Deception (8 page)

"You know what it is?" he asked me.

"Yes. Let's head inside quickly," I replied. I knew that sound anywhere. It was the crows headed our way.

"I see them," he said. "Brooke told me that you were having issues with crows chasing you."

"I was hoping that they would stay away tonight," I said. "Let's just go in before we have to worry about them."

"If you don't mind, I would like to see them," he said.

I groaned quietly. "They're just ugly loud crows."

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and said, "It will only take a minute, and I want to see these crows for myself."

We looked at the sky for a moment until those nasty crows started flying overhead. Other kids around us began complaining about the crows and started heading inside. They were smart.

The flock was now circling overhead, and the wind from their flapping was causing Cliff's hair to move around. My hair would not have budged in a hurricane with all of the styling products that Brooke had used.

One by one, the crows looked down and began screeching at me. I knew they were cawing at me and not Cliff. I desperately wanted to go inside and get away from them.

Cliff took his arm from my shoulder and raised both hands high into the air, saying very loudly, "Go! Be gone!"

Suddenly, all of the birds stopped their shrieking and in the blink of an eye, they flew away in the direction from which they came.

I stepped back and stared at him. "How did you do that? Why did they obey you?" I couldn't believe it.

"I have a way with animals," he said. "Let's go in and see how the gym has been decorated."

I hadn't thought of the gym being anything other than a gym, and was suddenly curious to see what it looked like. I vaguely recalled hearing talk around school about an elaborate decorating plan.

Cliff took my hand and we walked into the gym. I was amazed at what I saw. It was no longer the ultra-bright gym where Natalie played volleyball. It was an undersea wonderland. The walls were decorated to look like water, bubbles and sea life. All kinds of glittery decorations hung from above.

It felt very magical and I felt as if I had indeed entered a new world.

"Very nice," Cliff said. "It's amazing what high schoolers can accomplish when they set their minds to it!"

"That's for sure," I said. "My Honors Club would have a lot more members if they put this much effort into their grades!"

"Alexis Ferguson!" came a voice from my right. "Is that really you?"

I turned to see Sydney, who was Natalie's loud and annoying best friend. I faked a smile and said, "Sydney, how nice to see you! Meet my date, Cliff."

"Oh my gosh, Alexis!" Sydney shrieked. "You look gorgeous! Now I believe that you're Natalie's sister. Why have you dressed so horribly all these years? Nice job with your date--what a hottie!" she said, winking at Cliff.

I repressed my urge to slap her and I heard something shatter behind us.

"What was that?" Sydney exclaimed. "I think a light bulb just burst! I hope we don't have a replay of that one volleyball practice!"

"I see my friends over by the food table," I told Sydney. "Cliff and I are going to go join them. See you around!" I grabbed Cliff's hand and nearly dragged him away. "Sorry about that. She's my sister's annoying and low-IQ friend."

Cliff laughed. "Don't worry. I didn't think that she was associated with you!"

As we made our way to the food table, which was only half way across the gym, we were stopped on three separate occasions by people who could not believe that it was me. We were stopped by someone who had to meet Cliff because she had never seen someone so gorgeous outside of the movies before.

"Maybe people will leave us alone if we just start dancing," he suggested.

I gulped. I knew that we were going to a dance but I hadn't thought about the actual dancing part of it. I had no rhythm had no idea how to dance.

"I should warn you that I don't know how to dance," I said.

"I have no doubt that once you warm up, you will be a fine dancer," he told me.

"Don't hold your breath!"

"You are amazing and I know you've been surprising yourself all evening," he said. "This will be no different. You just have to let go of being reserved and have fun. That's what it's all about."

"I'll try," I said.

We walked to the dance floor, and at first I was as stiff as a board. I started focusing on the music and then I got lost in Cliff's eyes. Everything around me melted away and before I knew it, I was dancing and having fun.

"What did I tell you?" he asked, smiling. "You are a natural!"

I smiled back at him, "It's easy to dance with you!" I felt that I could do anything when I looked into his eyes. I couldn't get over the feeling that I was where I belonged at last.

After a while, I started to feel tired. I had no idea that dancing was so much work! I was having a great time, but I was also getting a workout!

"Let's get something to drink," I suggested.

"That's a wonderful idea!" he said. As soon as we stopped dancing, I noticed that a lot of people were watching us and it startled me. I was definitely not used to being the center of any kind of attention.

Again, it took us a long time to reach our destination because so many people stopped us to talk. It seemed that
no one
could believe how great I looked and everyone wanted to know who my handsome date was.

At the drink table, Amanda and Emma ambushed me and pulled me off to the side.

"Everyone is talking about you!" Emma exclaimed. "Everyone!"

"I told you!" Amanda said. "Seriously, they are talking about you more than any of the royalty court! I wonder what this will do you for your social status," Amanda said.

"I wonder what this will do for
our
social status!" Emma said, laughing. "Best friends of the newest popular girl."

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Emma, really!"

"I heard people say that they were going to vote for you and Cliff for homecoming king and queen," Emma told me.

"You did?" Amanda asked. "I didn't hear anyone say that."

"That's because you were too busy dancing with your date," Emma said. "Chase and I hate dancing, so we are able to talk to everyone and get all the dirt."

"Of course you did."

"As interesting as all of this is," I said. "We won't make king and queen because I'm not a senior and he doesn't even go here."

"You could be Princess of the Junior Class!" Emma said with a smirk.

"You do realize that Hailey Adams would hate us all forever," Amanda pointed out.

I wondered how it was possible for my two best friends to be so aware of all of this social stuff, while I was completely clueless.

"I hadn't thought of that," Emma said. "Hailey is downright evil when people get in the way of what she wants. We'll have to come up with a plan before we end up in a dumpster--or worse!"

"Emma, could you be any more dramatic?" I asked.

"Didn't you hear what she did to that freshman the first week of school who took her parking spot?"

Cliff appeared by my side and said, "I have no doubt that Alexis here can handle anything that comes her way." He turned to me, "Would you like to dance again?"

"I would love to," I said, taking his hand. "I'll talk to you guys later!"

We danced the night away and I knew that I was going to be very sore the next day. At least it would give me a good excuse to lay low and catch up on my studies. Just when I thought that I couldn't dance another moment longer, the music stopped and someone announced that the tickets had been counted and the royalty winners were about to be announced.

"My sister will be crowned Sophomore Class Princess," I told Cliff.

"From the sounds of it you could be crowned for the Junior Class," he said, winking at me.

"Doubtful," I told him. "Aside from tonight, I'm a nobody at school. I don't get sucked into the popularity games at all. I spend my time preparing for college."

"I'm glad that you don't concern yourself with what others think," he said. "That's an important trait for a good leader to have."

"Leader?" I asked. "I'm not looking to be a leader unless someday I become a judge. I'm much more interested in being a CSI or even an attorney. I love the idea of bringing the bad guys down."

"You really will make a great leader."

Was he deaf? I wasn't looking to be a leader.

They were beginning to make the royalty announcements, so we turned our attention to that. First, they announced the freshmen royalty.

When they announced the Sophomore royalty, I was not surprised to hear my sister's name, but I clapped really loud for her anyway. I knew that she had worked hard to earn the votes.

"We have an interesting turn of events for the Junior Class royalty," the announcer said. "There has been a tie for princess. I'm told that this has never happened before! There's only one tiara so we'll have to figure out a way to break the tie, what do you say?"

The crowd started yelling and cheering. I laughed to myself because it was hard for me to believe that people could get this worked up over something so silly.

He called Hailey Adams, which came as no surprise because she was the expected winner.

"Now for the other winner! Alexis Ferguson, come on up!" shouted the announcer as the crowd went wild again.

"Go on up," Cliff whispered to me. It was at that moment that I realized the announcer had said my name. I knew that I had been receiving attention all night, but I really did not believe that my name had been called! I didn't want to go on stage and my feet seemed glued to the floor.

"Come on up, Alexis!" shouted the announcer again.

Cliff put his arm through mine and walked me to the stage. He helped me up the first step and then I was on my own to walk the rest of the way. I slowly walked up the stairs and to the middle of the stage, next to the announcer and a very irritated Hailey. The lights were insanely bright and everyone was screaming like crazy. It didn't feel real at all.

The announcer did a double take when he saw me and said to the crowd, "I think we have a winner
here
! But it's not up to me, it's up to you guys! You're the students here! Let's applaud and scream to choose the winner."

"I don't know who you think you are, Alexis," Hailey hissed at me. "I have worked my whole life for this. I have been Princess every year and next year I am going to be Homecoming
Queen
!"

"Believe me," I hissed back. "None of this was my idea. If everyone would have left me alone, I'd be in my room doing homework right now."

"You'd better hope that you don't win," she warned me.

"Be sure to yell and clap as loud as you can for the Princess of your choice!" the announcer told the crowd.

"You're
nothing
," Hailey whispered in my ear. "You do not deserve this at all and I can't believe that I'm even sharing this stage with you!"

"You definitely live up to your reputation," I muttered, loud enough for her to hear.

"You better watch your back because when you least expect it, I'm going to get you!"

A single light above the stage shattered. I knew then and there, with full certainty, that the exploding light bulbs were all me. She was going to have to be the one to watch
her
back, because I was determined to learn to control this strange new superpower.

"What was that all about?" the announcer asked, laughing. "Get your clappers and screamers ready, people! Let's hear it for Hailey Adams!"

The room exploded with noise as the crowd began clapping and cheering. She smirked at me and then turned to the crowd and waved, encouraging them to bring up the volume.

When the noise died down, the announcer told the crowd to cheer for me and the noise level was noticeably louder than it had been for Hailey. I couldn't help but feel glad about that after her comments to me.

I looked over at her and she said something that I couldn't hear at all. I tried not to laugh.

The crowd kept going and going. The announcer tried to get them to calm down, but even with the microphone, he couldn't be heard and everyone got louder when he tried to speak. He laughed and backed away from the mike until the noise finally died down.

"We have a clear winner here! The beautiful Alexis Ferguson is your Junior Class Princess!" He walked to the table of tiaras and crowns and picked up mine.

"You're going to pay!" Hailey hissed at me. She looked ready to throw a temper tantrum.

The announcer placed the tiara on my head and handed me a bouquet of flowers. I stood next to Natalie, who congratulated me excitedly. Hailey stormed off the stage.

"This is so exciting," she said. "We're both homecoming princesses!"

I laughed. "Who would have guessed?"

She smiled. "Nobody would have before tonight! You look unbelievable! You two were awesome on the dance floor too!"

The announcer called up the Senior winners, the king and queen. After they had received their crowns and flowers, we all went up to have pictures taken, followed by an exclusive royalty-only dance. I made small talk with my dance partner as we danced. We had never talked to each other before that night.

I was glad when the dance was over and made a beeline for Cliff and my friends. They were all congratulating me and Emma was beside herself with joy to be a BFF of one of the princesses.

Hailey showed up with a huge scowl on her face. "Alexis, since you stole my tiara and my dance, I am going to steal a dance with your date."

"She didn't steal anything, Hailey!" Emma insisted. "The crowd picked the favorite. You weren't it!"

Hailey's face became beet red. "Emma, you'll never be popular--or skinny!"

"At least she has smarts and she'll make something of herself beyond high school," I told Hailey.

The people around us started laughing. I hadn't even noticed anyone paying attention to us.

"You both had better watch your backs," Hailey hissed. I was waiting for claws to shoot out of her fingers and horns to pop out of her head.