A Prom to Remember(5)
It had all started in the beginning of the year when he grabbed a laptop off the cart and someone had changed the background to a picture of dancing cats with the caption “But consider this: the Great CATS-by.” It wasn’t the best joke ever, but it made him laugh.
He made the background a picture of cats marching and changed the caption to “What About Brave New Cats?” He put an asterisk next to the question mark with a note that said, “Please check for my disclaimer in the document called ‘Bad Jokes.’”
The document when opened contained only the word SORRY written in 72-point bold font.
But apparently his bad jokes didn’t stop her from continuing to engage with him. In that same document, she deleted his 72-point SORRY and started writing in normal-size font. She left a note on the desktop telling him to check the doc. (He wondered more than once if someone else was following their messages, but no one ever spoke up. Maybe they were the only two people who habitually used laptop 19.)
The first message had started with:
So I’m bored. I’m going to ask you a million questions (or maybe just five) on the off chance you’ll answer them and then I’ll have something fun to read. Please respond in complete sentences. The five questions are as follows:
????What’s your favorite color?
????Can you use chopsticks?
????What’s your first memory?
????What do you want to be when you grow up?
????Do you have a name?
He happily responded to all her questions.
My favorite color is green. But like LIME GREEN. A green that can be seen from outer space. A green so green you can practically taste it.
I cannot use chopsticks.
Number three is a difficult question. Because memory is a weird thing, isn’t it? Do I really remember a certain moment, or is it because I’ve seen pictures of it and heard the story a million times? I would say that probably my first memory is being in a minor car accident with my mom when I was four or five. I know there are no photographs of this moment slipped into family scrapbooks. No one was hurt, it was only a small fender bender, but it’s a pretty traumatic event for a kid. Also, I was really into police cars, so I remember when they arrived on the scene very distinctly.
Oh man. I have no clue what I want to be when I grow up. I had no idea that I’d be quizzed on this today, and I have no answer. “Something that’s not terrible” is about as specific as I can get.
As for your last query, yes, I do have a name. But if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer not to share it. It’s kind of fun being anonymous.
And I ask you the same million (or five) questions.
When he got the laptop the next time, Laptop Girl had answered and he had to work pretty hard not to laugh too much at her responses.
My favorite color is now lime green. You’ve convinced me. A green so green that you can almost taste it.
I am surprisingly good at chopsticks. I got a little obsessed with them after my aunt took me out to hibachi for my sixth birthday. I wanted desperately to be able to use them, so she took her time to show me, and after dropping several pieces of chicken on the floor, I managed to get one in my mouth.
Funny enough, I’m pretty sure that my birthday hibachi dinner is also my first real memory. There are other moments, but they’re more like images than memories, like a trip to the zoo and getting a new couch. I really REMEMBER the restaurant and the onion volcano.
I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I was hoping that you’d have an idea and I could steal it, much like your favorite color.
I, too, have a name, but I won’t be sharing because you’re right, anonymity is fun.
Every time the laptop cart was in the room, Cameron knew he had a treat waiting for him. It made English, and everything else about his senior year, a lot more bearable.
Cameron and Laptop Girl somehow remained anonymous even while sharing personal details. It worked for them. They both agreed several times that it was nice to have someone to spill secrets to and to talk to without having to worry about anyone finding out.
Unless you decide to print this out and start plastering it around the school.
she joked in one message. Then followed it up with:
Please don’t do that.
He reread their most recent exchange and grinned.
For a second, he wished that they could meet in real life. But that opened a whole kettle of fish that he wasn’t prepared to deal with. Instead, he started a new message.
Chapter 3
Henry
Henry Lai liked to play a game in the long crowded hallways at school. It was called “How far can I go without touching anyone AND without anyone touching me.”
The good news was that it was a pretty challenging game, good for his reflexes.
The bad news was that he never got very far. Henry felt like his classmates had little interest in personal boundaries. It was a shame to say the least.
The even worse news was that since prom tickets had gone on sale earlier in the week the traffic in the hallways had grown to a near standstill. Henry was at his wit’s end just trying to get through the day.
He made it to his locker relatively unscathed Wednesday afternoon and checked his phone. He had a text from his best friend, Paisley.
Why couldn’t she tell him now? He hated waiting for stuff like that. All it was going to do to him was make him think and worry and wonder what she could be talking about.