A Prom to Remember(4)

But Jacinta wasn’t even lucky enough to be the romantic b-plot in the movie of her own life. She was shoved deep down in the credits and would be billed as “Unnamed Nerd Girl #3” somewhere near the bottom of the list. Her best friend, Kelsey, would at least be “Head Nerd Girl in Charge,” and Kelsey’s ex-boyfriend, Landon, who inexplicably still hung around them all the time would of course be “Head Nerd Boy in Charge.”

Even if they were unnamed characters, at least Kelsey and Landon were in charge.

Jacinta had almost nothing to show for her four years of high school except for being Kelsey’s sidekick.

She had about a million things she’d wanted to say in the prom committee meeting yesterday. First of all, she had wanted to tell Cora Wilson that she was doing an awesome job and not to listen to anything Amelia Vaughn had to say. Amelia was a total butt. Not even a butthead, just a butt.

But Jacinta had to agree with Luke Martinez on his point. The concept of having a prom king and queen was an outdated tradition and one she didn’t want any part of. It was as good a year as any to get rid of it.

And maybe future senior classes would want to elect kings and queens and dukes and duchesses and whatever the hell else. But it didn’t mean they had to. Maybe it was about time the class of 2018 put an end to things they weren’t interested in.

Onward and upward, as they say.

The post-promposal make-out session came to an end, so Jacinta slipped in and got what she needed from her locker before setting off in the direction of her sociology class.

On her way there it was hard not to notice all the flowers and balloons and signs spelling out Prom? It had been like this every spring in high school. She wasn’t sure when promposals became such a trend, but she couldn’t deny that she kind of wished someone would prompose to her.

She sleepwalked through the rest of her morning, daydreaming about a faceless boy asking her to prom and trying not to feel too pathetic about this self-insert fan fiction she was writing in her head.

When she finally got to lunch later that day, Kelsey was sitting at their usual table holding court with Landon.

“I hate to say it, but I think I agree with Amelia. I think the class as a whole could do with some regular old, traditional prom stuff. I think it would be fun to do the whole king-and-queen thing,” Kelsey said as Jacinta slid into a seat.

“I have to agree,” Landon said.

He always had to agree with Kelsey. It was probably the only way they continued to get along after breaking up junior year.

“I don’t,” Jacinta said, setting her lunch on the table and taking a seat.

They both looked at her like she had desecrated some expensive piece of art.

“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, but I definitely don’t think we need to have a king and a queen. I think it’s sort of ridiculous.”

Kelsey audibly gasped.

“What do you think we should do?” Landon asked.

“I agree with Luke and them. We could do a court and recognize lots of other people. Don’t you guys want to get recognized for all the work you’ve done? Neither one of you is going to be king or queen, no offense.” Where this bold moment had come from was anyone’s guess, but Jacinta felt a warm rush of pride for saying what she was thinking for once.

Kelsey and Landon blinked at each other and then blinked at Jacinta. It was like they hadn’t even considered their part in all of this.

“We have done a lot for the class,” Kelsey said.

“We have,” Landon agreed.

“Maybe it is time that we as a collective move away from weird old traditions like king and queen,” Kelsey said.

Jacinta smiled. They were listening to her. They were actually listening to her. Maybe this was the first step toward a starring role, to not just being a side character.

“Well, I know how I’m voting next week,” Landon said.

“Me too,” Kelsey said. “I’m glad Cora gave us some time to think about this stuff. I would have hated to make a snap judgment.”

Jacinta barely contained an eye roll at Landon’s brownnosing head nod.

Cameron

Cameron Wyatt was totally and completely over high school, and he couldn’t help assuming everyone else was, too.

But then prom tickets went on sale, and it was like everyone started clawing out their own eyes to get a date.

Even if Cameron had been in the mood for prom, he didn’t have anyone he wanted to invite. Well, he sort of did, but they had never met and had only spoken through messages sent via a shared laptop in English class. And the mere thought of inviting her made his face blush approximately the same color as his hair. It wasn’t a good look and should be avoided at all costs.

Whenever there was computer work to be done, Ms. Huang would haul in the laptop cart and Cameron would make a grab for laptop 19. He would open it up and wait for the ancient machine to load the desktop where he would dig through the “secret” file that Laptop Girl had set up for them.

Though they had exchanged messages on nearly a daily basis for the past couple of months, they never exchanged names. Cameron didn’t really want her to know who he was, and the only time she had asked, she seemed cool with keeping their messages anonymous.

The only reason he even knew she was a girl was because she made a comment about being her “mother’s daughter.”