lorylyn, and she didn’t want to upset Lorylyn. She changed the subject. “So I guess I’m actually kinda excited to be going with Bennett. Tyler. Should I call him Tyler? I’m used to calling him Bennett now, ‘cause that’s what Todd calls him.”
“I’d go with Tyler. So, who’s Todd going with, anyway?”
“He’s not going at all, I guess. He said dances aren’t really his thing.”
Hillary rolled her eyes. “Like half the freshman guys aren’t going! They’re so immature! We’re lucky we got two of the good ones who are going!”
Jill had to agree with that. She did feel lucky to be going with Bennett – Tyler – …at least she had a date! And a cute one too.
***
The dance turned out to be a lot of fun. Jill and Tyler and Hillary and Dirk sat at a table with Lorylyn, Brady, Hilton, and Kevin. Jill thought all the girls looked gorgeous, and she hoped Tyler thought she looked okay. She had picked out a short purple dress with a poofy skirt and four spaghetti straps on each shoulder that crisscrossed in back, leaving a lot of her back bare. Tyler had gotten her a white corsage with baby’s breath, and she thought it was beautiful. Her dark hair was curled up into a French twist, and she wore silver three-inch heels and carried a small silver purse.
Hillary’s dress was short too, a bright green that contrasted perfectly with her blonde hair and brought out her green eyes. Hilton’s and Lorylyn’s dresses were long, as were most of the older girls’. Jill wondered if she should’ve gone with a long dress. Hilton’s was light blue with a sharp V-neck that Jill didn’t think her own mom ever would’ve let her wear. It was form-fitting but loose enough to move comfortably in, and it had a slit that cut up just past Hilton’s left knee. Hilton’s golden-brown hair – the color of it reminded Jill of a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie – was down and curled into loose, messy waves that seemed to float when she moved. Jill thought she looked like a movie star.
Lorylyn’s dress was dark purple and flowy, with a somewhat low, straight-across neckline and thin spaghetti straps. She wore her black hair up in a cute curly ponytail on top of her head, and her curls bounced when she fast-danced. She and Brady made an adorable couple, Jill thought. They had matching black hair, and Brady, who was almost a foot taller than Lorylyn’s 5’1, looked at-ease and sexy staring down at her as they slow-danced. His laid-back, easy smile seemed a perfect match for her excited, bubbly one, and Jill couldn’t help but smile as she watched them while she danced with Tyler. She wished Tyler were a little taller; he was probably only 5’9 or so.
As she and Tyler slowly turned in a circle, Jill spotted Brooke and Taylor Brown dancing in the middle of the floor. Brooke was whispering something into Taylor’s ear, and then they both laughed with their faces pressed close together.
Brady looks good with Brooke too, but somehow in a different way than he does with Lorylyn, Jill thought. She looked back to Lorylyn and Brady. They were standing a little ways apart as they danced and were looking into each other’s eyes, talking and laughing. They had an air of innocence and the excitement of a new relationship about them, Jill decided, while Brooke and Brady, when together, had an air of...intimacy. Like they had sexy, exhilarating secrets that only the two of them shared, and that Jill couldn’t even begin to imagine.
***
After the dance, Jill, Tyler, and the other three couples who had shared their table went cosmic bowling in Caldwell, then the four girls stayed over at Hilton’s house. Jill had a blast bowling in her dress, and she felt like it was one of those nights she would look back on and see a slow-motion blur of laughing happy faces and twirling girls in fancy dresses, like something out of a movie.
By the time the girls got to Hilton’s, Hilton had kissed Kevin goodnight, Dirk and Hillary were officially a couple, Lorylyn was even more head-over-heels in love with Brady, and Jill thought she might actually be a little interested in dating Tyler. It had been a good night, and they were all giggling and happy and talking at once. Romance was in the air, blowing all around them, and Jill hoped she’d be able to reach up and catch a piece.
chapter 4) kisses
By Monday, however, some of the magic had faded, at least for Hilton and Jill.
“He wasn’t that good of a kisser,” Hilton said,
wrinkling her nose as they stood at her locker before school.
“Not as good as Landon?” Lorylyn asked, giggling.
“Hellll no.”
Hillary sighed dreamily and looked up at the ceiling as she hugged her books. “Dirk is such a good kisser.”
Jill giggled, but she half wanted to gag. You’re just jealous, she told herself. You know you kinda wanted to kiss Tyler. And she had to admit, even now, that she had wanted to kiss him. But she wasn’t sure if it was because she actually liked him, or if she just wanted to kiss someone. She felt like all her friends were getting way ahead of her in that department.
“Brady hasn’t kissed me yet,” Lorylyn said wistfully. “But we’re going out again!” She grinned ecstatically. “This weekend.”
“Yay!” Hillary said, lifting one arm from her books and putting it around Lorylyn’s shoulders. “Maybe we’ll all get boyfriends! What about Tyler, Jill?”
“I don’t know...” Jill offered a small, telling smile. “Maybe.”
But after about five minutes of talking to Todd before SRT, the “maybe” turned into a “no way.” How could she possibly want to date Bennett when she knew someone like Todd? It was like the dance had never happened. The next day in English she and Todd joked around and teased each other while Bennett sat across the aisle, talking occasionally to Todd but not really to Jill, just as he had all year. She felt like she didn’t even know him. Whatever connection or chemistry she may have felt between them the other night...it was gone. She cringed at the thought of having wanted to kiss him and felt a little stupid for getting so caught up in the excitement of the dance. She hoped he hadn’t been able to tell she wanted a kiss.
***
On Saturday night Brady took Lorylyn to Logan, forty-five minutes away from Brinkley. Lorylyn was thrilled. She felt so cool...this was where all the juniors and seniors came on dates. It was so awesome that Brady could drive! They had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and then they played miniature golf. Lorylyn had a blast and was giggling the whole time. Brady was so easy to talk to, and he was more charismatic than any guy Lorylyn had ever met. He was by far the most grown-up too. He was almost two whole years older than her, even though he was only one grade ahead of her. He’d told her his birthday was on June 22, ten days after hers. But while she was young for her grade, he was old for his She couldn’t imagine ever being interested in a guy her own age now; they all seemed so young and annoying. Brady was just...indescribable. Everything she’d ever wanted. She felt like she was living a fairy tale.